Hello fellow Stickists,

I've recently started to work on recording my Stick and think I need a noise gate on the way in. I know there is bleed between the two sides of the pickups (PASV4), and using a single amp, or two amps, I never really noticed it and it didn't really bother me. However, I noticed it immediately when setting levels in my DAW. I almost thought that there was a wiring malfunction somewhere and the two channels were crossed (or summed to mono), but that was not the case.

What's your experience with noise gates and the Stick? Have they worked for you? Pros/Cons?

In addition to eliminating pickup bleed, I'm looking to remove the *clunk* of a misplaced finger striking adjacent strings as well. Would a noise gate help with that, or a larger mute (i.e. FretWrap) at the bridge?

I'm a fan of Pigtronix pedals, has anyone tried their noise gate? Any other recommendations? Would I be better off with a gate in the box, rather than an external unit?

Thanks in advance!

The boss noise suppressor is pretty good, I use them in my guitar rig as well as one enabled in my Boss GT-100 signal chain for the Stick (I use one GT-100 on the bass side, and one for the melody side). I really notice stuff when I record direct to my DAW, but maybe that's because of my interface (Apogee Ensemble into a Mac Pro). Little noises and hum, some crosstalk that I can sort of tolerate when I am plugged into my amps but I don't like it "Direct in" - Logic ProX's noise suppressor works great, as does Izotope's RX6 plugin... Being plugged into the Boss units for direct recording is pretty quiet also. I also have a Helix and an AxeFX that work great for that sort of thing too... (I prefer that for guitar, and the boss cosm stuff for Stick)

As for the clanks and thwack noises, I try to practice those away... could be a while though!

I use noise gates because I use high gain effects which just amplify hiss and when I'm not playing it's annoying...
Gates aren't too good for the clunks and misplaced finger... just need to practice to get rid of that.

Since I use the MOD Duo, everything is "in the box" as it were... just like a DAW plugin. I did find that an expander sounds more natural.
I find that the attack from the first note can be lost especially if the threshold is too high and the attack is too slow.

Another thing that can help is to use a high pass filter to cut out any low rumble that may bleed through to the melody side. Not sure if there is a pedal that does that...

Dean, which plug-in do you use for this application on the Mod Duo?

It sounds like you are describing a job for a high-pass filter, not a noise gate. In your DAW, add a high-pass filter to your melody side's track; set it to the fundamental frequency of your melody side's lowest string.

For the Expanger/Gate I use the Mono Dynamics plugin. Select the expander option. There is a gate option too but I find it not as natural sounding as the expander.
https://pedalboards.moddevices.com/plugins/aHR0cDovL21vZGRldmljZXMuY29tL3BsdWdpbnMvdGFwL2R5bmFtaWNz

I use the High Pass Filter plugin to cut any low rumble.
https://pedalboards.moddevices.com/plugins/aHR0cDovL21vZGRldmljZXMuY29tL3BsdWdpbnMvdGFwL2R5bmFtaWNz

I'm a big fan of using High Pass Filters to just cut out any frequencies which are not useful. Those low-end frequencies which are inaudible can take away from your speakers and amplifier and lose clarity. I use the highpass filter even on the bass side set to 20 or 30hz to make sure those unusable frequencies don't get through. It may be overkill but it makes me feel good to know nothing desctructive is getting through...

For the PASV-4, this is a great recommendation, as most of the crosstalk is low-frequency on that pickup.

Generally speaking, though, I would also suggest on working on technique to get more sound out of the strings you want to amplify.

Hand movement = more energy in = less invasive crosstalk from the other set of strings.

For more on how hand movement in Stick playing works, see my DVD, Basic Free Hands Technique

I agree with Robstafarian that a low cut (high pass) is more urgent than noise gates. I ALWAYS cut low frequencies from the melody side output before amplifying the signal. That's needed to get my lead tone, especially when using distortion on the melody side. Doing that cut in the DAW is too late, because keeping the low bumps from bass side and finger tapping in general out of the melody side system helps to make the tone sing better in the first place - and that is what is being recorded into the DAW, you want to record the best sounding output from both sides.

I got that the impression that the OP was running directly into a DAW.

By the way, it is great to see you.

If you do need to go noise gate route, I've owned an ISP decimator (an awesome pedal) , EHX Silencer and Joyo noise gate. If you want to experiment the Joyo price makes it painless and its pretty impressive. I think if money is no issue go ISP.

Just by 2cents.