Gate/Expander like ReaGate, but with ratio and range

[ampetrosillo]

ReaGate is a very good tool, it has lookahead, it's very light on CPU, it's easy to dial in, it has a sidechain filter, etc. but it lacks ratio (for expanding instead of pure gating) and range (to gate the signal only by so many dBs). You can sort of make up for the latter by mixing the dry signal, but it's more fiddly to make it work like an expander. Are there any free (or even not free) alternatives that would essentially be equivalent? On Windows (on Linux there is actually an expander in the LSP suite that would essentially do what I'm looking for, but no Windows builds are provided).

[Rivertropic]

https://www.siraudiotools.com/StandardGATE.php

This one is amazing. You can buy the bundle at the same price of the individual plugin.

[ampetrosillo]

https://www.siraudiotools.com/StandardGATE.php

This one is amazing. You can buy the bundle at the same price of the individual plugin.

It is, but the price is a bit steep only for two simple features I'd be lacking in ReaGate. (I'm not that interested in oversampling, for instance, or in waveform visualisation). I already have SIR3 and StandardClip, so I wouldn't be interested in a bundle.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I was going to recommend Pro-G.

What's the budget?

[ampetrosillo]

As cheap as possible, basically because I'm almost completely satisfied with ReaGate.

[vitocorleone123]

https://www.siraudiotools.com/StandardGATE.php

This one is amazing. You can buy the bundle at the same price of the individual plugin.

It is, but the price is a bit steep only for two simple features I'd be lacking in ReaGate. (I'm not that interested in oversampling, for instance, or in waveform visualisation). I already have SIR3 and StandardClip, so I wouldn't be interested in a bundle.

You can often get standard gate for less than $20. I’d wager it’s the best gate on the market.

[ChristopherWD]

If you use Reaper you can check out the included General Dynamics JS plugin and draw your own curve to make any expander type you want. It's a powerful tool that often gets overlooked in Reaper.

For VST's though, there's the free MCompressor that can also do custom transfer curves to make your own gate / expanders.

For something more traditional, there's the legacy ToneBoosters Gate which is free now, and while it doesn't have ratio control to make it an expander, it does have a range control.

[MattLeschuck]

For gating I use Kilohearts gate, which is free. I prefer it to Neutrons (the other one I own). And I have never found the need for another.

It doesn't have a ratio knob however, but does have range.

[Nug Wrangler]

This perhaps?

SEGX2 is a smooth dual band expander gate.

SEGX2 operates always with soft knee which starts at the threshold point. Signal above the threshold passes thru unaltered.

Independent release times for low and high frequency band.
Adjustable ratio.
Smooth, soft-knee operation.
Uses 6dB/oct crossover filters, which are gentle for phase response. Keeps phase response fully unaltered when gate is open.
The band link control glues the low and high band behavior together. At 100% the operation is similar to a regular wide band expander gate.
The monitor slider allows monitoring of the detector side chain, which can be used for checking the gated out signal.
The pre-gate option allows the gate open in advance. This control adds latency. When active, fast transients can pass thru unaltered, thus offering higher quality output.

https://plugins4free.com/plugin/2704/

[ampetrosillo]

This looks great. It doesn't have hysteresis, but it might be a minor issue. It also doesn't have sidechain filtering. But it's the right step. Of course StandardGATE is better and if I find it on sale I will certainly buy it.

[onerob]

This is going quite cheap at the moment. It has range and hystereisis but not ratio.

https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/prod ... io_g8.html