Sonnox Oxford Drum Gate

If you are recording acoustic drums then this product will seriously speed up your workflow.

This gate is seriously good at what it does. Rather than acting purely on a volume threshold like a traditional gate, you tell it whether the incoming signal is kick, snare or toms and it intelligently picks them out. If it does miss things you can manually 'teach' it to pick up certain hits. It's not perfect, but it's a LOT quicker and easier than any other gate I've used.

It could maybe do with a few more features, but actually the simplicity is part of its charm. I like the fact that it does one thing very well.

The only down side I've found is the iLok Cloud activation. It gives you two licences, but with the Cloud activation you can only use one at a time. Plus, once I'd authorised the product in my studio and then on my laptop, it sometimes just refuses to load and says I don't have permission. I have raised a ticket with Sonnox and they told me to reload which I have done and fingers crossed it has been this week.

Also, this price is cheaper than the current 'sale' price that Sonnox themselves are selling it for!