Plug-in Reference

15
The included effect plug-ins
MIDI Gate
Gating, in its fundamental form, silences audio signals be-
low a certain set threshold level. That means, when a sig-
nal rises above the set level, the Gate opens to let the
signal through while signals below the set level are cut off.
MIDI Gate, however, is a Gate effect that is not triggered
by threshold levels, but instead by MIDI notes. Hence it
needs both audio and MIDI data to function.
Setting up
MIDI Gate requires both an audio signal and a MIDI input
to function.
To set it up, proceed as follows:
1. Select the audio to be affected by the MIDI Gate.
This can be audio material from any audio track, or even a live audio input
(provided you have a low latency audio card).
2. Select the MIDI Gate as an insert effect for the audio
track.
The MIDI Gate control panel opens.
3. Select a MIDI track to control the MIDI Gate.
This can be an empty MIDI track, or a MIDI track containing data, it
doesn’t matter. However, if you wish to play the MIDI Gate in real-time –
as opposed to having a recorded part playing it – the track has to be
selected for the effect to receive the MIDI output.
4. Open the Output Routing pop-up menu for the MIDI
track and select the MIDI Gate option.
The MIDI Output from the track is now routed to the MIDI Gate.
What to do next depends on whether you are using live or
recorded audio and whether you are using real-time or re-
corded MIDI. We will assume for the purposes of this
manual that you are using recorded audio, and play the
MIDI in real-time.
Make sure the MIDI track is selected and start playback.
5. Now play a few notes on your MIDI keyboard.
As you can hear, the audio track material is affected by what you play on
your MIDI keyboard.
The following MIDI Gate parameters are available:
Parameter Description
Attack This is used for determining how long it should take for
the Gate to open after receiving a signal that triggers it.
Hold Regulates how long the Gate remains open after a Note
On or Note Off message (see Hold Mode below).
Release This determines how long it takes for the Gate to close
(in addition to the value set with the Hold parameter).
Note To
Attack
The value you specify here determines to which extent
the velocity values of the MIDI notes should affect the At-
tack. The higher the value, the more the Attack time will
increase with high note velocities. Negative values will
give shorter Attack times with high velocities. If you do
not wish to use this parameter, set it to the 0 position.
Note To
Release
The value you specify here determines to which extent
the velocity values of the MIDI notes should affect the Re-
lease. The higher the value, the more the Release time
will increase. If you do not wish to use this parameter, set
it to the 0 position.
Velocity To
VCA
This controls to which extent the velocity values of the
MIDI notes determine the output volume. A value of 127
means that the volume is controlled entirely by the veloc-
ity values, while a value of 0 means that velocities will
have no effect on the volume.
Hold Mode Use this switch to set the Hold Mode. In Note-On mode,
the Gate will only remain open for the time set with the
Hold and Release parameters, regardless of the length of
the MIDI note that triggered the Gate. In Note-Off mode
on the other hand, the Gate will remain open for as long
as the MIDI note plays, and then apply the Hold and Re-
lease parameters.