bmarlowe Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 I am budget limited and would have to pick one or the other. It would be mainly for basic rock, classic or light rock. Opinions appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Maar Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 EZDrummer 3, hands down. Nothing wrong with AD2, but it hasn't been updated in years. No new drum kits. No new MIDI. EZD3 has much better tools for creating drum lines, not just playing them. I have EZBass, EZKeys 2, Superior Drummer 3 and EZMix. All great for song creation. I have AD2 and Addictive Keys installed, but haven't used either in years. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmarlowe Posted February 11 Author Share Posted February 11 Thanks much for the insight John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canopus Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 (edited) I have AD2, EZD2 and EZD3. I think they’re all great. The fact that AD2 hasn’t been updated in the last years is to me of less importance; the 21 drums kits, 14 additional kit pieces and 32 MIDI packs available should cover most genres. As for MIDI packs, if you indeed want more MIDI in AD2, you can always buy MIDI packs from Toontrack and use them with AD2. To do that, in the AD2 Hamburger menu, just change the default mapping to EZD by selecting Map Window > Map Preset > Other Plugins > TT – EZ. You don't even have to go through your DAW; just drag the MIDI from EZD right into the BEATS tab in AD2. And hey presto. Of course, for this to work you'd also need EZD installed. Edited February 11 by Canopus 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helios.G Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 5 hours ago, Canopus said: I have AD2, EZD2 and EZD3. I think they’re all great. The fact that AD2 hasn’t been updated in the last years is to me of less importance; the 21 drums kits, 14 additional kit pieces and 32 MIDI packs available should cover most genres. As for MIDI packs, if you indeed want more MIDI in AD2, you can always buy MIDI packs from Toontrack and use them with AD2. To do that, in the AD2 Hamburger menu, just change the default mapping to EZD by selecting Map Window > Map Preset > Other Plugins > TT – EZ. You don't even have to go through your DAW; just drag the MIDI from EZD right into the BEATS tab in AD2. And hey presto. Of course, for this to work you'd also need EZD installed. Nice tip Canopus. I personally love ez drummers interface and "ease" for putting quick drum arrangements together, but addictive drums sounds better to me, regardless if it hasn't been updated in a few years. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Stanton Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 (edited) +1 on AD2 vs EZD3. i use the EZD (sometimes but not often) to create the parts but mostly use the AD2 to render as the EZ stuff (all of them really) are overly processed, and a lot of it seems baked in, even after turning off effects. so it's hard (for me) to get the EZ audio where i want, whereas the AD2 i can turn off the processing and have the raw samples (if i need them raw versus the various level of kit preset processing). i will note that the EZD3 does let you substitute a simple sample on each instrument fairly easily which can be handy, but will not have the same set of dynamics their built-in samples have. and i don't have time to really tinker with it... Edited February 11 by Glenn Stanton 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helios.G Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 16 minutes ago, Glenn Stanton said: +1 on AD2 vs EZD3. i use the EZD (sometimes but not often) to create the parts but mostly use the AD2 to render as the EZ stuff (all of them really) are overly processed, and a lot of it seems baked in, even after turning off effects. so it's hard (for me) to get the EZ audio where i want, whereas the AD2 i can turn off the processing and have the raw samples (if i need them raw versus the various level of kit preset processing). i will note that the EZD3 does let you substitute a simple sample on each instrument fairly easily which can be handy, but will not have the same set of dynamics their built-in samples have. and i don't have time to really tinker with it... Agreed on all fronts Glenn. I'd also add that if you do decide to use the preset mixes on each software drummer, Addictive just sounds that much more "professional" out the box than ez does to me. Just my 2 cents, but I've heard Addictive on actual top 40 tracks several times with nothing on the preset changed but the pattern played. To date, I haven't recognized any ez drum "sound" out in the wild. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canopus Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 Although EZD has many great features, I also prefer AD2. The main reason I also bought EZD was because of its Tap2Find feature, which I find pretty convenient. Also, the MIDI Drop Zone in EZD can be used as a target when dragging MIDI from e.g. AD2. Unfortunately, EZD doesn’t have a mapping function for other drum plugins (the only software map option is General MIDI), so it can be a hit-and-miss. My workaround has been Toontrack EZplayer Pro, which I managed to buy before it was discontinued. It has an extensive mapping feature, including AD2 > EZD. Heck, it even has Cakewalk > EZD mapping, for those who might need it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Vere Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 (edited) It took me 20 years of using lame drums played by midi sound modules, sound fonts, TTS-1 and finally I had Session Drummer. I even sampled my real drums and used those. But when Sonar incudes AD2 with Professional I got 2 free kits. I then upgraded to Platinum and got 2 more as that was how it worked. Then I got some add ons with my Focusrite 6i6. Plus I grabbed the Electric piano. So far all free. I have all of the common drum VST’s as demos or lite versions and the only other one I like is Steven Slate. Ez drums and Air Strike I found the interface way over my head so never got into it. I often use SI Drums on my other computer and I created a very decent sound with that. Anyhow I have my AD2 kit and it still doesn’t sound like real drums to me but for backing tracks and my songs it gets the job done. Edited February 11 by John Vere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmarlowe Posted February 11 Author Share Posted February 11 (edited) Thanks much to Helios, Canopus, Glenn and John Vere for taking the time to help me. I have been using SI Drums, Roland Sound Canvas and TTS-1. Will post at a later time what I have decided to do and how it works out. That may also help someone with a similar question. Edited February 11 by bmarlowe 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Maar Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 11 hours ago, bmarlowe said: Thanks much to Helios, Canopus, Glenn and John Vere for taking the time to help me. I have been using SI Drums, Roland Sound Canvas and TTS-1. Will post at a later time what I have decided to do and how it works out. That may also help someone with a similar question. Going back to your original post, you said that you'd have to pick one or the other. IMO, EZD3 is the better choice for creating drum lines. AD2 may have better sounding drum libraries, but you still need a good drum line to take advantage of that. Way back when, when I only had AD2, I contacted the devs about the bit depth of their drum kit samples, where they 16- or 24- bit libraries? They told me "neither or both", basically, they used a custom variable sample bit depth depending on the complexity of the audio in the sample. They said it helped them minimize to size of their sample libraries. They get beaucoup points for that. Concerning bit depth for EZDrummer libraries...check the requirements for each EZD library. If EZD1 is required, it's a 16-bit library. If EZD2 is required, it's a 24-bit library. I bought Superior Drummer instead of EZDrummer for the SD libraries because of the complaints about the level of processing in the EZD libraries. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Stanton Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 one more note: on the EZD - exporting a track to audio - you have options for single file (select 24-bit for best audio imho) and there is a mixer option for multiple files where you can assign the individual (mostly) drums to a separate (or combined) output. in general, keeping the mix mode into stereo when creating the performance, and "rough mix" export, followed by the "stem" output will give a lot of options. if you're not exporting, then just open it with either a first audio output or if you want more control - all available outputs. SD3 is a huge (ships with it's own SSD!) and super flexible system. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmarlowe Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 So it looks like SD is another alternative to consider. Thx to John M and Glenn for the further details. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canopus Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 2 hours ago, bmarlowe said: So it looks like SD is another alternative to consider. Just be aware that Superior Drummer is expensive and so are SDX Sound Expansions. If you're on a budget and up till now have been using SI Drums, Roland Sound Canvas and TTS-1, that might not be your first option. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Stanton Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 one more - the free BFD Player. somewhat akin to the SI Drums or the Session Drummer 3. it's a VI instrument and does (mostly) require you to provide the grooves to perform, but it has some high quality sounds. and it's free. https://www.bfddrums.com/drum-software/bfd-player.html and lastly the free version of Steven Slate drums - high quality sounds + upgrade / expansion options. https://stevenslatedrums.com/ssd5/#SSD5FREE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmarlowe Posted February 14 Author Share Posted February 14 (edited) I am not too worried about finding drum patterns. Though my "group" consists of me (guitar/bass guitar/engineer), my brother (guitar and vocals), my son (keyboards and vocals) and daughter vocals - yeah no drummer. That said, adequate (at least for me) drum patterns aren't too hard to find. Even SI-Drums has some patterns I can use. I appreciate that a real drummer may not agree, but I am just trying to have fun here. We do mostly covers - so the pattern is often available in transcription form, karaoke sites, or I can just listen to the original recording. I don't mind plunking in the pattern using the Cakewalk piano roll. For the occasional original tune, I try to copy drums from a similar song. So I am leaning towards AD2 mainly because I have heard some drums in the Songs section that I really liked. When I asked, I was told it was AD2. Yes I understand John Marr's bit-width comment, but what I heard sounded really good. Also Creative Sauce has a nice tutorial about setting up drum maps for AD2 on Cakewalk. Edited February 14 by bmarlowe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmarlowe Posted February 14 Author Share Posted February 14 Thanks Glenn for the free alternatives - will check them out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msmcleod Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 Personally I use AD2 for the quality of the sounds. However for standard rock tracks, I find MT Power Drum Kit 2 works a treat: https://www.powerdrumkit.com/ . Although you're basically stuck with one kit, the sounds it does have are very good and it comes with a bunch of MIDI patterns to drag into your DAW. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmarlowe Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 Thx Mark. That kit does sound quite good and there are useful patterns and the price is right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSband Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 I had a hard time choosing between AD and EZ but went with EZ3. I really like it, it is quite easy to make a track super quick and very easy to edit the play to what I want, I usually change the kick pattern to suit. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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