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AFD Gate $12

VST3 and Standalone · Windows and macOS · Linear Phase

AFD Gate

Filter the trigger. Shape the tail.

AFD Gate, the Amanorsac Frequency Dependent Gate, is a linear-phase gate for close-miked drums. You choose which part of the sound opens the gate, and which part gets turned down, so a snare hit can open a gate that only cuts the cymbal wash above it.

See how it works

$12 once · version 1.3.0 · runs offline with no activation, ever

An engineer at a large console with AFD Gate on the screen, a drum kit visible through the control room glass

A Gate That Knows Which Drum It Is On

Most gates make their decision using the whole signal, and then turn down the whole signal. On a close-miked kit that is the wrong tool for the job. The snare mic hears the hi-hats and the tom mics hear everything. A gate that ducks the whole channel takes the room with it, and you end up with a kit that sounds assembled rather than played.

AFD Gate splits those two decisions apart. One band decides when the gate opens. A different band decides what gets turned down. So a snare can open a gate that only cuts the cymbal wash, and the body of the snare never moves.

AFD Gate's interface: the detector display with the opening threshold drawn across it, the trigger and gated band selectors, and the envelope and output controls
The whole interface: the detector trace, the two band selectors, and everything that shapes the envelope.
2bands: one that listens and one that gets turned down
257tap linear-phase band split that rebuilds the input exactly
7factory presets, one for each job on the kit
0activations, accounts or network calls. It just runs

Trigger

Choose What Opens the Gate

The trigger band is the only part of the signal the detector hears. Drag an edge to move one end, drag the middle to slide the whole band, and double-click to reset it. The gated band underneath is the part that actually gets turned down, so you can set a gate that opens on the snare and only cuts the spill above it.

The two band selectors on a logarithmic scale from 20 Hz to 20 kHz: the trigger band in blue above, the gated band in amber below
The trigger band in blue decides when. The gated band in amber decides what.
A snare drum under a close mic in a dark live room, with AFD Gate open on a laptop beside the kit

Detector

See the Decision, Not Just the Result

The display draws the filtered detector signal against the opening threshold, with the hysteresis line underneath and the gain reduction filled in behind. If the gate misses a ghost note, you can see why before you touch a single control.

The detector display: the filtered signal traced against the opening threshold, with gain reduction shaded behind it

An Envelope That Behaves

Attack and release are smoothed in decibels, so a release falls evenly from the start of the tail to the end instead of collapsing at the front. Hold bridges the gaps between hits, hysteresis stops chatter at the threshold, and retrigger lockout stops buzz and wash from flapping the gate.

Lookahead for Free

Lookahead delays the detector less than the audio, so the gate is already open when a transient lands. The latency reported to your DAW does not change when you change the setting.

Trigger From Anywhere

An external sidechain input can take the decision from another track, and it falls back to the track's own signal when nothing is connected. You can also listen to the filtered detector on its own to check exactly what it is hearing.

The session toolbar: undo, redo, the A and B setups, the preset list with step arrows, load, save and about

Compare, Undo and Recall

You get two independent setups for A and B comparisons, undo and redo across every control, factory presets with step arrows and setup files on disk. The preset name is marked the moment you change anything, so you always know whether you are still on it.

On the Kit

One Plug-in, Three Jobs

AFD Gate comes with seven factory presets for the kick, snare, toms, cymbal spill and the rest, each with the bands already in a sensible place. Step through them with the arrows without letting go of the mouse. Here is what it looks like once it is working.

AFD Gate on a kick drum

Kick

The trigger band sits down where the beater is, and everything above it is ignored by the detector.

AFD Gate on a snare

Snare

The natural body of the drum, with the hysteresis line holding the gate open through the ring.

AFD Gate in frequency mode, cutting cymbal spill

Cymbal Spill

In frequency mode the snare opens the gate, and only the band above it is turned down.

No Activation, No Account

Once AFD Gate is yours it simply runs. There is no key to type, no server to reach and nothing phoning home. You buy it here because this is where the download lives, not because the plug-in will ever ask who you are. Install it on every computer you own.

Tech Specs

Formats

VST3 and standalone, on Windows x64 and macOS.

Channels

Mono or linked stereo, with an optional stereo sidechain input.

Latency

128 samples of band split group delay plus 5 ms, reported to the host.

Detector

Two pole band-pass, 12 dB per octave each side, 20 Hz to 20 kHz.

Band Split

257 tap Blackman windowed linear-phase complementary pair. Rebuilds the input exactly when the gate is open at unity.

Sample Rates

Tested at 44.1, 48, 96 and 192 kHz.

Threshold

-72 to 0 dBFS. Depth 0 to 80 dB.

Envelope

Attack 0.01 to 30 ms, hold 0 to 250 ms, release 5 to 1500 ms.

Lookahead

0 to 5 ms, with no change to reported latency.

Interface

Resizable. The size is saved with the session.

Validation

Passes pluginval at strictness level 10 with no warnings.

Network

None. Runs offline, with no telemetry and no activation.

Questions

What does linear phase actually give me here?
When the gate is open, the two bands add back up to exactly the signal you put in. Nothing is smeared and nothing is phase shifted, so leaving the plug-in in the chain costs you nothing while it is not gating.
What is the difference between the trigger band and the gated band?
The trigger band is what the detector listens to, so it decides when the gate opens. The gated band is what gets turned down in frequency mode. Keeping them separate is the whole point: a snare can open a gate that only cuts what is above it.
Does it add latency?
128 samples of band split group delay plus 5 ms, and it tells your DAW, so your session stays in time. Changing the lookahead does not change that number.
Does it need the internet or a licence key?
Neither. There is no activation, no telemetry and no network use at all. Buying puts the download in your My Apps, and after that the plug-in has nothing to check.
Windows or Mac?
Both, as VST3 and standalone, from one purchase. An iOS version compiles in testing but has not been released.
Windows says it protected my PC. Is something wrong?
No. The Windows build is not code signed yet, so SmartScreen shows a blue box the first time because it does not recognise a new publisher. Click More info, then Run anyway.
AFD Gate on the console screen in a control room

AFD Gate

$12

Bought once, and that is all. VST3 and standalone for Windows and macOS, with no activation and no account needed to run it. It is also part of the Studio Bundle.

See the Studio Bundle

How to Pay

In Ghana, pay with MTN MoMo. Everywhere else, pay by card.

Ghana · MTN MoMo

Pay at the studio's MoMo link, then send the screenshot.

  1. Open the link or scan the code. The request is to Stephen Amanor Sackey, 024 685 8947.
  2. Send the price of AFD Gate. Not sure of the cedi amount? Ask on WhatsApp first.
  3. Send the screenshot to 024 685 8947 on WhatsApp with the app's name and the email of your account here. Your code comes back the same day and unlocks it in My Apps.
Pay with MoMo
MoMo QR code for Stephen Amanor Sackey, 024 685 8947
Scan to pay with MoMo