Steven Slate Trigger 2 Platinum — Free Download
Trigger 2 Platinum is a drum replacement plugin that layers up to eight phase-accurate samples per hit, with a transient gate and leakage suppression, plus a library of multitracked drum sounds.
Drum Replacement Core
Trigger 2 Platinum centers on a phase-accurate, multi-layered triggering engine designed to replace or reinforce recorded drum tracks. In a single plugin instance, you can stack eight stereo samples simultaneously—for example, a close mic, stereo overheads, and room mics—to recreate the natural sound of a fully multitracked kit. Each layer offers independent control over velocity, dynamics, attack, sustain, and release, letting you shape the blend precisely.
This engine is built for professional mixing workflows, where you often need to fix inconsistent hits or add weight without sacrificing the original performance. The included library, recorded to tape and processed with vintage and modern analog gear, contains snares, kicks, and toms across multiple velocity levels.
Sample Library and Expansion
The stock library is substantial, with dozens of snares (including high-detail deluxe snares with adjustable overheads and alternation hits), multiple kick drums, and several tom sets. These are the same samples used by well-known mix engineers for years, giving you a proven starting point for any genre.
Expansion libraries are a key part of the workflow, letting you extend the palette without leaving the plugin. You can load different kits for different songs or styles, and the layered engine means you can mix a stock sample with an expansion sample to craft a unique tone. The multi-velocity layers in each expansion respond naturally to your playing, so the replacement stays dynamic and musical rather than robotic.
Triggering and Gate Controls
Trigger 2 includes a transient-driven gate, which lets you clean up sloppy tracks by only allowing hits above a certain threshold to trigger samples, reducing false triggers from bleed or noise. Its leakage suppression is a standout feature: you can send a spill or bleed track to the plugin, and it will intelligently ignore that leakage when deciding when to trigger, allowing extremely low-velocity replacement without mistriggering.
This makes Trigger 2 especially effective on live recordings where cymbal bleed is a constant issue. You can set the gate to catch only the intended drum hits, and the leakage suppression ensures that the bleed from other kit pieces doesn’t cause unwanted sample flashes. The result is a tight, consistent drum sound that sits well in a mix, even when the original recording has uneven dynamics or heavy bleed.
MIDI and Instrument Editor
Trigger 2’s MIDI engine does more than just replace audio. You can trigger samples from incoming MIDI, which is handy for layering electronic sounds underneath acoustic drums. Conversely, you can drag and drop to convert audio tracks into MIDI tracks, a feature that’s useful for programming additional percussion or for using the drum performance to drive synths or samplers.
The included Trigger Instrument Editor is a standalone application that lets you design your own multi-velocity, round-robin drum samples for use in Trigger 2. It automatically calculates velocity ranges, features a resizable GPU with retina support, and uses optimized profiles for natural playback.
Key features
- Eight simultaneous stereo trigger layers
- Transient-driven gate for clean triggering
- Leakage suppression using bleed or spill tracks
- MIDI input for triggering samples from MIDI
- Drag-and-drop audio to MIDI conversion
- Large built-in library of snares, kicks, and toms
- Standalone instrument editor for custom samples
Best for
Trigger 2 Platinum is best for mixing engineers and producers who need to replace or reinforce drum tracks on live recordings, especially those with heavy bleed or inconsistent dynamics. It’s suited for rock, metal, and pop where punchy, consistent drums are critical, and it integrates easily into existing workflows via audio or MIDI.
