New Music Gear Monday: Mogwai Audio Tools M-Gate Multiband Gate Plugin

In the category of “Why didn’t someone think of that before?” we get another new plugin that takes an existing audio tool and makes it function better with some additional features. This time it’s the M-Gate, a multiband gate plugin from Mogwai Audio Tools. If you’ve ever struggled getting a gate to trigger just right, this might be the answer to your prayers.

Most gates rely on a single band of audio to trigger the detector to open the gate. The detector band can be narrowed using filters or an EQ, and usually that’s enough. That said, the relationship between the envelope controls are very fiddly, which can mean that the gate functions as expected on some beats or phrases, and not on others. What if there was another frequency band on the gate’s detector with more parameters to adjust? That’s exactly what M-Gate does – it allows you to add multiple bands that each have their own Threshold, Attack, Release and Ratio controls to fine-tune the gate’s function even further. Even better, there’s a lookahead function that makes sure that it’s triggering on the right transients and not missing them.

Each band can be deactivated, bypassed or soloed by using the buttons at the top right of the band. Additionally, the frequency bands can be adjusted by dragging the crossovers in the visual display. The output gain can then be adjusted in the visual display.

Besides the individual band controls, there are also global output controls including Gain, Wet/Dry mix and Bypass. The ‘BAND|OUTPUT’ toggles between different display views, and you can compare and select desired settings or factory presets by using the A-B functionality.

The best part about M-Gate is that, at least for now, it’s totally FREE. It’s only listed as a $9.99 item anyway, but free is always better. You can download it here, and find out more about it in the video below.

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