Page 12
G2
Operators Manual
Controlling the speed at which the gate opens (attack time) and closes (release time)
is crucial to providing transparent operation. Setting the attack time too fast on a
signal that naturally has a relatively slow attack will produce a click. Such a case often
occurs when gating the human voice. The attack time for typical speech or singing is
in the order of several milliseconds – setting the gate to faster than this will make the
voice ‘appear out of nowhere’ with an audible click. This is due to the sudden change
in level from the gate being closed to fully open. The fact that this is a large transient
change will make it sound
like a click. Changing the
‘distance’ between the gate
being closed and open will
remove this click, but also
defeat the purpose of the
gate in the first place – if the
range is set high enough to
prevent the click, it’s
probably not gating the
signal enough anyway.
As mentioned earlier, if the attack is set too slow, the gate will not open in time, and
part of the signal will be lost. For most musical instruments, the essential part of the
signal is the attack phase, as this part identifies the instrument to the human ear.
Hearing only the sustain or
release of a sound makes it
difficult to discern what type
of instrument is being
played, and sounds very
unnatural.
Sudden jump in level as the
gate opens appears as a
click at the start of the
signal.
Start of signal has been lost due
to slow opening of the gate.
Summary of Contents for G2
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