Which drum trigger software do you use?

[Chainsaw Calligraphy]

I'm in the market for some trigger software and was wondering what you guys would recommend. Slate Trigger seems like the obvious choice, but I've heard some complaints about triggered samples not being aligned properly which sounds like a headache. I've also been putting off getting an iLok for as long as possible. Something that's reliable enough for live triggering with low latency would be a big plus, but it's mostly for drum replacement on badly tracked kits.

So, what are your thoughts and opinions on the trigger software on the market these days? Are there any other gems out there that I've missed?

 

[Chainsaw Calligraphy]

No one? I would have thought this forum would have a lot of opinions on the pros and cons of different drum replacement software.

 

[RevoltStudios]

Drumagog because I have zero bugs shown with it and can do all that stuff the Trigger users say won't work well. Auto Align 2.0 work wonders too,

 

[decoy205]

I have Slate Trigger EX. With the version of pro tools i'm using (8) there are some issues, but I haven't used it for midi only audio file replacement. I works pretty well for snare and kick, toms are harder but if your original audio has clean transients it works great. I have no delay compensation so I have to adjust timing after i replace the tracks.

I'm afraid to try the midi. ha.

 

[Sethis]

Drumagog but only cause I had no problems in order to look for something else.

 

[Revson]

What DAW are you using? If you're running Pro Tools you may wanna look at Massey DTM.

 

[botus99]

ApTrigga!!! Been using it for years.

Unlike Drumagog, it is PHASE-ACCURATE (as opposed to sample accurate). Long story short, if you're blending samples with the real thing or other samples, Drumagog can cause some nasty phasing artifacts. I have never tried Trigger, so I can't comment on it's quality verses Drumagog/ApTrigga.

 

[DavePiatek]

+1 on DRT

 

[wetpenny]

aptrigga here

 

[Trevoire520]

I like Trigger, I think the aligning issue is more for when you're triggering from MIDI?

 

[006]

I use 1.62 so I don't have any of the alignment issues people have with the newer versions, and I use MIDI all the time with Trigger.

 

[Jaymz]

Trigger

 

[Charles J]

Trigger FTW.

MIDI issue seems fine to my ears on the newest build.... haven't used it on a PROPER release (where I'd use MIDI/Trigger for creating a MIDI track of the kick and then playing it back THROUGH that same instance once the midi is recorded.

I've ALWAYS loved Trigger. It's easy to use, 'sounds' great, GUI is excellent and it's FAST.

That's the main thing. Drumagog seems bloated and I just don't like it's method of operation.

The simpler the better for me and Slate Digital has a major gift for dealing with this tricky situation

 

[Habsburgs]

Trigger FTW.

MIDI issue seems fine to my ears on the newest build.... haven't used it on a PROPER release (where I'd use MIDI/Trigger for creating a MIDI track of the kick and then playing it back THROUGH that same instance once the midi is recorded.

I've ALWAYS loved Trigger. It's easy to use, 'sounds' great, GUI is excellent and it's FAST.

That's the main thing. Drumagog seems bloated and I just don't like it's method of operation.

The simpler the better for me and Slate Digital has a major gift for dealing with this tricky situation

i LOVE how you ALWAYS use CAPITAL LETTERS for emphasis.

 

[AllanD]

Aptrigga. It takes more tampering but it's cheap and works great.

 

[006]

Aptrigga. It takes more tampering but it's cheap and works great.

I own apTrigga as well, would not recommend it over Trigger. apTrigga is severely limited by comparison. It's ok if you have a few kick samples at the same velocity or something, but for true multi-sample and multi-velocity capable replacement/augmentation, it's not in the same league as Trigger or Drumagog, et al.

 

[MetalWorks]

I started out using Drumagog and it was better than the real drums I was recording 5 years ago but I felt that the control over the accuracy was not always perfect. If you want to sound professional then being closest to perfection is a big deal.

I looked around and saw a lot of young producers are just using Midi Drums from the start. They would only use Overhead Mics and maybe some on highhat/cymbals and then use Ddrum Triggers on each drum which will record a midi track for their selected Midi Drum Program. Then do the edits/cleanup on the midi track.

With the Midi Drums you then have full control over mapping out the hit accuracy and timing accuracy.

I use Pro Tools HD 9 and the following was the work flow I came out with.

1.) Record Live Mic'd drums to a click track with tempos established

2.) Move Drum track hits into place using Elastic Audio Warp Markers.

(At this point I have optimized the performance and can then decide on whether the drums sound quality is usable or needs to be augmented or replaced. With a really solid drummer and decent sounding kit I could typically keep everything but the kick.)

3.) Slice all of the Tom Tracks so there are no Snare hits bleeding through.

3.) Use Massey DRT Audiosuite Plugin to create a Midi Track of each individual drum

4.) Scan through new Midi Drum Track to ensure all of the new hits match the actual drum wave hits and didnt add extra hits or drop any hits.

5.) Copy all of the the individual Midi Tracks and Merge them into one Midi Instrument Track with Steven Slate Drums 4.0 plugin inserted.

6.) Create New Audio Tracks for each individual drum and route Slate Drums 4.0 to each individual Audio Track so they can have their own plugin processing.

7.) Mix the Project.

I can still use Drumagog for Tracking the drums if the drummer wants to have a triggered kick sound and feel which most metal bands want.

I am curious to try recording direct to Midi drums but I have had decent recordings in the past where I prefered the natural drum tracks with exception of the kick alone. I bought the Alesis Trigger IO so that I could use my electronic Drum Kit to play Slate Drums 4.0 and record to direct Midi live.

You could go either way really. My goal is to be able to capture everything as real as possible and augment the sound with samples if needed. Drumagog can do that for you with the blending but you really have to have it dialed in with great sounding drum tracks to start with.

Having Good Mics and Pres, Drumagog, Massey DRT and Slate Drums 4.0 at my disposal covers all or most of the bases.

 

[Line666]

i LOVE how you ALWAYS use CAPITAL LETTERS for emphasis.

Gotta love the CHARLES J style of EMPHASIS and his mix style of OTT BOWELSHATTERING SONIC DEVASTATION coupled with the juxtaposition of CHARMING SMILEY FACES =)

 

[LeadGuitar666]

I read your step by step method on how you produce your final drum tracks. I've been brainstorming and the method you follow is almost exactly what I had in mind. However, you said you use Massey DRT to convert audio to MIDI. I too was looking at this program but have been leaning more towards Slate Trigger which also has the option to do Audio to Midi. Have you used Trigger and do you think it is better or worse than DRT for this? The good thing about Trigger is, if I'm happy with the sounds it triggers I don't need to convert audio to midi but I like to have the option in case I want to use my Superior Drummer samples.

Also, I'm assuming it is important to edit the tracks before converting the audio to midi that way the OH mics line up. Although it seems it would be easier just to convert audio to midi then quantize but You'd be screwed when your OH tracks don't line up with your newly quantized MIDI tracks, huh? Thanks for your time.

 

[Lasse Lammert]

DRT beats them all hands down...
but I'm too lazy to creaty the preset files for it, so I'mjust using it to create clean and phase accurate trigger spikes and then trigger with TRIGGER off those.
would love to ditch TRIGGER altogether and use only DRT, but as I said....to many samples to convert.
I used to use aptrigga a lot, IME it's more phase accurate than TRIGGER and for some reason it sounds better (punchier) too...but same problem, all my samples are TCI....so I'll stick with TRIGGER for now (in combination with DRT of course)