DRAWMER / DS101 500

The 500 Series noise gate module is based on the DS201, a classic noise gate loved by users worldwide.

Industry-Standard High-End Noise Gate Joins the 500 Series

The DS101 is the first noise gate module designed specifically for the 500 Series rack system, joining the ranks of industry-standard noise gates such as the DS201, DS501, and DS404. Its usage is the same as these products.

Based on the single-channel DS201, the DS101 is a noise gate that incorporates many features invaluable to sound engineers, including a variable high-pass/low-pass filter for ""frequency-sensing gating.""

Other features include comprehensive envelope control, attack, hold, decay, range, and many other functions.

When placed side-by-side in a 500 Series rack, two or more gates can be linked using the new infrared trigger mechanism employed in the DS101. This means that any number of gates can be linked to their own unique envelope shaping, with the trigger pulse passing through unchanged. This opens up a whole world of ""envelope follower"" effects, limited only by your imagination. Features

? Fully functional noise gate based on the industry-standard DS201

? 500 Series 1-slot size

? Fully variable high/low-pass filter for ""frequency-sensing"" gating.

? Comprehensive envelope control: attack, hold, decay, range.

? External triggering via key input or new IR trigger pulse from another DS101.

? ""Key Listen"" function.

? Extremely fast attack time to maintain a natural sound attack.

? Linkable - up to 10 units in one rack space - individual envelope shaping.

? Dromer ""traffic lighting"" meter.

? Usable for ""gating"" and ""ducking"".

? Low-noise design

Setting up a noise gate can be cumbersome and unrewarding. For example, when trying to isolate a signal from relatively high levels of unwanted noise or crosstalk, spurious triggering of the gate by unwanted components in the sound can be a serious problem. This is a common experience when recording a drum kit in a studio. If you use a gate to clean up the snare drum sound, a nearby hi-hat often gets picked up by the snare drum's microphone, causing the gate to open. Raising the threshold level might solve this problem, but then there's a risk that the gate won't open at all for smaller snare drum beats, easily ruining the performance.

DRAWMER's solution to this problem is the inclusion of two variable filters?high-pass and low-pass?acting on the sidechain keying circuit. By setting the output switch to key-listen, the user can hear the filter in action and adjust it to remove high frequencies spilling from the hi-hat. This ensures the gate only opens at the low frequencies present in the snare drum.

The DS101's extremely fast attack allows it to open in just a few seconds, preserving the natural attack of the gated sound. Its comprehensive envelope control means you can change the gain at the optimal speed for the material being processed. For example, with vocals, a fairly fast attack is needed to avoid clipping the initial consonants, but a slower release time prevents clipping at the end of words and allows for a gradual fade-out of noise rather than abrupt cuts. This latter point is crucial because the human ear is far more sensitive to rapidly changing noise levels than to constant low levels.

Another important role of a gate is to reshape existing sounds. For example, you can use a simple sampling delay line to save a sound and later re-trigger it into your mix. Also, by carefully setting the decay envelope, you can effectively hide noise present at the end of a sample. When using a sampler or drum machine, a gate can be thought of as a triggered envelope shaper, and the DS101 is ideal for this application due to its wide envelope control tolerance.

This unit can be switched to key input, allowing you to trigger the gate externally. For example, you can use the snare drum signal to open the gate of another ambient microphone, creating a natural alternative to gated reverb.

With a rack-loaded DS101, each unit can be individually switched from gating to ducking and used for ""voiceover"" applications or to remove ""clicks"" and ""pops.""