TRVE Drums 1.1.0: I Rebuilt It Instead of Patching It
There's a version of software development where you ship something, notice the cracks, and spend the next three years spackling over them one point-release at a time.
I tried that for about five minutes with TRVE Drums.
Then the feedback kept coming in, Karl Sanders kept dispensing what I can only describe as infinite wisdom, and somewhere around the fortieth sticky note I realized the sensible thing wasn't another patch.
It was: "Okay. Let's rebuild this properly."
So I did. TRVE Drums 1.1.0 is out.
What didn't change
Let's get this out of the way first, because it's the part people worry about.
The drum library is the same. Same kits, same samples, same sound you bought it for. The idea behind TRVE Drums is the same too: real-sounding Metal and Punk drums that sit in a mix without needing a week of surgery.
What changed is everything around the drums.
What's new in 1.1.0
- A completely redesigned UI. Not a reskin. A rethink of where things live and how many clicks it takes to get to them.
- New FX.
- New Groove Player features, including Riff to Groove and groove displacement. Both deserve their own walkthrough, and they'll get one.
- Drive-aware installation, for those of us whose system drive has been full since 2021.
- CPU optimizations.
- Improved hit detection.
- Expanded E-Kit mapping.
- Aftertouch and CC control.
- Bug fixes across the board.
Why rebuild instead of patch
A lot of 1.1.0 came from simply watching how you actually use TRVE Drums. Where things worked. Where they were unnecessarily complicated. Where e-drummers ran into walls. Where the workflow got between you and writing the damn song.
The temptation with an update like this is to keep adding things until the plugin turns into a gigantic production environment where you need a YouTube tutorial to find the snare.
I wanted the opposite:
More capability underneath. Less friction on top.
The drums are complicated. Using them shouldn't be.
The upside of being one guy
This is the part of making software independently that I genuinely like. I can release something, listen, realize it could be considerably better, and go change it. No committee. No roadmap deck. No quarterly alignment sync.
The downside is also being one guy, which is why I'll be reading your bug reports personally. 1.1.0 isn't the finish line. TRVE Drums isn't going to sit frozen at whatever version happened to ship first, and now that this one is out, I get to find out what you break next.
What's coming after this
TRVE Rig is next on the bench: an improved Core Library, a UI overhaul, performance and bug fixes, plus new FX including Wah, Chorus, Flanger and Whammy.
And then there's the thing I've been quietly working on: TRVE Bus. It's my take on a master bus processor built around the richness, dirt and glue I've always loved on records like Springsteen's The Rising and Tom Petty's Wildflowers. Tape character, glue, EQ, maximizing. Not 900 controls. More on that soon.
Getting 1.1.0
If you already own TRVE Drums: go grab the update from your account. It's free, obviously.
If you don't: TRVE Drums is the full thing. If you'd rather start smaller, TRVE Drums Lite gives you one full kit, two snares, the Groove Browser and the no-BS mixer.
People actually buying this stuff is what lets me sit here rebuilding things instead of looking at them and saying "eh, good enough." So thank you.
-Ron D.Rock / Loudstakk
