New Gate Technology Debuts with Drawmer's DS 501 PowerGateApr 02, 2001 
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Engineering guru Ivor Drawmer has developed the DS501 PowerGate, designed to preserve critical percussion transients. Key to the development of the DS501 was breaking through old ways of thinking to solve the age-old gate problem of "lack of attack". Where typical gates have a slow attack time to prevent clicking and other artifacts, lopping off the initial transient, Drawmer has coupled a frequency tunable "high speed expander" that is tied to the same threshold as the gate. The tunable expander "punches" a gated transient as the DS501 PowerGate is opening, "letting go" in milliseconds. The combination of Drawmer high-speed gating and high-speed transient expansion make the DS501 PowerGate an audio tool for percussion. Drawmer dubs the whole process "Professional Peak Punch." Initially used in the Drawmer MX40, "Peak Punch" in the 501 PowerGate provides frequency tunable controls to tweak or even exaggerate the DS501's Peak Punch expander. Two Peak Punch modes are available: "tunable" or "full band". In tunable mode, the user selects the center frequency of a one-octave filter (75Hz to 16kHz) for the expander and effectively shapes the transients of the gated signal. In full band mode, the gate and the expander respond to the entire audio spectrum. In either mode, a "more" control permits the user to tailor the amount of transient expansion (Peak Punch) employed. In extremely high ambient noise situations, the Drawmer PowerGate is a savior for it can effectively restore the attack of a heavily gated and isolated kick or snare. Of course, transient restoration isn't the whole story. Drawmer built the rest of the DS501 PowerGate equal to the Drawmer DS201 Dual Gate. Like its forerunner, the DS501 features two stereo-linkable or independent channels of "frequency conscious" gating for the most complete suite of parameter controls available: attack speed, decay time, hold time, and release time plus downward gain range. In addition, users can use the 501 key input for external triggering or ducking. "No other gate can touch the DS501," said Brad Lunde, president of Transamerica AG. "Where other gates are just tossing critical audio information away, usually because they are too slow, the Drawmer PowerGate is the only one that actually gives users critical audio information back. It is shocking to hear for the first time on snare and kick drums. There's nothing like it available from anyone." "One thing gate users will love most about the PowerGate is that it's a lot of fun to use. It gives them a range of sounds they have never had before." Transamerica Group will distribute the DS501 PowerGate in the USA. The unit will list for $900 (only slightly more than the DS201). For more information, visit their web site at www.drawmer.com. |
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