Trigger 2 Has a SECRET Drum Gate?!
I've used Slate Trigger 2 since 2014 and I just discovered it has a built-in drum gate I never knew about. In this video, I put it head-to-head against Black Salt Audio Silencer on real metal drum tracks to find out which one actually wins for metal drum mixing.
If you're like me, you've probably been using Trigger 2 purely for MIDI capture and sample replacement, blending in kick and snare samples to supplement your live drum recordings. But Trigger 2 also packs a full gating feature that can clean up bleed on your kick, snare, and tom tracks without reaching for a separate plugin. The question is: does it hold up against a dedicated drum gate like Silencer?
I ran both plugins on the same multi-tracked metal drum session and compared them across three critical areas: attack detail, bleed control, and ghost note handling. The results surprised me, and one of these plugins might become my new go-to for cleaning up drum tracks before mixing.
Whether you're recording drums at home, working with live drum tracks that need serious cleanup, or using drum replacement to supplement your kit, choosing the right gate makes a massive difference in how your drums sit in a dense metal mix. A clean, tight drum gate is the foundation of professional metal drum mixing, and getting it wrong means muddy cymbal bleed, lost transient attack, and drums that disappear under heavy guitars.
In this breakdown you'll hear:
• How Trigger 2's hidden gate feature works and where to find it
• Kick drum gating: Trigger vs Silencer on attack and bleed
• Snare drum gating: which plugin preserves ghost notes better
• Tom gating: handling spill and maintaining natural decay
• The ghost note automation trick that gives Silencer an edge
• When to use each plugin and which one I'm reaching for first now
I've mixed hundreds of metal songs, and cleaning up drum tracks is step one of every single mix. Getting your gating right before you touch EQ or compression is a night and day difference.
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⏱️ Chapters:
00:00 The Trigger 2 feature I missed for 12 years
00:41 Silencer vs Trigger Explained
01:36 Trigger Gate Setup
02:01 Kick drum: Trigger vs Silencer
04:15 Snare drum: ghost notes & bleed control
06:18 Toms: spill and decay
08:51 Which one wins? My verdict and Wrap
