Use AGC-G on RX to suppress band noise below a chosen floor¶

The RX-side Aetherial AGC-G (client-side downward expander) attenuates received audio that falls below a threshold you set, letting you silence background band noise or static between signals while keeping wanted audio untouched.

Before you start¶

You must be connected to a FLEX-8600 radio.
The Aetherial Audio (TXDSP) parent container must be visible in the Applet Panel.
The RX side Gate stage must be enabled via the CHAIN widget (double-click the GATE stage on the RX side to open its editor, or single-click to toggle bypass).

Steps¶

In the Applet Panel, locate the Aetherial AGC-G (RX) sub-container inside the Aetherial Audio (TXDSP) parent container. If it is hidden, double-click the GATE stage in the CHAIN widget on the RX side to open the floating editor (titled "Aetherial Gate — RX").
Adjust Thresh (default: -40.0 dB) downward until the band noise you want to suppress sits below the threshold. Watch the live input ball on the transfer-curve display — when the ball is below the threshold line, the gate is closed and attenuation is applied.
Set Floor (default: -15.0 dB) to the maximum attenuation you want applied to background noise. A typical setting is -15 to -20 dB — enough to silence noise without making gaps between words sound unnaturally silent.
Adjust Ratio (default: 2.0) to control how aggressively the gate cuts:
Lower ratios (1.0–3.0) act as a soft downward expander — background noise fades smoothly.
Higher ratios (5.0–10.0) create a harder, more traditional gate feel.
Set Return (default: 2.0 dB) to prevent rapid opening and closing near the threshold. A cyan hysteresis band appears on the transfer curve between (Thresh − Return) and Thresh — the gate stays open inside this zone until the input drops below it, then must rise above Thresh to reopen.
Adjust Release (default: 100 ms) to control how quickly the gate closes after the input falls below Thresh − Return. Longer values (500–2000 ms) give a more natural fade; shorter values (5–50 ms) can sound abrupt.

What each control does¶

Control	Default	Range	Setting key	Behavior
Thresh	-40.0 dB	-80.0 to 0.0 dB	`ClientGateRxThresholdDb`	Level below which the gate starts attenuating. Linear mapping.
Ratio	2.0	1.0 to 10.0	`ClientGateRxRatio`	Higher ratios give a harder, more gate-like cut; lower ratios act as a soft downward expander. Displayed as "X.X:1".
Return	2.0 dB	0.0 to 20.0 dB	`ClientGateRxReturnDb`	Hysteresis deadband: gate opens above Thresh and stays open until input drops below Thresh − Return. Displayed as "X.XX dB". The transfer-curve widget draws a soft-cyan vertical band between (Thresh − Return) and Thresh to make the sticky zone visible.
Release	100 ms	5 to 2000 ms	`ClientGateRxReleaseMs`	How quickly the gate closes after input falls below Thresh − Return. Exponential mapping. Displayed as "X.X ms" below 100 ms, "X ms" above.
Floor	-15.0 dB	-80.0 to 0.0 dB	`ClientGateRxFloorDb`	Maximum attenuation the gate is allowed to apply. Linear mapping.
Gain-reduction bar	—	0 to 40 dB GR	—	Amber horizontal strip, right-filled. Scale maxes at 40 dB; a tick at -15 dB marks the default Floor.
Transfer curve	—	—	—	Plots the expander's static transfer curve and a live ball at the current input level. In compact mode (when the floating editor is used), axis labels are cached as static text and rendered at 7-pixel font size for improved performance.

Inline value editing¶

Each tuning knob (Thresh, Ratio, Return, Release, Floor) supports direct numeric entry. Click the displayed value below any knob to open an inline text editor. Type a new value and press Enter, or click elsewhere, to commit the change. The knob updates live and clamps the entered value to the valid range. Press Esc to cancel editing and revert to the previous value. The editor uses a locale-aware parser, so decimal separators matching your system locale (for example, a comma in European locales) work correctly.

Theme-aware knob colors¶

Knobs in the Aetherial AGC-G (RX) container use theme colors from the color.knob.* namespace: - Background ring: color.knob.background - Foreground arc: color.knob.foreground - Pointer: color.knob.handle - Label text: color.text.secondary - Value text: color.text.primary

The curve widget uses these theme colors: - Background: color.background.0 - Grid lines: color.background.1 - Axis labels: color.text.label - Curve: color.accent.warning (amber) - Ball glow: color.accent.warning (amber) - Ball core: color.text.primary

Knob colors follow per-applet container overrides. If you create a custom theme, set colors in the applet/gate container for the gate-specific knob rendering.

Meter animation efficiency¶

The gain-reduction bar and other real-time meter indicators in the gate applet use smooth interpolation for their animation. To reduce CPU usage, the animation stops updating the display once the meter value has settled — that is, when the smoothed value no longer changes significantly. A minimal repaint is triggered only when the value actually changes. When the meter is idle (no audio input), no repaints occur until the next meter update, conserving resources on slower machines and improving responsiveness on battery-powered systems.

Tips¶

Start with Thresh just above the highest level of background noise you want to suppress. Adjust while listening to a weak signal — the gate should open cleanly when the signal rises above the noise.
The Gain-reduction bar shows live attenuation depth. When no signal is present, it should show steady GR equal to your Floor setting. If it never reaches Floor, Thresh may be set too low or the band noise is too loud.
Tuning knobs here and in the floating editor stay in sync — changes in either place update the other live.
The transfer-curve display caches axis labels for efficient rendering. When switching between compact mode (floating editor) and full-size mode, labels automatically refresh at the appropriate font size.
To enter a precise value quickly, click the displayed number below any knob and type directly instead of dragging the knob.