- Logo (click to open “About AD2”)
- Play controls
- Tempo controls
- Loading indicator
- Preset display (click to open Preset Browser)
- Preset “previous/next” buttons
- Save Preset button
- Page Select buttons
- Top Menu
Logo
Clicking on the Addictive Drums 2 logo takes you to the About Addictive Drums 2 page. Here you will find program version information (which is good in support matters) and also credits, special thanks and acknowledgements 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 stand-alone 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).
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
Shows the name of the currently loaded preset. Clicking it will open the Preset Browser. You can also use the scroll wheel on it to scroll through presets.
Preset Browser
The left column lets you set an initial filter, anything between “All Presets”, “All ADpaks” down to a specific playlist.
In the upper mid 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.
The right column shows info about the current preset, like its name, what ADpaks or KitpiecePaks the sounds come from, as well as the Creator of the preset. You can also Rename or Delete your User Presets, and choose any preset to be loaded up automatically when you start 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.
Page Select buttons
AD2’s five main pages will be described in more detail a bit further down.
Top Menu
Brings up a sub menu with these selections:
- 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
- Addictive Drums 2 Keymap PDF
- Tutorials
- Go to xlnaudio.com
- About Addictive Drums 2 (same as clicking the logo top left)