I think Addictive Drums 2 complements something like EZDrummer2 very well.  AD2 is very customizable but it also allows you to easily brows a variety of presets as well as kits you dont own so that you can easily find the exact sound your mix needs.  I am also a guitarist and havent wanted to spend much time tweaking drums, so the AD2 preset browser compliments my workflow.
 
EZDrummer2 has great composition tools.  Havent used session drummer.
 
I think the sampling tech has already arrived so that any kit recorded in the past 5 years can still be useful.  They are now competing on features, not just sound.

mettelus
You can buy AD2 expansion packs without owning AD2... Nothing to stop you! : )

Are you sure about this?  I checked MyProducts on XLN's website last night and all the new AD2 packs were grayed out.  I assumed this was because I haven't upgraded to AD2.

Abb, ad is having a deal where you get a stripped ad2 with a drum kit. If you qualify as an owner of ad1. Read the details carefully. Like for 80 usd you get just the kit. For one hundred you get all your ad1Content upgraded. I paid eighty thinking I was getting the hundred value.

gswitz
Abb, ad is having a deal where you get a stripped ad2 with a drum kit. If you qualify as an owner of ad1. Read the details carefully. Like for 80 usd you get just the kit. For one hundred you get all your ad1Content upgraded. I paid eighty thinking I was getting the hundred value.

Thanks gswitz -- I'm aware of the deal you mentioned.  What I was asking is if you could use AD2 packs with AD1.  That's how I interpreted mettelus' comment: "You can buy AD2 expansion packs without owning AD2..."  I didn't think this was possible.

gswitz
Abb, ad is having a deal where you get a stripped ad2 with a drum kit. If you qualify as an owner of ad1. Read the details carefully. Like for 80 usd you get just the kit. For one hundred you get all your ad1Content upgraded. I paid eighty thinking I was getting the hundred value.

Thanks gswitz -- I'm aware of the deal you mentioned.  What I was asking is if you could use AD2 packs with AD1.  That's how I interpreted mettelus' comment: "You can buy AD2 expansion packs without owning AD2..."  I didn't think this was possible.

Edit: So THIS is where this damned post ended up. Disregard... this was supposed to be in the Softube thread which is now dead. Leaving it here in case it gets bumped then I might repost it in the correct place. Sorry.
 
As much as I like the Sat Knob I will say this. It does get pretty useless after a ridiculously low point (I'd say aft 10-11 o'clock and even there it's hitting an extreme).
 
I am not sure what hardware they were trying model but I wish that what happens to the signal below about 9 o'clock would continue on above the point... just more of it. Instead after you push it past a certain boundary it doesn't sound like a quality tube getting is hum on... it sounds like a tube about to blow.
 
And I have blown my share of tubes to know what that sounds like. It is possible though that I am simply feeding it material that is too aggressive for it. If it was some gentle, quiet ambient sound then maybe it wouldn't break up so badly thus allowing me to crank it up a little more.
 
I do not know but perhaps I'll experiment with it.
 
 

Abb, you cannot open AD2 Drum Kits etc in AD1. That was my complaint earlier in the thread. Now, if I want to explore my AD content, I have to load up two different synths.
 
And you can't see the midi tracks that come with AD1 or AD2.
 
As noted above in the thread, you can output each drum to its own track like Session Drummer.

twaddle

So personally I would rather upgrade from Eco to BFD2 (if I can still find a boxed upgrade somewhere) and still have access to my Platinum Samples packs as opposed to upgrading to AD2.

Hey Beepster
 
Just so you know, you can now upgrade directly to BFD3 from BFD Eco in case that's why you're thinking of upgrading to BFD2. Having said that if you can find BFD2 at a good price you'll have 10 extra kits.
They are extracts of the same kits you have in BFD Eco so you'll have an idea of how they sound already.
 
Steve

This is a late reply but wanted to thank you for the info (and say hi). I am glad that they are now allowing an upgrade from Eco (seemed a little crummy but I guess they saw the error in their ways). Still though I have been hell bent on getting BFD2 for a while and I've already done the research on it. It's what I want and I'm assuming if I can still find a boxed upgrade (or perhaps just the full version) somewhere it would still be cheaper than upgrading to 3 which is kind of way out of my price range.
 
Eco does a heckuva a lot for me and now that I have Addictive Drums (and still obviously have Session Drummer with the sweet sounding Andy John's and Rock Legends kits) I do have some pretty good sounds and they play pretty smoothly with my controller. I also have the Rock legends Kit for BFD (I forget how the heck I got that one but it was free I think) which is an awesome punky/rock sound and covers most of my needs AND on top of that I have one of the Zildjian Z-Pack thingies (which I got for $20 unbelievably).
 
So I am certainly not lacking for good drum sounds. BFD 2 would obviously have a ton more sound options and I'm assuming more sticks and variations (useful to me) BUT my main interest is the extra kit piece slots and routing options. I can force BFD Eco to output a full kit to my liking with each piece getting it's own track but it requires multiple bounces and screwing around which is time consuming. If I can avoid that AND get more articulations AND sounds then awesome but $300+ is a little too much just to save some time and have some sounds I may or may not use and/or could recreate in other ways and/or simply write differently without sacrificing too much of a track's integrity.
 
Anyway... good to see you post, man. Haven't seen you for a while. Hope you've been well. Cheers.

Thanks, Beep! I just bought the Jazz Brushes for Session Drummer for 20 USD!
 
What a great deal! Thanks Cakewalk!!

I have the Jazz Brushes pack for AD and it is truly amazing.
 
Here is an example using AD1. I have another one I did a while ago there somewhere. It's an VH track from Diver Down called, "Big Bad Bill is Sweet William Now". I used the brushes pak for that as well from AD1. Don't mind my less than awful vocals.
 
Big Bad Bill is Sweet William Now This was a long time ago.