Sonible’s AI-powered smart:gate plugin promises to trump its rivals by being ‘content-aware’

Sonible has expanded its range of smart, AI-powered plugins with the release of a gate. Unlike similar processors, which are triggered purely by input level, this is content-aware, and comes with a wide range of instrument and sound profiles.

These can be selected from a drop-down menu, and cover the likes of vocals, electric guitar and piano. The result, we’re told, is a gate that delivers even if the target source varies in level, or if a competing signal is louder than the one you want to keep.

The level of the detected target signal is displayed in smart:gate’s visualiser, which should aid parameter tweaking. The Instant Replay feature, meanwhile, predicts the impact on the entire signal when those tweaks are made.

You can turn off the content awareness and use the plugin as a standard gate if you wish, and there’s also a content-aware ducking mode that will reduce the selected target signal. The gating can be tailored across the frequency spectrum using the three-band suppression control.

smart:gate runs on PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats and is available now for the introductory price of €89 (as of 21 August the price will be €129). Find out more and download a demo on the Sonible website.