Rane G4 Quad Gate / Expander

Dynamics controls include:

• Gate / Expand / Duck Modes
• Look-ahead Gating
• Stereo Link
• Adjustable Threshold, Attack, Release, Hold, Depth and Ratio
• Gain Reduction / Gate meter
• Bypass

Side-chain processing includes:

• Side-Chain metering
• Internal Low- and High-Cut Filters
• Internal / External switch
• Listen switch

• Combining familiar front panel controls with the accuracy and performance of digital signal processing, Rane’s full-featured, high performance G4 Quad Gate is suitable for use in a variety of demanding dynamics processing applications. Gating, ducking and downward expansion modes are offered, together with internal high- and low-cut filters and external side-chain inputs. It is the ideal tool for front of house, monitor, instrument and voice processing, broadcast and recording.

  Analog controls (knobs, sliders) allow a performer or sound engineer to make precise adjustments in real time. Digital signal processing (DSP) provides a degree of accuracy, consistency and flexibility that simply cannot be matched with a traditional analog design.
  The G4 combines the best of both worlds by using analog controls and high performance digital processing to achieve an unprecedented feature set. Benefits of this approach:

  Allows the use of advanced compression and dynamic EQ techniques which are difficult or costly to implement in traditional analog designs.

• Improved accuracy and repeatability.
• Exceptional immunity to RF and electromagnetic interference.
• Lower cost per channel.

• The G4 is ideal for a variety of dynamics applications including gating, ducking and downward expansion. Internal or external side-chain key input, built-in side-chain filtering, side-chain listen, look-ahead signal detection and advanced metering combine with properly defined threshold, attack, decay, hold, and depth controls to provide the necessary tools for unsurpassed flexibility and performance. The G4 is the only quad gate available with this complete set of features.

  

  The graph below shows the difference between Gate and Expander operation. The solid red trace shows the side-chain input.

  Gate: The green long-dash trace shows the operation of a Gate. The Gate attenuates the signal by a fixed number of dB when the signal is below threshold. The response is adjustable over a wide range using Attack, Release and Hold controls. It is possible to achieve natural decay with string instruments by setting the release for slow ramp down. Fast attack, quick release and deep depth settings can be used to change the character of drums or other percussion instruments.

  Expander: The blue short-dash trace shows downward expansion with a ratio of 2:1. The signal is turned down gradually, resulting in lower noise in the absence of signal while allowing natural signal decay. Downward expansion generally uses a Release time of about 500 ms to 1 second and an Attack setting of 100 ms to 500 ms. The Hold function is not active when using the Expander.

  

• Conventional gates without look ahead or ramping result in audible clicks at fast attack settings.

  

  The G4 uses a very short look ahead (16 samples, or 333 microseconds) with exponential ramping to ensure accurate clickless gating.