Gater
A gater is a sound effect in a rig that rhythmically interrupts an acoustic signal, such as the voice or a string surface.
functionality
The gater effect is achieved by rapidly, rhythmically fading in and out of the volume, creating percussive pauses in the sound material, which creates a hypnotic effect. To produce a gater effect, software plug-in effects (such as VST ) or, less often, external dynamics processors are used today. In the past, a typical gater effect was produced with the help of a MIDI controllable mixer and MIDI mute commands. The effect can also be created with an extremely set tremolo effects device.
application
The gater effect is mainly used in techno and trance music. Therefore, modern software synthesizers often offer a built-in gater effect that can be added to the output sound.
Sound samples
- Vocal part in In Another Land by The Rolling Stones (1967)
- Guitar and partly vocals in Crimson and Clover by Tommy James & the Shondells (1968)
- Electric guitar on How Soon is Now? by The Smiths (1985)
literature
- Thomas Görne: Sound engineering. 1st edition, Carl Hanser Verlag, Leipzig, 2006, ISBN 3-446-40198-9
- Michael Ebner: Manual of PA technology. 1st edition, Elektor-Verlag, Aachen, 2002, ISBN 3-89576-114-1