Manual

31
The Oxford plug-in Gate has many advanced design subtleties that are based on long
experience in the artistic use of gating.
The basic architecture of a gate is similar to an expander with infinite ratio, and therefore acts
much like a programme switch. Signals below the set threshold are cut and only those above
this are passed to the output. The gate also has level hysteresis, such that once opened by
signal above the threshold, a subsequent signal level reduction of 4dBr is required to close the
gate again.
The residual signal level for programme below the threshold is set using the RANGE control,
as in the expander section.
Since the gate effectively operates on signals before gain control is affected, the ATTACK
control can provide a significant range of attack profiling without missing the peaks within
the programme material. This provides the capability to change the sonic character of the
attack period of the gate
The HOLD function provides time hysteresis by effectively providing a delay after the gate
opening, and before subsequent closure can occur, which is very useful for trimming gate
activity to match programme event timing durations and nested rhythms within the music.
The RELEASE control provides the ability to tailor the recovery period to match the
programme material, and provide artistic effects.