With smart:gate, Sonible has developed not only a new AI-powered plugin but an advanced methodology for gating. Unlike conventional gates, which are purely triggered by input level, smart:gate’s artificial intelligence makes it content-aware. Now for the first time, gating can be as simple as selecting a target source from a drop-down menu.
Whether you’re targeting vocals, electric guitar, piano or a suite of other options, the result is a gate that delivers reliably even if a target source varies in level, or if a competing instrument is louder than the signal you want to keep.
“Conventional gates have been eyed skeptically in the past — I sure did so. We figured, that the solution to eliminating the uncertainty that comes with gates was to shift the processing’s focus onto the target signal instead of the overall signal. It’s a new approach that might need a little time to wrap one’s head around, but the results speak for themselves,” says Peter Sciri, Sonible co-founder and CTO.
smart:gate’s visualiser traces the level of the detected target signal, not the entire input signal, making parametrisation straightforward and faster. With sonible’s ‘Instant Replay’, when you change a parameter, the visualised signal changes the whole signal history, predicting the impact on the entire signal.
With Level Bias, the gating behaviour can follow the detected signal more or less closely — great for refining the response on transient material like drums, or keeping non-transient material like vocals more natural. You can also use smart:gate without its content-aware AI features, for operation as a conventional gate.
Gating response can be customised further with the ‘Impact control’, which scales back the amount of gain reduction applied when the gate is closed. smart:gate also offers a Ducking mode to reduce the target signal instead of passing it through. A three-band suppression network helps to weight gating across the frequency spectrum.
Key Features:
- Content-aware gate processing
- Wide range of instrument and sound profiles to determine the target source
- Familiar control over gating response: Threshold, Attack/Release, Hold, Tolerance
- Visual guidance on target source detection for easier parametrisation
- ‘Instant replay’ prediction after parameter changes
- With ‘No Target’, conventional, non-AI gating is still possible
- Content-aware ducking mode to reduce selected target signal
- Tailor gating across the frequency spectrum with three-band suppression control
- External sidechain input; detection in mono/mid or side signals
Available Formats: AAX, VST, VST3 and AU
Apple Silicon: native support for M1 and M2 chips (including AAX)
Regular price: EU129 (incl. VAT)
Introduction price (until 21 AUG, 2023): EU89 (incl. VAT)
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