Trance gate: what it is and the free plugins that do it

What a trance gate sounds like

Here's the same four-bar loop four ways: dry, through a plain 16th-note gate, through simpleStutter's "Trance 1" gate pattern, and with that gate over a half-time slowdown.

How a trance gate works

A trance gate is a step sequencer for volume. The bar is split into steps, usually 16 of them, one per 16th note. Each step is on or off. On steps let the sound through and off steps mute it, and because the steps follow your DAW's tempo the chops always land on the beat.

Three settings decide how it sounds:

• The pattern. All 16 steps on gives a steady pulse. Leaving out a few steps gives a rhythm, and that pattern is what people mean by "a trance gate".
• Attack. How fast each step opens. Zero attack clicks on most sounds, so I start with a few milliseconds.
• Release, or step length. How long each step stays open before it closes. Short steps sound choppy and percussive, and long ones sound like a pulsing tremolo.

Most gates also have a mix control. Below 100% the off steps only dip the sound, so it pulses instead of chopping, which is easier to sit in a full mix.

Trance gate, noise gate and sidechain

A noise gate is a different tool with the same name. It opens when the input gets louder than a threshold, so it follows the sound coming in, while a trance gate follows the tempo and ignores the input. Sidechain compression ducks a sound each time the kick hits, which gives a pump rather than a chop. A gate with a smooth ramp on each beat can fake that pump, and simpleStutter's volume lane has pump shapes for it. The free sidechain plugins guide covers both ways.

How I'd set one up

1. Put the gate on a sustained part: a pad, a chord stab held for a bar, a string section or a vocal. Gating drums mostly just removes hits.
2. Set the step size to 1/16. Use 1/8 for slower, halftime tracks and 1/32 for fills.
3. Start with every step on, then switch off steps until you hear a rhythm you like. Leaving the step on beat 1 helps it lock to the kick.
4. Give each step a little attack and set the release so it doesn't click when it closes.
5. Change the pattern for the last bar of a phrase, or speed it up from 1/16 to 1/32, to lead into the next section.

In simpleStutter the gate lives in the volume lane, under the time blocks, so it can gate a repeat, a half time or a reverse in the same pattern. The "Over half time" clip above is one block of half time with a Trance 1 gate on top of it.

Free trance gate plugins

simpleStutter

My own plugin. It's a time effect first, with blocks for repeats, half time, reverse, scratches and tape stops on a 16-step grid. The volume lane under it holds the gates: straight 1/8, 1/16 and 1/32 chops, triplet gates, several trance and house patterns, pumps, saws and tremolos, or a shape you draw yourself.

• Free: every block and every gate shape in both lanes, pattern slots 1 and 2, and 54 of the 192 factory patterns, with no time limit.
• One-time unlock (£29.99): all 12 slots switched by MIDI notes, all 192 patterns, up to four layers, and saving your own patterns.
• Catch: it's new (version 0.1.0 came out on 10 November 2026), and there's no AAX version for Pro Tools and no CLAP version.

Kilohearts Trance Gate

A dedicated step gate with attack, decay, sustain and release knobs that shape every step, a resolution control for the step length, and eight pattern slots. It's free with a Kilohearts account, and it also loads as a snap-in inside Phase Plant, Multipass and Snap Heap.

• Good for: the classic trance gate sound with very little setup, and it's the only one here with an AAX version for Pro Tools.
• Catch: you need to make an account to download it, and it only changes volume.

Get it from Kilohearts.

Psytrance Plugins PROGate

Released free for the KVR Developer Challenge 2023. It has two gate channels of 32 steps each, which can run on both sides or one on the left and one on the right. Each channel has pulse, swing, attack and release, a filter and four LFOs or envelopes, and the master section adds delay, chorus, reverb and a stutter button.

• Good for: psytrance-style gating with movement, and stereo patterns that bounce between the speakers.
• Catch: it's a small developer's plugin from 2023, and its Mac build isn't notarised, so macOS may ask you to allow it in System Settings first.

Its download is on KVR (Windows 10 or 11, macOS 10.15 or later including Apple silicon).

The trance gate already in your DAW

Ableton Live: Auto Pan-Tremolo

In Live 12, Auto Pan became Auto Pan-Tremolo, with a Tremolo mode where one LFO changes the volume. Set the waveform to Square and the rate to Synced at 1/16 and it chops on every 16th. It can't skip steps, so for an actual pattern you'd draw volume automation or use one of the plugins above.

Logic Pro: Step FX and Remix FX

Step FX, under Multi Effects in Logic's plug-in menu, has three step modulators of up to 128 steps each, and any of them can drive the gate. You draw the gate pattern, and the other two can move the filter or pan in time with it. Remix FX's Gater is quicker for a drop you play live on the XY pad, and the Tremolo plug-in gives a steady pulse.

FL Studio: Gross Beat and Fruity Love Philter

If your edition of FL Studio has Gross Beat, its volume envelope is a trance gate and comes with gate presets. Fruity Love Philter can also gate: draw a pattern on a bank's VOL target and turn on its sync option so the envelope follows the song position.

Common questions

What is a trance gate?

An effect that turns a sound's volume on and off in a step pattern synced to the tempo, usually in 16th notes. It makes a held pad or chord play a rhythm.

Is a trance gate the same as a noise gate?

No. A noise gate opens when the input gets louder than a threshold. A trance gate opens and closes on a pattern that follows the tempo, whatever the input is doing.

Why does my trance gate click?

Each step starts or stops too suddenly. Add a few milliseconds of attack and a short release, or pick a gate shape with ramped edges.

What's the best free trance gate for Mac?

simpleStutter, Kilohearts Trance Gate and PROGate all have AU versions for Logic and GarageBand. Logic users also have Step FX built in.

Can I make a trance gate without a plugin?

Yes. Draw square volume automation on 16th notes, or slice the audio on the grid and delete every other slice. Both take longer to change than a gate plugin.

More guides

• The half-time effect and free halftime plugins
• Free stutter plugins
• Free Gross Beat alternatives
• Free sidechain plugins
• All guides