In this clip
MIDI Gate: letting the notes on one track open and close the sound of another.
This excerpt uses Cubase. It shows the technique in that project; it is not a complete course or a requirement to buy Cubase for lessons.
Before watching
The example follows tracks in a music-production project. You can read the transcript without opening a project or playing the video.
Read the English transcript
One of the most underrated tools in production, in my opinion,
and one I use all the time, is MIDI Gate.
Here's what MIDI Gate lets you do:
you have an audio track on the timeline,
and alongside it, a MIDI track with note-on and note-off messages
open and close the gate,
letting the other track play or fall silent.
For example, in this song,
the singer sings, "And I love you,"
and a choir answers him.
[Singer and choir]
So where does MIDI Gate come in?
Here are the choir tracks we heard a moment ago.
And here's the MIDI track.
Its job is to operate the gate: to close it or open it.
When there's no blue light, the gate is closed.
A blue light means I've pressed a MIDI note on the keyboard.
Okay?
Now let's play the project.
No blue light.
Now watch: I'm going to play.
MIDI Gate has lots of uses, both artistic and technical.
In this production, I'm using MIDI Gate
to chop up the choir, which acts as a kind of pad,
and give the song some movement.
Let's hear it in context.