Trancegate settings explained
A trancegate chops a held chord into a rhythm. It's one of the oldest tricks in trance, and still one of the best ways to turn a pad into a driving part.
What a trancegate does
A gate turns the volume of a sound on and off in a tempo-synced pattern. Play a sustained supersaw chord, put a gate on it, and the chord becomes a rhythm: the chords still change every bar or two, but the pattern makes them pulse with the beat. You can gate with a dedicated plugin, an LFO step sequencer in your synth (Vital, Serum and Surge XT all have one), or volume automation.
Rate and pattern
Most trancegates run in 16th notes, with a one-bar pattern of 16 steps. Some use 32nd notes for faster, glitchier chops. The pattern is what gives the gate its character:
- Classic patterns mix single and double hits across the bar, so the rhythm rolls rather than ticks.
- Straight 16ths (every step on, each one chopped short) give a relentless motor feel.
- Offbeat patterns leave the beat to the kick and fill the gaps between, which keeps the low end clean.
- Gallop patterns (long-short-short) give a pushing, forward feel.
Draw and hear patterns over your chords in the Gate Builder, then export the gated chords as MIDI or a pattern you can copy into your synth.
Smoothing: avoid clicks
A gate that switches instantly will click, especially on low notes. Add a few milliseconds of attack and release (or "smooth" on an LFO) so each step fades in and out. Around 1 to 5 ms removes clicks while keeping the chop tight; longer smoothing gives a softer, breathier gate that suits breakdowns.
Reverb before or after the gate?
This choice changes the sound more than any other:
- Reverb after the gate: the tails fill the gaps between steps, so the gate sounds lush and the rhythm softer. This is the classic big-room sound.
- Reverb before the gate: the gate chops the reverb too, so the pattern stays crisp and the gaps silent. Good for tech trance and tighter mixes.
Many producers do both: a short reverb before the gate for body, and a longer one after it on a send.
Mixing a trancegate
- High-pass it around 150 to 250 Hz: gated low end fights the bass.
- Sidechain it lightly to the kick, or choose a pattern that rests on the beat.
- Automate the gate's depth or mix: fade it in through the build, then open it fully on the drop.
- A dotted-1/8 delay after the gate adds movement between steps. Times for your tempo are in the Delay Calculator.
Ready-made gates
The Vital and Surge XT preset generators both make a trancegate preset with the pattern built into an LFO, synced to your DAW. Hold a chord, press play, and it chops.