Anything better than Addictive Drums?

mr_fender

mr_fender

Axe-Master
Hey Folks,

I just built myself a new Windows 11 PC and I'm going through my collection of software and plugins to reinstall stuff. I've been using a hand-me-down, "questionably procured" version of Addictive Drums for my simple personal recording projects for a few years on and off and want to go ahead and purchase a license for Addictive Drums 2 as I do like the product. Before I do so though I thought I'd check with the forum if there are any better options out there that are a better value or have more goodies included like built in beats and patters, number of drum kits, expandability, etc. I've done a bit of digging online and have seen a bit about EZ Drummer, Superior Drummer, and Steven Slate Drums. Would anyone recommend those over Addictive Drums 2?

I'm no drummer by any stretch of the imagination. I typically start with one of the built in beats and piece together something that sounds good to me and then tweak it in the Piano Roll from there. I don't have pads or anything, but I do have a cheap MIDI keyboard I use sometimes to input keys or beats. I'm mostly a classic rock, hair band, classic metal, and blues guy but I dabble in country, jazz, etc.
 
I view the current landscape as sort of like amp modelers. These days there are any number of great sounding drum sample libraries (GetGoodDrums is also quite good), but what sets the really good ones apart is the features around the sounds, like kit browsing, groove searching, work flow, and add-ons. That's where EZD/SD really shine.
 
I have been using Addictive Drums since 2015 or so and really like it. I thought it had better sounding samples than the other ones I auditioned, YMMV.
 
I have AD, EZ and SD3. Honestly with my eyes closed I'm not sure i can tell a stark difference between the 3 especially for just home recording. They all are good IMO. It's been awhile since I fired up AD but i remember liking the samples.
 
I do really like superior drummer. There's a bunch of excellently recorded kits, interesting presets, and most important to me great unprocessed recordings. I really enjoy honing my mixing abilities with the raw unprocessed drum samples. I feel like if that, dropping raw acoustic drum tracks in to create midi replacement tracks, and the various other deep dive tweakability features don't appeal to you, superior drummer might be overkill. Ez drummer is really good too. I haven't used addictive drums but I've heard good things about it too.

Quite honestly I don't have much luck with the grooves in superior drummer. Most of the time nothing really fits what I am trying to do, and if it does, it only sorta does to the point where writing out the midi from scratch takes just a little longer than altering the groove to fit the song.
 
EZ Drummer is looking pretty good. I think I'll download the demo and check it out. Looks like AD2 has gone to style specific packs instead of including a versatile base library. I thought I had AD2, but it turns out to be the original Addictive Drums. The base install of EZ Drummer looks like it might be more versatile for different sounds and styles out of the gate.
 
+1 on EZD and SD3. Don't think you can go wrong with either. I really like the workflow and it's possible to use MIDI beat libraries from other vendors. I like being able to tap out a basic beat and get suggestions for matching beats.
 
I use SD3. It's the most flexible for how I write and record. In the past I've used EZD, AD, and SSD. The SSD samples are really good. I use SD3 mostly because of the flexibility of the grid editor.
 
Superior and Ez here. Big variety of really high quality libraries that really sound great. Buy them on sale, which happens once or twice a year.

I don't use the groove stuff much. Seems like I either have too little of an idea what I want, or not not specific enough of one. It doesn't read my mind, in other words, boo.

I have a little bit from other drum libraries, but Superior is the one I use most often, by a lot.
 
Awhile back I was pretty impressed by the sounds in BFD2 (now at rev 3). If I would be able to write drum parts this is what I would use but since I can't I'll stick with Logic's Drummer.
 
EZdrummer 3 is easier to use & is smaller in size then Superior Drummer 3.
Superior Drummer 3 is for drum-fanatics.
what you get with ez drummer 3 is well worth the price with the options & work flow.
then add the EZ bass, those 2 ez drummer 3 with ez bass gives a lot of fun options.( just saying)
 
TonalMaster666 said:
EZdrummer 3 is easier to use & is smaller in size then Superior Drummer 3.
Superior Drummer 3 is for drum-fanatics.
what you get with ez drummer 3 is well worth the price with the options & work flow.
then add the EZ bass, those 2 ez drummer 3 with ez bass gives a lot of fun options.( just saying)
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+1 on EZBass. I'm using it with SD3 and Cubase to create very basic bass lines when sketching out new songs.
 
People are always asking me what I use for drums… I think the patterns in my comps are pretty good.

Everyone is shocked when I tell them it’s the logic drummer with just a little bit of creative arrangement. (Samples could be a lot better.)
 
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FWIW, I tend to look at EZD/SD3 like this-

EZD- Kinda like a Kemper, you get the kits already EQ’d/mixed with little variation available after the fact, but some great sounding kits

SD3- Kinda like the AxeFX in that you get some great presets but full control over the tweakability. You can even use just the raw drum samples and roll your own EQ/compression.

My only gripe with SD3 is the cost of the expansions, you can buy EZD for the same price! Fortunately, if you know what kits/sounds you’re after, you can choose wisely. I got the expansion with the Starclassic Bubinga kit because I know those kits sound phenomenal for anything played on them.

While I write out 90% of my own drum tracks, I still snag a lot of fills from the MIDI packs when I’m being lazy. Being able to drag and drop them right out of SD3 and into Logic is AWESOME.
 
RevDrucifer said:
FWIW, I tend to look at EZD/SD3 like this-

EZD- Kinda like a Kemper, you get the kits already EQ’d/mixed with little variation available after the fact, but some great sounding kits

SD3- Kinda like the AxeFX in that you get some great presets but full control over the tweakability. You can even use just the raw drum samples and roll your own EQ/compression.

My only gripe with SD3 is the cost of the expansions, you can buy EZD for the same price! Fortunately, if you know what kits/sounds you’re after, you can choose wisely. I got the expansion with the Starclassic Bubinga kit because I know those kits sound phenomenal for anything played on them.

While I write out 90% of my own drum tracks, I still snag a lot of fills from the MIDI packs when I’m being lazy. Being able to drag and drop them right out of SD3 and into Logic is AWESOME.
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SD expansions typically go on sale once a year, year end ish, that's the time to go shopping.
There's sometimes a "used" market too, but not a lot.
 
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