Addictive Drums or Battery?

Chris TT · Post by **Chris TT** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 4:05 pm

I had ordered addictive drums the other day through a shop but have just been browsing the net and have seen what Battery can do.

Both cost the same price but there's a bundle of loads of battery sample cds bundled with battery for a bit more.

I had ordered addictive drums as I was after great sounding acoustic kits without having to sort out a load of samples (plus the cymbal choke function). I know battery is based around samples in cells but can I get the same results as addictive drums by loading up predefined acoustic sets plus get all the other bonuses that battery seems to bring?

Not due to collect addictive drums til Tuesday so can change my order if there's a good case for saying Battry will do what I want and more.

Thanks for any opinions anyone can offer.

Amberience · Post by **Amberience** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 4:47 pm

I'd go with Addictive Drums. I honestly think its the best acoustic drum sampler out at the moment. I use it in all of my productions.

http://www.virb.com/waveform

Blood In The Wind and Blue Skies (rough version) both use Addictive Drums. I use AD to create drum tracks that my live drummer can then learn from and embellish.

Mainly because I started out recording alternative-experimental-rock on my own, and then added a drummer and guitarist at a later stage.

Sir Maybe · Post by **Sir Maybe** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 6:27 pm

I agree.
Another option and especially interesting for the creation aspect of drum grooves is JAMSTIX by Rayzoon.
www.rayzoon.com
I let Jamstix create the groove and have Addictive Drums play it (subhosted in Jamstix) .
Unbeatable combination IMO.
There´s a group buy for Jamstix at the moment in case you´re interested.

dancerchris · Post by **dancerchris** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 1:36 am

AD is missing some stuff that is available in BFD and DFHS at the same price point. I think it is better to go with one of those. Battery isn't as good as the others.

My $0.02.

R.J.Dubya · Post by **R.J.Dubya** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 6:56 am

Battery is amazing for a combination of acoustic and electronic drums, and is quite versatile but if you're only looking for realism and live sounding drum kits, I'd definitely go with Addictive drums. It's no just that the samples sound amazing, but the elegance of the program, the stability, the internal mixing/effects, and the number of different hit variations, both with style hit and velocity. All of these are superb, it sounds incredible and huge and is very well laid out fun to play.

I've got battery and love it but don't touch it for live drum sounds, that's all AD.
I'd suggest battery if you wanted to load your own samples and liked to make electronic drum kits a lot. But I can't recommend AD enough, and I must also say that it's still at version 1, and they are very active on their feedback forum on their website, and are listening to suggestions.

I use it all the time to make heavy rock style beats and big hip-hop type beats along the lines of old DJ Shadow and such. One of my best purchases ever.

eyeknow · Post by **eyeknow** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 7:06 am

I do AD for 97% of what I do...the other 3% is bfd cause they have brushes......but I have to say, as someone who has been in the game for awhile, and beta tested MONDO stuff (including AD) bfd is WAY out of date........it's become hard to use.......at the very least!

So, again, AD is the main acoustic drum program.

Now, for all the "lo-fi" or funky/esoteric stuff I use stylus rmx. Yes, that is getting a bit expensive (with the add on packs and such) but I find stylus INDISPENSABLE.......btw, so do many film scorers and fx guys/gals.

Battery is something I used before I got stylus. But it's not really a "pattern" player......it's really just the sounds. I think version 3 is somewhat different, but as someone who uses NI stuff allot....I keep hearing an above average amount of rumblings that it's not the most stable......??

R.J.Dubya · Post by **R.J.Dubya** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 7:32 am

eyeknow wrote:I do AD for 97% of what I do...the other 3% is bfd cause they have brushes......but I have to say, as someone who has been in the game for awhile, and beta tested MONDO stuff (including AD) bfd is WAY out of date........it's become hard to use.......at the very least!

So, again, AD is the main acoustic drum program.

Now, for all the "lo-fi" or funky/esoteric stuff I use stylus rmx. Yes, that is getting a bit expensive (with the add on packs and such) but I find stylus INDISPENSABLE.......btw, so do many film scorers and fx guys/gals.

Battery is something I used before I got stylus. But it's not really a "pattern" player......it's really just the sounds. I think version 3 is somewhat different, but as someone who uses NI stuff allot....I keep hearing an above average amount of rumblings that it's not the most stable......??

Yes RMX is wicked too, but I still love abattery for all kinds of included world percussion, orchestral drums, and crazy glitchy kits. Between AD, RMX and battery, there's honestly not really much else I'd ever want for drums, as they are the kings of what they do, and all very different from each other.

eyeknow · Post by **eyeknow** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 7:36 am

DAMN! I forgot about the world percussion and stuff...........you are so correct........that is great.

I'm not sure though that's fork the cash for it unless I really needed it

btw, dubya.....are you on 3? or are you on PPC or PC with 2?

Amberience · Post by **Amberience** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 10:36 am

dancerchris wrote:AD is missing some stuff that is available in BFD and DFHS at the same price point. I think it is better to go with one of those. Battery isn't as good as the others.

My $0.02.

From my perspective the only thing AD is missing that BFD and DFHS have are long load times and crashes - and I don't mean cymbal crashes!

Chris TT · Post by **Chris TT** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 11:33 am

Many thanks to all of you who have replied - I was stuck in work all weekend so didn't get a chance to try the battery demo but was going to stick with buying AD anyway now, you're comments have convinced me of this as well (especially R.J.Dubya as these are the types of beats I'm going for too).

And I can keep loading samples into Impulse for any other types of kits.

Cheers guys!

R.J.Dubya · Post by **R.J.Dubya** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 5:10 pm

eyeknow wrote:DAMN! I forgot about the world percussion and stuff...........you are so correct........that is great.

I'm not sure though that's fork the cash for it unless I really needed it

btw, dubya.....are you on 3? or are you on PPC or PC with 2?

Battery 3 Mac Intel. I haven't put it through vigorous enough use to comment on general stability (I will soon though).

dancerchris · Post by **dancerchris** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 5:22 pm

AD is missing brushes. That is to be added later at additional cost. The reason why it doesn't have the long load times is that the amount of info in the samples is not nearly as detailed as BFD or DFHS. AD has 3 GB compared to DFHS 35 GB. As for crashes, I've never had a problem, but then it does tax the system resources. Again, just opinion.

Sir Maybe · Post by **Sir Maybe** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 7:31 pm

dancerchris wrote: The reason why it doesn't have the long load times is that the amount of info in the samples is not nearly as detailed as BFD or DFHS. AD has 3 GB compared to DFHS 35 GB. As for crashes, I've never had a problem, but then it does tax the system resources. Again, just opinion.

Yeah but that´s because there´s an on-the-fly compression going on, so you can´t compare 3GB vs. 35 GB.
I don´t think AD lacks detail either, an I own DFHS as well.

BassTooth · Post by **BassTooth** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 7:35 pm

battery 3.

a killer matrix style sampler within ableton's already matrix style DAW. come on. you can't go wrong.

gort · Post by **gort** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 9:19 pm

battery 3 if you are into experimenting and getting unique with your production and enjoy fine tuning your sound to be your own.

it works like a champ as AU on mac intel.

use AD or BFD if you want plug and play and REAL sounding acoustic kits with no fuss.