Vortex Sound Research

I have a West Pest on the way, which I'm intending to sequence with my Squarp Hapax which has CV & Gate outs. Maybe the excitement has got to me, but I can't quite get my head around gates. Is a gate a simple timed on/off? As in can a gate convey what would be velocity in the midi world? Can a gate be enveloped? As in if I assign an LFO or envelope to a CV out and route it to a VCA/LPG can I get the audio signal to rise with a slower attack? I think both questions are related, and gate response might actually depend on whatever modules I end up trading my kidneys for, but can't understand it yet.