Drum Gator

Software User's Guide

Version 1.0.4

Congratulations on your purchase of Drum Gator!

Drum Gator is a software plugin designed specifically to solve the kinds of problems associated with
mixing drum and percussion tracks. It uses proprietary, patent-pending technology to overcome the
problems associated with traditional noise gates. Drum Gator can do everything that traditional noise
gates can do, only better. It also has some tricks up its sleeve and can do things that no other noise gate
can do.
While the primary purpose of Drum Gator is to remove unwanted "bleed" from drum and percussion
tracks, Drum Gator's unique processing model opens up many creative possibilities, such as:
1. removal of signals based on spectral content (e.g. removing snare drum from a kick drum track)
2. selective routing of multiple sources on a single track for independent processing (e.g. sending
kick and snare from a single track to separate processing chains)
3. synthesizing a stereo track from a mono source
4. transient softening and enhancement

Principles of Operation
Transient-based hit detection: Drum Gator uses a transient detection algorithm to detect of the onset
of drum hits. This approach is superior to the level-based approach used by traditional noise gates. It
avoids the artifacts created by traditional noise gates, such as chopping off the beginning of a drum hit.
It can accurately detect the precise instant of onset of a drum hit, resulting in a much more natural
sound as the gate opens.
Classification of drum hits based on spectral analysis: Drum Gator allows you to selectively gate out
unwanted signals based on their spectral content. Using spectral filters, each drum hit is automatically
assigned into one of three categories. The user can independently control the output level of each
category. Setting the level of a spectral category to zero effectively gates out all drum hits assigned to
that category.
Treating the drum hit as a single entity: Drum Gator uses look-ahead to identify both the peak level and
spectral content of each drum hit. It then uses this information to decide how the drum hit will be
processed. Processing is applied to the entire drum hit, beginning at the instant of transient onset.
Learning mode: Drum Gator allows users to create and store their own spectral signatures for later use.
This makes Drum Gator extremely flexible and adaptable to any percussive source material.
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Controls

Figure 1: Drum Gator Controls

Crossover controls: These are only available in the spectral peak mode and control the crossover points
used to categorize drum hits based on their spectral content. In this mode, signals are categorized based
on the spectral band with the highest energy level.
Filter: This drop-down list select the filtering mode. The selected filter determines how drum signals will
be categorized into bands.
Gate Only: No spectral filter is applied in this mode. This is the mode with the lowest latency and the
smallest CPU usage. Only one level control is available in this mode.
Spectral Peak: This filter allows the user to set crossover points for categorizing drum hits. Selecting this
mode will enable the crossover control.
Pre-defined filters (Kick/Snare/Hat, Toms (Hi,Mid,Low), Cajon, Conga, Bongo): These filters use predefined spectral signatures to categorize drum hits.

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User-Defined filters: This allows selection of filters defined by the user. Custom filters may be created
and stored using "Learn" mode.
Band 1 Level, Band 2 Level, Band 3 Level: These control the output level of signals that are classified
into their respective bands.
Closed: Controls amount of signal that is allowed through when the gate is closed. You can use this for
creative effects such as transient shaping.
Floor: Limits the amount of gain reduction that is applied by the band level and "closed" sliders. You can
use this control to blend some of the original signal back into the channel for a more natural sound.
Attack: Controls the peak level threshold for drum hits. Only drum hits with peaks exceeding this setting
will be processed. Transients that peak at a level below this setting will not cause the gate to open.
Decay: Determines the threshold at which the gate will begin to close.
Hold: Determines how long the gate will remain open (in milliseconds) after the signal drops below the
decay threshold.
Release: Gradually closes the gate over the specified number of milliseconds, beginning immediately
after the hold period has expired.
Display Latency: This allows the display of real-time transient indicators to be delayed in order to
compensate for latency in the DAW. Adjust this control when the indicators appear to flash out of sync
with the drum hits.
Diff: This is a toggle button which causes Drum Gator to output the difference between the processed
signal and the original, unprocessed signal.
Learn: Toggles "learn" mode, which allows user to create and store customized filters based on specific
program material. Invoking learn mode hides the level controls and exposes a separate set of controls
used for capturing spectral signatures and creating filters.
Add: There are three "Add" buttons, one for each band (category). These buttons are used to capture
spectral signatures and assign them to a category.
Clear: Pressing one of the "Clear" buttons erases all spectral signatures from a category/band.
Name: This is a text entry control that allows the user to name a filter.
Copy Filter: This button copies the current filter settings to a new filter.
New Filter: This button creates a new filter containing no spectral signatures.
Delete Filter: This button deletes the current filter from the filter drop down list . Pre-defined filters
cannot be deleted.

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Save Filter: This button saves the current filter to the filter drop-down list.

Operation
Drum Gator is intended to be used in the channel inserts of drum and percussion tracks. There are
several modes of operation, which will be described here. Modes are selected from the "Filter"
dropdown list in the upper right corner of the interface.
Gate Only Mode
Gate Only mode does not use any form of spectral filtering and is the simplest mode of operation. In this
mode, there is only one level control available.
To begin, make sure that the fist level control is in its maximum position (all the way to the right), the
"Closed" level control is at the zero position, and that all the gate controls are in their minimum
positions (all the way to the left). Begin playback of your drum/percussion track. If the controls are set
as specified, you should hear the track playing unaltered, and you should see a blinking indicator directly
above the level control. This indicator blinks whenever a transient (drum hit) is detected. If the indicator
seems to be blinking out of sync with the audio, adjust the "Indicator Delay" control in the lower left
corner until the indicator blinks in sync with the drum hits.
Once the indicator is calibrated, you can start adjusting the gate. This should be done by first adjusting
the "Decay" threshold. Push it slowly to the right until you can hear the drum hits getting shorter. This
means that the gate is closing as the signal level falls below the threshold. If you start to hear clicking
when the gate closes, adjust the "Release" control until the clicking stops. The "Hold" control may also
be used to delay the closing of the gate for a specified number of milliseconds.
Try pushing the "Decay" control all the way to its maximum position. This will cause the gate to close
immediately after the signal peak has been reached, producing some rather unpleasant clicks. This is
normal. Now adjust the "Hold" and "Release" controls as needed to smooth out the closing of the gate.
It is important to note that the "Decay " controls only the closing of the gate. It has no effect on gate
opening and you do not need to worry about gating out desired material by setting this control too high.
In fact, a good way to "tighten up" a drum track is to set this control to its maximum position and then
adjust the "Hold" and "Release" controls as needed to produce the desired effect. When you do this, the
gate will stay open for the same amount of time on each drum hit (after the peak is reached) regardless
of the peak level of the drum hit.
Gating out low level "bleed" from drum tracks can now be accomplished by adjusting the "Attack "
control. While the track is playing, slowly push this control upward until lower level "bleed" hits are no
longer heard. Note that pushing this control too high will not cause the initial attack to be chopped off.
This is because, unlike conventional gates, the attack threshold is not used to determine the onset of a
drum hit. The entire drum hit will be gated out if the peak level of the drum hit falls below the attack
threshold, and the entire drum hit is treated as a single, indivisible entity.

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Spectral Peak Filter

This filter can be selected via the "Filter" dropdown in the upper right corner, and provides additional
flexibility by allowing the user to control categorization of drum hits via two user-adjustable crossover
points. When you select the "Spectral Peak" filter, you will see three level controls, along with the
crossover controls just above the main gate controls. You can use the crossover control sliders to adjust
the crossover points or you can edit the values directly. When using the Spectral Peak filter (or any other
filter), the main gate controls continue to function as described above.
In Spectral Peak mode, each drum hit is analyzed for its spectral content and the strongest frequency
component is extracted. If the strongest frequency falls below the low threshold, it is assigned to the
"band 1" category. If the strongest frequency falls between the two thresholds, it is assigned to the
"band 2" category. Finally, if the strongest frequency falls above the high threshold, it is assigned to the
"band 3" category. The three controls on the left control the levels of their respective categories. This
allows the user to selectively control the level of signals depending on the results of spectral analysis.
To use the Spectral Peak filter, insert Drum Gator on a track containing two or more drum signals that
contain easily distinguishable spectral properties. A good example of this is a track containing a kick
drum, snare drum, and hi hat. When the track is played, you should see flashing indicators above one or
more of the level controls. These indicators should flash in time with the drum hits and will indicate
which category is currently assigned to each hit.
While the track is playing, adjust the "low" threshold until only the kick drum causes the "Band 1"
indicator to flash. Adjust the high crossover until all the snare hits cause the "Band 2" indicator to flash
and the hi hat causes the "Band 3" indicator to flash. Additional color-coded indicators will flash along
the crossover control to assist you while making these adjustments.

Spectral Signatures
The Spectral Peak filter works by determining the strongest frequency component of a drum hit and
comparing it against with a set of crossover frequencies to determine how it should be categorized.
While this approach works well in many cases, there are some situations where it will not accurately
categorize all of the drum hits on a track. This can happen because of the complex spectral and
psychoacoustic properties of many percussion instruments.
There can be cases where a drum hit may sound as if it has a higher pitch than another drum hit, while
in reality, it's strongest spectral component is lower. This happens most often with instruments that
exhibit rich harmonic content when played, and can be played in subtly different and nuanced ways to
achieve a very wide range of tones and textures. This includes, but is not limited to, instruments like
djembes, congas, cajons, and bongos. Unfortunately, the perceived tone of such an instrument may not
always correspond to the strongest spectral component and this may limit the usefulness of the
"Spectral Peak" filter on these kinds of instruments. Another approach is needed in these situations.
Drum Gator solves this problem by allowing the user to capture and store the unique spectral signatures
of different percussion instruments. These stored signatures can be combined to create spectral filters
that can be used later on to automatically categorize percussive hits in the way that the user desires.

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Pre-Defined Filters
There are four pre-defined filters available from the "Filter dropdown. They are examples of filters that
are based on spectral signatures. These filters are based on specific drum sets and percussion
instruments that are available in our studio, and thus they may or may not work in any given situation.

The "Kick/Snare/Hat" filter was created by analyzing a mix of a closed miked drum set, and can
accurately categorize these instruments.
The "Tom (Hi,Mid,Low)" filter was created by analyzing a mix of three toms on a standard drum
kit.
The "Conga" filter was created by analyzing a recording of two conga drums recorded by a single
microphone.
The "Bongo" filter was created by analyzing a recording of two bongo drums recorded by a
single microphone.
The "Cajon" filter was created by analyzing a recording of a cajon that was recorded by a single
microphone. The cajon was played in a style that tried to mimic the sound of a kick drum and a
snare drum.

Short samples of these drum tracks are included in the installation file. Feel free to experiment with
these clips by loading them into our DAW and applying the corresponding filter to each one.
User-Defined Filters
The pre-defined filters include with Drum Gator are examples created to demonstrate Drum Gator's
spectral filtering capabilities. Due to the widely varying tunings and tonal characteristics, it is impossible
for a small set of signatures to work in every situation. This is why Drum Gator allows you to collect,
store, and use your own spectral filters, based on your own program material.
To create a spectral filter, first select one of the pre-defined filters from the "Filter" drop down. If you
have already created one or more user-defined filters, you may select one of those instead. Then press
the "Learn" button a the bottom of the screen. You will be presented with a set of buttons and controls
in the area on the left that was previously used for the level controls.
If you have selected a pre-defined filter, you will not be able to change or save it. Press the "New Filter"
button to create a new, blank filter. Next, play the audio track containing the percussive material you
want to filter. To capture a spectral signature, put your DAW into looping mode and create a short loop
around the drum hit you want to capture. When Drum Gator detects that it is able to capture a
signature, all three of the "Add" buttons will turn green, indicating that you can capture the signature of
the looped drum hit to one of the three bands. Press the "Add" button corresponding to the band you
want to assign.
If you are successful, four things will happen.
1.
2.
3.
4.

The "Add" buttons will be disabled.

The signature count above the "Add" button will increment.
You will see the "hit" indicator flashing above the signature count in the band you just captured.
The "Clear" button will turn red in the band you just captured.
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You may continue this process any many times as necessary. Although there is no built-in limit, it is
recommended that you place no more than four signatures in each band. Each "Clear" button will
remain red if there is one or more signatures in its corresponding band. If you press one of the "Clear"
buttons, the signature count will return to zero and all signatures in that band will be lost. Use this
button only if you make a mistake such as capturing to the wrong band.
Drum Gator will not allow you to capture the same hit more than once. If you try to do this, the indicator
will blink above the band containing the previously captured signature and the "Add" buttons will be
disabled.
If your loop contains more than one transient, a small button will appear above the "Band 3" column
and a numeric indicator will appear next to it. This indicator will contain two numbers separated by a
slash "/" character. The number on the right indicates how many transients are being detected and the
number on the left indicates which transient you are currently hearing. You may hear the next transient
by clicking on the ">|" button and by repeatedly pressing this button you may cycle through all the
transients in the loop. Pressing any of the "Add" buttons will add only the current transient, i.e. the one
you are hearing. If your loop contains more than eight transients, a "Loop too long!" message will
appear and the "Add" buttons will remain disabled. You must shorten your loop if you see this message.
Once you have captured some signatures and would like to test your work, press the "Learn" button
again to take Drum Gator out of learning mode. Carefully observe the flashing indicator lights to make
sure they are correctly categorizing the drum hits on your track. If you observe that some hits are being
incorrectly categorized, go back into learn mode and capture one or more of the incorrectly categorized
hits into the correct band/category.
When you are satisfied with your new filter, type the name of your new filter into the text box labeled
"Name", then press the "Save Filter" button. Your new filter will be added to the "Filter" drop down and
may be used for filtering.
Note: You must add signatures to at least two bands before you will be allowed to save a filter. If you
populate only one band, all drum hits will be assigned to the same category and there will be no way to
separate wanted signals from unwanted signals.

Creative Applications
This section describes how Drum Gator can be used creatively.
Independent Routing: To route different signals from the same source track.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Make a copy of the source track, or route your track to two separate busses if your DAW allows.
Insert Drum Gator into both tracks or busses.
Apply the appropriate filter to both instances of Drum Gator.
On the first instance, set Band 1 level to maximum and the other levels to zero.
On the second instance, set Band 2 level to maximum and the other levels to zero.
If your source track contains a kick and a snare, you now have separate kick and snare tracks,
and you can add different processing (EQ, etc) to each track.
7. This process can be extended to three tracks if desired.
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Transient Shaping: Drum Gator may be used to enhance and/or soften transients.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Insert Drum Gator into the track containing the material you want to adjust.
Select the appropriate filter for the track.
Set all band level settings to 5.0.
Set the "Closed" level to zero.
Set the "Decay" threshold to its maximum position.
Adjust "Hold" and "Release" so that you can hear only the transients. A good setting to try is
Hold=0 and Release=35.
7. Set the "Closed" level to 5.0. The track will now sound as if it is not gated.
8. Start adjusting the band level controls upward and/or downward. Transient attacks will be
enhanced as the band level controls are moved upward and softened as they are moved
downward. Set somewhere in the middle to achieve the desired effect. Experiment with Hold
and Release to achieve different variations.
The important thing to remember here is that transients will be enhanced when the band level is above
the "Closed" level and softened when the band level is below the "Closed" level.

Synthesized Stereo: Drum Gator may be used to synthesize a stereo signal from a mono track, giving
the impression that different drums are panned to each side.
1. Insert Drum Gator into a track containing a mono recording of multiple drums. Use the "conga"
sample recording for this example.
2. Select the predefined "Conga" filter for the track.
3. Set Attack, Decay, Hold, and Release controls to zero.
4. Set all of the band level controls to 10.
5. Set the "Closed" control to 10.
6. Set the "Floor" control to 0.0.
7. Make a copy of the track. Pan one track hard left and the other hard right.
8. Press the "Play" button on your DAW. You should now hear what sounds like a mono signal.
9. Adjust the band 1 slider on the left side to 5.
10. Adjust the band 3 slider on the right side to 5.
The idea is to increase transients on one side while decreasing the same transient on the other side to
give the impression that a particular drum is panned to one side or the other. Starting with the "Closed"
control at 10 will give the most subtle and natural sound because you are just reducing transients on
either side without affecting the sound of the room. However, feel free to experiment with different
settings of the "Closed" control as well as the gate controls to achieve different variations. For example,
set the "Closed" controls to 5 while increasing the band controls to enhance transients on either side.

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Advanced Topics
Transferring projects to multiple computers: Drum Gator always stores the current filter state in your
project file, so you can safely transfer your projects from one computer to another. However, the list of
user-defined spectral filters is stored in a common file, so the filter list you create on one computer will
not be saved with your project. Because of this, some special preparation is necessary if you want to use
your projects on multiple computers.
First, you must locate and edit the file that Drum Gator uses to store your user-defined filters. This file is
located in the application data folder. On Windows 7, this file fill be located in the following folder.
C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\Bayou Media\DrumGatorFilters.xml
Other versions of Windows may use slightly different folder locations.
On Mac OSX, this file will be located in the following folder:
/Library/Bayou Media/DrumGatorFilters.xml
This file will be created the first time you run Drum Gator, so you must run your DAW once before
proceeding with this operation. All you need to do is bring up your DAW with Drum Gator inserted into
one of the tracks, and then shut it down. Do not create any user-defined filters until AFTER you have
edited this file.
Once Drum Gator has created the filter file, open the file with an editor such as notepad. You will see
the following line near the top of the file.
<filters minid="10" maxid="100" nextid="10">
This line tells Drum Gator how to assign filter IDs to user-defined filters when they are created. What is
important here is that each computer running Drum Gator must have a unique, non-overlapping range
of filter IDs that will be assigned on that computer.
Here is an example of how you would edit this file if you were using Drum Gator on three computers.
On the first computer:
<filters minid="10" maxid="39" nextid="10">
On the second computer:
<filters minid="40" maxid="69" nextid="40">
On the third computer:
<filters minid="70" maxid="100" nextid="70">

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This arrangement will allow you to create up to thirty filters on each computer (31 on the third
computer). All Drum Gator filter IDs must be between 10 and 100, for a maximum of 91 filters on all
computers combined. You cannot set ID ranges outside of this built-in limit.
Setting up your filter file in advance will allow you to transfer project files among multiple computers
without creating conflicts in the assignment of filter IDs. When you transfer a project file and run it on
another computer, the Drum Gator will insert a new filter into the filter dropdown with the name
"Untitled". The filter state will be preserved and may be saved with a new filter name if desired.

Product Updates
Product updates will be made available free of charge for Drum Gator customers. Check the Bayou
Media website for product updates.
http://Bayou-Media.com/products.php
Please send product support issues or questions to support@bayou-media.com.

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