FINISHED: Steven Slate Drums with Drumagog

[Andrew07]

Man, I'm loving these samples the more and more I use them (I haven't even gotten to the Z2's yet!!!). I'm still fairly new to Drumagog, do any of you care sharing any tweaking tips? I'm using 'Advanced Mode' with the highest detail, Resolution is set to 'AUTO', Dynamic Tracking is adjusted to taste, and I'm adjusting the dynamic groups on the Samples page.

Also, I'm having some trouble replacing a speed metal snare... it was recorded poorly with a good amount of kick and cymbal bleed into the mic. Since it was played so quickly the cymbal and kick bleed start before the snare finishes sustaining. So if I cut it too soon the snare sounds chopped off, but if I cut it too late the bleed is there and messes up the triggering. What would you guys suggest doing? Does drumagog only read the initial attack or does it react to the drums' sustain too?

[Screwdio]

Thanks for fixing the scroll for us Safari users !!

[PhilR]

Originally Posted by Andrew07

Man, I'm loving these samples the more and more I use them (I haven't even gotten to the Z2's yet!!!). I'm still fairly new to Drumagog, do any of you care sharing any tweaking tips? I'm using 'Advanced Mode' with the highest detail, Resolution is set to 'AUTO', Dynamic Tracking is adjusted to taste, and I'm adjusting the dynamic groups on the Samples page.

Also, I'm having some trouble replacing a speed metal snare... it was recorded poorly with a good amount of kick and cymbal bleed into the mic. Since it was played so quickly the cymbal and kick bleed start before the snare finishes sustaining. So if I cut it too soon the snare sounds chopped off, but if I cut it too late the bleed is there and messes up the triggering. What would you guys suggest doing? Does drumagog only read the initial attack or does it react to the drums' sustain too?

Probably worth gating the top mic on the snare and manually editing the track if the level drops below the gate threshold as well. If you're 100% replacing the snare it's less important if the gated sound is totally un-musical.

[six_wax]

You can also duplicate the snare track, and eq or gate the copy like crazy, then use THAT as the trigger track for Drumagog, apTrigga, whatever running 100% wet. Then blend in the original snare track (on a separate fader) to taste...

A bunch of stuff I've mixed lately has snare mics that are woefully full of bleed. If you use a resonant peak, alot of times you can spike a frequency that will serve as a good trigger. it might be a totally non-intuitive freq, depending on the bleed. You can even turn off the audio and just watch the meters to determine what's going to do the job. Remember, this is just serving as a trigger, so it doesn't have to sound good. If you're on ProTools, you can even sandblast the bleed with StripSilence, just leaving ugly little regions where the snare hits are.

Whatever it takes!!! thumbsup

[Jam]

Scroll is cool here as well !!

Jam

[Cap'n Spanky]

This seems like a great product! Sound-wise, this is just what I’ve been looking for…. for the LONGEST time. The super-realistic drum samples that have come out over the past few years have lacked one important thing (IMHO), and that is PUNCH! The fake drums in my little 1990s Roland SC-88 sound module cut through a mix better. IMO, you have to be a fairly good recording engineer to get a punchy-kickin sound out of products like BFD.

However, here’s the rub. I only work in a 100 % virtual environment. No real drummers here… just midi drummers. Before I plunk down any money, I would like more assurance that the sampler mappings will be well done and low maintenance on the end user. A well thought out GM kit with multiple velocity layers would be really nice! (Kontakt or Battery would be my format preference)

Thanks

[Bang]

Hey Tim! If you want punch, we got it for you. We already have people lined up to map out the drums for: Kontakt2, Reason, Gigastudio, Halion, EXS, SampleTank2, and Mach5. We are currently doing the GOG right now, and then next week we will do the cymbal pack (we just found a room that closely matches the old Bang Recording room). I would expect these sampler mappings mid February. We will also be ADDING another velocity to the snares because we did record a ton of velocities, but they all were not necessary when using Drumagog and its great dynamic tracking algo. So to answer your question Tim, its coming!

[Cap'n Spanky]

Originally Posted by Bang

Hey Tim! If you want punch, we got it for you. We already have people lined up to map out the drums for: Kontakt2, Reason, Gigastudio, Halion, EXS, SampleTank2, and Mach5. We are currently doing the GOG right now, and then next week we will do the cymbal pack (we just found a room that closely matches the old Bang Recording room). I would expect these sampler mappings mid February. We will also be ADDING another velocity to the snares because we did record a ton of velocities, but they all were not necessary when using Drumagog and its great dynamic tracking algo. So to answer your question Tim, its coming!

Thanks, Bang!

I understand that you intended this to be a product that works with Drumagog, at least initially, and that the sampler formats are really a free add-on after the fact. So I appreciate your attitude!

If you develop some nice kits for all these formats, you'll sell a zilion of em!

[PlatinumSamples]

Originally Posted by Cap'n Spanky

IMO, you have to be a fairly good recording engineer to get a punchy-kickin sound out of products like BFD.

Have you listened to the Andy Johns expansion pack for BFD demos?

https://www.platinumsamples.com/Examples.html

Rail

[Bang]

GROUP BUY has hit 14! One more and we hit the first 10% cash back level. Yipee! Never been happier to give people money BACK.

[Bang]

Ok. Groupbuy has hit 16. Everyone who has participated will get at least 20 bucks back, and everyone who buys before the 14th will get the same.

another user review posted in another thread:

"I'm a 20 year old LA Recording School student and aspiring mix engineer. I can honestly say that I'm a pretty good mixer but I've always noticed that I don't get nearly as powreful drum sounds as the stuff you hear on the radio mixed by guys like Chris Lorde Alge. I've tried compression, parallel compression, everything. After hearing about the use of drum samples, I got DFH. Still I found that the drum sounds weren't as big sounding as my favorite bands like Deftones, Tool, Breaking Benjamin, and Chevelle. So then I got BFD and started to sample those sounds. I thought it was a step down from DFH. Finally I asked my classmate who interns with some producers to tell me where the hell everyone gets the good sounding drum samples. He told me his boss bought some samples from some guy named Steven Slate. As soon as I heard that name I knew that I had seen this guy posting around gearslutz.

Sure enough I go on here and see this thread and listen to the demos and I knew immediately that these are the sounds that I need to get the big radio sounds. So I email Steven and ask him how long it takes to ship a sample CD, and he tells me since I'm in LA I can come and pick it up!! So I go to his studio and he takes time out of doing a mix to talk to me about mixing and answers my page worth of stupid questions. Very Cool! And it gets better. He allowed me to load one of my mixes on his system so he could give me specific pointers and basically unveiled a huge low end problem that I'm having which he told me to correct by using a sub. I probably learned more in 20 minutes talking to Steven then I have all this time at school.

So after throwing a Blue Sky 2.1 system on the old plastic, I go home, load up a mix, and start going through the drum samples using Aptrigga. Oh my Lord these are the sounds people! I was honestly afraid that they wouldn't sound as big as they do in the demos but I was wrong, they sound amazing! I now have the tools I need to really get mixes ultra pro sounding. With the Z2 samples I can also stop using cheesy plugin reverb on my snare because it sounds way better. So thats my story. I just want to thank Steven for being a great guy and for taking the time to help me. And to anyone who wants pro drum sounds like the stuff you hear on every major release, this is it. I wasted my money on other stuff but I don't even care any more because I'm so happy that my mixes are finally there!!"

[johnjm22]

Make it 17

Can't wait to get my samples!

[chandlersonic]

Hey steven!

Just ordered your sample package, looking forward to getting it ! Your music is tight too, I might actually have to buy your album one of these days instead of listening to the first minute of ArmageddonSoul 10 times a day!

[luctellier]

Originally Posted by PlatinumSamples

Have you listened to the Andy Johns expansion pack for BFD demos?

https://www.platinumsamples.com/Examples.html

Rail

I listened to those samples and IMHO, Steven's samples are way punchier and fat sounding.

[PlatinumSamples]

This wasn't meant to turn into a dfegad contest... The Slate drums and the Andy Johns drums are completely different animals. The Slate samples are "Drum replacement samples" while the Andy Johns/BFD drums are a "Drum Instrument". The Slate drums are completely processed for a mix - while the Andy Johns drums have only been recorded as they would be on a tracking date, allowing for them to be played in BFD as a drum kit via MIDI and appear in your DAW as multitrack drums (Kick In, Kick Out, Snare Top, Snare Bottom, hat, Toms, OH's, ... etc). It would be dishonest for us to mix them completely for the demos - the demos indicate what they'll sound like when they're loaded into BFD with minimal or no additional processing.

I was responding to someone who owns BFD and made a specific comment. I believe there's room for both products -- I don't believe they're in competition for each other as they're completely different products.

Rail

[luctellier]

Sorry I didn't want to be mean..

That was just my opinion between the 2 products since this thread is regarding the Groupbuy for Steven's sample.

[tweety]

Hello ALL,

my first post. Count me in

Is there any chance to get a download version of the cdrom....for us guys
from europe?

greetings
Tweety

[six_wax]

Originally Posted by PlatinumSamples

I don't believe they're in competition for each other as they're completely different products.

It's the difference between 'real drums' & 'imaginary drums'

[Bang]

Because of the copy protection, each disc is burned individually for each customer as ordered so we can't at this time do downloading. We do ship promptly to Europe every day though.

Group buy number went up again today and now it looks as if the 20% cashback is highly probable.

Really great to hear that people are digging the sounds, we'll have some new user reviews coming soon. Also, we are adding a Latin America shipping link for those who that applies to. Also, anyone current users, please PM me about user demos, if anyone has any stuff that can be public, we'd love to host it on the site.

[Screwdio]

Hey Bang-

When the Drumagog CD is ready (and the other updates as well), will it be sent out to us automatically....?...How will that all work..?

[Bang]

When an update is done, such as the GOG which will be first, each customer will be sent an email. The email will take you to an update page where you simply purchase your shipping, which is 4 dollars for US and 8 dollars everywhere else. Every time we come up with an update, it will be available for free. Eventually, we will ship Steven Slate Drums on a DVD with ALL versions from wav to GOG to all the sampler mappings.

Group Buy is at 20 now.

[True North]

Originally Posted by Bang

When an update is done, such as the GOG which will be first.

Hi Steve,

Just wondering what the timelines are for Drumagog roughly. I know you probably don't want to lock yourself down too much but a rough estimate would be appreciated, thanks.

[Bang]

Originally Posted by chandlersonic

Hey steven!

Just ordered your sample package, looking forward to getting it ! Your music is tight too, I might actually have to buy your album one of these days instead of listening to the first minute of ArmageddonSoul 10 times a day!

Thanks man. I made sure to add a little present for you in your disc package. Hope you dig it.

[Bang]

Group Buy is at 23. Two people away from having a 20% cash back gift!!

[chandlersonic]

Originally Posted by Bang

Thanks man. I made sure to add a little present for you in your disc package. Hope you dig it.

thx!

[mhartman]

I got my disc in the mail yesterday. Thanks for the quick shipping. I only had a few minutes to play around with them last night before I took off to watch the game, but what I played around with sounded great. I'm sure that I'm only scratching the surface at this point.

Thanks again. Mike

[True North]

Originally Posted by Bang

Group Buy is at 23. Two people away from having a 20% cash back gift!!

You know it just occurred to me that if we are only at 24 on the last day we could all pitch in $8.33 to buy the 25th unit than we would all get an extra $20

When you take the $8.33 investment out of the $20 that leaves you with close to a 60% ROI ($11.67)in one day

This could very well be the only time in history that a gearslut has acually made money from Gearslutz

[morebutter]

I got mine a few days ago. These samples are awesome. Money well spent. And I dont even use sample CDs usually. I'll be using these for sure. Very nice attacks, harmonic sustain. I love the "crack" samples. Lookin forward to the updates.

[George Necola]

You know it just occurred to me that if we are only at 24 on the last day we could all pitch in $8.33 to buy the 25th unit than we would all get an extra $20

When you take the $8.33 investment out of the $20 that leaves you with close to a 60% ROI ($11.67)in one day

This could very well be the only time in history that a gearslut has acually made money from Gearslutz

did you sell gear in your last life


nice one

[Bang]

George you just gave me a headache with that math

I think we'll hit the 25 mark today, and in the next 5 days we'll hit the 35 mark, making it a 25% cash return. Glad everyone is digging the samples, feel free to send me mp3s!