Hey fellow KVR'S..I was hoping someone here could help me out with some usage of a gate..I have been doing music production for about 6-7 years now and I haven't really used a gate effect at all (excluding the presets on synths for that arp sound.) See..I am having difficulty of making my synths sound smooth with my drums..one or the other is over bearing and there isn't much life there, I feel like having a gate routed in between the two may give a better flow. I'm not sure if I am making any sense to anyone out there lol but I am hoping someone understand what I am talking about. I guess I assume a gate is what will help my problem but I am not sure. Aside from that I am just curious about a gate and how it works!

I wrote an article about gates for music tech students. You can get it here...

http://sites.google.com/site/andywanders/NoiseGates.pdf

Adding a chopped effect, to say pads
Stutter effects on say vocals
Gated reverb
Shortening a sound, say a kick or snare
Noise floor removal
Adding room for another sound, say a kick

+ Many many others

What he said. Use them sometimes. It can really pull together a drum loop. I've also used it on a vocal that was noisy and the person was inhaling very loudly. It worked, and I didn't have to tediously edit it.
(I got the Nomad Factory one and it's very easy to use)+1

Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6IpvmqZLR8