Hey Labfans, this is the first post of Fabs Corner, a friendly dsp free way of reviewing products I use for my production
work. I was going to begin with Slate Trigger but within the timeline this review was written, Trigger 2 came out as a free update to all the existing trigger members! It was quite exciting to explore the new trigger 2 features and improvements, and instead make this review on Trigger 2!
So let me begin by a few simple things that set trigger 2 apart from any other ‘sound, drum’ replacement software.
This is a portion of triggers capabilities, focusing on the most critical and unique features, otherwise I’d be a book I’ll be writing…
1. Zero Latency & Phase accurate replacement
- – Trigger is the only software capable of this feature, you might think that a couple samples or even ms of latency might not be such a problem, but in reality time accuracy is almost as important as rain is to plants. Let me expand on that…
When we begin any mix, we want the groove to be perfect in feel.
What I mean essentially is something all pro mixers, producers have realized. The moment the groove gets tempered with a +/- even in samples, magic might get lost, yes it’s a very delicate matter and having a tool that can be reliable in that sense is essential.
Let me clarify that although your DAW might use a delay compensation engine, the odds that any of these engines compensating without any +/- samples is astronomically small and under special conditions, so if you though delay compensation can work as a 0 latency replacement it can’t, and especially in sound replacement software. Trigger is the only replacement software with a flawless compensation communication resulting in a true 0 samples latency and phase accurate replacement.
2. Leakage Suppression
Let’s have a look at the official description first!
’’ Trigger has the unique functionality to be set in a way that in can automatically be instructed to NOT trigger certain leakages on a drum track using its Leakage Suppression mode. Using the Leakage Suppression technology you can trigger a drum track with 100% accuracy even if this drum track has many loud bleeds from other drums. ’’
You can think of this like a side-chain function, yes! You can feed external signals into a desired instance. That process will make the instance that’s receiving, to completely ignore that part (what & how much you send) from its initial triggering feed!
Yet again only Trigger processes this technology, so there is again nothing out there to even compete with it.
3. Transient Driven Gate
Another exclusive addition to trigger 2! I was surprised to see this feature since it almost made what was perfect, better!? What essentially a transient driven gate does is it opens and closes in relation to transient energy, than just a simple threshold gate that works with a very primitive way compared to this. A pretty straight forward new feature that in combination with Leakage suppression is unbeatable.
That’s generally the top 3 features that are both unique and extremely vital for a professional drum replacer, and only exist in Steven Slate – Trigger 2
But let’s have a look to some other features that are still unique and very, very… useful. Any professional knows, workflow is as important as the work itself.
Trigger 2 comes with 8 sound slots! We can trigger 8 sounds simutuesly in one instance, without any problems and saving our precious CPU. Were other replacers needed to be added one after another to achieve a complex drum sound, trigger needs only one instance. What is extremely important is that when I was using other software for building a complex sound, due to the fact that the latency was not 0 every instance summed to the previous and resulted in just a misplaced hit that always ruined the magic, which is terrible. With trigger 2 that will never happen even by activating many instances serially.
One of the great features that might seem simple is the long scale faders! Yes a long scale fader for each sound is perfect for creating the right balance. Just like you would on your original mixer!
Ps: The fader/knob fine tune option is even better than my daws.
What also draw my attention was the audition capabilities in choosing sounds and the loading system. There sound selection became almost too easy!
And more features that just keep going!
What about the sounds?
Well, now we have the car and we need the driver?
First of all you can make your own samples, and the TCI editor is fantastic for doing that!
Trigger 2 comes with Steven Slate Drum samples, needless to say one of the best libraries out there!
And not only that…
Currently available, two fantastic expansions CLA and Terry Date!
Both these expansions have not only a feeling that represents those great engineers. But also work so well in a mix it’s hard to go wrong.
All the best to you & your work!
Fab
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