See also the page on noise prevention.
A noise gate is an automatic switch that cuts off the signal when it falls below a threshold level. That way the noise will not be apparent during playing breaks. When you play (and the gate is opened) the noise is drowned by the audio signal. Keep in mind that if a signal is too noisy it may only draw more attention to the noise if the gate suddenly cuts it off every time you stop playing, thanks to the contrast effect. During live performances a bit of noise is rarely noticed since the audience will be making noises of its own.
Noise gates work best for dynamic playing styles with distinct level differences (where you either hit the strings hard or stop playing altogether). In other cases the gate may close at the wrong level and kill a sustaining or fading note too soon. This can partly be avoided by carefully adjusting the threshold level as well as the decay time (the time before the gates actually closes after the signal dropped below the threshold level). Another solution might be to bypass the gate manually during fading notes. Every preamp setting should also have its own gate setting, so you don't have to use the same setting both for noisy and clean sounds.
The G-Force gate is routed permanently to the Input section. This means that it can't stop noise produced by the G-Force Drive effect. It can still be of some use since the more noise-free a signal is to begin with the less its noise will be amplified by the Drive. When editing the Gate, the Gain Reduction meter on the G-Force front panel tells you exactly when the Gate starts closing and how fast it closes (but always use your ears for the final judgement).
It's possible to make your own noise gates by linking the Envelope follower or an ADSR to any effect's level parameter. That way you can rout several noise gates anywhere in the effect chain. You may also be able to produce gates with different (or perhaps faster) release rates/gating responses than the Input section's Gate effect.
Greg Scott found that if you change MIDI preamp settings in real-time with an expression pedal you may get into trouble with the G-Force Gate, since the Gate parameters cannot be modified. So if you increase the preamp drive or level the Gate settings may become unable to cope with the increased noise or level. If on the other hand you decrease the amount of drive or the level, the Gate settings may become too severe and choke sustaining notes.
One solution might be to make a gate from an internal modifier and control the settings of this gate and the preamp simultaneously (by using the same expression pedal for both), but this should be quite complicated.
Copyright © 1999-2016 Christian Jacobsson.