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The Oxford Drum Gate 2 Black Friday deal from Sonnox takes 53% off, putting the drum gate plugin at $83 until Dec 17, 2026. This is the full purchase path. Drum Gate 1 owners have a separate discounted upgrade.
Oxford Drum Gate 2 is a gate built for drums. It listens for kick, snare, toms and hi-hats, then gates each hit with its own detection and decay behaviour.
The maker says the classification model is improved, so Drum Gate 2 picks out kick, snare, tom and hi-hat hits across a wider range of playing styles and recording setups.
Transient detection is also sharper, with fewer false triggers. Hi-Hat, All Transients and No Gating detection modes are new.
The interface has been overhauled for a more modern look and a faster workflow.
Multi-mic drum recordings run into phase problems: top and bottom snare mics, or close mics against overheads and rooms. Sonnox says general-purpose alignment tools often add flamming by shifting time too far.
The new Align tab uses its own algorithm to improve tone, punch and clarity while keeping timing artifacts down.
Tracks are grouped automatically by name, you get visual feedback, and stereo linking covers overheads and room mics. It sits inside the plugin, so no separate alignment tool is needed.
The new Adaptive Resonant Decay algorithm uses Claro-derived resonance detection. It separates each hit's resonant decay from the spill around it and leaves transients intact.
You control Gain Reduction, Decay, High-Frequency Damping, and the high and low cutoffs of the resonant region. Standard mode is still there if you want the Drum Gate 1 behaviour.
The external sidechain input has three modes:
This helps with beat-detected recordings, drum triggers, or gating that must stay in sync across several mic channels. An All Transients mode passes everything above the threshold without using the classification models.
Hit Clip is a clipper in the leveller section. Instead of a fixed ceiling, it calculates a ceiling for each hit from its post-leveller peak level.
The maker says this treats transients evenly across a dynamic performance without flattening the playing. Soft Hits and Loud Hits have separate clipping amounts, and automatic make-up gain holds the perceived level.
Yes. The Oxford Drum Gate 2 Black Friday deal is 53% off, bringing it to $83, and it runs until Dec 17, 2026. This is the full purchase path. Drum Gate 1 owners can take a separate discounted upgrade.
It aligns time, polarity and phase across multi-mic drum recordings. Sonnox says it improves tone, punch and clarity while limiting timing artifacts. It groups tracks by name, shows visual feedback and offers stereo linking for overheads and rooms.
Yes. The external sidechain offers Internal, External and MIDI modes. MIDI mode triggers on Note On messages, with selectable channel and note. External mode takes an audio sidechain from another track or audio key spikes.
Hit Clip is a clipper that sets a ceiling for each hit based on its post-leveller peak level. Soft Hits and Loud Hits get separate clipping amounts, and automatic make-up gain maintains the perceived level.
Prices and end dates are checked at publishing time and can change, so confirm them at the store before you buy.