XLN Audio releases Addictive Drums 2

XLN Audio has released Addictive Drums 2, an eagerly awaited update to the popular virtual instrument. In addition to its new features and technical improvements, Addictive Drums 2 removes the need to buy a "base" product before purchasing ADpak expansions. Users can start their Addictive Drums 2 journey by purchasing any ADpak or Bundle of their choice—the AD2 engine is always included.

Pricing starts at 9.95€ for Kitpiece Paks, 19.95€ for MIDIpaks, 89.95€ for ADpaks and 179.95€ for bundles.

What's New In Addictive Drums 2?

Sound Shaping Features:

• The new Transient Shaper gives more or less 'snap' to individual kitpieces or your overall drum mix.
• The new Tone Designer makes a drum sound more or less dampened, letting you add or remove ringing with ease.
• Two Delerb processors combine Delay and Reverb effects that are ideal for drums. A unique 'Swirl' thickening feature and advanced EQ give sound designers lots of exciting new options.
• Six additional Kitpiece Slots let you build kits with up to 18 individual drums.
• New FlexiSlots let you load additional Kicks, Snares, HiHats, and more.
• Kitpiece Linking lets you easily link drums for a fatter sound.
• Speciality "Trigger" Kitpieces (sine waves, white noise, one shot drum samples, etc.) open up a world of new sound design options. You can link them to acoustic drums to give more "oomph" or even use them on their own to create new analog and digital drum machine sounds.
• New Response section lets you tweak performances to fit them into a mix.
• Two MultiFX inserts on every channel for even more sound design options.
• New 4 band EQ with additional Low and High cut controls.

Find And Transform Your Beat:

• New Beat Transformer lets you tweak any existing rhythm to make it fit into a track and to make it uniquely yours. No more cookie-cutter beats.
• New Grid Search system lets you quickly find the beat you hear in your head.
• Improved Beats Browser lets you easily browse beats to find your inspiration.
• The Record MIDI feature saves time by letting you record MIDI directly from your host software into Addictive Drums 2.

Workflow Enhancements:

• You can now Drag'n'Drop Audio directly from the Addictive Drums 2 engine. Play a drum—or even a whole rhythm if you like—and simply drag it as an audio file straight into your music software's timeline or desktop.
• New "Sound Ideal" search system lets you sort all your presets from 'clean' to 'distorted' to help you narrow down and find the right sounds quickly.
• Snapshots makes A/B comparisons super easy. Take snapshots of all your settings and instantly recall any four snapshots instantly.
• New CloudSync system means your presets are always up to date and with you no matter where you choose to work.
• Standalone version of AD2 is your perfect jamming companion. Fire it up quickly and start playing along without dealing with your music software. The new Tempo control makes it easy to play adapt to your needs.
• Many improved Copy/Paste features.
• New great sounding presets and ExploreMaps for all your existing kits lets you get your drum track sounding great in no time.
• All Presets now include a MIDI preview to let you hear the preset played as the sound designer imagined. Use it to find inspiration or write all new music.
• Users can now preview all ADpaks and MIDIpaks (even ones they don't own) from directly from Addictive Drums 2.

Total Freedom To Choose:

• There is no more base "Addictive Drums" product—the AD2 Engine is now included with every ADpak and Bundle.
• New users can get Addictive Drums 2 by purchasing any ADpak or Bundle.
• Existing Addictive Drums 2 owners can buy any ADpak or Bundle to expand their collection.

XLN Audio co-founder and Product Manager Lars Erlandsson says, "The original Addictive Drums made a massive impact when it was released in 2006. No one else was even close in terms of features, speed or ease of use. I think we got a lot of things just right on that product, so when the time came to work on AD2, we wanted to make sure we retained all the things that people love. At the same time, we wanted to add a ton of exciting new features that would help music makers be even more successful. It was a challenge, but I love what we've made and I think users will love it too."

In addition to Addictive Drums 2, XLN Audio is also launching a new ADpak called Fairfax Vol. 1. This ADpak features a rock drum kit that was recorded at the legendary Sound City studio in Los Angeles (now known as Fairfax Recordings). An unlimited demo version of Fairfax Vol. 1 is available for free at www.xlnaudio.com.

Says Erlandsson, "We're so confident music makers will get addicted to Fairfax and AD2, we're letting them try half the kit for free and for as long as they like. This way, users don't have to take our word for it—they can hear it for themselves in their own studios."

Pricing & Availability

At time of launch, there are 16 ADpaks and three bundles. Users that purchase bundles are free to select any ADpak, MIDIpak, or Kitpiece Pak of their choice from the XLN Audio website when they register their bundle.

Pricing starts at 9.95€ for Kitpiece Paks, 19.95€ for MIDIpaks, 89.95€ for ADpaks and 179.95€ for bundles. Upgrades are 79.95€.

All Addictive Drums v1.x content has been updated to make full use of the new features found in Addictive Drums 2. Existing users that purchase the AD2 Upgrade from the XLN Audio webshop get all their existing content upgraded in addition to the Addictive Drums 2 sound engine.

"This is the most important thing XLN Audio has done since the original Addictive Drums, " says co-founder and CEO, Niklas Möller. "We think all the new features, the new ADpak, and the open sales model is going to be really great for customers. We can't wait to share it with them."