Can anyone suggest a good one?

amongst others:

glitch
gator
killerGATE+
scuzzphut6


find details and others here:

http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php?mode=results&st=adv&soft%5B%5D=e&type%5B%5D=66&f%5B%5D=0&f%5B%5D=au&f%5B%5D=dx&f%5B%5D=ladspa&f%5B%5D=rtas&f%5B%5D=vst&linux=1&osx=1&win=1&free=1&com=1&un=1&sf=0&receptor=&de=0&sort=1&rpp=100

scuzzphut6 is great.

thanx peeps i'll be checking these out

not free but try
Camel Space
Big Seq 2

If you happen to own FabFilter Volcano 2.0, you can do it with that as well, up to 16 steps.

Cheers!
bManic

kjaerhus golden audio gate - it's not free, but you can use piano roll to work the gate instead of a built in sequencer control, and it is rock stable, sounds great and is very versatile.

if not that one, then camelspace or effectrix.

which host do you use? sometimes you can get by with just what your host has, for example if you just need a hard and fast gate, you could automate the utility plugin in live for mute (though it's much more finnicky to do that).

GAG is my favorite because it's so comfortable and easy to work with. but this also depends on how your host handles routing MIDI, if it cant route MIDI to an effect for notes (some cant) then you will need something else.

i use GAG with Live and adore it. before that i was using camelspace, which is also great.

CamelSpace does the job well

BigSeq2 is brilliant for rhythmic gated destruction of audio.

For free there is AraldFX Stormgate 1, it lets you draw your own custom gates, and link patterns together, although I must admit I find the interface a little tiring / annoying to use. Anyway, it's available from this page:

http://www.araldfx.com/downloads.php

Peace,
Andy.

+1 for big seq 2, and it's pretty cheap @ $49

Not as cheap, but also be sure to check out Tone 2's filterbank 3. I've had the demo for a couple of weeks and it's definitely on my shopping list. Some of the presets rock!!