EZ Drummer 2 vs Addictive Drums 2

[5Lives]

(Please only vote if you've at least demo'd BOTH of them)

Hi all,

Given that AD2 is on sale for a brief period, thought I'd poll the forum on which they prefer - EZD2 or AD2. I currently have EZD2 and a number of EZX packs, but used to own AD1 a few years ago and liked it as well. I also own SSD4 with the Blackbird expansion.

So - which do you prefer and why? Have at it!

[xphen0m]

I got Addictive Drums 2 with my Sonar purchase. I own EZ Drummer 1 but I have the Made of Metal EZX working in Superior Drummer. EZD > AD in my opinion. I didn't really like the sounds of AD.

[Touch The Universe]

I really like the AD2's effects-- so easy to dial in the right sounds. The sounds are superb as well and can be crafted to sound electronic with the right tweaking. The midi groove integration is amazing as well--especially the drag and drop to midi host sequencer. Does EZ drummer to share this same characteristics?

[Gonga]

Yup, and a lot more. EZDrummer is much more feature-rich, particularly as in creating midi. It will work with ANY midi files (AD doesn't use midi files - it uses a proprietary format that only AD can read).

[msorrels]

AD2 will import user MIDI files but you have to provide a map file, was just reading about it in PDF manual. (at the bottom of the support page) http://www.xlnaudio.com/support

I have both (recently added EzD2 so may have a slight first bought bias). Right now I think AD2 is slightly better (for me) but it's pretty close. It has better UI, lets you mix kits, much more mic/effect controls. EzD2 has a very rich MIDI editor system but the window is too small and the UI very clunky. EzD2 has more add-on drumkits and development of new kits appears to be on-going. I think the metal kits and country kits in EzD2 are better than AD2 options. AD2 has a very strong collection of rock/stadium/indie drums that all sound better to me than similar EzD2 kits. Which one works best for you may depend on the type of music more than anything else.

I think to get the same level of kit/effect/mic functionality as AD2 you have to use Superior Drummer 2. I wish EZX kits were usable in the AD2 engine/plugin.

[stikygum]

I think the general consensus is that SD2 sounds a little more raw and AD2 sounds more polished. Some people like one or the other. I like both personally.

Yup, and a lot more. EZDrummer is much more feature-rich, particularly as in creating midi. It will work with ANY midi files (AD doesn't use midi files - it uses a proprietary format that only AD can read).

So you are mainly talking about 3rd party midi packs, or any midi files for that matter, can't be used by AD2 in any way? I think even if that were the case, you could still have the midi file on an AD2 track in your DAW to play AD2.

[5Lives]

Looks like EZD2 is going to trounce AD2 in this poll. I tried the demo of AD2 again last night and the sculpting of sounds is a really nice aspect - however, I imagine you can do something similar with EZD2 just within your DAW and routing audio out of the plugin for each kit piece. Though you won't be able to do the top / bottom mic positioning that AD2 has, which is pretty nice.

The search for grooves based on pattern in AD2 is nice (you can step sequence a kick, snare, hat, etc. pattern and search based on that). Though, I think being able to play it in in EZD2 is easier.

[jsp1979]

Jamstix + AD2 does it for me.

Of the EZ lines Toontrack makes, EZDrummer is probably the best one, but that's not saying much. EZKeys just leaves me shaking my head.

For me, ease of sculpting the sound is paramount so I go for AD2.

[budweiser]

if you're after natural sounding acoustic drums, ez drummer all the way. If you're after produced drum kits in the mood of (60's, 70's, grunge, etc) AD is way better.
Imo, you need both

[EvilDragon]

Imo, you need both

This.

[Echoes in the Attic]

if you're after natural sounding acoustic drums, ez drummer all the way. If you're after produced drum kits in the mood of (60's, 70's, grunge, etc) AD is way better.
Imo, you need both

I have both and agree with that. Addictive Drums has a certain sound that takes work to get from other drum programs. More "produced" or "round" sound to it. EZdrummer kits sound a bit more natural, somewhat more crisp. I think the default V2 kits are excellent and much better than most the packs that came before it that I've heard. However EZDrumemr really doesn' thave much in the way of editing the kits. It's not a huge deal since you can just use multi-outs for effects in your DAW. But AD really shines with tweaking the drum kits, to the point of doing interesting electronic and experimental kits as well. The presets in AD are especially good for interesting sounds.

So yeah I'd say rather than getting expansions, just get both!

[funkystrings]

I have Steven Slate Custom with the CLA add pack, and they sound amazing to me. Even the Slate Custom library sounds great, it has some triggered metal sounds included as well but I use the CLA sounds most of the time now.

I still use my old version of AD1 ....mostly for the midi library, and then drag the midi to an instance of Slate CLA and just load the included "SSD to Addictive" map option inside the SSD4 program, although Slate Custom and the CLA pack provides beat libraries as well.

I also have the most current AD2 demo. (v2.0.7), demonstrating some of the Fairfax 1 sounds.

Some people say XLN has resolved the CPU problems of AD2, but I still see massive CPU suck on most of the demo's presets. Even with the limited kit pieces. Just measured it again last night in Reaper because reaper gives exact cpu readings per plugin. AD2 is still sucking about 3 to 4 times more then AD1 and Slate 4. Even with the limited kit pieces of the AD2 demo.

Slate drums just seems like such a great value to me. If I bought the full version, it would have tons of kits included, so you never have to buy expensive add packs, and his drums sound better then AD1 to my ears.

If you're worried that SSD4 uses a lot of ram, That's just a default setting. You can set it to use less and they still sound amazing using only around 500 to 600mb per kit, which is still a little larger then most other drum programs but I think that may be why they sound so good. There's something about the larger files. You have three settings to choose from. Just make sure you have hard drive space as well to hold the many kits with larger then usual files . I didn't, so I opted for the Custom + CLA on a Christmas 50% sell.

The current 5 day, "50% off everything sell" that started yesterday on the XLN site is tempting. I could upgrade from v1 to v2 for $40 or I could get an AD pack of my choosing included for a total $65.

Soooo tempting ....am I alone here with these continuing AD2 CPU issues? Seems most of you prefer EZ anyway.

[bob swans]

AD2 all the way for me, works flawlessly with my Alesis Dm8 and is great fun. The FX are really easy to get nice sounds out of. I don't really use the midi import/export so won't comment on that. I can confirm AD2 is far more CPU intensive than V1 and kits can sometimes take a while to load fully. Personally i don't really like the new interface with all the windows for kits/expansion pack demo's and i think this is probably the cause of the cpu issues. That said though the latest release is much better in terms of CPU. I managed to take advantage of the sale yesterday and got myself the Vintage Dry pack through AudioDeluxe for a fraction of the price it would have cost me direct from XLN Audio

[Twrogstudio]

Just picked up AD2 myself and think it's great. I like it because the range of styles and midi fits perfectly with style of music I do. Never been fond of EZdrummer, but I've got Superiour and that blows it into the weeds as far as I'm concerned.

[Aloysius]

It's a bit like asking if Waves OneKnob Wetter is better than 2C-Audio Aether.

AD2 is a flagship product. EZ2 is supposed to be entry level.

Regardless, I'd say EZ2 is still way better than AD2. I have both. I can't remember the last time I actually used AD2.