Sonnox Oxford Drum Gate (Native)

Full Description

Intelligent and adaptive detection algorithms

Standing out from the crowd of noise gates on the market, the Oxford Drum Gate employs unique intelligent algorithms to create an adaptive response that's program-dependent. Pushing the envelope on what's possible, the Oxford Drum Gate includes drum-type detection algorithms to tailor the response of your gating depending on if you're inputting a bass drum, snare or tom. Dynamic beats, backbeats, ghost notes, and cymbal bleed are all intelligently and effectively removed whilst maintaining the timbre and delivering a natural decay to your drum performance.

Using the Detection tab, Oxford Drum Gate provides a graphical display of the transients of your input track with a commonly-found selection of parameters including threshold level. Used in tandem with the threshold control is the Match Selection algorithm, telling Drum Gate if you've inputted a bass drum, snare or tom to match the profile of the transients. Not always will the drum type fit the offered Match Selection drum types and this is where the Learn Unmatched Control comes in. Here, Oxford Drum Gate will listen and adapt to your source to provide a more accurate gating experience.

Frequency-tuned decay

A consistent issue with traditional gates is that the decay parameters often cut out the musicality of your sound with poorly tuned decay settings. Oxford Drum Gate (Native) ensures that you can maintain the natural sound of your source, even from the natural ring of your toms or snare. Developed using an adaptive algorithm, Oxford Drum Gate lets you focus on the frequency content of your sound in real-time, according to the velocity of each detected hit and adjust the decay naturally.

Displayed in a waterfall-style plot showing where the energy of the audio track is, you can hone in on a specific region of frequencies to produce the sound you need for your sessions. Ideal for the shells of a drumkit, you can steer the release of the gate to the lows, low-mids and upper midrange without letting any upper frequencies from cymbal bleed influence your drum. Complete with a master gain control, the Decay section allows you to blend the gated signal against the dry signal much like a traditional noise gate.

Level-headed

The final tab within Oxford Drum Gate addresses one of the main drawbacks of conventional gates when working with dynamic performance - the level of the soft hits. Improving the consistency of the drummer's performance is key to creating modern and professional sounds with powerful and punchy hits across the entire performance. The Leveller tab ensures that you can conform louder main hits and softer background ghost notes independently with two separately controlled target levels.

Ideal for dynamic drummers with lots of ghost notes to add excitement and movement to performances as well as for non-consistent drummers recorded in poor environments, the Leveller tab is the final piece of the puzzle. Heavily gated drums that isolate the sound away from bleed can mean that your softer notes get lost within the mix. Setting the target threshold for both loud and soft hits using the sliders and graphic interface for reference, you can then set the maximum amount of levelling required. Too much and you will lose the groove and bounce of the track, too little and the volume of the dynamic notes won't be heard above the mix. Getting this balance right will bring up the level of the softer hits whilst retaining all the dynamics to create a professional and consistent drum sound.

Sample-friendly

In modern drum production, it's not uncommon to reinforce your sound with a pre-mixed sample to gain consistency and power across every hit in a performance. Naturally, most gates when working with pre-mixed samples will choke notes and create a stuttering effect due to the low thresholds needed for natural acoustic recordings. Oxford Drum Gate takes care of this and lets you confidently retain the dynamics from the original performance, even when using drum samples! Simply trigger the MIDI functionality within Drum Gate and the intelligent algorithm will adapt to your sound source.

Reviews

"This is a great one-stop-shop of a plugin. Drum gate achieves what I’ve been trying to do with 3 separate plug-ins and more" - Andy Sneap (Killswitch Engage, Bullet for My Valentine, Megadeth, Opeth)

"Best rack and floor sound I've got in a long time, thanks to the decay settings" - Alex Archer (Sigrid, Kasabian, Kaiser Chiefs)

"Never isolated bass drum and snare drum so easily with such accuracy. Even subtle ghost notes in a very dynamic jazz performance!" - Nils Hahmann (Abbey Road Institute lecturer)

Features

• Advanced detection algorithms effortlessly separates the hits you need from the spill you don't
• Comprised of three different sections, each focusing on a different gate aspect including Detection, Decay and Leveller
• Intelligent drum-type matching applies the most appropriate parameters for the drum in your track automatically
• Unmatched Learn function lets you create a customised response for any style and type of drum
• Custom drum profiles allow you to isolate non-traditional drum types for instant recall in future sessions
• Save templates and presets to speed up workflow when receiving tracks from familiar studios
• Adaptive Decay curve follows the velocity of each drum hit with frequency-dependent control
• Preserve the resonance, ring and timbre of each drum hit whilst clamping down on bleed from external instruments
• Improve the consistency of loud hits whilst bringing up the level of soft hits using Leveller
• Leveller offers dynamic control without the unwanted compression artefacts
• Real-time MIDI output and MIDI file capture, for accurately triggering drum samples

Specifications

System requirements

• Operating system:
  • MacOS: OS X 10.8 or later - M1 compatible using Rosetta 2
  • Windows: Windows 7 or later
• Format:
  • Mac: AAX, AAX-DSP, AU, VST2 & VST3
  • Windows: AAX, AAX-DSP, VST2 & VST3
• Supported hosts:
  • Mac: Pro Tools 10.3.8 – 12 (AAX Native & AAX DSP), Pro Tools 7 – 10 (TDM & RTAS), Logic Pro X 10.2, Logic 8 & 9, Digital Performer, Nuendo, Cubase, Ableton Live, Studio One
  • Windows: Pro Tools 10.3.8 – 12 (AAX Native & AAX DSP), Pro Tools 7 – 10 (TDM & RTAS), Nuendo, Cubase, Ableton Live, Samplitude, Sequoia, Pyramix, Studio One

General

• Activation: iLok 2, iLok 3 USB key OR an iLok account with an active internet connection
• Product code: 1029-50