I just got A2 here in 2022, and I absolutely love it more than anything I have used so far in the drum plug in realm. Very user friendly as well from my experience.
I've used Addictive Drums for years and always been pleased with the results. I'm concerned, however, that XLN seem to have let the product go to sleep for some time now.
I use the jazz stick and brush daily to practice jazz piano. I added the percussion and the mallet pack (underrated!). I often edit the kits and the beats to my liking and I add my own midi tracks. The only missing feature is the possibilty to sync Addictive to an external controler in stand alone mode.
Great video Mike, I have been using AD2 since 2016 and love it. The sounds are good and you have a lot of control over them. I have an Electronic kit using an Alesis Trigger I/O. This gives me the variable Hi-Hat signal. I originally tested the Addictive Drums 1 demo and saw that the Variable Hi-Hat worked great in the software and gave you adjustments over the range. In the setup screen you can choose the different hit types for each sound and adjust the volume induvidualy. So, if you feel the open, closed, pedal sounds for your hi-hat have a volume balance you don't like, you can adjust each one. I have 9 of the drum kit packs, 4 beat packs and 2 add on snares. I purchased the add ons over a 2 year period, always waiting for a sale. The MIDI beat packs don't come with the corrosoponding sample packs, beat packs are separate, the price isn't too bad though. I was dissapointed when I bought the standare set with 3 kits, Fairfax 1&2 and Black Velvet. This pack comes with a set of standard beats and a sampler of each add on. The Custom 3 kit package allows you to add 3 kits of your choice, 3 MIDI beat packs, 3 kit pieces and the standard beats. This appears to be a better deal, but was only a little dissapointment. The Farifax kits and Black velvet all sound pretty good, but I think the Black Velvet snare seems to have too much room in the sound and the fairfax snares may be a little too dead. I think choosing your own kits would be better. I like the United Pop, Heavy and Studio Pop a lot. Two kits I don't have but like the demos are Indie and Blue Oyster. I like the sounds in the Reel Machines, but was dissapointed that the Simmons sounds didn't include sustained pitch dives like I was able to do with my SDS8. As I said, I do like the product and love the sounds, the ability to hear all the kits in the app is real good. You can even pull up the settings for the kits you don't own. So if you like a sound you can see what they did to get that sound. The things that I don't like are: There are specific slots for instruments, this limits how many of each sound you can use. There are 3 flexi slots, which give you the ability to place any of the sounds, but this is also where you put stuff you want to layer. There is no ability to add your own sounds. I know they feel like you would avoid add packs, and the multi mike functions would be hard to incorporate on user samples, so I understand the reason for not adding this. They have updated the Kit packs over the last couple years, but have not added any new single kit pieces in a while. There are only 4 add on snares, 4 kicks and 6 percussion instruments, no cymbal packs. There is the ability to create and share user kits, but there really doesn't appear to be a community sharing these and XLN doesn't have any add on kits beyond what came with it. Out of all the packs there were only three that have snare drums with a strong ring sound, which is important sometimes. These are the single 10" pearl piccolo, the funk kit and the studio pop. Even though you can heavily adjust all the sounds with pitch control, transient shapers, envelope and all sorts of processing, it would have been nice if each snare came with a couple different tunings and muffleing options.
@@MrGalassi My favorite drum kits are. United Pop - I like it for the all around sound United Heavy - This is good for a more aggressive sound For a ringy snare I like Studio Pop drum kit. The only other snare that has a lot or ring is the Funk kit, I don't have that one. One of the other kits that I don't have that sounds good is the Blue Oyster. Between the original 3 Fairfax 1 and 2 sound good, I think I like 2 better. I like the Black Velvet, but even dry it kind of sounds like it is in a big room. This is fine, but the snare is as useful dry. As for Kitpieces I have the DW 12X4 Piccolo and think it sounds great. I have the pearl Piccolo and it sounds ok. T On the website there are many demos of the kits and sounds. This is a good place to get a feel for the options. They often have sales for season changes, summer, fall. There is currently a sale until Sept 30th I think.
The biggest plus with Addictive Drums if the fact that you can effect each track within the plugin. There's no need to create a drum map which adds an additional 10 or 15 tracks to your mix. I absolutely LOVE this feature. Compression, velocity, room mics and more...they're all right there within the plugin....one and done!
I still find it to be by far the best for certain kinds of music, if you’re into kind of more retro sounding things or indie music. The indie and retro adpak’s have so much character and nail certain sounds that i haven’t found in others. Superior drummer is great, but almost too polished in some ways and more generic, which can be great in it’s own right.
Ride Yer Camel bro I got the AD2 demo and I’m literally amazed by the dry vintage and other retro kits on there. Don’t think it’s possible to capture that rawness even on SD3.
Nice, this is what i was looking for. I got GetGoodDrums Modern & Massive and man, it’s just way too “Metal” sounding for the type of jangle pop I’m making
Yes I like Addictive it works well with Pre Td50 Roland modules We have just spent a month trying to get BFD drums working properly with our TD module they seem to have sold out dropped support and the forum has gone So it's now a choice between Steve Slate Superior and Addictive all I can say if you use a VH11 hat you can get Addictive to work very well and it sounds great so if you just want to play without having to do an engineering course it's great
Thanks Mike for the succinct and fairly comprehensive review. Superior Drummer might be...well, superior considering you can play with all of the raw samples, Addictive Drums personally has a leg up with the way they balance simplicity and control.
I didn’t research addictive drums much before I bought superior drummer3, I see now that SD3 is the program for me, addictive drums looks too “machine” like, SD3 makes me wanna jam and learn more about drumming itself because of the camera angle being in POV , it feels very real both in view and graphics compared to this but fun to learn about other programs
I am thinking of switching back to AD2 from EZD because of the much lower cpu hit. EZD soaks up like 40% on my Pro Tools meter. The AD2 demo is less than 10% on the meter.
The latest superior drummer libraries are pretty processed too. Addictive Drums have a lot of personality and they are a little overlooked as of late. I would love to see an AD3 eventually with all the features it has but with some really good raw samples on pair with The Metal Foundry, which is still my favourite library for Superior. Thanks for all your videos, Mike.
Excellent review. It's 2022 now, but only thing I might've added is the cost of ecosystem is quite a bit less for AD2. During holiday sales 10 kits/10midis/10kitpieces collection in AD2 sells for around $250. 6kits/6midis/6kitpieces around $160 or so. 3kits/midi is around $85 in sales. It's just so much more affordable than Toontrack who rarely have big sales like AD. The sounds to my ear in AD2 are still very good and they vibe well with me when songwriting - but if you want a clean natural (unprocessed) drum, I don't think they have presets for that on most kits. I have both AD2 and EZdrummer 2/3 and prefer AD2 when songwriting. I think the ability to quickly get so many different moods with different kits and the presets is excellent for songwriting. And the fact that I can afford so many AD2 kits and presets helps the inspiration.
I have EZD 2 and AD 2 and I did a compare and contrast earlier today and didn't realize that the drums for AD was punchier. I may put it in my beats to see how it really sounds.
I own both EZ Drummer and Addictive Drummer 2 and I'd say to my ears, AD2 sounds better because the sounds are more raw and allows you a lot of tweakability to better fit the mix of your song..From what I've heard from superior drummer and the others, they all sound super processed out of the box..So AD2 for sure worth it for me
Another great video Mike, thanks. XLN Audio owe you a favour as it was thanks to this video I purchased AD2! Obviously I tried the limited trial version first, but I found the sounds and CC responses from my TD-20 so much better than in SD3. I have a feeling SD3 is really targeted to people with TD-50 or Mimic Pro controllers. I have to say, the MIDI information sent from my TD-20 is being processed so much better by AD2 than it was in SD2 and even SD3. I hope XLN Audio keep updating this product and don't let it go just because Toontrack have become the biggest name in the drum VST business. They are releasing minor updates regularly but I guess everyone is waiting for an AD3 release. I have read XLN Audio also keep their upgrade paths open for longer than Toontrack, who dropped the SD2-SD3 upgrade opportunity after 12 months. Maybe XLN Audio could capture the market for ex-SD2 Toontrack customers and people who don't need the complexity of SD3 so I think they still have a reason to work on a future release of AD.
Thanks for your comment and nice words. I think SD3 is even more tailor-made for producers and engineers. Yes, the software does have a sophisticated edrum interface, however, the whole concept of this software is really made for guys and girls who want to program their drum parts. I do agree that AD2 often responds very well to electronic drums. I have played the TD-12, the TD20x and the TD30 for some years and all of them worked pretty smoothly with AD2. And yes, I would love to see the release of AD3. However, Toontrack has set the bar very, very high ... don‘t know if other companies still take the challenge to beat Toontrack.
Its probably more comparable to EZdrummer 2 than to Superior Drummer 3. It's nice, I have it, but I dont think I ever used it on a song I made. Its interface is not as easy as EZdrummer 2, theres a learning curve although not hard but then you always need to tweak the sounds to fit your song though I havn't dug into that too much yet, since I kind of favored EZdrummer 2 for some reasons, for example finding beats, fills, etc was much more easy on EZdrummer 2 and the conversion between the two wasnt all that eady aswell when making for example a midi drum pattern in one of those programs you just couldnt easily put in the other software because for example the hi-hat would be wrong "hits", etc. It would just be a hazzle switching between the two so I kind of just let AD2 go and continued on with SD3 instead... I have lots of EZdrummer 2 expansions but never them either, nowadays... Then theres the "free" drum software in Cubase 10 Pro, but never ever even tried it. SD3 just got it all for my needs anyway, these days.
AD still good. Like all things, it's only as good as the musician. You can hand a person the best kit in the world and they will compress it to death. The engineer, being you, has to know how to master. Period so my answer is, yeah it's still great. The easiest to use imo, even easier than Slates. I love how you can output AD vs the slates output system. It's too much work in Slates, AD, it's simple. I think Slates great too. All on the musician.
Hello mike, I bought addictive drums and they seem great. I have so much trouble getting them to work right with my edrums. Definitely not as user friendly as the toontrack products
mhh ive no issues (since OS Catalina) with my edrum (Roland TD15KV). But Roland dosnt support OS Catalina :( Ive bought UM one MKII from Roland - and it works again :) 1st Issue was Addictive Drums 1; so I have to switch to AD2 (already bought 2018?!) cause AD1 would be supported too under OS Catalina. So far: no issues with AD1, AD2 + Logic and Edrums. Plug n play
I am using a demo Ad2 at the moment. When I route out the individual tracks the high end of the kick plays out of the snare track. This is a problem do you have any idea why or what I can do.
I have both addictive and ez drummer and I really like both of them. The midi packs are cheaper with addictive drummer but they don't have as many options.
Short answer: yes. Much less less toll on your RAM and disk space, sweet and more balanced sounding presets (if you're to lazy to make them yourself or need a starting point in finding your sound), very intuitive when it comes to writing both demos for your band or material never intended to be played by live drummer. Superior, in my opinion, is amazing as a sample bank for an electronic drum kit/triggers, when you need a good and realistic sound, but good micing is impossible or hard to achieve.
AD2's biggest con for me is the sound quality which is due to their compression-based samples which XLN will argue is a lossless format but, to my ear, it's the equivalent of a low-rendered MP3 with accentuated mid frequencies lacking overall depth and representation. That said, it's an easy interface to master quickly and there is no loading time for kits or pieces due to the small file footprint which is a major plus if you're recording on an older or slower computer.
@H Kay Exactly - to my ears it's the equivalent of listening to an MP3 versus a Wav file. But, with some EQ and filtering you can really make them work in a mix. Check out the iOS app DrumGenius and listen how great those samples sound - apparently all AD!
I ended up buying back in to AD2 and sold off a few of my unused EZX packs. I will keep the core EZD2 though. I strongly prefer the sounds in AD2 over EZD2. But for MIDI and song building tools, Toontrack has XLN beat by a mile. If only I could get Toontrack's MIDI, groove timeline, and even Superior's hit editor inside AD2. That would be dream software. I've considered getting Superior Drummer 3 but I'm not sure I'd like it over the AD2 sounds. They are quite perfect to my ears, and Superior is big bucks.
After 8 years my AD2 doesn't seem to start in sync with the host (Cubase) anymore. Sort of skips quickly and catches up which is really annoying. After a complete reinstall it still does it. No idea whats going on with this anymore. May need something else
@@Fonkemman yep. Given up and moved away from AD2. Use it for playback but not my starting point anymore. No idea what happened to it along the way but I can't fix it
@@Fonkemman EZDrummer and Stylus RMX (both have no sync/start issues for me at all). I did demo BFD3 (again no sync issue) but it wasn't great for a quick fire drum machine, if you have hours to produce with it you'd get some great results tho. I'm completely lost with the little AD2 bug. Used it for years in different systems and OS versions etc. Never been a problem until now. I'm still suspecting a recent Windows 10 update could be the cause but yet to verify because it will take me ages to prove that.
Ad2 is awesome...cover all genres and most importantly...the sounds are absolutely acoustic authentic..i have all the packs.......and i also have SSD5..SD3..GGD and Studio drummer
The only thing I dont like about AD is theres no option to hide the stuff I dont own which can get a little annoying when trying to find a sound and it keeps throwing up stuff I cant use. But other than that, AD has been my workhorse for some time now.
This looked perfect for my skill level Mike so I bought a choose your own combo pack with BV, Studio Rock and Studio Prog plus 3 beats packs and three additional kit pieces and it sounds pretty good so far. I mapped my kit last night and had everything set to location and velocity but the "save" button on the map screen was grayed out and a message kept saying i had to save a preset first. I went back to the main page and saved the kit i was working on as a custom rock kit and back to the map screen and still grayed out...Thoughts? Oh, and I ran USB direct from the module to my PC, selected the module as my sound source and was able to lower the buffer sample size down enough to get the latency to 2.2ms and it took no time! Yeah!!
Hey Mike, great choice. AD2 is a great alternative and even though I am a heavy SD3 user, I‘d always recommend pulling the trigger on AD2. Regarding your issue ... I have no idea, to be honest. Always hard to tell from a distance. Could you solve it in the meantime?
Thanks Mike for the interesting take on AD2. I have most of the ADpaks and use it still though I prefer SD3 these days. I used to use BFD2, but haven't upgraded. I still like the sound of Native Instruments Abbey Road 60s Drummer and Studio Drummer. And of course use SSD5 on occasion. DrumMasters2 also has some good sounding kits.
@@MikeLuke Yea, I know too well about acquiring more software. But I do got to say the Native Instruments software sounds awesome, though I think if all we had was SD3, that would suffice.
SD3 is clearly more feature rich, but I find AD2 more convenient. I sometimes rely on tweaking presets into what I need. And theirs don't rely as much on effecting the stereo out, needing less work to maintain the sound when I multi-out. And their mono outs are mono in my DAW. And customizing the MIDI mapping is universal to MIDI in and out. SD3 is great for those with more skill than me. It's probably why I've only added EZXs and not SDXs. I know most of the presets will be useless to me. And man, I hate that customizing the MIDI in isn't carried over to the out!!! Who's idea was that?!? But that song track is sweet! And when I do need to create a kit from scratch, all options are available. AD2 is still my go to by a little bit.
Thanks Mike I belated just saw your review of AD which I was trying to supplement with NI Studio ... I think my issue with NI is Kontakt ... might consider EZ or SD3...
Hi Marco, true. But you need to look at it the other way round. There is no „core“ AD2 library (like you have with EZDrummer2 or Superior Drummer 3). You can‘t buy AD2 just as a software, you always need to pick at least one AdPak with it.
Impact XT is reeeeaaally basic, it's alright for electronic beats but even as far as other Drumpad-Plugins go, it lacks in-depth-features necessary to make a sound come alive. Especially for acoustic drums I'd recommend a proper sample library like this or superior drummer. Or download the free Steven Slate Drums while you keep looking for your ideal fit! :)
I've had AD2 for a while now and still can't get them to work with Studio One. I don't want to switch to a different DAW, but can anyone please help me out? Thanks!
@@kariayamkaridugong3575 Thanks for replying! I can't get AD2 to work with or even show up in Studio One. You know how you're supposed to see all the programs and plugins in the folders on the right side of the Studio One screen? AD2 doesn't even show up. It's like it isn't even installed on my computer. It shows other plugins, effects, etc. but not AD2. I've been trying to use Reaper, but I'm not having any luck with that either. I can see levels move when I tap the keys and pads on my MPK Mini, but there's no sound. I buy from Sweetwater, so I talked to them about the problem with Studio One and they said it's because I have the free version. They want me to buy the full version of Studio One, of course. Like I haven't given them enough of my money. Can't you use MIDI software like AD2 with free DAWs??? I see other people doing it without a single problem. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated! Thanks!
Yes, as it‘s just a common MIDI file in the end, you can use it in whatever context you want. Sometimes you have to re-map in order to use it within another drum sampler. However, every major software offers a feature to re-map automatically, you can actually tell SSD 5.5 that you use a MIDI file from AD2 and it will translate accordingly.
I went into XLN Audio Support, searched for, "Addictive Drums 2 tutorials", and came up empty. Need advice to get going quickly. I have my MIDI keyboard added and working in AD2. Also, how easy or hard is it to create Intros, Outros, Breaks, and Fills in AD2? Thanks in advance!
Hi John. Addictive Drums has usually a good library of MIDI-files to create different song parts like intros, outros ... you can just drag & drop them into your DAW and tweak them further there.
Hard to tell which is „better“ as this is a very subjective term in the end. Prices are more or less the same. A big plus for EZDrummer is that it’s part of the huge Toonttack ecosystem, so once you pull the trigger on Superior Drummer, you can still use EZDrummer and all its expansions. Both provide more or less mix ready sounds, EZDrummer has a bit more expansion packs overall.
Given that Superior Drummer 3 is the best choice, AD2 is better than EZ2 and SSD5. For me the best feature that makes it better is the Hihaat. You can set it in a very realistic way with respect of SSD5 and EZDrummer2
Addictive Drums 2 is just the host of any AdPak and cannot be bought separately anyways. So whatever AdPak zu use, you’ll have the software itself always installed as far as I know.
Given the age of the software, does AD2 still see any updates? Either technical to the program or regular releases of new ADpaks (or other add-ons)? I've been tempted, but given it's the oldest and their website doesn't have a "news" page, it's tough to tell how regularly things are updated or supported.
There are some updates every now and then, but they haven’t released too many ADpaks in the last two years, to be honest. I still feel the software itself is still competitive, no complaints from my side about the sounds.
greattt video. I have a question. If I want to buy just ADpack, can I do it and it comes with the software? or do I need to get the addicted drums software first?
Ok just getting into triggering AD2. loving it, however, I can’t get a good response from the VH13’s USING TD30 to TRIGGER AD2. Tried everything ‘I THINK’ but ITS not triggering correctly. Any videos out there explaining how to set up the AD2 correctly with VH13 hi hat would be great. SO YOU KNOW I have mapped the AD2 as a TD30 but still, it’s not working well.
Did you see my video on how to setup the HiHat with SD3? You might want to skip the part of SD3, but check the first part of the video when I explain the settings in the module.
In the hi-hat edit section, look for the orange midi letters, for CC, these are the controls for the hi-hat. If you don't use the orange lettered midi CC you will have trouble with hi-hat open and closed messages, it only took me a week to figure it out with my Roland controller. I have EZ drummer as well but AD 2 is much more sophisticated. Good luck.
I use both AD2 and EZD2...and Superior Drummer 2. Unfortunately, I purchased SD2 just a few months prior to SD3 and was not about to pay the upgrade price on top of what I just paid for SD2. Now, 3 years later, I’m considering purchasing SD3. Still, in 2020, I’m not sure it is worth it on top of what I already have. If I didn’t have SD2, it would probably make more sense.
SD3 is rarely on sale, and when it does, it's never a huge sale. EZ doesn't really go on sale at all, they only include a "free" pack as part of their sales. At least AD2 has massive sales.
I've used AD2, EZD2 and own SSD5.5. Out of those I like AD2 the best but not enough to make me buy it now. I'll wait for a possible AD3 release. If that doesn't happen I will probably stick with SSD5.5 for a while until I can buy Toontrack Superior.
I use some separate pieces in addictive drums 2, such as brazilian snare, or “special” sounds, for example in my last video ( ruclips.net/video/qfcSt3XcCN4/видео.html ) I used some electronic tons in Reel Machines pack in a brazilian band song. Great video Mike!
AD2 is far better than EZDrummer in that EZ2 barely has round robins. I think there’s maybe 2 per velocity layer? SD3 is better than EZ2 with the sampling but the rooms they use all sound like giant caverns that reverberate for weeks (even the expansions, with the exception of the dry room in Hansa SDX). Also I don’t find SD3 to be as good with e kits without a lot of tweaking. With AD2, especially the hi hat articulations, my e kit worked with it perfectly and sounded real with little to no tweaking. That said, if metal machine-gun sounds or heavily reverbed kits are what you’re going for, go Toontrack!
Industry standard nowadays uses a lot of triggers on drums. AD2 actually uses industry standards to record the kits in many samples that will play and feel like you are playing real acoustic drums with most of the nuances.
I just got A2 here in 2022, and I absolutely love it more than anything I have used so far in the drum plug in realm. Very user friendly as well from my experience.
I've used Addictive Drums for years and always been pleased with the results. I'm concerned, however, that XLN seem to have let the product go to sleep for some time now.
That could mean development on ad3... hopefully
Addictive Drums is still my preferred VST drum kit, superb software in my opinion.
It was my first drumsoftware I bought. I first bought Addictive Drums I think in 2013 or so and upgraded it later to AD2.
great video. thanks for the info. been considering AD2 for a while, may jump on it for my next project. take care, cheers.
I use the jazz stick and brush daily to practice jazz piano. I added the percussion and the mallet pack (underrated!).
I often edit the kits and the beats to my liking and I add my own midi tracks. The only missing feature is the possibilty to sync Addictive to an external controler in stand alone mode.
Yup. Mallet pack sounds great!
Very useful video, thank you, with the sale that XLN has now purchase of AD2 is a no-brainer!
the magic lies on the GM automatic converter for any drum grooves .. MAGIC!
If you want to use (and tweak to your own taste) the raw drum sounds from AD, you can still do that by activating the direct outputs.
Great video Mike, I have been using AD2 since 2016 and love it. The sounds are good and you have a lot of control over them.
I have an Electronic kit using an Alesis Trigger I/O. This gives me the variable Hi-Hat signal.
I originally tested the Addictive Drums 1 demo and saw that the Variable Hi-Hat worked great in the software and gave you adjustments over the range.
In the setup screen you can choose the different hit types for each sound and adjust the volume induvidualy.
So, if you feel the open, closed, pedal sounds for your hi-hat have a volume balance you don't like, you can adjust each one.
I have 9 of the drum kit packs, 4 beat packs and 2 add on snares. I purchased the add ons over a 2 year period, always waiting for a sale.
The MIDI beat packs don't come with the corrosoponding sample packs, beat packs are separate, the price isn't too bad though.
I was dissapointed when I bought the standare set with 3 kits, Fairfax 1&2 and Black Velvet. This pack comes with a set of standard beats and a sampler of each add on.
The Custom 3 kit package allows you to add 3 kits of your choice, 3 MIDI beat packs, 3 kit pieces and the standard beats.
This appears to be a better deal, but was only a little dissapointment.
The Farifax kits and Black velvet all sound pretty good, but I think the Black Velvet snare seems to have too much room in the sound and the fairfax snares may be a little too dead. I think choosing your own kits would be better. I like the United Pop, Heavy and Studio Pop a lot.
Two kits I don't have but like the demos are Indie and Blue Oyster.
I like the sounds in the Reel Machines, but was dissapointed that the Simmons sounds didn't include sustained pitch dives like I was able to do with my SDS8.
As I said, I do like the product and love the sounds, the ability to hear all the kits in the app is real good.
You can even pull up the settings for the kits you don't own. So if you like a sound you can see what they did to get that sound.
The things that I don't like are:
There are specific slots for instruments, this limits how many of each sound you can use. There are 3 flexi slots, which give you the ability to place any of the sounds, but this is also where you put stuff you want to layer.
There is no ability to add your own sounds. I know they feel like you would avoid add packs, and the multi mike functions would be hard to incorporate on user samples, so I understand the reason for not adding this.
They have updated the Kit packs over the last couple years, but have not added any new single kit pieces in a while.
There are only 4 add on snares, 4 kicks and 6 percussion instruments, no cymbal packs.
There is the ability to create and share user kits, but there really doesn't appear to be a community sharing these and XLN doesn't have any add on kits beyond what came with it.
Out of all the packs there were only three that have snare drums with a strong ring sound, which is important sometimes. These are the single 10" pearl piccolo, the funk kit and the studio pop.
Even though you can heavily adjust all the sounds with pitch control, transient shapers, envelope and all sorts of processing, it would have been nice if each snare came with a couple different tunings and muffleing options.
it would be nice to be able to take off the snare damper, i too like a ringing snare
If you were to buy AD2 custom with 3 adpacks to choose, which ones would you recommend for maximum flexibility?
@@MrGalassi My favorite drum kits are.
United Pop - I like it for the all around sound
United Heavy - This is good for a more aggressive sound
For a ringy snare I like Studio Pop drum kit.
The only other snare that has a lot or ring is the Funk kit, I don't have that one.
One of the other kits that I don't have that sounds good is the Blue Oyster.
Between the original 3
Fairfax 1 and 2 sound good, I think I like 2 better.
I like the Black Velvet, but even dry it kind of sounds like it is in a big room.
This is fine, but the snare is as useful dry.
As for Kitpieces
I have the DW 12X4 Piccolo and think it sounds great.
I have the pearl Piccolo and it sounds ok. T On the website there are many demos of the kits and sounds. This is a good place to get a feel for the options. They often have sales for season changes, summer, fall. There is currently a sale until Sept 30th I think.
@@MrGalassi , I mentioned a sale, it is until August 30th.
@@aretoocrazy where is the sale??
The biggest plus with Addictive Drums if the fact that you can effect each track within the plugin. There's no need to create a drum map which adds an additional 10 or 15 tracks to your mix. I absolutely LOVE this feature. Compression, velocity, room mics and more...they're all right there within the plugin....one and done!
I still find it to be by far the best for certain kinds of music, if you’re into kind of more retro sounding things or indie music. The indie and retro adpak’s have so much character and nail certain sounds that i haven’t found in others. Superior drummer is great, but almost too polished in some ways and more generic, which can be great in it’s own right.
Ride Yer Camel bro I got the AD2 demo and I’m literally amazed by the dry vintage and other retro kits on there. Don’t think it’s possible to capture that rawness even on SD3.
Nice, this is what i was looking for. I got GetGoodDrums Modern & Massive and man, it’s just way too “Metal” sounding for the type of jangle pop I’m making
Yes I like Addictive it works well with Pre Td50 Roland modules
We have just spent a month trying to get BFD drums working properly with our TD module they seem to have sold out dropped support and the forum has gone
So it's now a choice between Steve Slate Superior and Addictive all I can say if you use a VH11 hat you can get Addictive to work very well and it sounds great so if you just want to play without having to do an engineering course it's great
I have AD2 and MODO drums. I LOVE MODO drums! The only thing I don't like is the absence of brushes in MODO. But the sound of MD is BOOM!!
Thanks Mike for the succinct and fairly comprehensive review. Superior Drummer might be...well, superior considering you can play with all of the raw samples, Addictive Drums personally has a leg up with the way they balance simplicity and control.
I didn’t research addictive drums much before I bought superior drummer3, I see now that SD3 is the program for me, addictive drums looks too “machine” like, SD3 makes me wanna jam and learn more about drumming itself because of the camera angle being in POV , it feels very real both in view and graphics compared to this but fun to learn about other programs
I am thinking of switching back to AD2 from EZD because of the much lower cpu hit. EZD soaks up like 40% on my Pro Tools meter. The AD2 demo is less than 10% on the meter.
The latest superior drummer libraries are pretty processed too. Addictive Drums have a lot of personality and they are a little overlooked as of late. I would love to see an AD3 eventually with all the features it has but with some really good raw samples on pair with The Metal Foundry, which is still my favourite library for Superior. Thanks for all your videos, Mike.
Thanks for your comment. Yes, AD3 would be a new player in the game for sure.
Very fond of Addictive Drums 2. Use it a lot in my instrumentals ❤
I can't really get the hi-hats to sound that good, any tips?
Excellent review. It's 2022 now, but only thing I might've added is the cost of ecosystem is quite a bit less for AD2. During holiday sales 10 kits/10midis/10kitpieces collection in AD2 sells for around $250. 6kits/6midis/6kitpieces around $160 or so. 3kits/midi is around $85 in sales. It's just so much more affordable than Toontrack who rarely have big sales like AD. The sounds to my ear in AD2 are still very good and they vibe well with me when songwriting - but if you want a clean natural (unprocessed) drum, I don't think they have presets for that on most kits. I have both AD2 and EZdrummer 2/3 and prefer AD2 when songwriting. I think the ability to quickly get so many different moods with different kits and the presets is excellent for songwriting. And the fact that I can afford so many AD2 kits and presets helps the inspiration.
You should do an AD2 v EZ3 video … I can’t find any comprehensive comparison, anywhere …
We will see Mike if it's worth still buying my friend, I used the black velvet kit for my next drum cover. I will release it soon. 🥁🍻😎
Yes. It's still worth buying. Even if just for the cymbals.
Just moved over to AD2 from EZD... I prefer AD2... just sounds better. More punchier, more control... I'm a happy camper.
it does sound better imo
I have EZD 2 and AD 2 and I did a compare and contrast earlier today and didn't realize that the drums for AD was punchier. I may put it in my beats to see how it really sounds.
One thing I appreciate about AD2 is you can do realistic cymbal swells! Can't do that on SSD4 or 5 without having to tweak and retweak settings
Great review, on point!
I own both EZ Drummer and Addictive Drummer 2 and I'd say to my ears, AD2 sounds better because the sounds are more raw and allows you a lot of tweakability to better fit the mix of your song..From what I've heard from superior drummer and the others, they all sound super processed out of the box..So AD2 for sure worth it for me
Hi Mike..good to see you....ok, I’m listening...
Do you get any kits with the plugin or do you have to buy packs straightaway to use?
AD2 is brilliant. Very intelligent layout. I do wish they had sampled the snares with with wires off though.
Agreed.
maybe some packs would have that, if it is a practice particular to a style.
I like AD2 for its simplicity, and yes, the presets. Unlike SD3, I can use mutli-out and maintain the preset's sound, less maybe reverb.
Very informative. Thanks
Another great video Mike, thanks. XLN Audio owe you a favour as it was thanks to this video I purchased AD2! Obviously I tried the limited trial version first, but I found the sounds and CC responses from my TD-20 so much better than in SD3. I have a feeling SD3 is really targeted to people with TD-50 or Mimic Pro controllers. I have to say, the MIDI information sent from my TD-20 is being processed so much better by AD2 than it was in SD2 and even SD3.
I hope XLN Audio keep updating this product and don't let it go just because Toontrack have become the biggest name in the drum VST business. They are releasing minor updates regularly but I guess everyone is waiting for an AD3 release. I have read XLN Audio also keep their upgrade paths open for longer than Toontrack, who dropped the SD2-SD3 upgrade opportunity after 12 months. Maybe XLN Audio could capture the market for ex-SD2 Toontrack customers and people who don't need the complexity of SD3 so I think they still have a reason to work on a future release of AD.
Thanks for your comment and nice words. I think SD3 is even more tailor-made for producers and engineers. Yes, the software does have a sophisticated edrum interface, however, the whole concept of this software is really made for guys and girls who want to program their drum parts. I do agree that AD2 often responds very well to electronic drums. I have played the TD-12, the TD20x and the TD30 for some years and all of them worked pretty smoothly with AD2. And yes, I would love to see the release of AD3. However, Toontrack has set the bar very, very high ... don‘t know if other companies still take the challenge to beat Toontrack.
Thanks for this useful analysis !
Cheers Henry!
Its probably more comparable to EZdrummer 2 than to Superior Drummer 3. It's nice, I have it, but I dont think I ever used it on a song I made. Its interface is not as easy as EZdrummer 2, theres a learning curve although not hard but then you always need to tweak the sounds to fit your song though I havn't dug into that too much yet, since I kind of favored EZdrummer 2 for some reasons, for example finding beats, fills, etc was much more easy on EZdrummer 2 and the conversion between the two wasnt all that eady aswell when making for example a midi drum pattern in one of those programs you just couldnt easily put in the other software because for example the hi-hat would be wrong "hits", etc. It would just be a hazzle switching between the two so I kind of just let AD2 go and continued on with SD3 instead... I have lots of EZdrummer 2 expansions but never them either, nowadays... Then theres the "free" drum software in Cubase 10 Pro, but never ever even tried it. SD3 just got it all for my needs anyway, these days.
I don't use it all the time for all it's drum sections but I do use it all the time for Hi Hats.
Addictive Drums 2 compared to other brands have the warmth that other brands are more processed.
Its worth it for the jazz sticks and brushes.
AD still good. Like all things, it's only as good as the musician. You can hand a person the best kit in the world and they will compress it to death. The engineer, being you, has to know how to master. Period so my answer is, yeah it's still great. The easiest to use imo, even easier than Slates. I love how you can output AD vs the slates output system. It's too much work in Slates, AD, it's simple. I think Slates great too. All on the musician.
Hello mike, I bought addictive drums and they seem great. I have so much trouble getting them to work right with my edrums. Definitely not as user friendly as the toontrack products
Yes, that's true. However, once you get used to it, it gets pretty convenient.
mhh ive no issues (since OS Catalina) with my edrum (Roland TD15KV). But Roland dosnt support OS Catalina :(
Ive bought UM one MKII from Roland - and it works again :)
1st Issue was Addictive Drums 1; so I have to switch to AD2 (already bought 2018?!) cause AD1 would be supported too under OS Catalina.
So far: no issues with AD1, AD2 + Logic and Edrums. Plug n play
Great explanation and overall review! I agree with you, actually I always use AD2 in my covers that I invite you to dig in if you want :)
Hey there, which DAW do you use? Do you know how to use AD2 with Studio One?
A New Horizon I use AD2 with Logic pro, no tried with ant other DAW
I am using a demo Ad2 at the moment. When I route out the individual tracks the high end of the kick plays out of the snare track. This is a problem do you have any idea why or what I can do.
Always great in-depth info!
Dude, could you try to be polite to others here on my channel? I'd appreciate it. Thank you.
I have both addictive and ez drummer and I really like both of them.
The midi packs are cheaper with addictive drummer but they don't have as many options.
Cool review lot of good sounding kits/presets too!!
Short answer: yes.
Much less less toll on your RAM and disk space, sweet and more balanced sounding presets (if you're to lazy to make them yourself or need a starting point in finding your sound), very intuitive when it comes to writing both demos for your band or material never intended to be played by live drummer.
Superior, in my opinion, is amazing as a sample bank for an electronic drum kit/triggers, when you need a good and realistic sound, but good micing is impossible or hard to achieve.
AD2's biggest con for me is the sound quality which is due to their compression-based samples which XLN will argue is a lossless format but, to my ear, it's the equivalent of a low-rendered MP3 with accentuated mid frequencies lacking overall depth and representation. That said, it's an easy interface to master quickly and there is no loading time for kits or pieces due to the small file footprint which is a major plus if you're recording on an older or slower computer.
Well I have all of BFD 3, all of EZ DRUMMER 2 and Addictive Drummer 2, and for me AD2 is the best sounding drums ever.
@@montazownianr1 Cool, I still use AD2 for certain things myself as well as BFD3. Curiously, what genre of music do you use AD2?
@H Kay Exactly - to my ears it's the equivalent of listening to an MP3 versus a Wav file. But, with some EQ and filtering you can really make them work in a mix. Check out the iOS app DrumGenius and listen how great those samples sound - apparently all AD!
I ended up buying back in to AD2 and sold off a few of my unused EZX packs. I will keep the core EZD2 though. I strongly prefer the sounds in AD2 over EZD2. But for MIDI and song building tools, Toontrack has XLN beat by a mile. If only I could get Toontrack's MIDI, groove timeline, and even Superior's hit editor inside AD2. That would be dream software. I've considered getting Superior Drummer 3 but I'm not sure I'd like it over the AD2 sounds. They are quite perfect to my ears, and Superior is big bucks.
After 8 years my AD2 doesn't seem to start in sync with the host (Cubase) anymore. Sort of skips quickly and catches up which is really annoying. After a complete reinstall it still does it. No idea whats going on with this anymore. May need something else
Have you tried contacting XLN or Steinberg?
@@Fonkemman yep. Given up and moved away from AD2. Use it for playback but not my starting point anymore. No idea what happened to it along the way but I can't fix it
MyOldSkool what are you using nowadays?
@@Fonkemman EZDrummer and Stylus RMX (both have no sync/start issues for me at all). I did demo BFD3 (again no sync issue) but it wasn't great for a quick fire drum machine, if you have hours to produce with it you'd get some great results tho. I'm completely lost with the little AD2 bug. Used it for years in different systems and OS versions etc. Never been a problem until now. I'm still suspecting a recent Windows 10 update could be the cause but yet to verify because it will take me ages to prove that.
Ad2 is awesome...cover all genres and most importantly...the sounds are absolutely acoustic authentic..i have all the packs.......and i also have SSD5..SD3..GGD and Studio drummer
Oh wow, so you own all of them! What's your favorite though?
The only thing I dont like about AD is theres no option to hide the stuff I dont own which can get a little annoying when trying to find a sound and it keeps throwing up stuff I cant use. But other than that, AD has been my workhorse for some time now.
I have EZD2, I am thinking of getting SD3 or AD2 this year. EZD is good but the biggest issue is screen size.
Agreed.
what do you guys recomend tho???
Steven slate drums crushing all the time on my imac (cubase 9)
This looked perfect for my skill level Mike so I bought a choose your own combo pack with BV, Studio Rock and Studio Prog plus 3 beats packs and three additional kit pieces and it sounds pretty good so far. I mapped my kit last night and had everything set to location and velocity but the "save" button on the map screen was grayed out and a message kept saying i had to save a preset first. I went back to the main page and saved the kit i was working on as a custom rock kit and back to the map screen and still grayed out...Thoughts? Oh, and I ran USB direct from the module to my PC, selected the module as my sound source and was able to lower the buffer sample size down enough to get the latency to 2.2ms and it took no time! Yeah!!
Hey Mike, great choice. AD2 is a great alternative and even though I am a heavy SD3 user, I‘d always recommend pulling the trigger on AD2. Regarding your issue ... I have no idea, to be honest. Always hard to tell from a distance. Could you solve it in the meantime?
Thanks Mike for the interesting take on AD2. I have most of the ADpaks and use it still though I prefer SD3 these days. I used to use BFD2, but haven't upgraded. I still like the sound of Native Instruments Abbey Road 60s Drummer and Studio Drummer. And of course use SSD5 on occasion. DrumMasters2 also has some good sounding kits.
I was always tempted to pull the trigger on the Native Instruments stuff, to be honest. But I already so many libraries, I need to stay strong here ;)
@@MikeLuke Yea, I know too well about acquiring more software. But I do got to say the Native Instruments software sounds awesome, though I think if all we had was SD3, that would suffice.
hey mike, i wanted to ask, what's the function of this addictive drums 2? why do i often see it when some youtubers are covering a song?
SD3 is clearly more feature rich, but I find AD2 more convenient. I sometimes rely on tweaking presets into what I need. And theirs don't rely as much on effecting the stereo out, needing less work to maintain the sound when I multi-out. And their mono outs are mono in my DAW. And customizing the MIDI mapping is universal to MIDI in and out.
SD3 is great for those with more skill than me. It's probably why I've only added EZXs and not SDXs. I know most of the presets will be useless to me. And man, I hate that customizing the MIDI in isn't carried over to the out!!! Who's idea was that?!? But that song track is sweet! And when I do need to create a kit from scratch, all options are available.
AD2 is still my go to by a little bit.
Thanks Mike I belated just saw your review of AD which I was trying to supplement with NI Studio ... I think my issue with NI is Kontakt ... might consider EZ or SD3...
Ehy it doesn't seem that a single adPack works without the basic AD2. Am I wrong?
Hi Marco, true. But you need to look at it the other way round. There is no „core“ AD2 library (like you have with EZDrummer2 or Superior Drummer 3). You can‘t buy AD2 just as a software, you always need to pick at least one AdPak with it.
Do you guys think Impact XT sounds good enough for a recording, or is a plug in like Addictive Drums worth the bucks?
Impact XT is reeeeaaally basic, it's alright for electronic beats but even as far as other Drumpad-Plugins go, it lacks in-depth-features necessary to make a sound come alive. Especially for acoustic drums I'd recommend a proper sample library like this or superior drummer. Or download the free Steven Slate Drums while you keep looking for your ideal fit! :)
I've had AD2 for a while now and still can't get them to work with Studio One. I don't want to switch to a different DAW, but can anyone please help me out? Thanks!
what's your problem? multiple out routing from ad2 to your daw??
@@kariayamkaridugong3575 Thanks for replying! I can't get AD2 to work with or even show up in Studio One. You know how you're supposed to see all the programs and plugins in the folders on the right side of the Studio One screen? AD2 doesn't even show up. It's like it isn't even installed on my computer. It shows other plugins, effects, etc. but not AD2.
I've been trying to use Reaper, but I'm not having any luck with that either. I can see levels move when I tap the keys and pads on my MPK Mini, but there's no sound.
I buy from Sweetwater, so I talked to them about the problem with Studio One and they said it's because I have the free version. They want me to buy the full version of Studio One, of course. Like I haven't given them enough of my money.
Can't you use MIDI software like AD2 with free DAWs??? I see other people doing it without a single problem.
Any suggestions would be very much appreciated! Thanks!
@@Purpleskyshorizon studio one doeant support 3rd party plugins unless you upgrade to studio one professional
Really helpful video.... Can you use AD 2 midi packs without the main AD2 host software with e.g.. SSD 5.5 do you know? Thanks
Yes, as it‘s just a common MIDI file in the end, you can use it in whatever context you want. Sometimes you have to re-map in order to use it within another drum sampler. However, every major software offers a feature to re-map automatically, you can actually tell SSD 5.5 that you use a MIDI file from AD2 and it will translate accordingly.
I went into XLN Audio Support, searched for, "Addictive Drums 2 tutorials", and came up empty. Need advice to get going quickly. I have my MIDI keyboard added and working in AD2. Also, how easy or hard is it to create Intros, Outros, Breaks, and Fills in AD2? Thanks in advance!
Hi John. Addictive Drums has usually a good library of MIDI-files to create different song parts like intros, outros ... you can just drag & drop them into your DAW and tweak them further there.
@@MikeLuke Thank you, Mike, for the info and the very quick reply! Most appreciated.
Is Addictive drums better then ezdrummer? Which one is cheaper too?
Hard to tell which is „better“ as this is a very subjective term in the end.
Prices are more or less the same. A big plus for EZDrummer is that it’s part of the huge Toonttack ecosystem, so once you pull the trigger on Superior Drummer, you can still use EZDrummer and all its expansions.
Both provide more or less mix ready sounds, EZDrummer has a bit more expansion packs overall.
Given that Superior Drummer 3 is the best choice, AD2 is better than EZ2 and SSD5. For me the best feature that makes it better is the Hihaat. You can set it in a very realistic way with respect of SSD5 and EZDrummer2
Is it true that I don't need to buy Addictive Drums 2 to purchase an AdPak? I've got "Indie" placed in my cart and I'm being prompted to buy AD2...
Addictive Drums 2 is just the host of any AdPak and cannot be bought separately anyways. So whatever AdPak zu use, you’ll have the software itself always installed as far as I know.
I have bought the United Pop pack second hand and it's my first piece of AD2 but works standalone!
how much does this even cost?
Given the age of the software, does AD2 still see any updates? Either technical to the program or regular releases of new ADpaks (or other add-ons)? I've been tempted, but given it's the oldest and their website doesn't have a "news" page, it's tough to tell how regularly things are updated or supported.
There are some updates every now and then, but they haven’t released too many ADpaks in the last two years, to be honest. I still feel the software itself is still competitive, no complaints from my side about the sounds.
can you change the bpm
greattt video. I have a question. If I want to buy just ADpack, can I do it and it comes with the software? or do I need to get the addicted drums software first?
As far as I know, the software itself comes with each AdPak.
@@MikeLuke thank you so much
@Dan Jorge you need to get the whole thing
Ok just getting into triggering AD2. loving it, however, I can’t get a good response from the VH13’s USING TD30 to TRIGGER AD2. Tried everything ‘I THINK’ but ITS not triggering correctly.
Any videos out there explaining how to set up the AD2 correctly with VH13 hi hat would be great. SO YOU KNOW I have mapped the AD2 as a TD30 but still, it’s not working well.
Did you see my video on how to setup the HiHat with SD3? You might want to skip the part of SD3, but check the first part of the video when I explain the settings in the module.
In the hi-hat edit section, look for the orange midi letters, for CC, these are the controls for the hi-hat. If you don't use the orange lettered midi CC you will have trouble with hi-hat open and closed messages, it only took me a week to figure it out with my Roland controller. I have EZ drummer as well but AD 2 is much more sophisticated. Good luck.
I use both AD2 and EZD2...and Superior Drummer 2. Unfortunately, I purchased SD2 just a few months prior to SD3 and was not about to pay the upgrade price on top of what I just paid for SD2. Now, 3 years later, I’m considering purchasing SD3. Still, in 2020, I’m not sure it is worth it on top of what I already have. If I didn’t have SD2, it would probably make more sense.
E Z 2 ( 6 ) Add ( 7 ) Superiel 3 ( 8 1/ 5 )
SD3 is rarely on sale, and when it does, it's never a huge sale. EZ doesn't really go on sale at all, they only include a "free" pack as part of their sales. At least AD2 has massive sales.
I think it's still the best drum set.
I've used AD2, EZD2 and own SSD5.5. Out of those I like AD2 the best but not enough to make me buy it now. I'll wait for a possible AD3 release. If that doesn't happen I will probably stick with SSD5.5 for a while until I can buy Toontrack Superior.
I have a question. Can I buy fairfax vol 1 and get addictive drums along with it or do I have to pay 150 for addictive drums and 80 for fairfax?
There is no core library included. You always need to buy one pack to get the software itself
@@MikeLuke Ok. Thank you for your time.
@@colbywilson1389 You’re welcome. Always happy to help
They probably have AD3 in the works.
Let‘s cross fingers they do.
You sound like as if u would apologize to you community haha. Great video, helping me a lot! Greets from mother fkn berlin
I use some separate pieces in addictive drums 2, such as brazilian snare, or “special” sounds, for example in my last video ( ruclips.net/video/qfcSt3XcCN4/видео.html ) I used some electronic tons in Reel Machines pack in a brazilian band song. Great video Mike!
I really love the snares on Ad2.. better than toontrack ultra processed snares
AD2 is far better than EZDrummer in that EZ2 barely has round robins. I think there’s maybe 2 per velocity layer? SD3 is better than EZ2 with the sampling but the rooms they use all sound like giant caverns that reverberate for weeks (even the expansions, with the exception of the dry room in Hansa SDX). Also I don’t find SD3 to be as good with e kits without a lot of tweaking. With AD2, especially the hi hat articulations, my e kit worked with it perfectly and sounded real with little to no tweaking. That said, if metal machine-gun sounds or heavily reverbed kits are what you’re going for, go Toontrack!
This is the comment I was looking for. I need something good for my E Kit
I feel like it’s a sponsored video
If I am sponsored, I will mention it.
Mike Luke I see. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
how is superior drummer 3 the "industry standard", when the industry standard is to mic an acoustic drum kit...
The industry standard in terms of drum sample software. And Superior Drummer and Addictive Drums are mic‘ed up acoustic drum kits.
Industry standard nowadays uses a lot of triggers on drums. AD2 actually uses industry standards to record the kits in many samples that will play and feel like you are playing real acoustic drums with most of the nuances.