User manual

Oct 28, 2024

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Introduction
Thanks for using Addictive Drums 2!

When Addictive Drums first hit the scene, it was a jaw-dropping experience for many, as it could
switch out both the kit (samples), the production (effects and tweaks), and the drummer (MIDI
files) with just one click. What would previously require a multitude of applications, time, and
skill sets was now within reach for everyone. And since changing sounds and beats was so fast,
users experienced a workflow revolution, inspiring them to try new things.

This basic foundation is what keeps Addictive Drums immensely popular — the principles hold
true whether you’re a heavyweight producer or just starting out. Getting acoustic drums to
sound right can be a chore, but with AD2, it’s pure joy — as it should be!

We had a lot of fun creating this software, and hope you also have a great time using it in your
music — stay Addicted!

/The XLN Audio Team

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Contents
Introduction 2
Contents 3
What is Addictive Drums 2? 6
Cloud Sync 6
Overview of Addictive Drums 2 7
The Top Section 8
Logo 8
Play controls 8
Tempo controls 8
Loading indicator 9
Preset display 9
Preset Browser 9
Save Preset 10
Page Select buttons 11
Top Menu 11
The Main Section 12
Explore page 12
Kit Page 13
Kit Piece Slot functions 14
Kit Piece Browser 15
Edit Page Overview 16
Edit Page (Top) — Kit Piece Select & Controls 17
Kit Piece selector 17
Basic settings 18
Kit Piece Controls 18
Edit Page (Bottom) – Channel Strip 20
Microphones and channels 20
Room Distance 21
The Bus Channel 21
Channel Insert Effects 22
Channel Inserts Enable 22
Noise 22
MultiFX 23
EQ 25
Trig Gate 26
Cut (Bus & Master channels only) 27
Output 27

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 Channel FX Sends 28
Selecting a channel for editing 29
Channel Select Sync 29
FX Page 30
Delay 31
Crossfader & Delerb graph 31
Reverb 31
EQ 31
Trig Gate 32
Output section with routing 32
FX sends 32
The Mixer Section 33
Channel settings 33
Beats page — Overview 34
Library Column 35
Filters 35
Grid Search 35
Main Beat List 36
Variant List 36
Beat Transformer 37
Beat Info section 38
Record MIDI & Mark First Beat 39
Using separate outputs in AD2 40
The Audio Recorder 41
MIDI Mapping window 42
Introduction 42
Using an electronic drum kit with AD2 42
Map Preset section 43
MIDI Monitor 44
Global Velocity 44
Advanced E-drum Settings 44
Kit Piece Selector 44
Kit Piece and velocity settings 45
Keyboard View 45
Stroke Type List 46
Map Window – Advanced E-drum Settings 48
Hihat setup A 48
Hihat setup B 49
Hihat setup C 50

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 CC Hihat 52
Map CC value to Stroke Type 53
CC Reverse 53
CC Number 53
CC Number (secondary) 53
Foot Close Sensitivity 53
Foot Splash Sensitivity 53
Positional Snare & Ride 54
Snare Position CC Reverse 55
Snare Position CC Number 55
Snare Position CC Range 55
Velocity Compensation 57
CC Positional ride 57
Cymbal Chokes 57
Stroke Types explained 58
The PowerMap Engine 60
MIDI file naming conventions 61
Automation 62
For every Kit Piece 62
For every Mixer Channel 62
For the Bus and Master Channels 62

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What is Addictive Drums 2?
Addictive Drums 2 is a virtual instrument that takes your drum productions to a new level.

Sounds — AD2 comes filled with world-class drum sounds, all sampled with a multi-channel mic
setup, just as you would record a real drum kit. Extensive layering, capturing everything from the
softest to the hardest drum hit, combined with alternating samples throughout, provides the
realism and playability your track deserves. Expand your sonic options by adding more ADpaks.

Additional ‘one shot’ drum samples in the form of Trigger Kit Pieces can be layered with the
main samples to add an extra sonic dimension to your drum sounds.

Playback settings and effects — shape your sound by tweaking pitch, volume envelopes, and
sample selection. Then finish it off with the built-in effects in AD2 — each channel has EQ,
compressor, distortion, transient shaper, tape saturation, and more, as well as two send effects
with combined delay and reverb.

Beats and fills — quickly create natural-sounding beats using the extensive library of MIDI files
in different styles, all easily accessible from within AD2.

Cloud Sync
Cloud Sync is a small background application installed by default when installing Addictive
Drums 2.

It works like this: If you are using AD2 while connected to the internet, all saved user files
(presets, key maps and beat favorites) will be uploaded instantly to your XLN account. This
means that when working on more than one computer, all your user files are automatically kept
in sync. And when doing a fresh install on a new computer, the first time you start AD2 all your
user files will be downloaded and become instantly available.

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Overview of Addictive Drums 2
The Addictive Drums 2 (AD2) interface can be divided into two main sections: Top Section and
Main Section. The Top Section is always present regardless of where you are within AD2. The
Main Section changes depending on which Page you are on.

At the bottom, a ‘HelpTip’ section displays information about the control your mouse pointer is
hovering over.

1. Top Section
2. Main Section
3. HelpTip section

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The Top Section

1. Logo (click to open “About AD2”)

2. Play controls
3. Tempo controls
4. Loading indicator
5. Preset display (click to open Preset Browser)
6. Preset “previous/next” buttons
7. Save Preset button
8. Page Select buttons
9. Top Menu

Logo
Clicking the Addictive Drums 2 logo takes you to the About Addictive Drums 2 page. Here, you
will find information on the program version (useful should you ever need support), credits,
special thanks, and acknowledgments from the XLN Audio team.

Play controls
The Play button starts and stops the currently selected MIDI file. Play Sync makes AD2 follow
your host/DAW transport.

Tempo controls
The tempo display will show the tempo of the currently selected MIDI file, but it can be changed
to any tempo by clicking + dragging up/down. When running AD2 in standalone mode, the Lock
Tempo padlock can be used to lock to a specific tempo as you browse beats and presets (in
plugin mode the tempo will be locked to your DAW tempo).

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Loading indicator
This shows you when AD2 is loading stuff from disk. Although you can play AD2 while it keeps
loading in the background, there may initially be silence or audible glitches until the loading
indicator finishes and goes “off”.

Preset display
This is where you see the currently loaded preset. Click to open the Preset Browser. You can
also use the scroll wheel to scroll through presets.

Preset Browser

The Preset Browser includes various search filters to narrow down your search. In the left-hand
column, you can select All presets, User presets, and pick from which specific ADpaks you’d like
to search.

In the upper center section, you can browse/filter presets by Type (“Acoustic”, “Electronic”,
“Percussion”) or by Name (using the text search field).

Activating the Sound Ideal feature enables you to sort your presets by selecting the amount of
processing that has been applied to each preset. This is displayed as a level indicator with
values ranging from Natural to Extreme.

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The right-hand column displays information about the current preset, such as its name, what
ADpaks or KitpiecePaks the sounds come from, as well as the preset creator. You can also
Rename or Delete your User Presets, and choose any preset to be loaded by default when you
launch AD2 by clicking Set As Startup.

Use your keyboard’s up/down arrows to step through lists.

Save Preset

Click the Name field to edit, choose preset Type and set a suitable Sound Ideal value (a
completely clean/natural/dry sound should get a low value, while a very distorted and mangled
one should get a high value).

The MIDI Preview function allows you to record a MIDI beat (you can play a looped section from
your DAW if you’re working on a drum track anyway) to be saved with the preset. If you don’t
record anything, the current MIDI file will be used as a preview.

NOTE: If a preset with the same name already exists, you will get the option to either overwrite it
or to save it with a new name.

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Page Select buttons
AD2’s five main pages will be described in more detail a bit further down.

Top Menu
Click the menu icon in the top right corner to see the Top Menu, which has options:

● Audio & MIDI Setup (in standalone mode only)

● UI Scaling & Settings
● MIDI Mapping (for more info, see the MIDI Mapping window section of this manual)
● Product Status (shows a list of your AD2 products and their license & installation status)
● Refresh MIDI Library (do this after adding new MIDI beats to the External MIDI Folder)
● Open External MIDI folder
● Open User folder
● Addictive Drums 2 Manual PDF (you’re reading it now!)
● Addictive Drums 2 Keymap PDF
● Tutorials
● Go to xlnaudio.com
● About Addictive Drums 2 (same as clicking the logo in the top left)

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The Main Section
The main section is divided into five separate pages.

Explore page

This page offers a non-cluttered approach to preset browsing. Presets are organized in Playlists
with a common theme. For example, there is one playlist for each ADpak, one for your own
(“User”) presets, and playlists dedicated to specific music styles or genres. All playlists and
presets listed here are also available in the Preset Browser.

This page offers some basic controls (Kick, Snare, Hihat, Overhead, and Room levels) so you
can quickly tweak the most important aspects of the overall sound. For the ADpak playlists, you
can also audition the kit on display by clicking on the drums in the image.

Each preset has a Play button that plays a ‘preview’ beat. Presets are in different styles and
tempos, providing inspirational starting points. While auditioning a preset, you can click on the
name of another preset to switch the sound settings. That’s useful if you like the beat you’re
hearing but want to try it with other sound settings.

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Using the arrow buttons, you can fold in/out the column showing the playlist “thumbnails” and
the individual sections within that.

The big arrows on the left and right side of the page can also be used to navigate between
playlists.

💡You can audition presets from ADpaks you don’t own to hear what they offer. You’ll find these
playlists under ADpak Previews. They are audio demos, indicated with headphone icons instead of
Play buttons.

💡Want to use the preview beat in your music? Head over to the Beats Page: each preview is a
MIDI beat from the AD2 library, and you can immediately drag and drop it into your DAW.

💡 Already decided on a specific tempo? In the top section, there is a padlock icon, which forces
all beats and preset previews in AD2 to follow your DAW tempo (or, if using the AD2 standalone,
the tempo next to the padlock, which can be adjusted by clicking and dragging up/down)

Kit Page

The AD2 kit has 18 Kit Piece slots. Each shows an image of the currently selected Kit Piece.
Click the image to audition the sound. The closer you click to the top of the pad, the higher the
playback velocity will be.

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Kit Piece Slot functions

1. Kit Piece Mute and Solo

2. Previous/next buttons for Kit Piece selection
3. Open the Kit Piece Browser
4. Linking: Drag and drop the link symbol from the kick or snare slots to any other Kit Piece
pads will link them so they’ll always play simultaneously
5. Edit button (takes you to the Edit page with this Kit Piece selected)
6. MIDI Activity indicator
7. Kit Piece Volume (for quickly adjusting the overall level of a Kit Piece)
8. Load Tom Set (Only available on toms: opens up a menu with options for loading toms in
groups, for example, “all the Sonor Toms”). Note that the Pitch settings of the toms are
also set when loading a Tom Set.
9. Currently loaded Kit Piece name (click to get a list of all available Kit Pieces for the slot)

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Kit Piece Browser

In the Kit Piece Browser, you can view all the available Kit Pieces that can be loaded into the Kit
Piece slot. By default, it shows all Kit Pieces you own, but you can narrow down your search by
selecting specific products in the left-hand column.

In the Flexi slots, you will also find additional filter options, such as “Kicks” and “Snares”.

The right-hand column shows you more in-depth information about the selected Kit Piece. You
can audition the available stroke types using the small play buttons.

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Edit Page Overview
This is where most of the sound tweaking happens. The top half covers the playback settings of
the 18 Kit Pieces (pitch, envelopes, etc). The bottom half takes care of the audio processing (EQ,
compressors, etc).

💡Note that there isn’t a 1:1 relation between Kit Pieces and Mixer channels, due to how drums
are usually recorded. Example: Cymbals are usually not recorded with close mics, so they have no
corresponding mixer channels — they appear only in the Overhead and Room mics. Luckily (unlike
in an actual drum recording), you can still adjust them individually in the Kit Piece Controls
section.

Here are a few notes on how the controls on the Edit page work:

Use [Shift] to increase control resolution — If you hold [Shift] on your computer keyboard while
editing a control, you get a finer control resolution, enabling high precision adjustments.

Reset a control to its default position — To reset a control to its default value, use [Ctrl]+click
(Windows) or [Cmd]+click (macOS)

Scroll wheel support — Addictive Drums 2 supports scroll wheel editing for most controls. To
adjust a control, place the cursor over it and use the scroll wheel.

Instant on — To activate a “darkened” (turned off) section, adjust one of the controls, and it will
become active.

Copy/Paste — Right clicking enables you to copy Channel Settings or Insert Effect settings from
one Channel or Effect to another. Or from one instance of AD2 to another!

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Edit Page (Top) — Kit Piece Select & Controls

This section provides detailed control of the raw sounds.

Kit Piece selector

Select a Kit Piece for editing by clicking on the corresponding button.

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Basic settings

For each Kit Piece you can set overall Volume (in the Kit Piece Slot), plus Level, Pan and Width
for the OH (Overhead) and Room channels.

Kit Piece Controls

Response: This section controls how velocity affects:

● Volume — at 0% the volume is constant no matter the velocity. At 100% the dynamic
range is “as recorded” for that Kit Piece. At 100-200% the dynamic range is extended
downwards to provide even softer hits at low velocities.
● Filter — allows you to exaggerate the normal high frequency roll off when hitting a drum
more softly. Also great for Trigger Kit Pieces that may not have specific softer samples
recorded for low velocities.
● Sample Layer Selection — by default AD2 uses samples recorded at various velocities
for a natural response. But with this control you can choose to exclude the softest or
hardest samples, or even restrict sample selection to a single sample layer.

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No Alts — AD2 generally uses alternate (“round robin”) sample hits for each layer. This avoids
the “shotgun” effect associated with single samples and fast drum rolls. However, by activating
No Alts you can turn off the alternate hits and make things sound more static and machine-like.

Pitch: The Main pitch can be adjusted 12 semitones up or down. You can also Offset the
Overhead & Room channels 12 semitones up/down in relation to this.

Tone Designer: The Tone Designer is available for Kick and Snare. It lets you control the decay
of the tonal part of the drum without changing the decay of the “noise” and room. By reducing
ringing overtones or booming low end, you can easily make a drum sound more "dampened"
without changing the overall volume or perceived length/decay/ambience.

Each Kick and Snare in the AD2 library has been analyzed and has a custom frequency profile.
By pulling the End parameter up/down you can get an overview of the frequency bands affected.

Both the Start and End levels can go above the center line to boost levels if needed.

Pitch Envelope: Control the Start, Hold Time and Release Time. You can let velocity control the
amount of Pitch Envelope applied by using the Vel control.

Volume Envelope: Control the Attack Time, Decay Time, Sustain Level, Sustain Time and
Release Time. You can let velocity control the Attack Time by using the Vel control, simply
increase it to create a softer sound at lower velocities.

Cut: A High / Low Cut Filter that affects all channels (Close/Overhead/Room) for the Kit Piece.

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Edit Page (Bottom) – Channel Strip

Microphones and channels

In keeping with how a real drum kit is traditionally recorded and mixed, we have recorded the
kits using close, overhead and room mics.

All Kit Pieces include the Overhead (OH) and Room (RM) channels, and these are all routed to
the Overhead and Room stereo channels in the mixer.

Kicks, snares, hihats, toms and trigger sounds were recorded with close mics as well. Kick and
Snare have two close mic channels. Top/Bottom for Snare, and Beater/Front for Kick. Hihat,
toms and Extra/Trigger sounds have one close mic channel each.

1. Snare Buzz
2. Kick and Snare Close Mics Balance

Snare Buzz — To further enhance the realism we have recorded the buzzy sound the snare
makes whenever the kick or toms are played. The volume of the Snare Buzz can be adjusted
with the top slider. This does not affect the sound when playing the snare itself, but rather how
much “buzz” the snare generates when you play the kick or the toms.

Kick & Snare Close Mics Balance — The balance of the two close mics on Kick and Snare can
be adjusted with the horizontal slider under the image. In general adding in more of the lower
mic on snare means you get more of the “buzz”. On the kick the “Beater” side has more click
and the “Front” has more deep bass.

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Room Distance

The Room Channel has a Distance control that lets you delay the room recordings up to 50ms
(simulating a mic distance of up to around 56 ft or 17 m).

The Bus Channel

A commonly used trick in drum mixing is to create a submix of chosen kit elements (i.e. kick +
snare + hihat), then distort or heavily compress this submix, and finally introduce this back into
the main mix at a lower level.

The result is that you get the dynamics and punch of the “normal” cleaner main mix, but at the
same time a nice “crunchy” quality and sustain from the compressed submix.

This effect can be easily achieved in AD2. Just click the Bus Channel Label to select the Bus
channel, and you will notice that Bus Send sliders appear on top of the mixer:

Now you can easily create a submix and process it using the Bus Channel’s Insert Effects!

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Channel Insert Effects

Channel Inserts Enable

You can turn on/off all Insert Effects for a channel with the yellow top left button. When off, a
hatch will cover all Insert Effects to visualize that no processing is being done.

Each channel in AD2 has a selection of insert effects:

Noise

Add recorded noise from various mics, studios and machines. The noise sound is triggered
when an audio signal is present. You can control the Decay and Level to go from a subtle
constant hiss to an exaggerated short noise burst on every drum hit.

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MultiFX

The MultiFX unit has two different modes: Comp & Dist and Tape & Shape. Clicking on the top
right arrow buttons of the MultiFX unit allows you to toggle between the two modes. Note that
only one of the modes is active at a time.

Comp & Dist

Combined compressor and distortion effect. Activate or deactivate them separately by clicking
the light yellow Enable buttons on each section.

The Compressor has an advanced AutoGain algorithm that keeps levels in check.

Thr is the compressor threshold, followed by standard Ratio, Attack and Release controls. GR
shows the Gain Reduction applied.

The button above the GR meter activates Boost Mode, a multiband processing option that uses
the same simple controls as the “Regular” mode but with a very different sound.

The Distortion effect offers several types of distortion, selectable with the small arrow buttons,
or by clicking the distortion type name or image. On the left is a Range slider where you can
select a specific frequency range to distort. Frequencies outside of the range pass through
unchanged. Useful to just add some crunch to the mid range of a kick for example.

Amount lets you control how much distortion is added to the sound, while Mix lets you set the
balance between the clean and the distorted sound.

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Tape & Shape

Combined Tape Simulation, Transient Shaper and Saturating Limiter. Activate or deactivate
them separately by clicking the Enable buttons on each section.

The Tape section simulates recording to analog tape. The Drive knob controls how hard you are
pushing that poor tape, and Bottom offers separate control of a natural low range boost that
happens with tape recording.

The Shape section lets you control the transients and decay in an intuitive way. Compressors
can be used for this task as well, but the main difference is that a transient shaper such as this
affects transients no matter how loud or soft they are. Increase the Attack for more transient
“snap” or reduce it to soften the sound. Adjust Sustain to control the level after the transient,
turn it up to get almost a “gated drum sound” effect, or down to make the sound shorter.

The Sat (Saturating Limiter) is useful to keep very short spiky transients in check — they simply
be cut off, if above the Thr (Threshold) level. This is useful in itself as it adds a little crunch to
the sound, but it is often also a good idea to avoid very short transients on individual channels
that could cause havoc in the Master Channel compressor.

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EQ

Tweak the EQ by dragging the colored dots directly in the graph: sideways to change Frequency,
up/down to change Gain, mouse wheel to change Q value.

You can also scroll or drag up/down directly on the values below the graph.

The mono/close mic channels have 5 bands, the stereo channels have 4 bands.

Additional High / Low Cut Filters can be dragged in from the sides of the graph, and easily
adjusted: sideways to change Frequency, up/down to change Q value.

Behind the EQ graph there is a live “post EQ” frequency display to help you find the frequencies
you want to affect.

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Trig Gate

The Trig Gate is available on the Overhead, Room, Bus and Master channels, as well as in each
Delerb Send FX unit. It is an audio gate that triggers on the MIDI notes that play the drum
sounds — the advantage here is that there is no need to fiddle with audio threshold settings —
you can completely mangle the sound, and still get perfect “gate action” on every drum hit!

Enable lets you choose which Kit Pieces should trigger the gate. Kick, Snare (only triggered by
the Open 1, Open 2, and Rimshot stroke types) and Toms.

Threshold — By raising the threshold you can exclude low velocity hits (like ghost notes on
snare) from triggering the gate

Hold time — free / non-synced mode: Set the hold time in milliseconds.

Tempo Sync mode

Hold time — synced mode: Set the gate time to a musical note value. The upside is that the hold
time will be for example a quarter note, no matter which tempo you have.You can set it by
turning the knob or choosing the note value in the dropdown.

Release sets the time it takes to fall to the Floor level, once the hold time is reached.

Floor is the level the volume settles at, when the Release time is reached. With the slider in the
bottom (-∞ dB) the sound is completely turned down between hits. At -10 dB you get a much
more subtle effect, with the hits “punching through” and the space between hits lowered a bit.

You can see the effect of the gate as an “reverse VU meter” overlay in the mixer, as well as in the
Floor slider itself.

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Cut (Bus & Master channels only)

A High / Low Cut filter that sits at the end of the signal chain. Note that you can “grab” it in the
middle and move both hi and lo at once (up/down moves the frequencies, left/right changes the
distance between high and low)

Output

Trim adjusts the level of the processed signal. It can be a good idea to adjust this so that the
processed and unprocessed levels are about the same. This makes it easier to compare them,
and also maintains a nice even gain structure in the signal chain.

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Channel FX Sends

Each channel has two FX Sends. They are routed to the two Delerb FX units on the FX Page.
Each send has an enable button to quickly turn on/off the FX Sends.

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Selecting a channel for editing

Select the channel you want to edit by clicking the corresponding Mixer Section label. You can
do this from either The Kit, Edit or FX pages.

Selecting a Mixer channel also selects the corresponding Kit Piece in the Kit Piece Select
section.

There is a shortcut from the Kit Page: Click the little wrench in the corner of a Kit Piece Slot and
it will bring you to the Edit Page with the correct Kit Piece and Channel selected.

Channel Select Sync

Sometimes you want the upper half (“Kit Piece Edit”) and lower half (”Channel Insert FX”) to be
in sync. Sometimes you don’t. We added some auto-selection functionality to cover these cases.
It sounds more complex than it is, but the below describes how it works:

Channel Select Sync active

1. When you select a Kit Piece that has “close mics” (Kick, Snare, Hihat, Tom 1-4, Flexi 1-3)
the corresponding channel in the mixer will be selected as well. Unless…

Channel Select Sync inactive

2. If Overhead/Room/Bus/Master is selected in the mixer, Channel Select Sync is inactive.

This is so you can tweak these “shared” channels independently from what Kit Piece is
selected.

3. When you select one of the cymbal Kit Pieces that do not have “close mics”, the
Overhead channel in the mixer will be selected (unless point 2 is already true). After this
action, as Overhead is now selected, Channel Select Sync will be off (again, see point 2).

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FX Page

1. Delay section
2. Crossfader & Delerb Graph section
3. Reverb section
4. EQ
5. Trig Gate
6. Output Section with Routing
7. Channel FX Sends

The FX Section of AD2 consists of two identical Delerb units (a delay that is fed into a reverb).
Each channel in the mixer section can send to these effects.

The Delerb Output knobs are available in the Mixer section as well, where you can adjust volume
and pan, before they are summed in the Master channel together with the other channels.

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Delay

Delay Time can be set in ms, or you can click the Tempo Sync button to sync the delay to the
current tempo. You can also click-hold and drag the Delerb Graph left/right to adjust delay time
and reverb.

Feedback controls how many repeats you will hear before the delay fades out. At 0% you get
one repeat. At 100% the delay repeats infinitely. You can also click-hold and drag the Delerb
Graph up/down to adjust the delay feedback.

Swing adds a swing or shuffle effect to the echo repeats, and Ping Pong makes the sound
bounce back and forth between the left and right output channels, creating a distinct stereo
effect.

Range limits the frequency range of the delay.

Crossfader & Delerb graph

The display shows a visual graph of the current Delerb decay, and it will update as you move the
Delerb Crossfader to set the balance between the delay and the reverb.

Reverb

This effect offers several types of reverb, selectable with the Arrow Buttons, or by clicking the
reverb type Name.

The Pre-delay is useful for placing the reverb slightly after the drum transients, which can make
the mix clearer and more punchy.

Decay adjusts the reverb time. You can also click-hold and drag the Delerb Graph up/down to
adjust the reverb decay.

Damping lets you manage high frequency reflections and ringing, while Swirl adds thickness to
the reverb tail.

Swirl adds a thick chorus effect to the reverb tail

EQ

This EQ has 2 bands — other than that please see description in the Channel Inserts section.

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Trig Gate

See description in the Channel Inserts section

Output section with routing

Apart from controls for Output Level & Panning, there are some routing options for the Delerb
outputs:

● Pre Master Inserts (example of usage: you want to compress and filter the whole mix
including reverb using the Master Inserts)

● Post Master Inserts (example of usage: you want to compress the complete kit heavily
on the master bus, but keep the reverb uncompressed and natural)

You can also control the FX 1&2 output levels directly in the Send FX section in the Mixer. Here
you can also solo the Delerb signal to hear it with the dry signal excluded.

FX sends

Shows the Send amounts from the different Mixer Channels.

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The Mixer Section
AD2’s Mixer Section has 14 audio mixer channels.

1. Ten mono channels handling the close mics of Kick, Snare, Hihat, the four Toms and the
three Flexi channels. (The Flexi channels can load various percussion type sounds)
2. Two stereo channels handling the Overhead (OH) and Room mics.
3. One stereo Bus, which can be used for special effects (the previously mentioned
channels can send a submix to the Bus, which can for example be distorted and sent
into the Master channel).
4. One Send FX section for the levels of the Delerb 1 & 2 units.
5. One stereo Master Channel.

Channel settings
All channels have:

● Pan (Including stereo width control for stereo channels by moving mouse up/down,
stereo image can also be reversed)
● A Volume fader
● Solo and Mute buttons
● Phase/Polarity button
● Separate Out button (You can choose to route each channel to the Master or to a
separate output or both)

Exception: The Master Channel has no Solo, Phase/Polarity or Separate Out buttons

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Beats page — Overview
Here you can access the MIDI file library included in AD2, as well as any other MIDI files you
want to use with it. You can search for beats in various ways like “by Category” or “by name”, or
even by the desired pattern using the Grid Search feature.

Once you have found a beat you like, you can tweak it in a multitude of ways using the Beat
Transformer.

When ready, just drag’n’drop the file directly into your song/arrangement. You can drag directly
from the name, in the list or in the bottom info pane.

The Beats Page with the Transform tab selected.

1. Library column
2. Filters
3. Grid Search (can be folded in/out)
4. Main Beat List
5. Variant List
6. Beat Transformer
7. Beat Info
8. Record MIDI
9. Mark first beat in host

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Library Column

Select to view and search All MIDI Files, or narrow it down to a certain MIDIpak, or Favorites
(nice beats and fills that you have favorited previously).

If you have a collection of 3rd party MIDI files, they can be used as well.

● Click “Open External MIDI folder…” in the top menu

● Place your MIDI files in the “External MIDI files” folder
● Click “Refresh MIDI Library” in the top menu
● Your files should now show up under “EXTERNAL MIDI” in the list

💡Check out the PowerMap section in this manual to make the most use of external MIDI files
with different mapping, like GM.

Filters

Search for beats by using the list in the left hand column, and/or the Style, Tempo or Time
Signature dropdowns. You can also search by name, and narrow your search by selecting to
show Beats or Fills or both.

The Tempo dropdown allows you to narrow your search to beats that were originally made in a
tempo close (+/- 10% or 20%) to the currently set tempo. This usually provides search results that
feel more realistic, as drummers tend to do different things at different tempos.

Grid Search

If you’re looking for a specific kick/snare pattern, Grid Search is a very quick way to find
matching beats. The grid represents 1 bar of 16th notes — just “paint” in the drum hits you’d like
to search for. The yellow circles represent your searched hits. Try the Preset A-D buttons as a
starting point!

Another way to create a Grid Search pattern is to start with All Off, select a beat you like from
the list or an ExploreMap, and then hit the Similar button. Now the beat you picked will be made
into a search pattern, and hopefully result in similar beats being listed below.

Each lane in the Grid Search can be turned on or off to include/exclude it from the search.

To narrow things down even more, the Snare lane can be switched to Sidestick. The Hihat lane
can be switched to Open Hihat or Ride.

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The default mode for a lane is that it is used to search, but by clicking Replace, the lane actually
becomes a grid sequencer and the hits you paint completely replace the notes in the playing
MIDI file. Now you can force a specific kick pattern on any beat in AD2 for example.

The ‘dots’ in the grid can look a bit different. In the default Search mode they can look like this:

● Yellow circle with green dot: success — there is a matching hit in the current beat
● Yellow circle: a hit that is searched for but not found in the current beat
● Green dot: a hit that exists in the current beat that was not searched for

In Replace mode the hits in the current beat are not used for playback but it can still be
interesting to see what the original pattern looks like. The dots can look like this:

● Green rhombus with dot: there is a matching hit in the current beat
● Green rhombus: there is no matching hit in the current beat
● Gray rhombus: a hit that exists in the current beat but not in the replaced beat

In Search&Replace mode you are both searching for a pattern AND replacing it. Brain melt!
Here’s an example: Say you paint a “four on the floor” kick pattern with this mode active. You are
now searching for matching beats so your results will be files that have kick patterns similar to
this. BUT you are also replacing whatever is in the file with your strict “painted in” pattern. The
idea is that these beats are probably good matches since they had a similar pattern to begin
with. The rest of the beat (snares, hihats etc) will likely be disco rather than metal in this
example.

Main Beat List

This is where all your search results will be listed. Selecting a beat here reveals one or more
variants of that beat in the Variant List.

Variant List

All the variants of the beat you have selected will be shown here. You can click the small heart
to the right to mark a variant as a Favorite, and list all your Favorite beats by choosing Fav Beats

36
Beat Transformer

The Beat Transformer is a powerful tool to change your selected beat. A little, or a lot — play
around with it and see where you end up.

You can turn each section on/off to compare to the original, The Beat Visualization shows you
how the beat is affected.

The Range control lets you compress, expand and/or shift the velocity range of your beat.

The Accents knobs are a creative way of applying accents (positive and negative) to your beat.

The Random knobs lets you apply slight randomness to the Timing or Velocity separately. Can
add some “live” human feel to stiff beats.

37
The Kit Piece Mix & Reassign section has a slider to control the velocity level of each Kit Piece,
while Mute and Solo are helpful in isolating the parts you’re interested in (like browsing only
hihats from all the beats). The Reassign feature lets you swap out articulations: you could
replace a normal snare hit with a sidestick for example.

At the bottom there are controls for the Speed (half tempo, double tempo and other useful
things) and Length of your beat.

Finally, there is a Reset All button so you can revert to where you started from if things get a
little out of whack!

Beat Info section

This section always shows info about the currently selected MIDI file, like its name, length and
time signature.

The Beat Visualization in the middle provides a visual representation of the beat, with a marker
that follows along as it plays (you can also click to play from any position). There’s a Play button
down here too, for convenience. If you use the Transform controls you can see the visualization
update in real time.

On the right hand side you can see which MIDIPak or library the beat comes from.

38
Record MIDI & Mark First Beat

The Record MIDI button can record straight from your e-drum kit, but also from the AD2 track in
your DAW. By using the “cycle” feature in your DAW when recording a beat into AD2, the
recorded beat will be nicely cut and looped. Your recorded MIDI beats will then appear under
Recorded MIDI in the Library list on the left hand side.

Mark First Beat lets you “re-sync” where a beat starts, to align with your arrangement (example:
AD2 plays the 2nd bar in a 4 bar pattern when your chorus starts and you want it to play the 1st
bar there — just click Mark First Beat when the chorus starts)

39
Using separate outputs in AD2
The Addictive Drums 2 plugin is by default a multi-out instrument. There are no separate
“Stereo” and “Multi-Out” versions, but some hosts like Logic offer to load a ‘stereo version’. If you
plan on using the multi outs, always load the multi out version.

The standalone version does not support multi-out, so the following only applies to the plugin
version.

Every channel in the AD2 mixer can be routed to a separate output, which appears in your host.
Just click the downward pointing arrow button, and select from

● Master (default)
● Separate Out (Pre-Fader)
● Separate Out (Pre-Fader) + Master
● Separate Out (Post-Fader)
● Separate Out (Post-Fader) + Master

+ Master? When sending to a separate out, the signal normally disappears from the Master
channel. However, it is sometimes useful to send out some sounds without affecting the overall
mix in the AD2 master channel. You could for example make a submix of some elements
outside of AD, or send out the kick to use for sidechaining with a bass track and other things.

Pre-Fader and Post-Fader? The difference here is that with Pre-Fader all signals are sent out at
unity gain, and the setting of the AD2 channel volume does not affect the level in the separate
output. This is nice if you want to mix the kit entirely outside of AD — you can choose any preset
and the levels going into the external mix setup do not change.

40
Each channel is pre-assigned to a certain output:

1+2 = Master 7 = Tom 2 12 = Flexi 3

3 = Kick 8 = Tom 3 13 + 14 = Overhead

4 = Snare 9 = Tom 4 15 + 16 = Room

5 = Hihat 10 = Flexi 1 17 + 18 = Bus

6 = Tom 1 11 = Flexi 2

The Audio Recorder

The Audio Recorder continually records the output from the Master out. It will record up to 15
seconds, or stop recording when there is silence (and the internal MIDI player is off). The
resulting file can then be dragged into your DAW or onto your desktop.

Note: This feature won’t slowly fill up your hard drive with recordings — the file is not actually
created on disk until you start dragging it. It is also overwritten each time, using the same file
name, so make sure it is properly imported into your DAWs pool of audio files (and you may
wanna rename it as well there)

You can play a drum sound on the kit page, or a beat on the beats page, and then directly drag it
out as audio to a track. Some common use cases:

● Drag out kicks and snares and build your main drum track using layering of different
sounds
● Drag out a cymbal hit, reverse it to create a build into the chorus.
● Play a snare with massive reverb on it and use it in a particular place in a song
● Play a beat on the Beats page and drag it out to create a drum loop type background
beat — having it as audio means you can chop it up and re-slice it in various creative
ways.

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MIDI Mapping window

Introduction
Addictive Drums 2 comes with extensive MIDI remapping and e-drum support. You can access
the MIDI Mapping window from the Top Menu, and here you can change which
key/map/controller triggers a certain drum sound. This can be useful if you

● Own an e-drum kit and want to use it to trigger the sounds in Addictive Drums 2
● Have MIDI drum grooves that use a different keymap than Addictive Drums 2, for
instance, GM standard or grooves from another software drum manufacturer
● Want to make it easier to play grooves on a MIDI keyboard

Using an electronic drum kit with AD2

In the MIDI Mapping window, click the Map Preset menu and select your electronic drum kit if it
is listed there. After that it should just be a matter of record enabling the Addictive Drums 2
track in your DAW host and start banging! If your electronic drum kit is not listed in the Map
Preset menu – try the GM Map Preset. It works with most electronic drum kits.

There are some e-drum specific features in AD2 like MIDI CC control of hihat, positional sensing
and cymbal chokes. Check the Advanced E-drum Settings for more on this.

42
 1. Global Velocity
2. Kit Piece Selector
3. Map Preset section
4. Kit Piece and Velocity Settings
5. Keyboard View
6. MIDI Monitor
7. Advanced E-drum Settings
8. Stroke Type List

Map Preset section

All settings in the Map Window can be saved and loaded as a Map Preset. AD2 comes with a
number of Map Presets for common electronic drum kits and controllers, so you may not need
to dig deeper into the Map Window than the Map Preset menu.

You can also save your own custom created map and load it whenever you want.

43
If you want the currently loaded map to load automatically every time you start up AD2, click the
Set as default button.

MIDI Monitor

This area displays your incoming MIDI signals ("IN"), as well as what they are currently mapped
to ("OUT").

Global Velocity

The Global Velocity slider controls the velocity response for all Kit Pieces and stroke types.

1. Default setting (whole velocity range is used)

2. Softer (maximum velocity is 90)
3. Harder (minimum velocity is 60)

Advanced E-drum Settings

See next chapter of this manual.

Kit Piece Selector

Each of the 18 Kit Pieces can be selected and edited by clicking the corresponding button in the
Kit Piece Selector.

44
Kit Piece and velocity settings

This section shows the Kit Piece Slot and velocity response settings for the currently selected
Kit Piece. The Kit Piece Slot works like the ones on the KIT page, which means that you can
audition and load Kit Pieces without leaving the MIDI Mapping Window.

Velocity Curve

This box displays a graph of the velocity response of the currently selected Kit Piece. The
horizontal axis represents the velocity received by Addictive Drums and the vertical axis
represents the outgoing velocity. Move the nodes to alter the velocity response.

You can choose some different preconfigured velocity curves in the Velocity Curve dropdown
and use those as starting points.

1. Softer Velocity (preset)

2. Harder Velocity (preset)

Keyboard View

The Keyboard View shows how the stroke types are mapped across a keyboard. Use the
scrollbar handle on the smaller keyboard to zoom in on another part of the bigger keyboard.
Dragging a Stroke Type from the Stroke Type List to a key will instantly map it. You can also
drag a Stroke Type from one key to another. Moving a Stroke Type to a key that is already
mapped will replace that Stroke Type.

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Stroke Type List

This list contains all the available Stroke Types for the currently selected Kit Piece.

1. MIDI activity
2. Velocity Adjust
3. Learn
4. Stroke type name
5. Special

💡Please note that the stroke type names in the stroke type list are the default names from the
Addictive Drums 2 keymap (see PDF in Top Menu). Some ADpaks may deviate slightly from that
standard. In the Modern Jazz Brushes ADpak, the “RimClick” stroke type has been replaced by the
“Sweep: Short 1” stroke type, but it will still be labeled as “RimClick” in the stroke type list.

Mapping

To map a stroke type, simply click on the name and drag‘n’drop it onto a key in the Keyboard
View.

Velocity

The velocity sliders on the left lets you increase or decrease the velocity for a single stroke type.
Use this to, for example, make the sidestick louder than the regular snare sound.

46
Learn

Click Learn and hit the corresponding pad/key on your e-drum kit/controller to map it.

Special

1. CC — used by special CC stroke types (see the “Map Window – Advanced Settings”
chapter for more information)
2. Brushed — only used by sounds played with brushes, such as those in the Modern Jazz –
Brushes ADpak
3. CC&Brushed — only used by sounds played with brushes, such as those in the Modern
Jazz – Brushes ADpak, and is also a special CC stroke type.

47
Map Window – Advanced E-drum Settings
In order to understand how the settings in the CC Hihat tab works, information on how e-drum
hihats work in general is necessary. Different e-drum kits come with different types of hihat
setups. Below you will find descriptions of the most common types. Please refer to your e-drum
manual for further information.

Hihat setup A

With this setup you can get two hihat articulations: closed and open.

1. Pad sensor
2. e-drum module
3. Pedal

MIDI Output Mapped in AD2 to

“Closed Hihat” “Hihat Closed 1 Tip”

(MIDI note #42)

“Open Hihat” “Hihat Open C”

(MIDI note #46)

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Hihat setup B

This setup has a slightly more advanced Hihat pad with 2 strike zones.

This drum module also recognizes when you move the pedal down quickly and sends out a
“Hihat Foot Close” note.

1. “Bow” Sensor
2. “Edge” Sensor
3. E-drum Module
4. Pedal

MIDI Output Mapped in AD2 to

“Hihat Closed Edge” “Hihat Closed1 Shaft”

(MIDI note #22)

“Hihat Closed Bow” “Hihat Closed1 Tip”

(MIDI note #42)

“Hihat Open Edge” “Hihat Open C”

(MIDI note #26)

49
 “Hihat Open Bow” “Hihat Open C”
(MIDI note #46)

“Hihat Pedal” “Hihat Foot Closed”

(MIDI note #44)

“Pedal Position” Ignored

(MIDI CC #4)

Hihat setup C

This setup uses the “CC Hihat” stroke types to take advantage of AD2’s full range of hihat
articulations.

1. “Bow” Sensor
2. “Edge” Sensor
3. E-drum Module
4. Pedal

50
 MIDI Output Mapped in AD2to

“Hihat Closed Edge” “CC Hihat Edge”

(MIDI note #22)

“Hihat Closed Bow” “CC Hihat Tip”

(MIDI note #42)

“Hihat Open Edge” “CC Hihat Edge”

(MIDI note #26)

“Hihat Open Bow” “CC Hihat Tip”

(MIDI note #46)

“Hihat Pedal” Unmapped

(MIDI note #44)

“Pedal Position” Used to determine hihat “openness”, using

(MIDI CC #4) the “Advanced/CC Hihat” controls

CC Hihat

Using the CC Hihat stroke types instead of the regular stroke types will cause AD2 to ignore the
drum module’s idea of closed and open. Instead, AD2 cares only about

● where you hit the pad (bow or edge)

● your current pedal position (sent out as MIDI CC #4)

Now, using the CC Hihat control in AD, it is now possible to fine tune exactly which AD2 hihat
StrokeType is triggered for a certain pedal position.

Foot Close / Foot Splash Sensitivity

Even if the drum module recognizes when you move the pedal down and generate a note for
this, we ignore that note in this example. Instead, AD2 uses its internal detection system, and
when you move the pedal down quickly a “Foot Close” sound is generated. If you move the pedal
down and then release it immediately you get a “Foot Splash”. The sensitivity for these
articulations can be adjusted using the Foot Close / Foot Splash Sensitivity controls.

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CC Hihat

52
Map CC value to Stroke Type

Adjust the nodes on the left side of the Pedal CC graph up or down to change the transition
values for the different hihat stroke types.

CC Reverse

This reverses the Pedal CC range (for compatibility with certain e-drum kits).

CC Number

If your e-drum kit sends out Pedal CC values on a different CC number than the default (CC #4),
you can set a new number here.

CC Number (secondary)

If you’re using two controllers at the same time, for instance, an e-drum kit and a keyboard, you
can also set a Pedal CC number for the secondary controller.

Foot Close Sensitivity

When you move the pedal down quickly, a “Foot Close” sound is generated. Use this controller to
set the trigger sensitivity.

In order for Foot Close features to work properly, do not map the Foot Close stroke types to the
notes sent out by your kit.

Foot Splash Sensitivity

When you move the pedal down quickly and then release it quickly, a “Foot Splash” sound is
generated. Use this controller to set the trigger sensitivity.

In order for the Foot Splash features to work properly, do not map the Foot Splash stroke types
to the notes sent out by your kit.

53
Positional Snare & Ride

Some e-drum kits have support for positional sensing. This means that when you hit the snare
pad, the drum brain sends out a MIDI CC message that represents the distance from the center
and the edge. Addictive Drums has a special “CCpos Snare” stroke type (see Keymap PDF) that

54
can use this information. This stroke type will play a Snare Open Hit stroke type (when hitting
the center), a Snare Shallow Hit (when hitting the edge) or a mix of both (when hitting in
between center and edge).

Snare Position CC Reverse

This reverses the snare position data, set it so you get the correct sounds as you move from the
center to the edge.

Snare Position CC Number

If your e-drum kit sends out positional sensing values on a different CC number than the default
(CC #16), you can change it here. This could also be useful if you want to control the snare
position data with, let’s say, a MIDI keyboard mod wheel or controller knob. Click the Learn
button and move a controller to map it.

Snare Position CC Range

This slider adjusts the crossfade between the Snare Open Hit and the Snare Shallow Hit
positional snare stroke types. The left side of the slider represents the center of the drum pad
(Open Hit) and the right side represents the edge (Shallow Hit).

55
1. Using the default setting, the crossfade will start immediately when moving from the
edge to the centre and vice versa.
2. This setting crossfades to the Shallow Hit closer to the center than the default setting.
3. Reducing the crossfade from both ends means that a smaller area of the drum pad will
trigger a mix between the positional snare stroke types.

56
Velocity Compensation

On some e-drum kits you may notice unwanted changes in velocity response when using
positional snare — perhaps you have to hit the edge harder to achieve the same velocity as
hitting the center. Use this controller to compensate for such behavior.

CC Positional ride

The positional sensing for the Ride works like the snare, here the stroke types used are Ride Tip
and Ride Shaft.

Cymbal Chokes

For certain e-drum kits, the cymbals send out aftertouch MIDI messages when they are firmly
grabbed. If you check the boxes in the Chokes section, these aftertouch messages are set to

57
trigger the cymbal choke stroke types in AD2. This means that you can choke a cymbal by
grabbing it!

If you’re using a MIDI keyboard that has aftertouch support, you may want to disable this
feature.

Stroke Types explained

Here’s an illustration of the different stroke types included in the AD2 sample library. For
information on how these stroke types are laid out on a keyboard, please see the Addictive
Drums 2 Keymap PDF (available from the Top Menu).

1. Hihat & Ride: “Shaft” / Cym: “Hit”

2. Hihat & Ride: “Bell”
3. Hihat & Ride: “Tip”

58
1. Snare, Toms: “Open Hit”
2. Snare, Toms: “Rimshot”
3. Snare: “Shallow Hit”
4. Snare: “Shallow Rimshot”
5. Snare: “Sidestick”
6. Snare: “Rim Click”

59
The PowerMap Engine
So many maps! Usually having a map is a good thing: when you are lost it can help you find your
way home. But when it comes to drums and MIDI, things get slightly messy.

There are a lot of different key map standards (the way the sounds are laid out in the keys) out
there; meaning that MIDI files created for Software X often aren't compatible with Software Y.

This is why we created the PowerMap Engine! Here are a few examples of usage:

Mix live performances with library beats

Connect your e-drum kit and select the appropriate Map Preset for it. Here comes the magic: All
your AD2 beats will still work, and be remapped to match the key layout of your e-drums! So you
can mix’n’match ready-made beats from AD2’s library and your own live performances in the
same arrangement.

Use beats from different sources regardless of their mapping

This is very useful if you have MIDI files from various sources. Let’s say you have some MIDI
files with AD2 mapping, and you also found this great collection of GM compatible files. And
then there are a bunch of files from the great “Software X” that you’d like to use as well.
PowerMap can remap all these files on the fly, so you can browse them side by side in AD2’s
Beat Browser! All you need to do is

1. Open the External MIDI Files folder from the Top Menu. If you have MIDI files that are
already AD2-mapped, you can just put them there.
2. If you have files with different mapping: create a folder for each type of files, and then
save a “translation” Map Preset in each folder. So you’d have a “GM” folder, with all your
GM files and a “GM.ADmap” in it. A “Software X” folder, with the MIDI files that came with
it and a “Software X.ADmap”.

In the case of GM you can probably use the GM map included in AD2 and just resave it to your
new GM folder. In case of other files, you need to create a map yourself. You can remap
everything in AD2 in the Map Window.

60
MIDI file naming conventions
All MIDI files in the AD2 library are tagged with a Style and if it’s a Fill or a Beat. You can do this
on your own files too.

Fills
If you create your own MIDI files you just have to add “_F_” to the file name and it will be
considered a “Fill” in the Beats Browser. All other files are considered “Beats”.

Styles
There is also a “_C_” tag, for Style. Add “_C_Mushroom Metal” to the MIDI file name and it will
show up as “Mushroom Metal” in the Style column in AD, and also in the “Style” dropdown
menu. If you do not add a style tag, the Style column will simply be empty.

Grouped MIDI files

Most Beats are part of a group of related files (clicking a file in the “Main” list reveals all the
“Variants” in the list next to it). You can add this functionality to your own files easily, by adding
special “tags” to the names of your MIDI files.

Example: Let’s say you have 3 files with a similar feel, and you want to group them.

Adding the tag “_V_” to the file name tells AD2that the files are variations of the same thing and
that they should be grouped:

● MyCoolBeat_V_Bidge.mid
● MyCoolBeat_V_Chorus.mid
● MyCoolBeat_V_Verse.mid

The part of the file name before “_V_” (i.e. “MyCoolBeat”) must be the same for all 3 files, and is
shown in the "Main" list.

The part after “_V_” is the name of the variation and is shown in the "Variants" list.

But which Variant is selected as the default when you click 'MyCoolBeat' in the Main list? Well
you decide that, by putting the tag“_G_” in the name of that file. Example:

● MyCoolBeat _V_Bridge.mid
● MyCoolBeat _V_Chorus_G_.mid
● MyCoolBeat _V_Verse.mid

Here the file “MyCoolBeat _V_Chorus _G_.mid” will be the default selection.

Note: The tags “_V_” and “_G_” are never shown in the Beat Browser, they are just there to tell AD2
how to display grouped files.

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Automation
The following parameters can be automated in Addictive Drums 2:

For every Kit Piece

● Solo, Mute, Level, Pan
● OH Level, OH Pan, OH Width
● Room Level, Room Pan, Room Width
● Pitch Main, Pitch OH/Room
● Filter Lo, Filter Hi

For every Mixer Channel

● Level, Pan, Solo, Mute, Width (Width on stereo channels only)

For the Bus and Master Channels

● Solo, Mute, Level, Pan, Width
● Filter Lo, Filter Hi

62