The usual candidates for tweaking the individual sounds inside AD are all there. These are also of a very high quality and are an integral part of AD’s sound. Then there are the onboard effects which come courtesy of PSP Audioware. From the onset I was impressed by the sounds – and the supplied MIDI patterns from drummer Jakob Muller do a great job of showcasing AD’s musical abilities.

But of course, it’s the great sounds that we’re all searching for, and in this department you can tell it’s been a labour of love for the sound recordists/programmers of Addictive Drums. Addictive Drums combines the tantalising mixture of functionality and stability, a great looking, user-friendly GUI and great sounding kits. In fact, it’s the Swedish firm’s first software product, but don’t let that fool you, the software writers have gone ‘all out’ here to compete with the big guns and the dedication to this single product really shows. XLN is a Euro company, but Addictive Drums is not a tobacco from Holland. Joining this select group now is XLN Audio’s Addictive Drums. Some of my favourite options that fit this criteria are Native Instruments’ Studio Drums, FXpansion’s BFD libraries and ToonTracks Superior and Classic kits. I work in rock and pop mainly, so when I’m programming drums, I need open sounding kits with ‘foundation establishing’ kick sounds, snares with ‘crack’ that withstand compression and believable room miking options. I have a pretty large drum sample library already, but I’m always on the lookout for great sounding kits that are recorded superbly and struck by deft hands. High quality samples are a must if you’re going to program drums using MIDI, and Addictive Drums is a drum sampler/mixer that really delivers.

The choices are many and varied if you’re in the market for a software drum sampler or drum samples.

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