Noise Gate Kills Feel?

[joshuakoth]

New to Fractal and just got the FM3 and have used for about 10 gigs so far, after using a 100w Marshall JVM410H for about a decade. I think the noise gate works well to kill noise, but on lead patches, feel like it's killing sustain. Then I happened to see this video and he says he never uses the noise gate as it "kills the touch". Thoughts?

 

[overture1922]

If you use a shielded guitar with little bit of noise gate it works perfectly IMO.

 

[joshuakoth]

If you use a shielded guitar with little bit of noise gate it works perfectly IMO.

It is shielded, but I like to use the neck single coil and love to use the coil tap on my bridge humbucker so single coil noise is in play, and when I set the gate just high enough to kill the hum, I feel it affects the feel. I used to use the rack mounted Decimator Gate with no similar problems with my 100w head.

 

[Chromatizm]

Then I happened to see this video and he says he never uses the noise gate as it "kills the touch". Thoughts?

I feel the same. I use single coils and always try to go for "no gate" presets where the noise is tolerable.
When not possible, I use Classic mode instead of Intelligent. I could swear (I wouldn't) that attack sounds better with it, more open and defined.
And I go for the lowest possible values for Attack, Ratio and Threshold, targeting the "slightly open gate" effect, like it is never fully closed and some sound always comes through.

 

[Admin M@]

I also like "Classic Mode".
What's very nice is that in "Advanced" mode you can adjust the threshold and ratio to get anything from zero gate to total clamp.

 

[Tonedeaf]

I set my noise gate so when I'm not playing I can still hear just a tad of hum.

 

[Joshua_L]

I try to find a balance between attack and the desired silence. But sure it kills the attack especially for legato lines.

but I also figured that with modelers we tend to push the gain knob way too much compared to a real amp.

Thanks to the 2203 high and his awesome dynamic I can now play with way less gain. And so less gate.

 

[Boy_Narf]

I've not had any luck with gates on the FM3. By the time they are set to cut off the blip/sqwak noise, they are way too clamped for any lighter playing. If I need one (not often these days), I usually put my ISP Decimate in front. The best option for me is to use humbuckers. I find it impossible to combat the electrical/amp noise with P90's on the FM3 short of turning in a circle and finding the quietest point on the compass. For a while I liked using the input block gate as it's more of a noise reducer vs a clamp, but I haven't used any of the gates in a while now.

Would be awesome if we could setup some side chaining or key input stuff like the decimator G, or zuul has. Or has anyone successfully setup a 4 cable gate that tracks input dynamics? If we could roll down the volume knob to clean up but have the gate respond accordingly... legendary.

@Joshua_L valid on the too much gain thing. It's way too easy to to over gain amps on the fractal. Defiantly guilty of this.

 

[unix-guy]

It is shielded, but I like to use the neck single coil and love to use the coil tap on my bridge humbucker so single coil noise is in play, and when I set the gate just high enough to kill the hum, I feel it affects the feel. I used to use the rack mounted Decimator Gate with no similar problems with my 100w head.

I use Noise Reducer mode...

 

[Paul Bradshaw]

noise will be part of the picture =) , i've come to terms with single coil hum/noise on loud cleans/or overdrive tones , especially with my small pedalboard (no gate on there) into a vox ac10,a noise gate on there would also mess with things i imagine

the way i setup my fractal presets , i keep the gate in the input block turned off and use a separate gate if needed that i place usually after amp/cab but before delay/verb etc.. a bit like within an FX loop

however i only tend to use a gate for big hi-gain/metal applications, or stop/start sort of playing, where you want things to mute between passages , which is what a gate can do perfectly, for lead scenes even with hi-gain, the gate is off, so no gate kicks in on decaying notes

for cleans/edge of breakup and maybe low gain tones, i don't use a gate, but this is true to 'real world' setups that i would also use,

as to the gate messing with the feel, it's maybe more how the settings of any noise gate clamps down/closes on noise depending on the settings
and how quickly it does that, playing around with attack/release can help (ie. slower attack/release), maybe placing it later in the chain and trying out the sidechain input option as well, could be some ideas, ultimately you're setting things up for how things best suit you

 

[Dutch]

I think I'm not using enough gain. I don't have that much of a noise problem.

I do use the gate. Usually about 60 to 75dB and ratio of 3 is quite enough to quiet down anything and have it open back up at the slightest rub of the string. I can hear anything just fine. Strings ring out until they're almost done vibrating, noise comes up and it gets shut down by the gate as soon as I mute it with my hands.
Not playing metal, though.

 

[Dutch]

I do think Peter Northcote's tones appear to be pretty quiet even without the noise gate. I wonder how he does that or if he's turning down the guitar volume religiously every moment. I don't see hime using the volume pedal much...

 

[Shask]

Would be awesome if we could setup some side chaining or key input stuff like the decimator G, or zuul has. Or has anyone successfully setup a 4 cable gate that tracks input dynamics? If we could roll down the volume knob to clean up but have the gate respond accordingly... legendary.

@Joshua_L valid on the too much gain thing. It's way too easy to to over gain amps on the fractal. Defiantly guilty of this.

You can do that by putting the gate block after the amp block, and then setting the detection to input.

 

[chris]

If the hum is as loud as the most quiet note you want to play, then getting rid of the hum with a gate will also get rid of the most quiet notes you want to play.

 

[Dutch]

If the hum is as loud as the most quiet note you want to play, then getting rid of the hum with a gate will also get rid of the most quiet notes you want to play.

Either I never want to play that softly or the noise isn't that much. My settings is REEEAAALLY soft. Sometimes it even doesn't close when I'm not playing anything. Have to actively shut it down by muting. And then the quiet is soothing...

If the hum is that bad there might be a wiring/position problem. In the guitar or the house.

 

[wesleyamltd]

New to Fractal and just got the FM3 and have used for about 10 gigs so far, after using a 100w Marshall JVM410H for about a decade. I think the noise gate works well to kill noise, but on lead patches, feel like it's killing sustain. Then I happened to see this video and he says he never uses the noise gate as it "kills the touch". Thoughts?

No noise gate = dynamics
However, if the signal chain is causing unpleasant noise then use noise gate.
I prefer zero noise gate but for a lot of what I like to play, I need to have a noise gate.

Dial in noise gate a little at a time until you get the best possible dynamics while mitigating unwanted noise.

Fractal noise gates are super awesome and retain a lot of the signal dynamics while being an effective noise gate.

 

[joshuakoth]

I use Noise Reducer mode...

Does that work as advertised and preserve the attack?

 

[Tonedeaf]

I set my noise gate so when I'm not playing I can still hear just a tad of hum.

I should mention I'm talking single coils here. I play through headphones and rarely need a gate playing humbuckers

 

[unix-guy]

Does that work as advertised and preserve the attack?

It does for me... But you'll need to adjust threshold just like with any gate.

 

[CodePoet]

For those that find the gate taking away dynamics, do you feel it's affecting dynamics that at times when the meter doesn't show its engaged? Or is it more that any gate used is taking away some attack?