The Steven Slate "Trigger" comment thread....

[Bushpig]

Guys & Girls,

My thoughts so far.

1. Nowhere on the Slate website can I find a reference to what the demo limitations are. Not until you actually go through all the fannying about with your iLok and download etc, do you find out that you can't seriously use the demo in your work because you can't save settings, and they don't come back when you close your song. Frustrating.

2. Can't load your own sounds. Once again, this is mentioned in their blurb on the website as a feature, talked about in the video, but isn't available in demo mode. THEN I find out from Werner that it isn't even available in the bought version yet. I find this a touch sneaky and disingenuous. Where does a newbie find this information? Answer: you're not supposed to.

>>> Correction on 7th May 2010. The full version does load AIFF. See my later post #24 (about page 3) and Werner's comments. <<<

I think Slate's attitude to the demo mode is very juvenile. I need to try out this software properly in anger with a session. At the moment it feels like they are treating us like children. The bottom line is, I'm working on 9 mixes at the moment and I need to be working in my drum triggering as I go along. If the Trigger demo was a full install that simply ran out after 14 days, by then I'd have got totally in bed with Slate and my money would be in their account well before the 14 days ran out. Job done. As it stands, I feel like they are trying to trick me into parting with the cash, without treating me like a professional.

Working with the plug:

I think this is a well put together piece of software. My grievances above put to one side, I love this plug. Anyone who's been involved in discussing drum replacement here on the forum over the past few years, has probably already been bored silly with me talking up AP Trigga which I've been using sucessfully now for years and I love it. Trigger is like a big brother to it, with added features and better triggering. Top job Slate Digital and all the hard workers! (BTW, when I tried Drumagog once a few years back, I really disliked it. The latency was just ridiculous and the triggering consistency I found to be patchy at best ie: even if you compensated for the latency, the firing was all over the shop. My apologies to Drumagog if they've remedied this in the past while, but I was already long gone).

My initial worries were that Trigger would run into the dreaded RTAS "Molasses Bog Down®", but it seems to get along just great. Mind you, that's possibly because I'm being forced to play about with it like a toy due to the limitations mentioned above, so I need to try it out in a proper setting with a large and hectic session. The ADC it adds to the system means having to permanently run with Long delay compensation, which is a slight drag (I semi regularly run my system right up against the end stops), but I think I can live with that for the benefits the plug in can bring.

All in all, I like this plug, but I find it frustrating not to be able to load my own samples and I find the demo and information about the demo limitations disappointing.

Thoughts everybody?

Cheers

Steve Bush

MacPro 8 Core. HD3. 192. Sync I/O. OSX 10.6.2/PT8.0.3

[Bushpig]

PS,

For reference, here's the thread we were using in the past, with the chat so far.

http://duc.digidesign.com/showthread.php?t=269976

Cheers

Steve Bush

[ProTooler]

I bought it and LOVE it!

Crossgrade path was the best $150 I've spent in a LONG time.

[summit01]

Originally Posted by ProTooler

I bought it and LOVE it!

Crossgrade path was the best $150 I've spent in a LONG time.

Hey Steve

I do own Drumagog 4, TL Drumrehab, tried the SPL drumreplacer and now
I bought the trigger crossgrade- the demo was kinda limited to try out...

Anyway- the full platinum product is great... and 150US for a new product is the same as Drumagog 5 update, , so it made really sense to upgrade.

My first impressions are:
Sounds great. Really like the room samples, easy to use- basicly plug & play.
Although I do miss the MANUAL trigger add and adjustment feature, the sound convinced me and the trigger engine is better then Drumagog 4 engine (to my ears).

[studiojimi]

i called them.

no answer

my question.

is it tiger 7.4 friendly?

enlighten me please!

holding fast ....trigger or not

[WernerF]

Works as advertised. The most unique feature is the Suppression Channel which works quite well and sets the plugin apart from the competition. The fact that you can't manually add, adjust and delete triggers is offset by the fact that the triggering algorithm is really quite accurate. That being said, I have already run into a problem with attempting to accurately trigger a continuos rolling tom beat. The presence of low end in the tom causes either, when in a higher sensitivity setting, multiple extra miss triggers or, when in a lower sensitivity setting, causes it to miss a large number of hits. After filtering out a large degree of the low end and fiddling with the Sensitivity, Threshold and Re-Trigger settings I was able to get it to work on about 95% of the hits. This makes me miss the manually tweak-able triggers feature that sets Drum Rehab apart from the competition. That being said, Trigger works far better than I had expected as it appears to have the most accurate detection algorithm of any of these plugs so far.

I'm looking forward to trying it with my own samples. Hopefully the process of building ones own sound bank is going to be a smooth and uncumbersome process.

[Bushpig]

G's & G's,

Werner. Yes I tried it on quite a difficult SN drum track and the triggering was excellent. Nothing that a little bit of automated control of the Retrigger and Sensitivity knobs couldn't sort out though (so far), but of course the stupid demo doesn't have the Toms in it, so I was wondering how that would fare. Always a tough one.

Meantime, I gave in and bought the full Platinum version. Still sitting here waiting to give it a try though, coz their download server is horrendous. No wonder they recommend using a download manager when you (finally) get to the download page, as the link either won't connect or it breaks randomly and I've been waiting and waiting for it to come back up. Got two of the download files, but it's almost like they have a "queing" system and if you don't catch it just right, you lose your slot.

Also operationally, I wish they had automation for the individual volumes on each of the six parts. For instance, on the track I was messing around with this morning, I needed to dip the room samples for the drum fill at the front of the song when nothing else was playing, but maybe they will respond to a request for this or already have it in the pipeline.

Await further news.

Cheers

SB

[Bushpig]

PS,

I'm assuming the demo also doesn't have the Suppression Channel or I couldn't find it. Another black tick next to the demo version. Grrr.

SB

[WernerF]

The Suppression Channel is just channel two of the input. The adjustment for it is in the upper left hand corner of the display window.

[Bushpig]

WF,

Aahh. I certainly didn't read the manual thoroughly, as I was busy being frustrated by other things concerning the demo. But then I don't remember seeing "S'up" in the window. I've removed the demo version now in anticipation of the full version, but SSD's download host is being rather tragic. I've been talking to Alex over at SSD, but he just thinks it's pure demand on the server. I said, "You're too damn popular", but I'm not entirely convinced it's just demand. (SPL just delivered me DrumXchanger and the sound folders at maximum bandwidth no problem. Hmmmmm Slate).

Still hoping to get busy with Trigger for real soon.

Cheers

SB