Addictive Drums 2: Soul and R&B Collection

Classic soul to Nu-Soul and beats for the streets

Included Products:

• Modern Soul and R&B (ADpak)
• Vintage Dry (ADpak)
• Modern Soul And R&B Beats (MIDIpak)
• Dry Beats & Songs (MIDIpak)

(Also includes the Addictive Drums 2 Engine)

A Whole Lot of Soul

XLN Audio has bundled up their Modern Soul and R&B ADpak with the thick and deliciously authentic ’70s studio sound of Vintage Dry to give you a whole load of ways to slide sweet soulful drum tracks into your productions.

Whether you’re looking for that fat old school Otis Redding backbeat, Nu-Soul sweetness a la Erykah Badu, or ’70s revival breaks along the lines of Daft Punk, Khruangbin or Michael Kiwanuka, from Timberlake to Timbaland to Tim Maia (look him up, you can thank us later), we’ve got you covered.

What’s new in Addictive Drums update v2.5?

• A brand new look: Addictive Drums 2 now has a new stunning, sleek design. It’s the Addictive Drums 2 you know and love, but more visually appealing.
• New “Trig Gate” effect: The new Trig Gate lets you mangle your drum sound and still get perfect gate action on every drum hit. No need to dial in threshold settings – the gate is perfectly triggered by the internal midi drum notes.
• New compressor “Boost” mode: Make your drums hit harder with the click of a button. The new “Boost” mode adds a new level of thump and attack to your beats, fueled by an XLN-approved multiband compression tailored for drums.
• Even better EQ: The EQ now has clear real-time visual feedback of the signal across all frequencies. All settings are clearly visible for easier and more precise adjustments.
• The v2.5 update is fully backwards compatible. All material created in previous versions will work and sound as intended: presets, tweaks, mix settings, MIDI beats and other settings. The update works with all Addictive Drums 2 expansions (ADpaks, MIDIpaks and Kitpiece paks).

Addictive Drums 2

It’s All About the Sound

Tweak any of the professionally designed presets or build up a custom kit from scratch, it’s your choice. Addictive Drums 2 is packed with mixing and sound-shaping features that let you transform the raw sounds in amazing ways. Whether you need your drums to sound open and crystal-clear or produced and radio-ready, or grungy and heavily distorted, AD2 has studio-grade tools to get the job done.

Lightning Fast Workflow

The best sounds and features are useless if you can’t find and use them quickly when inspiration strikes. Addictive Drums 2 really excels in this area. Every detail – from drag-and-drop audio and MIDI to rapid linking and layering, to near-instant kit piece swapping–is designed to keep you in the creative zone. The clean layout and lighting-fast workflow include hundreds of individual features that make AD2 fast and familiar – even for first-time users.

Every drum kit is recorded in world-class studios by industry professionals and amazing drummers to give you professional sonic options and creative control.

Where Do You Start?

To get the most out of Addictive Drums 2 you always start with XPN Audio’s Collections.

A Collection is a bundle of ADpaks (drum kits), MIDIpaks (beats) and Kitpiece Paks (single drums) put together to give you the best possible drum production experience.

Modern Soul and R&B (ADpak)

Fat, warm, organic drums for Modern Soul and R&B

Riksmixningsverket – Stockholm

XLN Audio wanted to be able to capture the sounds of this classic kit in beautiful isolation. Situated on a small island in the centre of Stockholm, Riksmixningsverket is one of the best sounding old naval warehouses in the industry. And at its centre is a classic analogue heart through which to capture some sweet sonic love, the Neve 8068 console. Old desks like these do something magical to music, they give their own character, enforce the punchiness and thickness of the sounds. It’s hard to put into words, but your ears can definitely tell.

Classic Kit – Yamaha Absolute Hybrid Maple kit

An absolute classic. Clean and crisp and smooth like butter. This Yamaha Absolute Hybrid Maple kit is made of sheets of Maple ply wrapped around a single layer of African Wenge hardwood, delivering a finely tuned tone that plays rich and clear across the full dynamic range. However you want to hear them, slamming out the breaks, or simmering in the back, they have the perfectly balanced sound to sit super comfortably in the mix.

For snares, XLN Audio felt they needed two. A deep Longo Solid Ply Cherry for big, fat hits and thick side sticks and a shallower, high tuned 1968 Ludwig Acrolite for tighter, snappier hits. To top it off, we hand-picked smooth Meinl cymbals to glue the whole kit together, wrapped in warmth and balanced highs.

Kit Details:

Kick:

• Yamaha Absolute Hybrid Maple 22×16″

Snares:

• Longo Solid Ply Cherry 14×6″
• Ludwig Acrolite 14×5″

Toms:

• Yamaha Absolute Hybrid Maple 10×8″
• Yamaha Absolute Hybrid Maple 12×8″
• Yamaha Absolute Hybrid Maple 14×13″
• Yamaha Absolute Hybrid Maple 16×15″

Hi-Hats & Cymbals:

• Meinl Byzance Dual 15″
• Meinl Byzance Extra Dry Thin 18″
• Meinl Byzance Extra Dry Thin 20″
• Meinl Byzance Vintage 22″
• Meinl Byzance Transition 21″

Extra:

• Body Percussion

Features

• Big kick, fat snares, crisp toms and smooth cymbals.
• A clean sounding kit that sits perfectly in the mix.
• Recorded through a Neve 8068 desk… on a tiny island.

Vintage Dry (ADpak)

Authentic 1970s Studio Drums

INGRID – Stockholm

Walking into Ingrid Studios is like walking into a time capsule. The place was built in 1969, and while stacks of hits have been recorded within its wooden walls, including ABBAs first album, almost nothing about the studio has physically changed in all that time. The place still oozes seventies flavour out of every surface, and sounds like nowhere else XLN Audio has ever been, capable of capturing both the dry, light, tight drum sound of the early ’70s and the thicker, fatter beats that disco brought towards the end of the decade.

To ensure Ingrid’s impeccable ’70s character is not polluted, no gear made since the ’80s is allowed to pass through the doors, making the drum sounds XLN captured for this ADpak as close as you can get to the ’70s without a modified DeLorean and 1.21 gigawatts of electricity.

Vintage Drum Kit – 1968 Ludwig Silver Sparkle Kit

It doesn’t get much more ’70s than this. The 1968 Ludwig Silver Sparkle is like the drum kit equivalent of a glitter ball, and it’ll make you feel just as groovy. But to get the sort of authentic ’70s drum sound that’s been brought back into vogue by artists like Daft Punk and Justice, XLN pulled out all the retro tricks. They started by tuning and dampening the individual drums using authentic ’70s methods: The kick was stuffed with a pillow and a large sheet of felt. Newspaper was taped to the snare heads and more felt sheets were pinned to the toms. Then, to ensure audio authenticity, XLN Audio recorded it using only microphones from the 1960-70s (Coles, Neumann, Sennheiser and Bang & Olufsen) sent through the studio’s vintage API console.

Kit Details:

Kicks:

• Ludwig Silver Sparkle 20×16″
• Sonor Phonic 22×16″

Snares:

• Sonor Phonic 14×7″
• Ludwig Supraphonic 400 14×5″

Toms:

• Ludwig Silver Sparkle 12×8″
• Ludwig Silver Sparkle 13×9″
• Ludwig Silver Sparkle High 16×16″
• Ludwig Silver Sparkle Low 16×16″

Hi-Hats & Cymbals:

• Zildjian K 15″
• Sabian HH Extra Thin 22″
• Zildjian K Dark Medium Thin 19″
• Zildjian Thin 18″
• Sabian Signature Hot Ride 21″

Extras:

• Clap, Snap, Lap

Features

• Beautiful retro kit, modified using traditional ’70s methods.
• Recorded using only period mics.
• Authentic time-capsule studio.

Modern Soul And R&B Beats (MIDIpak)

Brilliant beats and grooves for Modern Soul and R&B

These potent, soulful beats will bring your Modern Soul and R&B productions to life.

Modern Soul and R&B Beats is the perfect companion to our Modern Soul And R&B ADpak. It has over 200 smooth grooves that will breathe life into any Modern R&B or Soul production. All of these organic beats are created by top session musicians, include side stick variations and are clearly categorized to make arrangement easy. Just drag-and-drop the loops straight to your host’s timeline or use Addictive Drums 2’s powerful Beat Transformer feature to tailor each loop to fit your needs.

Features

• Played and programmed by top session musicians.
• The perfect companion to Modern Soul and R&B ADpak.
• 200+ authentic performances.

Dry Beats & Songs (MIDIpak)

Inspired 70s Drumming

If you own the Vintage Dry kit, you owe it to yourself to check out Dry Beats & Songs. It’s the perfect companion and has tons of precise and authentic drumming from the 1970s.

Dry Beats & Songs cover a wide variety of styles from the 1970s. You can find everything from the softer, slower folk-rock of the early 70s to the harder disco grooves from the late 70s. This pak includes many variations giving you nearly endless beat making possibilities.

Features

• Over 200 tight, precise grooves.
• Played by professional drummers.
• Perfect match for fat, dry kits.