Steven Slate Drum sample Review!!

[Bang]

What a smoking review!! Thanks Jake! Hope to hear some of your stuff with the drum hits soon!

[rewt_]

Originally Posted by Bang

What a smoking review!! Thanks Jake! Hope to hear some of your stuff with the drum hits soon!

i haven't really dug into my copy yet, but i threw some hard and medium hits at drumagog recently in a faders up mix of the band i'm tracking, and they sounded relentless right out of the box. based on that quick experience, a quick browse through all of the samples, and the demo's on steve's page, i can tell that these things are going to get a HELL of a lot of use with me. steve, ya done good.

[Bang]

We're very psyched! Keep the reviews coming! We have some new things coming as well, some updates, the cymbal pack is in production, and of course, the GOG upgrades will be flowing soon.

[joelgtrnut]

I've had my SSD CD for like 3 weeks now. They kick some serious ****n arse. Highly recommended. I use them daily in mix.

[Torwald]

Sounds impressive. I've been looking around for a good sample collection for a while.

Is it mostly rock and metal sounds? I'm sure gonna have a closer look when I get home!

[PhilR]

I've used them on a few sessions now, both metal and pop-punk & hardcore. They've really proved their worth as far as making our £250 studio drumkit sound 10x better.

[dillweed]

anyone having problems with the toms?

they seem to sustain forever....especially when tuned down. trying to gate them, but they dont sound real and sometimes the gate is double triggered.
usually when i have a recorded tom i can draw in the gate/fadeout. can't do this with samples. i guess you could record them and go back and do that (just though of that while writting this

[Bang]

Hey Dillweed, good news for ya. I have some presets I can give you for a bunch of different RTAS and VST gates that will cut the decay off the toms. I'll be in the studio soon and I'll whip them up for ya. Also on V2 we're going to have a B version of all the toms that is pre gated. We've had a lot of guys have a lot of luck gating and manually fading them. They are quite punchy and once you get the decay right, I think you'll really dig them.

[BigJunk]

Originally Posted by dillweed

anyone having problems with the toms?

they seem to sustain forever....especially when tuned down. trying to gate them, but they dont sound real and sometimes the gate is double triggered.
usually when i have a recorded tom i can draw in the gate/fadeout. can't do this with samples. i guess you could record them and go back and do that (just though of that while writting this

I actually think the toms are under rated, I'm surprised more people don't talk about them since I find them really punchy, but I guess its not as popular to replace your toms. As steven said its all about the gating. I didn't really know that much about gates but the toms forced me to learn. For one thing, keep the attack at fastest and then depending on the song tempo, mess with the hold and release times. Then adjust the threshold. I'm actually glad he kept all the decay on because I just mixed my friends song and it was REALLY slow and I needed almost all of the tom decay so it worked out. I think though it will be useful to have a pregated version on the next update so good idea steven.

[dillweed]

Originally Posted by Bang

Hey Dillweed, good news for ya. I have some presets I can give you for a bunch of different RTAS and VST gates that will cut the decay off the toms. I'll be in the studio soon and I'll whip them up for ya. Also on V2 we're going to have a B version of all the toms that is pre gated. We've had a lot of guys have a lot of luck gating and manually fading them. They are quite punchy and once you get the decay right, I think you'll really dig them.

Cool!!!
Thanks!!!!
Evolution of a product....love it.
I like the pregated idea. would save alot of time.

I'm one of the dinasoars who still actually mixes on an SSL and the gates are'nt working for the toms. my last mix the client accused me of added an 808 after the tom hits.

I really like the sound of the birch toms, but the drummer of the band is hating them. I think it's a drummer thing. alot of them spend a ton of money on their drums and are adamant that they hear their drums.

[Ice]

I, too, have been in love with the Slate samples. They've found their way in all sorts of personal and demo projects whether it be blending or completely replacing. I've have had the woes of crazy tom sustain, but once gated, they rock for sure! The pregated toms would also be cool. I'd be interested to see your gate settings Steve. I'm sure a professional has much better sounding methods. Any news on the arrival of the update?

Regards,
Daniel

[andremattos]

SSD is the best IMO!
I love all the kicks and the snares!

great work!

[Jake 2.0]

Let me say as the orginal poster i still very strongly and still have the same opinion about bangs samples, thier still punchy as hell, more often than not i do blend in my orginal drums together with samples , being a drummer and an engineer i know how alot of drummers feel about thier 3 grand drumsets and how they want to hear some of it, the drums sound more relistic when thier belnded an not 100 % replaced, all though i have replaced 100 % and it sounded badass, its just my preference to blend in hits, as far as the tom decay goes ive gated with much success. Steven puts out one hell of a product in my opinion and updates are on the way as far as what im reading on gs, and no i don't work for steve, just a fan of his work and his samples.

[8BallProductions]

I am Deffinatly going to buy these samples ASAP , great review

[Jake 2.0]

Thanks man. good idea to pick them up, bands love how i record my natural drum sounds , but when I'm competing with the Chris lord alge's of the world these samples really help( okay maybe a lot more than a help) thicken up the original drums and more "radio" like . I do what the artists want and i have got a great number of clients after using these samples in my mixes. Have fun with it, Blend a few of Steven snare, kick, tom etc samples to make a tasty and punchy as anything drum mix. Go crazy! the options are endless !

You will make back the money you spend on this really fantastic product at a really reasonable and may i say it bargain price tag . I'm surprised Steven hasn't upped the price to 500 $ or even more.

Buy um! Use it live it and love it. (Or set it and forget it ) I tend to be a more tweak kinda guy, i own Drumagog but insert all samples manually in pro tools using beat detective to cut up the kick, snare , tom tracks and then using tab to transient and then pasting in each sample .


Jake-

[Geoff Duncan]

I got mine about 3 weeks ago, and I am **Loving** them.

Perfect for every track I've pulled them up on.

Can't wait for the cymbals!!!!!!

thanks SSD!!!!


Geoff

[AKCSTUDIO]

Steve is a drum master.

[Trance183]

I see Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. If I get volume 2 (which is more expensive), does it come with everything that Vol. 1 has? Or you have to buy both?

[kankzzzativo]

I love ssd samples , and toms are killer specially the fatoms!!!

[alonsomosley]

I've had mine nearly a week now and am still astonished by them. I can't imagine needing anything further for my modest drumming endeavours (except, perhaps, better technique on my part).What i particularly appreciate about the Steven Slate drums is the attitude to their customers. Down-to-earth, accomodating, friendly-exactly the things i consider good business practices.
Splendid stuff.