Slate 2 for 1 EX Pack?

[Jind]

So, as noted in the GAS thread, I recently purchased SSD 3.5 EX which comes with the following kits:

Absolute Rock Kit
All American Kit
Chunky Rock Kit
Classic Vintage Kit
Cracky Metal Kit
Funky Dry Hybrid
Lazy Rock Hybrid
Metal Hybrid1
Nashville Fat Kit
Old Zep Kit A
Old Zep Kit
Ringy Hit Kit
Sizzle Kit
Slate's Hybrid Kit
Three Snare Rock

Aside from the Metal and More EX pack which is a given (it includes):

Black Kit
Dream Kit
Dry Metal Kit
Pantera
Thick Metal Kit
Thick Rock Kit
ToneDef Kit
Metal Dream Kit

Which one other EX Pack would you get in the "2 for 1 deal" from these?

Essential Rock-Pop Vol. 1
Ballad Kit
Meat n Potatoes Kit
Classic Pop Kit
Perfect Rock Kit
Crisp Rock Kit
Slate Custom Kit

Essential Rock-Pop Vol. 2
Green Kit
Reggae Ska Kit
Fat Radio Rock Kit
Radio Rocker Kit
Deep Rock 1
Modern Rock Kit

Essential Rock-Pop Vol. 3
Angry Rock Kit
Beefy Dry Kit
Big Fatty Kit Dry B
Big Fatty Kit wet A
Classic Pop Kit Dry
Classic Pop Kit Wet
Deep Rock Kit 2
Nice Crack Kit
Vintage Fatty Kit

Rock Classics
(ACDC) Highway Kit
Nirvana Kit
Tommy (Motley Crue) Kit
Chili Peppers Kit
Modern Zep Kit
Dan Steel (Steely Dan) Kit
Led Zep Kit

* this is how they are listed on the website - so I'm going by what they have listed as to the contents of each pack.

 

[nwright]

Based on the clips, I got the Essential Rock Vol. 3 pack (along with the metal). Downloading now!

 

[LosingReality]

^ so the metal one is avalible now? Did you get an email about the 2 for 1 deal? Cause i bought the LE for Rex the other day and the email didnt say anything about the 2 for 1 deal.....even though i bought on his page and it says 2 for 1....

EDIT: Nevermind that one is 159

 

[Jind]

I did not get an email, but there was a link in the Slate forums for people that purchased EX. The EX packs are $59.00 bucks each.

 

[nwright]

Yeah, I bought the hard copy DVD from Sweetwater, and I paid 159, which was to include download codes for the 2 for 1 expansion offer.

I gotta say, I'm not really digging the Slate methods, it's just way too time consuming and "hoop jumping" IMO. I bought the EX plus 2 for 1 expansion, and I was supposed to get download codes WITH my hard disk copy...THere were no download codes with the physical disk.

Also, the physical disk does not contain ANY wav or gog files, that still necessitates a download. The only thing the physical disk has on it is the kontakt player and virtual instrument stuff. IMO the whole point of buying a physical disk is to have everything on a disk.


Also, when I tried to download the wav and gog files for the regular EX kits, the system would not let me log in, despite entering everything I was supposed to.

Just to get the samples up and usable, I've had to email support like 4 or 5 times to get everything in order. Granted, their support is great! I have no problems with that aspect...But, should you really have to contact support numerous times to just simply install this stuff? Seems like a lot of time wasting on both the customer's part as well as the support staff. I still say Steven would benefit from keeping everything under wraps until it is fully ready to go and updated on his site. THere is a TON of stuff on this forum, his own and possibly more about upcoming/in process projects which when you reference the website results in broken links, inability to purchase, etc. and just overall general confusion as to what and how the products are laid out, what you get, how, etc... Just so confusing.

 

[nwright]

sorry for the mini rant.

 

[Jind]

I do find it all a bit confusing as well - even purchasing the download version. The install directions are a bit ambiguous to my simple mind. But, I think i have it all up and running. Now just to choose my second pack besides "Metal and More".

 

[Norris-wf]

Im still trying to get my head around these, like with toontrack, EX would be an expansion pack. Am I right in thinking that if I buy the Steven slate EX pack and the two extra packs that everything is included in that, player and all or do I need the platinum version like with Superior. Is the EX version just a stripped down version of Platinum? I really love to get using SSD drums

 

[Jind]

EX is a "Lite" version of Steven Slate drums - it replaced the old LE version sort of. It contains 10 kits and 5 hybrid kits if I recall. Unlike LE, it can be expanded upon with EX Packs, which their are 5 of currently (so with the 2 for 1 promotion, you would still be several kits short of Platinum unless you bought 2x "2 for 1" deals then you would be most of the way there, but then you might as well invest in Platinum in the first place and be done with it.)

 

[Norris-wf]

EX is a "Lite" version of Steven Slate drums - it replaced the old LE version sort of. It contains 10 kits and 5 hybrid kits if I recall. Unlike LE, it can be expanded upon with EX Packs, which their are 5 of currently (so with the 2 for 1 promotion, you would still be several kits short of Platinum unless you bought 2x "2 for 1" deals then you would be most of the way there, but then you might as well invest in Platinum in the first place and be done with it.)

Cheers man, thats a big help. I wouldn't need all the kits, so this sounds ideal for me. My only concern is would I be able to run it on a powerPC G4?

 

[nwright]

If you can run Kontakt or the Kontakt player and/or drumagog, then you should be OK. The Slate player runs through the Kontakt player (version 3 or 3.5 at this point I believe). To use the premade gog files in EX, you have to have drumagog 4.07 or later. If neither of those work on your machine, you could still use the raw wav files for sample replacement provided you have a sample replacement program that allows you to load wav format samples.

 

[Norris-wf]

Ah yes, I get ya, finding it hard to find the system requirements for kontakt player though. I guess there is always the option of freezing the midi track too. That should work shouldn't it?

 

[nwright]

I'm not sure. I think the bigger issue would be compatibility of the kontakt player with your system...I mean, it'd have to be running correctly to freeze, right?

Also, the kontakt player and the Slate player are only used with MIDI functions as far as I know. If you are using sample replacement like Drumagog, the kontakt player is not used (unless you are using MIDI in some fashion to trigger or replace).

 

[Jind]

I also decided to go with the "Metal and More" plus the "Essential Rock/Pop vol. 3" - after listening to the samples over and over again those were the ones that stood out to me. In the future I'll probably get others, but for now those will do.

 

[Jind]

This is from the NI site in regards to the req's for the Kontakt Player:

Mac OS X® 10.4 / 10.5, G5 1.8 GHz or Intel Core Duo 1.66 GHz, 1 GB RAM

Windows® XP (32 Bit) or Windows Vista® (32/64 Bit), Pentium® or Athlon XP 1.4 GHz, 1GB RAM

 

[Norris-wf]

Aw man, Looks like it wont be the best option so for my G4. I'm seriously gutted. I guess I could run it on the laptop though and then tranfer audio files. Cheers for all the help guys

 

[LosingReality]

I just got an email saying for $59 i can add the 2 pack deal on.

 

[MindKEYS]

The EX packs that are available now seem to be the ones that are already in the SSD Platinum, no new stuff.
I have been waiting since Slate anounced here there would be new EX DELUXE packs that were not in the platinum, this are still not the ones right?
From that post i also had the idea that the Kontakt player would have the trigger thing integrated into it... It also seems to have turned into a separate plugin. Maybe some form of trigger will make it's way into the Kontakt player?
I have been waiting to buy this thing for months and now i see it isn't still quite what i was expecting...

Maybe Slate can answer this questions, altough i believe he is very busy lately with all the things going on: link, nice voice singing with Blackline and that hardware compressor looks very good, Any realease date and price estimated?

 

[Jind]

MindKEYS - Yeah, I'm pretty sure that is a separate project and this is just the EX expansion packs for the new EX version, no new Platinum content. As for Trigger, I'm unsure when it will be available, but it looks like Trigger will be it's own package in maybe two versions from this wording on the Slate Digital site.

STEVEN SLATE DRUMS

TRIGGER comes stock with a library of the industry standard STEVEN SLATE DRUMS drum samples. Elite mixers such as Chris Lord Alge, Mike Shipley, Dave Way, Jeff Juliano, Jay Baumgardner, Ben Grosse, David Kahn, and many more top names have relied on STEVEN SLATE DRUMS to help enhance the drum sounds in their mixes for years. All the samples in STEVEN SLATE DRUMS are recorded to 2 inch tape and processed with the finest in vintage and modern analog gear. STEVEN SLATE DRUMS include three sample layers including stereo room mic samples from the famous NRG RECORDING in North Hollywood, California.
GO DELUXE

Included in TRIGGER Platinum are drum samples from the new STEVEN SLATE DRUMS "Deluxe" series. The DELUXE series of samples are recorded with an extreme attention to detail with multiple articulations, and include mono direct mics, stereo overheads, stereo room mics from NRG RECORDING, and stereo reverb samples from the Bricasti M7 digital reverb. With SLATE DIGITAL's TRIGGER, you can trigger all of these layers from one drum track, with one instance of the plugin.

 

[Slate]

DELUXE expansion packs will debut in January, and will the be the first "non platinun/ex" series drums from us. More on DELUXE stuff later. Till then, you should have a lot to play with in the platinum/ex series. Thanks,