Gates

Welcome to Gates

Gates is a MIDI drum-pattern workstation for building song sections from chained step patterns. Browse the factory library, edit six drum rows, shape timing and variation, save complete arrangements, then play or drag the resulting MIDI into your DAW.

Core model: A Project contains ordered Sections. Each Section owns its own pattern chain and its own Speed, Humanize, Drift, and Chaos settings.

Quick start

1. Insert Gates before the drum instrument, sampler, or drum machine you want it to play.
2. In Outputs, select the Device Profile that matches that instrument’s MIDI notes and channels.
3. Choose a section, then browse for a pattern to replace the selected chain slot or append another slot.
4. Edit hits in the grid. Ctrl adds calm hits, Shift adds accents, right-click removes, and dragging paints steps.
5. Shape the selected section with Speed, Humanize, Drift, and Chaos.
6. Press Write or Cmd/Ctrl + S to commit the edited section before moving on.
7. Drag the active section or individual rows into your DAW, or save the whole arrangement with Projects.

Outputs and device profiles

The Device Profile menu in Outputs is Gates’ “which drum machine am I controlling?” setting. Choose the built-in profile for your drum machine or sampler, such as General MIDI, Roland TR-8S, Elektron Digitakt / Syntakt, or UVI Falcon Modular Drums.

Each profile configures the six Gates rows for that device:

Selecting another profile immediately updates the row note selectors. Use Edit Custom Profiles… when the destination is not listed or when you need a different note or channel layout. Factory profiles cannot be overwritten or deleted; use Save As New to create an editable copy.

Per-instance output: The active Device Profile belongs to this Gates instance. Loading a saved Gates Project leaves its Device Profile, note mappings, and MIDI channel routing unchanged, so separate Gates instances can remain configured for different drum machines.

Projects, sections, and chains

Projects hold sections such as Intro, Drop, Break, Riser, Fill, Outro, or your own names. The order of sections is the song-level arrangement.

Inside each section, the Chain row contains up to 16 pattern slots. Repeated slots such as A A A B are normal: they let one groove hold for several bars before a fill or variation.

Write commits the edited section to the current project state. Revert restores the last written state. Projects saves and loads the full arrangement without replacing this plug-in instance’s device profile and output routing.

Do not confuse the levels: Top-level Sections form the arrangement. A Section’s Chain is only the internal loop or variation sequence for that section.

Pattern browser and grid

The Pattern Browser groups factory and saved user patterns by category. Choose a pattern to replace the current chain slot or append it to the active section. Saved user patterns retain their chosen category and also appear in the User category.

Use the sequencer

Each row is one drum sound, and the 16 columns move from left to right through one bar. The stronger vertical lines mark the four beats. Start your DAW transport and edit while the pattern loops.

For a quick roll, point at a step and scroll up to add rapid sub-hits. Scroll down to remove them and return to a single hit or an empty step.

Six drum rows

Device Profiles map these logical rows to your drum instrument. Use built-in profiles where available or create a custom profile for another sampler, drum machine, note map, or multi-channel setup.

Section groove controls

Section-owned controls: Speed, Humanize, Drift, and Chaos belong to the Section, not to an individual pattern object.

Write, revert, fill, and undo

Use Write when the edited section is ready to become the current project state. Revert discards uncommitted section edits and returns to the last written project state. Fill Mode generates a fill variation and then returns to the base pattern.

MIDI output and export

Drag Outputs into your DAW to capture the active section as MIDI. The global export contains all active rows across the section chain; row exports contain one instrument across that same chain.

Keep the Device Profile aligned with the destination drum instrument before exporting, especially when a sampler uses non-General-MIDI notes or layered sounds.

Local Projects and routing: Loading a saved Project restores the musical arrangement while preserving this instance’s device profile and output routing.

JSON projects

Open the {} panel to import or export a full sectioned project. The canonical format is an object with activeSectionIndex and sections. Each section has a name, groove controls, and a sequence of pattern objects.

{
  "activeSectionIndex": 0,
  "sections": [
    {
      "name": "A - Intro",
      "speed": 2,
      "humanize": 5,
      "drift": 0,
      "sequence": [
        {
          "name": "Sparse Intro",
          "instruments": {
            "BD": "x...x...x...x...",
            "CH": "..g...g...g...g."
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Optional note_mappings, note_layers, and clock_divisions belong inside a pattern object only when that pattern needs them.

Groove Architect assistants: Available through ChatGPT or Gemini, they can generate ideas for the {} panel. You only need to be signed in to either service; using both is not required. I have personally had excellent results with this workflow.

Isorek MCP

While Gates is loaded, the local Isorek MCP companion can discover the processor, read its complete section arrangement as JSON, and apply validated edits immediately. There is no AI mode to enable: the grid and project controls remain available, the editor may be closed, and accepted changes persist with the DAW session.

Without opening Gates, MCP can also list, read, create, update, and delete saved pure-JSON Projects in the Gates Project Library.

If several Gates instances are open, your AI client lists their active-section summaries and runtime IDs so you can select the intended one. You can edit Gates by itself or pair a selected Gates instance with a selected Prologue instance for matched section changes.

Musical and Project JSON includes sections, pattern chains, steps, and groove controls. It excludes Device Profile, octave, MIDI channels, note layers, note mappings, clock divisions, mutes, and routing; loading a Project preserves those settings on the instance.

Through a live Gates instance, separate MCP tools can list, read, and validate output profiles, create, update, or delete custom profiles, and activate one on an explicitly selected instance. Factory profiles are read-only. Confirm all hardware note mappings against the device manual before using them. Ask your AI client to undo its last live musical JSON change if needed.

Set up Isorek MCP for installation commands, supported AI clients, troubleshooting, and a starter prompt.

Troubleshooting

• The wrong drum sound plays, or a loaded Project keeps the old mapping: Choose the correct Device Profile or update the row’s note mapping. Projects intentionally preserve the instance’s device profile and output routing.
• Edits disappear after changing sections: Press Write before moving on if you want the edited section committed.
• A whole arrangement loops inside one section: Move song-level parts into separate top-level Sections; reserve the Chain for that section’s internal sequence.
• Exported MIDI is missing a row: Confirm the row contains hits and is not muted, then use the global or matching row export for the active section.
• The groove feels unexpectedly fast or slow: Check the active Section’s Speed value relative to the host tempo.

Pattern-library credit

Factory patterns are curated from public rhythm references and open drum-pattern collections, then edited for Gates’ 16-step grid, chain workflow, and velocity model. The jcelerier/drum-patterns repository was one useful reference collection.

Support and privacy

The Help or Help & Privacy panel provides update notices, registration status, telemetry consent, terms, and third-party notices. Use the in-app email control when you need product support.

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