Set Threshold Just Above Room Noise Floor¶
Set the Thresh knob so the gate opens for your voice but stays closed during background noise between words. A threshold set too low lets room noise through; set too high, it clips the leading edges of speech.
Before you start¶
- The Gate stage must be enabled in the CHAIN widget. See Bypass the gate from the chain if the GATE applet is not visible.
- Have a typical noise source present in your shack (fans, air conditioning, nearby equipment) so the noise floor reading is representative.
- The GATE sub-container must be visible inside the PooDoo Audio (TXDSP) parent container.
Steps¶
- Open the GATE applet. If it is not visible, double-click the Gate stage in the CHAIN widget to open the floating Gate editor, or right-click the GATE sub-container titlebar and select the option to show it.
- Observe the transfer curve. The live input ball moves along the curve in real time, showing the current input level relative to the threshold.
- Watch the Gain-reduction bar while you are not speaking. If it shows no amber fill, the threshold is already above the noise floor — skip to step 6.
- Turn the Thresh knob slowly clockwise (toward 0 dB) while watching the Gain-reduction bar. Stop when the amber fill appears consistently while the room is quiet and you are not speaking. This point is your noise floor.
- Continue turning Thresh clockwise by 2–3 dB past that point. This gives a small margin so that borderline noise does not cause the gate to flutter.
- Speak at your normal microphone level. Confirm the input ball rises above the threshold line on the transfer curve and the Gain-reduction bar drops to near zero while you are talking.
- Return to silence. Confirm the Gain-reduction bar fills amber, indicating the gate is closed and attenuating background noise.
What each control does¶
| Control | Default | Valid range | Persisted key | Behavior |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thresh | -40.0 dB | -80.0 to 0.0 dB | ClientGateTxThresholdDb |
Level below which the gate starts attenuating. Raise this above the noise floor. |
| Ratio | 2.0 | 1.0 to 10.0 | ClientGateTxRatio |
Steepness of attenuation below threshold. Higher values give a harder cut. |
| Attack | 0.5 ms | 0.1 to 100.0 ms | ClientGateTxAttackMs |
How quickly the gate opens when input rises above threshold. |
| Release | 100 ms | 5 to 2000 ms | ClientGateTxReleaseMs |
How quickly the gate closes after input falls below threshold. |
| Floor | -15.0 dB | -80.0 to 0.0 dB | ClientGateTxFloorDb |
Maximum attenuation the gate is allowed to apply. |
| Transfer curve | — | — | — | Plots the static transfer curve. The live ball shows current input level and whether the gate is open or closed. |
| Gain-reduction bar | — | 0 to 40 dB GR | — | Amber horizontal strip, right-filled. The tick at -15 dB marks the default Floor value. |
Tips¶
- Set the threshold while the radio is in a typical operating session, not in an unusually quiet room. The noise floor that matters is the one present during actual use.
- The Gain-reduction bar scale maxes at 40 dB. If the bar fills completely during noise, the gate is applying maximum attenuation; lower
ClientGateTxFloorDb(more negative) only if you need deeper cuts. - Changes to Thresh take effect immediately and are saved automatically. No apply step is required.
- If the floating Gate editor and the GATE applet are both open, knob changes in either view sync to the other within approximately 33 ms.
Troubleshooting¶
- Input ball never rises above the threshold line while speaking — Thresh is set too high. Turn the Thresh knob counter-clockwise (toward -80 dB) until the ball crosses the threshold during normal speech.
- Gain-reduction bar shows no fill even during silence — Thresh is below the noise floor. Raise Thresh clockwise until the bar shows amber fill when the room is quiet.
- Gate flutters rapidly between open and closed — The threshold is sitting exactly on the noise floor. Raise Thresh by a further 2–3 dB, or increase Release to slow the close time. See Tune attack / release for natural open/close.
- GATE applet is not visible — The Gate stage may be bypassed or hidden. See Bypass the gate from the chain.