Addictive Drums 2

[yzf125]

Received an email saying XLN Audio is releasing Addictive Drums 2 on May 13 2014 http://addictivedrums2.com/ I sure hope its a lot better than their current "thin over compressed" sounds they have now. One thing that is good about AD is it has the best user interface of all on the market that is very easy to use, but the sounds......... not so good, sure hope they use better samples this time.

[yzf125]

Its released, Click the link in the first post to check it out and download the demo.

[OpposingMotion]

Tried the demo yesterday...amazingly disappointed...you guys will think am just a bore lol

Seriously though - XLN audio sits on a gold mine with edrummers - their engine plays beautifully with edrums and they have a very complete interface BUT the sounds are way below par for any serious recording work IMHO. There is this element of "fuzziness" in the samples probably linked to some kind of audio compression to deliver a light CPU plugin. Their market is clearly the hobbyist and song writers again but i would dream of a plug with the engine and playability of AD/AD2 and the quality of samples of BFD3.

On a side note, i was very disappointed to see that there was basically only a few new kit pieces recorded with the FAIRFAX ADpak which sound like more of the same to my ears (even on a clean untreated preset). What XLN did is quite weird..repacked all their old ADpaks to sell them in various combinations on a "itunes like" platform. The graphics are pretty but that's not what i am after personally.

The playability is still top notch though, although the demo shows only a few kit pieces.

keen to hear others view on this

[perceval]

Downloaded the demo...

Clicked on the map window and for Yamaha, there are the DTX 500, 502, 900, Xtreme, etc... but no 700??????? Not looking good so far, unless I can mix and match different mapping. A little sad to see that the 700 has been left out.

[OpposingMotion]

pretty easy to remap though perceval
click on exclamation mark and for each pad click on the "L" button next to the articulation you want mapped
done :-)

[angr77]

There are tons of new features in AD2. I think it must be hard to judge the sound capabilities only on the demo version, my opinion is that most of the good nice samples does remain in the ADPaks. What do you think of 18 sound slots, kit piece linking for kick and snare, ... midi recording, better sound through the new sound engine, the current ADpaks have got new presets and do actually sound better through this, the partly included Fairfax ADpak is one of the best sound library ever produced in my opinion. Then you have the sound shaping tools... and the extremely nice workflow handling with the XLN cloud sync to synchronize your settings, presets, map presets and midi files with the cloud... to share with your second PC/MAC or share with others on the forum. My best recommendations!

Best regards

ANGR77

[yzf125]

What a shame, They have the best user interface of any drum VST bar none... and then give you the poorest sound quality drum samples still ? It just doesnt make sense. Man I sure was hopping they would have an all new sound engine with quality samples to go with the new interface.. what a let down, Guess I will have to stay with Studio drummer for now, as they are the best sounding out a live PA mixed with a band.... Oh well.

[EssKayKay]

i would dream of a plug with the engine and playability of AD/AD2 and the quality of samples of BFD3.

I can't speak for the latest AD2 but I have earlier versions of both AD and BFD -- IMO, BFD sounds better.

[gmontano]

Being a drum junkie, I got this because I got a really good deal on ad 1 during the grace period. Agreed that the sounds are way below bfd3. However the new kit fairfax(sound city) sounds pretty good. I think the more recent adPaks sound a lot better than the stock sounds. I can barely listen to them, but the drum support is good. They changed their model. For 66 bucks from audiodeluxe you can get the fairfax kit which will come with the ad2 engine.

[OpposingMotion]

For me the sounds are unusable in a recording situation, sounds like synth drums to my ears rather than a detailed sampled A kit. Like YZF, I had big hopes for AD2 but wont be upgrading for now but will keep an eye on new ADpaks to see if the future samples will be of higher quality. Wouldnt mind a 20 Go kit for AD2 engine, HD space is cheap and anyone working with large sample libs will have the rig for that. Drums are complex instruments, I am not a strong believer of the redux approach for drum sampling if you want to capture full details of an A kit.

[Espen]

For 66 bucks from audiodeluxe you can get the fairfax kit which will come with the ad2 engine.

Really? Where? To me it only offers 79,95. http://audiodeluxe.com/products/xln-...ax-vol-1-adpak

[Leaf Fan]

@espen
add it to your cart and it gives a discount bringing it to 66.99

[Espen]

Thanks! I picked it up.

[JmanWord]

Upgrading from AD1 to AD2 ...... Anyone know if I am correct about this?
AD2 upgrade: They sent an email saying you can upgrade for $79 direct through XLN Audio. Or upgrade with the choice of any one AD pack for $99. I have been looking at all the usual discount dealers like Audiodeluxe, JRRSHOP, Florida Music, etc.... and have seen the deals buying one AD pack and getting AD2 engine for free ....... but from what I can tell the difference in the upgrade from XLN for present AddictiveDrums 1 owners is the fact that if you do the upgrade you automatically get the AD2 version of all AD packs you already own for free. If you just buy an AD pack from audiodeluxe for example, you get the AD2 engine along with the AD pack you buy, but you don't get updated AD2 AD packs for the ones you already own .... At least that is my take on it.

[Espen]

Upgrading from AD1 to AD2 ...... Anyone know if I am correct about this?
AD2 upgrade: They sent an email saying you can upgrade for $79 direct through XLN Audio. Or upgrade with the choice of any one AD pack for $99. I have been looking at all the usual discount dealers like Audiodeluxe JRRmusic, Florida Music, etc.... and have seen the deals buying one AD pack and getting AD2 engine for free ....... but from what I can tell the difference in the upgrade from XLN for present AddictiveDrums 1 owners is the fact that if you do the upgrade you automatically get the AD2 version of all AD packs you already own for free. If you just buy an AD pack from audiodeluxe for example, you get the AD2 engine along with the AD pack you buy, but you don't get updated AD2 AD packs for the ones you already own .... At least that is my take on it.

Yes Jman. This is just the case.
I bought the Fairfax from AudioDeluxe for 66$ (~50€) and got the engine for just that kit. All my previous AdPaks are still AD1 versions in my Online Installer.
I regret a bit for losing some tens of € but I only can blame myself.
So for all of you that want to upgrade AND get the Fairfax ADPak, I suggest to make the 99,95€ deal straight from XLN website. That's the cheapest route.

[allanjohn]

Yes Jman. This is just the case. I bought the Fairfax from AudioDeluxe for 66$ (~50€) and got the engine for just that kit. All my previous AdPaks are still AD1 versions in my Online Installer. I regret a bit for losing some tens of € but I only can blame myself. So for all of you that want to upgrade AND get the Fairfax ADPak, I suggest to make the 99,95€ deal straight from XLN website. That's the cheapest route.

Agreed. The $99 upgrade is the way to go.