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. Still sitting here waiting to give it a try though, coz their download server is horrendous.
Meantime, I gave in and bought the full Platinum version. 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. Yes I tried it on quite a difficult SN drum track and the triggering was excellent. Hopefully the process of building ones own sound bank is going to be a smooth and uncumbersome process. I'm looking forward to trying it with my own samples. 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. This makes me miss the manually tweak-able triggers feature that sets Drum Rehab apart from the competition. 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. 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. That being said, I have already run into a problem with attempting to accurately trigger a continuos rolling tom beat. 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. The most unique feature is the Suppression Channel which works quite well and sets the plugin apart from the competition. 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.Īll 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. 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. My initial worries were that Trigger would run into the dreaded RTAS "Molasses Bog Down®", but it seems to get along just great. My apologies to Drumagog if they've remedied this in the past while, but I was already long gone). 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. Top job Slate Digital and all the hard workers! (BTW, when I tried Drumagog once a few years back, I really disliked it. Trigger is like a big brother to it, with added features and better triggering. 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. My grievances above put to one side, I love this plug.
I think this is a well put together piece of software. As it stands, I feel like they are trying to trick me into parting with the cash, without treating me like a professional.
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. 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. At the moment it feels like they are treating us like children.
I need to try out this software properly in anger with a session. I think Slate's attitude to the demo mode is very juvenile. See my later post #24 (about page 3) and Werner's comments. Where does a newbie find this information? Answer: you're not supposed to. I find this a touch sneaky and disingenuous. THEN I find out from Werner that it isn't even available in the bought version yet. 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. 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. Nowhere on the Slate website can I find a reference to what the demo limitations are.