GregGraves
When it comes to drums, there is absolutely no replacement for a real drummer.  End of story.  Period.  Programming drums with AD2 is very difficult and very time-consuming if you are shooting for pro quality with nuance.  XLN does sell midi tracks, as well as Groove Monkey, etc.  Those are good starts, but still don't get you around the time-consumption and difficulty.   To program drums you have to think like if not be a drummer.  There is no way around that.  For starting out my advice is to go get some drum loops.  I have found the Drums On Demand product to be quite useful for songwriting and arranging.  What you don't want to do is get frustrated, because frustration inhibits creativity.  You want to be able to slap your ideas together and get them down on tracks ... and then .... go figure out all the techno stuff.  Pop a suitable vanilla drum loop on and clone it 80 times the length you need, and get on with making your creation.  My 3 1/2 cents.

 
Like most opinions on music production, other's mileage may vary. Personally I think there's a time and a place for a real drummer, and a time and a place for mechanical sounding drum tracks. I can do things in the piano roll that a real drummer could never do - should I refrain from doing them because it's not "real"? 

sharke
I can do things in the piano roll that a real drummer could never do - should I refrain from doing them because it's not "real"? 

When I add rolls, much of the time, I'll leave the basic drum pattern playing in the background as well.  4 hands... Makes for some awesome turnaround rolls sometimes.

GregGraves
When it comes to drums, there is absolutely no replacement for a real drummer.  End of story.  Period.  

So much for open minded creativeness.
 
End of story.
 
Period.
 

Adq
 

You don't need to replace drummer, you need to do your own electronic drum beat. If you use someone else's loop and just put it in yous track, you do someone else's music, not fully yours.

I used to originally think that...but then I could never go out in the woods, chop down a tree and make my own piano either.  I don't like making guitar pickups either.

I've played with 7 drummers in my entire life.
 
I cannot program drums better than one them.
I can program drums nearly as good as one of them.
I can program drums better than the rest.
 
The top one is Burleigh Drummond of Ambrosia (I played with him before he joined Ambrosia). I'm pretty sure he won't come into my studio.
 

mixmkr
I don't like making guitar pickups either.

Slacker.

Now this is funny if I'm reading it correctly, no matter whose role I take.