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moosers
Published on 05/18/10 at 12:11
Digidesign's DigiRack Expander/Gate is a plug-in that comes stock with Pro Tools software. You don't need to install anything once the Pro Tools installation process has been completed as it takes care of installing all of the DigiRack and other free plug-ins during this process. As far as the interface goes, it has the same look as the other DigiRack plug-ins. It consists of parameters for range, attack, ratio, release, hold, and threshold, which all can be used either as an expander or a gate depending on how you set them. It also has a sidechain with both high and low pass filters, and graph to show your work. Lastly the Digidesign DigiRack Expander/Gate has sliders for input and output levels. A manual isn't made for this plug-in as far as I know, unless they talk about it in the Pro Tools manual.
SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE
I am currently running the Digidesign DigiRack Expander/Gate plug-in in Pro Tools LE 8 on a Mac Book Pro that has a 2.2 Ghz processor and 4 GB of RAM. I also used to run it in Pro Tools LE 7 when I had it before I upgraded. I run Pro Tools LE with a Digi 002R audio interface. I'm not sure how far back this plug-in goes in older versions of Pro Tools, but I believe it goes pretty far back - at least far back enough that almost all current Pro Tools users should have it in some capacity or another. I can't say I've ever had an issue in terms of performance with this plug-in and I don't believe that most users will have one either. If you have Pro Tools and this plug-in, I'd recommend just pulling up as many as your system will handle to get a good idea of how many you'll be able to run at a time.
OVERALL OPINION
It's definitely nice to have a plug-in like the Digidesign DigiRack Expander/Gate come with Pro Tools, but I don't find myself using it all that often since I've got other plug-ins that I've bought that I'd rather use. It definitely doesn't sound bad at all - in fact it's quite usable. I'd say that it is most useful for new Pro Tools users who may not have other plug-ins to work with. Even if you do have other plug-ins like I do, I find that you can never have enough plug-ins, so having a free one like this around is never a bad thing. I'd encourage all Pro Tools user to take advantage of this plug-in, or at least give it a shot.
SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE
I am currently running the Digidesign DigiRack Expander/Gate plug-in in Pro Tools LE 8 on a Mac Book Pro that has a 2.2 Ghz processor and 4 GB of RAM. I also used to run it in Pro Tools LE 7 when I had it before I upgraded. I run Pro Tools LE with a Digi 002R audio interface. I'm not sure how far back this plug-in goes in older versions of Pro Tools, but I believe it goes pretty far back - at least far back enough that almost all current Pro Tools users should have it in some capacity or another. I can't say I've ever had an issue in terms of performance with this plug-in and I don't believe that most users will have one either. If you have Pro Tools and this plug-in, I'd recommend just pulling up as many as your system will handle to get a good idea of how many you'll be able to run at a time.
OVERALL OPINION
It's definitely nice to have a plug-in like the Digidesign DigiRack Expander/Gate come with Pro Tools, but I don't find myself using it all that often since I've got other plug-ins that I've bought that I'd rather use. It definitely doesn't sound bad at all - in fact it's quite usable. I'd say that it is most useful for new Pro Tools users who may not have other plug-ins to work with. Even if you do have other plug-ins like I do, I find that you can never have enough plug-ins, so having a free one like this around is never a bad thing. I'd encourage all Pro Tools user to take advantage of this plug-in, or at least give it a shot.