Yes, Debussy did know the gamelan, and was impressed by it, however you will not find any direct lifts of gamelan in his compositions, and he never attempted to incorporate slendro scale into his compositions.
Debussy was not alone in being impressed by gamelan. Many other western composers were too --- Bartok, Sculthorpe, McPhee, Cage --- the list goes on and on.
There is no doubt at all that gamelan is a brilliant musical form, and the players extremely skilled, particularly the leaders. I have seen a young Balinese leader sitting opposite a gender player, and teaching that player how to play his part. The leader was playing the part backwards, because he was sitting on the wrong side of the gender. Absolutely incredible to watch.
Equally, as I have already said, depending on the piece, gamelan can be OK.
If you ever hear one on the major Javanese gongs ( a "gong" is a gamelan group) playing the music that accompanies bedoyo, you could not fail but to be impressed with the majesty. Listen to a Balinese gong playing some of their brighter pieces, and its pleasant. There is a movement in Indonesia that I think was started by the son of the Late President Sukarno, which uses gamelan combined with western musical instruments.
The scales used in gamelan are pelog and slendro, and pelog is also the scale used in langgam jawa , which is a crossover musical form using a combination of western and Javanese musical forms, but with its roots firmly in kroncong, which is based on 17th century Portugese folk songs. In langgam jawa the cello takes the place of the gamelan ciblon ( drum) and sets tempo, so in this musical form you've also got gamelan influence.
Yes, no doubt about it, gamelan is a very serious musical form, and for somebody who is musically inclined who hears it for the first time, it would undoubtedly be impressive.
But that does not mean that everybody who is musically inclined will grow to love it.
I can tolerate it under ideal conditions and in small doses, but I'd much sooner listen to James Galway playing Mozart, or Little Walter in one of his more insane moments, or Andres Segovia playing anything.
Its all a matter of taste.
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