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-- Can you just shorten notes instead of gating them?

Can you just shorten notes instead of gating them?

For example I'm currently working on a track, and I have the stereotypical trance lead, and I'm wondering if I can just shorten the notes in the sequencer instead of gating them via VST or VSTi. Will they sound different if I just shorten them in the sequencer vs. the VST?

Dunno, maybe i`ll try and see!

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Originally posted by Subtle Dunno, maybe i`ll try and see!

I use FL Studio mind you.

you can do that, or mess with the envelope which is a lot easier

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Originally posted by sako487 you can do that, or mess with the envelope which is a lot easier

It won't sound any different if I were to gate it on the VST?

I think we can safely change the name of this forum to the "Troll Studio"

Of course they sound very different especially if you have sustain/release on which leaves a tail and any additional fx like delays and reverbs

You can shorten the notes but I don't think they will be long enough for gating them, afterward.

just set decay to 0 and adjust sustain and/or release?

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Originally posted by meriter I think we can safely change the name of this forum to the "Troll Studio"

Nobody is upset yet over this particular topic.... yet. I feel very passionate about gates though. Nobody gives them the time of day, and it upsets me that they are underrated. A side chained gate is the most sensual of layering tools.

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Originally posted by J.L. Of course they sound very different especially if you have sustain/release on which leaves a tail and any additional fx like delays and reverbs

Yeah, exactly. Shortening the note that triggers the synth is not the same as changing what the synth does with a triggered note that it receives (e.g., amp/filter envelopes, effects, on-board gates). Depending on how the patch is programmed, the result of changing the note length in your DAW may have a similar effect as using a trance gate in the VST, or it may be very different.

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Originally posted by Beatflux Nobody is upset yet over this particular topic.... yet. I feel very passionate about gates though. Nobody gives them the time of day, and it upsets me that they are underrated. A side chained gate is the most sensual of layering tools.

Its like driving automatic as apposed to manual. Both ways have there benefits and flaws. I feel I am limited to my creativity with leads using a Gate, but its easier to get your idea down. If I plot the notes myself, I can make the lead more dynamic and interesting but it also takes a lot more time. It all depends on the track you are working on and what you want out of it. Each technique is beneficial.

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Originally posted by EddieZilker You can shorten the notes but I don't think they will be long enough for gating them, afterward.

No shit. I would do one or the other.

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Originally posted by Aurana Its like driving automatic as apposed to manual. Both ways have there benefits and flaws. I feel I am limited to my creativity with leads using a Gate, but its easier to get your idea down. If I plot the notes myself, I can make the lead more dynamic and interesting but it also takes a lot more time. It all depends on the track you are working on and what you want out of it. Each technique is beneficial.

Well said...
But I don't understand, how does it limit your creativity?

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Originally posted by OOPS! No shit. I would do one or the other.

What's the point of the question then? Are you asking if it's possible or how to do it? Honestly, either question seems to have fairly evident answers but maybe I'm forgetting who I was when I started. It just seems that one should be able to deduce that you must either sustain notes in order for a gate to work or play notes, as you'd like to hear them, without a gate.

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Originally posted by EddieZilker What's the point of the question then? Are you asking if it's possible or how to do it? Honestly, either question seems to have fairly evident answers but maybe I'm forgetting who I was when I started. It just seems that one should be able to deduce that you must either sustain notes in order for a gate to work or play notes, as you'd like to hear them, without a gate.

Yeah, I'm basically just wondering if there is any difference between shortening notes by like you said deducing the sustain or just from via the VST or VSTi. Does it matter I guess you can say, technically speaking.

download mexoscope, im think its free, insert it after your vst. It will show you exactly what waveforms are being spat out in real time. set up two instances of the vst one with shorter notes.

If you use shorter notes im pretty sure it will sound almost the same except the release and possibly the decay/sustain phase will be cut off.

It depends. I've done both gating and playing it out, rhythmically. I've even mixed the two, having a gate running over chords I was sequencing rhythmically.

a gate and just shortening the notes is different. There should be an "attenuate" parameter or similar, which would at one extreme would silence anything under the threshold, or you could use it to fine tune noise reduction at the bottom levels of a sound.


gating is more or less cutting the low levels of a sound.

shortening a note is muting the end of it. Entirely.

ADSR settings can simulate a shortened note, by lowering the decay value with the sustain.

oops - posted in the wrong thread.

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Originally posted by cryophonik oops - posted in the wrong thread.

Your mom posted in the wrong thread

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Originally posted by Aurana Its like driving automatic as apposed to manual. Both ways have there benefits and flaws. I feel I am limited to my creativity with leads using a Gate, but its easier to get your idea down. If I plot the notes myself, I can make the lead more dynamic and interesting but it also takes a lot more time. It all depends on the track you are working on and what you want out of it. Each technique is beneficial.

That is a ridiculous analogy, especially since the performance of automatic gearboxes is on par with manuals these days. It's not the 90s.

If something is making your life easier and letting you output quality music more efficiently, why would you not do it? Are you now going to say that using a drum loop is also cheating?

just turn the knob..

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Originally posted by Beatflux Nobody is upset yet over this particular topic.... yet. I feel very passionate about gates though. Nobody gives them the time of day, and it upsets me that they are underrated. A side chained gate is the most sensual of layering tools.

I find myself doing this more and more these days. One long sustained note with either an arp on it or pitch bending. Then use gating to make the notes instead.

Its especially cool when you use non-standard triggers for side-chaining. Instead of using the kick drum, set it to the percussion or a different lead or whatever.

I do more gating then sidechaining. Everything but the pad and synth a lot of times. When you are talking about putting reverb on drums, reverb on bass, reverb on fx, if you put the gate after the reverb, you get a warm but less instrusive sound. Leaving more room for other things. Gating is definitely underrated as well as undertalked about.

Unless you'd prefer another sidechain thread.

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