Ableton Forum

I use some plugins such as tape emulations that simulate tape noise, but it also creates noise just when the set is open. Any suggestions?

Use a noise gate after it or find a better plugin

doghouse wrote:Use a noise gate after it or find a better plugin

well, the plugin is designed to emulate tape saturation and tape noise. so the plugin works fine.

Wait, you're using a plugin whose purpose is to generate noise, but you don't want it to generate noise?

I'm not sure I follow?

If your question is "How do I make it not make noise when I have the set open but not playing" then the answer is simply "mute the track when you don't want to hear it." There are a couple of tricks you could do - for example, you could automate the track activator or the track level so that it isn't active / is at -inf dB at 1.1.1, but quickly comes back in before your recordings start. So this way, anytime the playhead is at 1.1.1 (which you can jump to by double-clicking the stop button) you shouldn't hear the plugin, even though it's processing sound.

Hope this helps!

Warrior Bob wrote:Wait, you're using a plugin whose purpose is to generate noise, but you don't want it to generate noise?

I'm not sure I follow?

If your question is "How do I make it not make noise when I have the set open but not playing" then the answer is simply "mute the track when you don't want to hear it." There are a couple of tricks you could do - for example, you could automate the track activator or the track level so that it isn't active / is at -inf dB at 1.1.1, but quickly comes back in before your recordings start. So this way, anytime the playhead is at 1.1.1 (which you can jump to by double-clicking the stop button) you shouldn't hear the plugin, even though it's processing sound.

Hope this helps!

yea, thats what im doing currently, just sort of a pain.

I want the sound that the plugin is effect to have noise, but I dont want noise when the sound is not playing.

Yep, use a gate.

What's the tape plug you're using BTW?

DUY Dad Tape.

sounds great.

You could freeze the track, then the instrument + the noise will be rendered and only sound when the track is actually playing.

I use the gate plug all the time for this purpose. Adjust the treshold, attack and decay. Treshold sets the decible limit as to were to cut. It can be set negative or positive. So if you set it to, say -30db negative, all sound will be cut if it reaches below -30db. You can also set the db it wil go to. Inf (infinity) is off, but you could also set it to a number, like -40db, etc. Attack adjusts how fast it will react, and decay how slow it will reset back.

I use it as a fuse sometimes. Tension can suddenly freak out with very loud audio spikes, and possibly blow your speakers. Always use a fuse on that synth!

gate