smart:comp 3

For better performance, smart:gate uses multiple analysis threads when looking for a target signal (multi-threaded processing). If this causes problems on your system, you can disable multi-threaded processing on smart:gate’s settings page. You can access the settings page by clicking on the small cogwheel in the upper right corner of the plug-in.

While smart:gate's special feature is its content-aware processing, the plug-in can also be used as a conventional gate. If you select the "No Target" profile (this profile is pre-selected by default for every new instance), smart:gate works source-independently and reacts to the entire input signal.

So, to use smart:gate as a conventional, level-driven gate, select the “No Target” profile and set the Level Bias to its maximum value (100) to make sure that the the Activity Function (which serves as the control signal for the gating) actually follows the level of the input signal.

Since smart:gate detects the presence of a target source using a real-time neural network, the plug-in needs a short temporal context for the analysis. For this reason, smart:gate has a processing latency of about 80ms - which unfortunately precludes live use of the tool.

Unlike conventional gate plug-ins, smart:gate is not controlled by the overall level of the input signal, but by the activity of a selected target source.

After selecting a profile, the green Activity Function (which serves as the control signal for the gating) only shows the activity of signal components belonging to the selected target source. This means that if no source has been detected, the Activity Function will remain at zero.

The Level Bias parameter allows to fine tune the shape of the Activity Function:

• With a high level bias, the activity function follows the level of the target signal. So, the gate works level based - it opens or closes depending on the exact level of the target signal.

• With a low level bias, the Activity Function displays high values as soon as a low level of the target signal has been detected. So the gate works more or less level-independent – it opens or closes as soon as a target signal is detected (no matter how quiet it is).

Unlike the other plug-ins in our "smart" series, smart:gate does not automatically set any parameters after selecting a profile. Instead, the plug-in switches to a content-aware processing mode in which it reacts only to the activity of a selected target signal.

The omission of the learning function is intended to improve the workflow when working with the intelligent plug-in - and the parametrization of the gate is deliberately left to the user. Thanks to the content-aware processing, the gating results are typically very stable and the exact parameterization ultimately depends mainly on the user's taste anyway.