paulo Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 7 hours ago, Pollux said: How much would it cost to get close to SD3, and how much would be the return? Personally I wouldn't want it to. SD3 is way OTT for my needs. I like that AD2 is light in terms of GB and still very quick to load even on my old pc. I'd be happy to pay for a reasonably priced upgrade if it just added new kits and midi. The UI still looks good to me, so changing it would just be change for the sake of change for me. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulo Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 4 hours ago, marled said: This! The only thing I complain about are the kick sounds. IMO there is too much room in the recordings and if you get rid of it they sound poor (I prefer something like kicks in the NI drum libraries). But YMMV, it is just my taste I don't disagree with that. I have been known to mix in an extra kick only track from....brace yourselves people ..........Cakewalk TTS-1 to beef it up a little..... I know, I know.......but don't knock it until you've tried it. I do like the NI kits too. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAL Music Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 I guess I should have known better than to make, what was suppose to be a funny comment, that some would take offense. But the question does go begging. What do employees at a software development company do when you're not developing? Oh no, maybe I shouldn't have made this comment LOL. Before people get twisted I do like AD2 and still use it, all though these days I'm more prone to go EZ for ideas and Superior after. In the end I use whatever serves the song. Anyway there are bigger problems in the world other than software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulo Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 (edited) 5 hours ago, cclarry said: Just because something isn't "Broken" doesn't mean that you don't continue to develop the product and make it better....that mentality is insane... When I buy any software my only expectation is that it works as advertised and that I will be able to use it for as long as I choose to. I really don't care if the next version of that thing that I bought comes from the same company or a different one. Toontrack's upgrade your version now or we will no longer recognise you as an existing customer approach is as bad an example of customer care that I have ever seen anywhere, yet people fall over themselves to praise them for their constant development. Each to their own and all that. Edited August 20, 2021 by paulo 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcL Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 6 hours ago, cclarry said: Just because something isn't "Broken" doesn't mean that you don't continue to develop the product and make it better....that mentality is insane... Be honest, how many updates did address real new development? 😆 Furthermore (I wanted to avoid to mention this 😁) do you always want new features that are never really finished/polished, or are redundant, ... like in Sonar/CbB? Surely I do not have as many plugins/DAWs as you have, but nevertheless they're a lot and I cannot remember many substantial updates to plugins and even the DAW updates were almost not remarkable IMO. And I don't want to even talk about Windows updates, 'cos they are more bane than boon! In the end I think many of those software "updates" just rob our time, i.e. reduce the time we can really use those products! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yan Filiatrault Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 Many products are released and never or rarely get updated, and stil work well years after release. The race for endless updates is not better for me, unless it’s fixing a real problem or add something meaningful. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 12 hours ago, cclarry said: I wrote off XLN a while back...their development is terrible. AD2 is a bazillion years old now...and no AD3 on the horizon. The XLN Audio co-owner, Max Martin, is one of the top music producers in the world. Doubt he really needs the extra cash from new products... 😉 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Martin https://www.xlnaudio.com/about Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cclarry Posted August 20, 2021 Author Share Posted August 20, 2021 Just now, abacab said: The XLN Audio co-owner, Max Martin, is one of the top music producers in the world. Doubt he really needs the extra cash from new products... 😉 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Martin https://www.xlnaudio.com/about That's not an excuse to "abandon" your products. Granted, it's his prerogative, but pretty crappy business 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Derbidge Posted August 21, 2021 Share Posted August 21, 2021 One person's trash is another person's treasure is all I can say. I own AD2, SSD4, EZD2, all the drums programs that come with Komplete Ultimate, Melda Drummer 2, Jamstix 4 and probably some others I'm forgetting. I'm a fanboi of all of them but mostly AD2 and EZD2. One thing that I still find appealing about these two is that the midi grooves are from professional drummers. This, of course, means that you have to invest a bit more to get as many packs as you can to have the options you want but this also makes the drum parts sound professional with the ability to still tweak them to your liking. Jamstix and Melda drummer, on the other hand are getting better with their programming to come up with natural sounding drum parts based on your input. Because of their learning curve I haven't given them as much time as I need to in order to compare but that also is another boon for AD2 and EZD2 since musicians need to be focused on making music rather than learning all the time. It's a catch 22, because without taking time to learn you don't make very good music, but spending all your time learning keeps you from making music. It's a balance. Saying that AD2 isn't good enough for pro music is BS. Saying that you don't like it due to it's workflow or other issues is fair. What I like most about AD2 are the drum kits, especially the Fairfax kits. They sound amazing. The good news is that If I want to use some of EZD2's stellar songwriting tools, I can send the midi out to AD2's fairfax kit and have the best of both worlds. Don't underestimate AD2's own features though. The Grid search is not quite as good as EZD2's tap to find but it still works fairly well. The beat transformer feature also works pretty well. I have used these features with great success. The Mixer features in AD2 is far superior to EZD2's mixer but it's not even close to SD3 or BFD2. Since I always set up separate tracks in my DAW for each drum and prefer mixing them with my own plugins, this is not a huge deal for me. I guess, in the end, if I'm being honest, the biggest selling point for me is the Fairfax Kit. I own almost every EZD2 kit and I still go back to the Fairfax often. I do, however really like the Claustrophobic kit in EZD2, even though it's old. It had a sound that you just can't find in any other kit I've tried and blends well with others as well. To each their own but I am at the point where I know what I like and don't like so a good walk through video and trial run convinces me much more these days than peoples opinions. Other than looking to find out if there are stability issues, I generally don't put much stock in opinions since we are all so different in how we compose. 6 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skyline_UK Posted August 21, 2021 Share Posted August 21, 2021 Perhaps after putting a lot of effort into 'XO' they gave up on new stuff when it didn't take the market by storm. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris.r Posted August 21, 2021 Share Posted August 21, 2021 (edited) I don't doubt the XLN guys can do a contemporary GUI, just look at XO, and I can easily imagine AD3 given similar modern GUI plus added more expanded songwriting tools in vein of the ones like ED2/SD3. Would I be happy with such updates? Heck yes! Would I want to shell out another $100/200/whatever for it? Errrm... I have no problems whatsoever with getting quality drum tracks from AD2 and the adpaks that I've chosen. And I do not miss anything much from the sound of their kits, especially the more recent ones, even when I try to compare and listen to the Toontrack alternatives. Should I ever miss the songwriting features there's always Toontrack at the reach of my hand (and for another $100-200). Last thing I'd be looking for are bugs and/or breaking compatibility with old projects. Now I'm off to listen to this Claustrophobic kit Edited August 21, 2021 by chris.r 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted August 21, 2021 Share Posted August 21, 2021 (edited) I have XLN AD2, Toontrack EZDrummer, & IK MODO Drum. For XLN I have the ADPacks: Rock, Pop, Prog, Fairfax 1 & 2, Vintage Dry, United Heavy, Black Velvet, & Session Percussion. For EZDrummer I have: Americana, Classic Rock, Reggae, & Rock Solid. For MODO Drum, well... 🤪 I cannot imagine that I need more, as all of these cover quite a range! And I really feel that AD2 is probably my favorite... Edited August 21, 2021 by abacab 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesse g Posted August 21, 2021 Share Posted August 21, 2021 I don't think discussion is about AD2 sounding bad, because it doesn't. I don't think this discussion is about AD2 not having enough ADPaks or MIDI packs, because they have more than enough. I think actually we all are taking about the expectation of just seeing a new GUI with AD 3 and maybes some additional changes. Think about this, especially the true drummers, (not you kitchen counter top wooden spoon tappers). You take the same drum kit to play gigs for years and never complain about the kit, but when you want to make a change, you change the drum head or maybe exchange a symbols. Well SD2 allows us the change the kit pieces, however, it's not enough. We want to change out the GUI as well just because it software and we've had it for a while. I love SD2 but I think it's time for a new GUI with some slight modifications and we all would be happier for a while. 😎 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris.r Posted August 21, 2021 Share Posted August 21, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, jesse g said: ...I love SD2 but I think it's time for a new GUI with some slight modifications and we all would be happier for a while. 😎 just make it $29 for the upgrade, and not $129, and I'd be happy too Edited August 22, 2021 by chris.r 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSteven Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 (edited) XLN is constantly updating their software - they just aren't adding features. To say it's abandoneware is to ignore the definition of the term. It's a tool that works well - and that for me is the bottom line. Edited August 22, 2021 by TheSteven 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 The definition of "abandonware" is anything by inMusic (AIR, SONiVOX, etc), No substantial updates in years, yet they keep selling stuff cheap. I don't think that XLN Audio falls into that tier... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Derbidge Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 4 hours ago, chris.r said: I don't doubt the XLN guys can do a contemporary GUI, just look at XO, and I can easily imagine AD3 given similar modern GUI plus added more expanded songwriting tools in vein of the ones like ED2/SD3. Would I be happy with such updates? Heck yes! Would I want to shell out another $100/200/whatever for it? Errrm... I have no problems whatsoever with getting quality drum tracks from AD2 and the adpaks that I've chosen. And I do not miss anything much from the sound of their kits, especially the more recent ones, even when I try to compare and listen to the Toontrack alternatives. Should I ever miss the songwriting features there's always Toontrack at the reach of my hand (and for another $100-200). Last thing I'd be looking for are bugs and/or breaking compatibility with old projects. Now I'm off to listen to this Claustrophobic kit Just be aware. It's not a rock kit. It's a unique kit that can be used in Rock when needed for effect but it's got a sound you just don't get with other kits. Definitely more for old skool hip hop although I don't use it that way. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleer Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 We need a new (electric) piano in there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vernon Barnes Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 I don't dislike it but I do wish they would fix the authorisation. I only installed, authorised and tested it on my new DAW yesterday and now today its "Wrong computer ID" I decided to reboot the computer and low and behold the computer ID was correct. It does not inspire confidence. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 10 hours ago, Fleer said: We need a new (electric) piano in there. Just grab Elektromagnetik from IK, and be happy! https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/stelectromagnetik/?pkey=sampletank-sounds-electromagnetik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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