Guitar Gear Forum

The FAQ on AddictiveDrums2.com has a few features, but the more interesting features to me they talked about in the newsletter.

1. Any AdPack you've installed for Addictive Drums will automatically be upgraded at install time to use the new features in AD2.
2. Layering can now be done inside the plugin. Want three kicks all at once? Slot them into the same stream and it's done. This is currently a HUGE pain in the ass to accomplish with AD1.
3. New sound shaping features (this may or may not matter to me, depending on whether they're usable when routing to separate channels outside the plugin itself).

$79 Upgrade from AD1 to AD2. Any purchase of AD1 after March 1 this year gets an automatic/free upgrade. Any purchase after January this year gets 50% off the upgrade price.

Almost all of my recordings have Addictive Drums in them. As much as I like working with it, the new features have me a bit , especially the slotting/layering thing.

I'm pretty stoked about this. I've used AD on all my demos, tracking midi with my electronic kit. I haven't dug too far into the features of 2 but I will soon.

Pretty interested.....price doesn't look bad and I can snag this and that Korg pad thingy Billy recommended. Are they hard to get into for a noob?

Steinmetzify wrote:Pretty interested.....price doesn't look bad and I can snag this and that Korg pad thingy Billy recommended. Are they hard to get into for a noob?

No more difficult than most drum plugin/software. It comes with a lot of loops already done up, and then you have the option of programming yourself. Plus you can make all your sound editing internal to the plugin or route externally through aux channels and do all your EQ/compression/etc in the aux strips. Or both. It's super flexible, but the first night I had it I slapped something together in about fifteen minutes from clue zero to go, so it's newb friendly too.

I dig it.

Thanks man......gonna have to get this.

Actually the biggest question is are they going to let you use more than 4 goddamn toms and 3 crashes? The most aggrivating thing with AD1 is they have multiple kits where they sampled more toms than they will actually let you use.

.

Anybody snag this yet?

Steinmetzify wrote:Anybody snag this yet?

Which one? EZ Drummer appears to be out, but Addictive isn't out for another week or so.

Steinmetzify wrote:Anybody snag this yet?

The video you posted above is a different product, which is out, but AD2 isn't yet.

Wasn't paying attention. Derp.

I'm definitely gonna get this.
AD is my favorite drum software!

It's available today. Specs page is up too: http://www.xlnaudio.com/addictivedrums

EDIT: Reading up on it, yup. Link drums together to layer kicks/snares/cymbals. Extra slots (room for those extra toms and cymbals in kits). Extra tone shapers. And just looking at it it LOOKS like you can turn internal tone shaping on or off whether you route externally or not.

Bought the upgrade, and it auto-upgraded everything in my library according to the post-purchase specs page. I just have to run through the install routine when I get home.

Messing with it, some of the changes are just awesome.

First, 18 slots. Old one was 12.
6 cymbal slots
4 Tom slots
2 Ride slots
Kick slot
Snare slot
Hihat slot
3 flexible slots

The three flexible slots can LITERALLY be anything. Including sine waves, signal generators, electronic noises, bells, you name it. Or any normal kit element. The kick and snare slots each have a linking option where you can link to any other kit element so that each hit triggers the second element as well. Use a flex slot as another kick, link, and you've got two dual kicks triggered at the same time.

They've added snare buzz into the settings too. So anytime you hit a tom or kick it triggers the buzz of the snare just like on a real kit. This is an adjustable parameter so you can crank it down to off or up to ridiculous levels if you want.

Adjustable beater/front mics on the kick. Adjustable top/bottom mics on the snare. Adjustable room mics up to 50ms after the initial trigger event, level and time adjustable. Transient editor. Tone editor on kick and snare where you can literally adjust out or enhance individual elements of the tone of the drum. Don't like a certain part of the ring-out on the snare? Slide it down. It's not quite the same as EQ, but sorta has a similar effect.

I'm about halfway through the manual and have already discovered some wild things you can do. My favorite is this silly linking deal. I linked the snare up with a sine zap tone and it's like the perfect little techy sounding sci-fi type snare sound. Kick linked to a sine wave set to 55hz and it gets a long ring-out on the tail. Lots of crazy stuff you can do here.

There's quite a bit I have to learn about it before I can toss together a new mix with it, but it's a WHOLE LOT more flexible than the previous version. Definitely worth the upgrade price ($79).