Gate effect.

[rhythmtech]

i use it if im engineering a band..

when you record live drums even the best mics get a little bleed (ie: some hats coming thru on snare track) so you add a gate to cut out as much of the bleed tail as you can.

[audioinjection]

yeah, u usually want to use a gate to avoid bleeding from other instruments, like on a snare or kick drum (on a real drum kit)

oh, and even vocals too, like when you hear the singers headphone mix bleeding into the mic or some slight breathing

[Miromiric]

gate "closes" down the signal (mutes), based on the setting you put. it is used to eliminate the unwanted noise or, for example, breathing in / out.
originally it was used to mute tape hiss, that was produced on tape machines.

where to use it in techno? i sometimes made nice effect of cutting bass+kick in some breakdown, but generally it is easier for me to automate manually what gate would do.

[Ritzi Lee]

Thanks guys.
I'll keep this in mind!

[Andy]

As well as the usual noise gate method, i like to use them for creative sounds.

A good example is triggering them with midi. A long held note with a filter sweep, then apply a midi triggered gate to create a rythmic filtery fx sound