XLN Audio has unveiled Addictive Drums, a "Complete Drum Production Studio" plug-in for Windows and Mac OS X.

Addictive Drums ships with 3 complete kits, and lots of extra drums and cymbals. The samples include every nuance from the softest to the hardest hits, many stroke variations (hihat has 12 variations, snare has 6 for example) with alternating samples through-out. All sampled drum/cymbal sounds are recorded with a multi channel mic setup, just as you would record a real drum kit.

The Kits:

• Sonor Designer (Kick, Snare, 5 toms).
• DW Collector's Series (Kick, Snare, 5 toms).
• Tama Starclassic (Kick, Snare, 3 toms).
• Extras: Pearl Signature Ferrrone snare, Pearl Masterworks Piccolo snare, Pearl Masterworks kick.
• Cymbals (Sabian & Paiste): 3 Hihats, 9 Crashes, 3 Splashes & 2 Chinas.

Shaping the basic sound is easy within AD's sampler section. Controls for volume and pitch (with envelopes), levels (adjust balance of Close, Overhead and Room levels of each Kit piece), and filter (cut the low end on hihats for example) means you can do anything from slight tweaking to major reconstruction of the sound.

12 mixer channels, 52 insert effects and 2 reverbs are at your disposal, with everything quickly accessible, no hidden menus get in your way.

The included presets make it easy to try out different styles for a track, and lets you save and re-use complete drum productions in new songs. You can create your own folders with your own presets and they immediately appear in the Preset menu.

A vast library of MIDI files in different styles, all easily accessible from within AD gives you the building blocks to create drum tracks quickly. The built in browser lets you search by keyword ("Ride", "Metal"), or sort by Category, BPM, Time signature. Drag'n'drop files the files you like to AD's favourite list, or drag them right into your host's arrangement window.

AD is a multi-out plugin; every channel in the AD mixer can be routed to a separate output if required.

Addictive Drums is expected to be released in December. It will be available for Windows and Mac OS X (Universal Binary) in VST, AU and RTAS formats. Pricing is set at €225 (private; 25% Swedish VAT included), €180 (company; VAT excluded), $239 (international; VAT excluded).