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Chuck and Matto made some good comments regarding Addictive Drums in the Superior Drummer thread so I thought I'd copy them over here and start a new thread.

I concur that the jazz capabilities of AD are the best going right now:

"Regarding Addictive Drums jazz expansions. There are two Jazz Sticks and Jazz Brushes.

A very common thing for a drummer to do in jazz is to play with brushes during the sections where the group plays the theme. (often AABA)

After the theme is stated the piece typically moves to solo sections and the drummer may start playing with sticks at that point. (after solos coming back to brushes to take the theme out one more time is very typical)

You have to load up two instances of AD to pull this off, one with brushes and one with sticks, but one now has the ability to pull off what a drummer would play on a jazz tune.

One logistic issue is letting the drum track have a transtion measure (or two) for the "drummer" to change from brushes to sticks and back. A drummer would usually continue to mark time with the hihat or ride during this measure (or two)

Very, very cool.

Chuck"

matto: "It also has very good fast swing beats which can be extremely difficult to pull off playing from a keyboard...saved my butt more than once.
Sorry for the OT Barry, we should just start an AD thread..." (DONE! )

Hey Mazz,
I agree with you on AD. The only thing that comes close to its capabilities is a live drummer or loops of
a real drummer.
My iso booth is not big enough for a drumkit!
Adonis

I love AD! The realism is unbeaten, it loads more quickly than most of my other drum solutions and integrates beautifully with my triggers kit. Caught it on sale, best $149 I ever spent! More articulations under the hood, you can do stick in one hand, brush in the other and I love the way they implemented cymbal mutes. Am I gushing?

Yes, it's easy to get an excellent drum track going very quickly.

Stuart

mojobone wrote:I love AD! ... I love the way they implemented cymbal mutes. Am I gushing?

I just watched a youtube video on the Cymbal Chokes - pretty darn impressive. Can you achieve the same thing using a keyboard? I don't have any e-drums. What is your experience with using them from a keyboard? I think I would mostly end up using the provided loops/beats, but I don't get in and tinker once and a while.

Thanks - 
kc

kclements wrote: I just watched a youtube video on the Cymbal Chokes - pretty darn impressive. Can you achieve the same thing using a keyboard?

Yes, the cymbal chokes are all pre-mapped for a keyboard, I think the crashes are on F5, G5 and A5 and the chokes are on the sharps in the same range. Pretty cool.

Their keyboard layout is very sensible; among the best, imo, and editing custom keymaps is easy and intuitive-I made adjustments without even opening the manual, but found more cool tricks up AD's sleeve when I did. (the graphic velocity curve rules for adjusting trigger response) Don't forget to troll AD's site for free presets and freebie extras, including a huge Yamaha SubKick-miked bass drum and extra MIDI loops. The only real drawback is that it comes stock with only three complete drum kits, but there are extra snares and cymbals, (and more cowbell) and the editing is flexible enough to cover a very broad range of realistic to tweeked out drum sounds in a wide variety of genres, with fine control over ambience and compression, and even a few controls you don't get with real drums, like a slider to adjust the amount of snare buzz, and some neat tricks like pitch-shifting the overhead mics. I chose AD mainly because it was the least expensive drum VI with all 24-bit samples, but the deeper I get, the more impressed I am with this product. Example: this doesn't work with most triggers, but when using a keyboard, the instrument knows the difference between a free stroke and a a rest stroke on the kick; I've never heard any other drum VI do that. Wishlist? I'd like a choice of microphones on the kick, snare and overheads, but that would obviously multiply the number of samples by several orders of magnitude, and probably add to the price of what's already the most cost effective drum VI I know of. I plan to buy just about everything XLN Audio makes. (though I might get the Steven Slate Drums, too; there's a very positive review in this month's Tape Op)

Here's one of several cool YouTube tutorials: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5lrIuIs ... grec_index

mojobone wrote: The only real drawback is that it comes stock with only three complete drum kits, but there are extra snares and cymbals

Most drummers I know only have one kit. Three's good

Cool link too, Mojobone

UPDATE: Bought and downloaded the Funk ADPack, ($59US) which includes many dozens of (imo) essential funky MIDI grooves with verse, chorus and bridge variations and a stunningly rotund, phatter than Biggie Smalls Pearl Reference Series 12-piece kit that's tailor-made for slappin', poppin' bass grooves or the funkier side of really jes' about anything of a jazz, rock, blues or fusion nature. Also included: a bevy of presets that covers everything from James Brown to George Clinton, with stops at Sly Stone, Albert Collins, Graham Central Station, Tower Of Power, RHCP, etc. I hate to sound like such a fanboy, but if you have AD, this ADpak is a total no-brainer; the only negative thing I can honestly report is that it shoulda come out sooner. Certified funky, and highly recommended.