Hey folks,
I know the samples in AD2 and other programs sound really good, but what I have struggled with since I started using it and other programs is the fact that I could always tell it wasn't real drums being played. Not because of the quality of the samples, but more so because of the character of the dynamics (especially of the snare and hi-hat). It has always sounded unnatural to my ear- too clean and perfect without enough variations in dynamics and tone. I don't really like any of their presets and have always had to combine kit-pieces from different Ad Packs to get a sound I find acceptable. Their manual is not that great when it comes to really explaining the ways in which you can tweak certain things. There are a lot of different settings that affect each other and how the samples respond to your playing. This is particularly important when you're using an e-kit to trigger the samples. Not only do your AD settings affect the sound and response, but also the settings in your e-kit's brain and your pads. I have really struggled with this for a long time and feel that finally after much trial and error, I've gotten to the point where to me, it sounds almost like a real kit being played.  I still think I'm going to have to upgrade my V Drums' brain in order to capture more subtleties in my playing, but wanted to see what some of you think about where I'm at so far. Here's a link to 3 short clips I did playing different grooves with a custom kit I made. There's nothing in the chain, just AD2 going to Sonar's Master bus without anything being turned on in the Pro Channel.
 

Hello,
to me the dynamic of the of the AD 2 presetzs is also 
not natural sounding,
that´why I disable the AD2 included  compression .
I like some of the presets a lot , but without compression.
I got some feedbacks of ny mixes pointing out the natural sounding drums.

Pragi
Hello,
to me the dynamic of the of the AD 2 presetzs is also 
not natural sounding,
that´why I disable the AD2 included  compression .
I like some of the presets a lot , but without compression.
I got some feedbacks of ny mixes pointing out the natural sunding drums.

What compression do you usually put on them?

pinguinotuerto

Pragi
Hello,
to me the dynamic of the of the AD 2 presetzs is also 
not natural sounding,
that´why I disable the AD2 included  compression .
I like some of the presets a lot , but without compression.
I got some feedbacks of ny mixes pointing out the natural sunding drums.

What compression do you usually put on them?

I use a lot the Waves SSL 4000 and the Slate VMR Compressor and eq´s.
It deepends on the song structure and the type of music.

I dunno, I'm using a 15-year-old Yamaha DTX kit as a controller for AD2 and I think my snare and high hats sound incredibly realistic with all kinds of subtlety and nuance. ...That you'll never hear in a mix. ;P
 
I agree that I had to cobble together a bunch of different parts from multiple kit packs to get what I wanted. I think the main things I tweaked was the velocity curves and the pitch and adjusted the room/overhead mic levels a bit.
 
When I first started messing with AD2 I would have totally agreed with your critiques, The kits felt kind of stiff and stale. But to be honest, in the end I spent 1000% more time adjusting the pad settings on the DTX than the settings in AD2. For me, that was the key to the whole thing. AD2 was doing a fine job, it was my pad settings that needed more attention. What worked okay for the onboard sounds for the last 15 years turned out to be woefully inadequate for AD2.
 
I've been considering upgrading the DTX brain and snare/hh pads just to see if it is even better than what I have now! :)

Boscoe
 I spent 1000% more time adjusting the pad settings on the DTX than the settings in AD2. For me, that was the key to the whole thing. AD2 was doing a fine job, it was my pad settings that needed more attention. 
 
I've been considering upgrading the DTX brain and snare/hh pads just to see if it is even better than what I have now! :)

I agree, tweaking the TD-4's settings was the key for me, but it doesn't support positional sensing, so I think to get what I want, I need to upgrade my TD-4!

Wow, the Soundcloud encoding added a really "phasey" effect to the tracks that wasn't there in the original (especially the hi-hats). That's never happened before. Unless it's my internet connection.

pinguinotuerto
Wow, the Soundcloud encoding added a really "phasey" effect to the tracks that wasn't there in the original (especially the hi-hats). That's never happened before. Unless it's my internet connection.

I´m not sure if there is a trick like that  uploading a track to soundcloud,
but if you upload an mp3  to youtube, is has to be highest -3 db peak,
cause the youtube compression aso is adding 3 db ,
otherwise the track will sound distorted on youtube.

Pragi
I´m not sure if there is a trick like that  uploading a track to soundcloud,
but if you upload an mp3  to youtube, is has to be highest -3 db peak,
cause the youtube compression aso is adding 3 db ,
otherwise the track will sound distorted on youtube.

Thanks for the tip!

In my experience uploading a 24/44.1K wav file yields the best results to soundcloud.