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Hey, all. I would've posted this yesterday, but I was way, way too busy, including taking advantage of this deal. XLN Audio's Addictive Drums, the full freakin' product, is available at Guitar Center this weekend -- basically yesterday and today -- for $49.99, rather than $149 or $200 or whatever "deal" you can usually find. You go to a Guitar Center, buy a registration code -- printed on the receipt -- and then go home and download a 1.1 GB .zip file, register the product, and dang do you get some good noise. Between this and the BFD Eco deal ($29, still going on from all fine retailers till the end of the year) and RD, I don't think I ever have to worry about drums again. 
Best, Tom SmithWin10/64 • i7-8700K • 24 GB RAM BIAB 2026 • Reaper 7.57 • Izotope MPS AKG C1000S • IK iRig I/O Pro
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Tom,
Since you're using both, which is better? Addictive Drums or BFD Eco?
If you had to buy only one, which one would it be?
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Sorry for not being here earlier to answer -- if your local GC is closed now, the point may be moot. If I had to use only one, I think I'd actually go with BFD Eco. It's a little easier to use, and has a standalone module with an internal drum track that's pretty handy. I'm glad I've got both, though, and if XLN put AD on sale like this, it's a safe bet they'll do so again. I've looked at several drum instruments this year, and lemme tell ya -- - First, I wouldn't recommend anything that needed Kontakt unless you're very familiar with it; I got a no-brainer from audioMIDI on the Steven Slate Drums EX, and they sound great, but I so dislike dealing with Kontakt that I never use them.
- Second, Mdrummer and Jamstix are reasonably good possible alternatives, if you prefer their workflow, and you can download demos of them.
- Third, avoid EZ Drummer and Superior Drummer like the zombie virus. The sound, the workflow, the interminable registration system, the fact that they don't have a demo and I had to buy a Korg nanaKontrol {which I was going to get anyway, but still} to get EZ Drummer Lite because they don't sell it by itself and it's frickin' useless... did I mention I don't like EZ Drummer?
Best, Tom SmithWin10/64 • i7-8700K • 24 GB RAM BIAB 2026 • Reaper 7.57 • Izotope MPS AKG C1000S • IK iRig I/O Pro
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Quote:
Second, Mdrummer and Jamstix are reasonably good possible alternatives, if you prefer their workflow, and you can download demos of them.Third, avoid EZ Drummer and Superior Drummer like the zombie virus. The sound, the workflow, the interminable registration system, the fact that they don't have a demo and I had to buy a Korg nanaKontrol {which I was going to get anyway, but still} to get EZ Drummer Lite because they don't sell it by itself and it's frickin' useless... did I mention I don't like EZ Drummer?[/LIST]
Pat, I highly recommend Jamstix. Great sounds, reasonably priced, and when you have a problem you get the kind of personal attention from the program creator that we've become used to with PG Music. You won't be able to use one of Jamstix's strengths of jamming live along with a song in Realband, but that is an issue with RB not yet being able to deal properly with tempo-based features in other plug-ins. Even so, I think Jamstix is well worth it just for it's wide variety of drum and percussion sounds and other features.
Terry
BIAB/RB 2018 PlusPak. Dell Inspiron23 running Win10, 12GB RAM, 2.5GHz i7, Presonus AudioBox USB interface.
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I'll second that shout out for Jamsitx, cool app and great support forum. Although, I fall back on RD's regularly due to their utter simplicity.
BIAB – 2026, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud.
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Indeed, I was gonna get JamStix (and I suppose I may still eventually) until the deals for BFD Eco and AD came up. I would recommend waiting, if you can, because the best place to get it is at their home page, http://www.rayzoon.com, and they infrequently have sales... but one of those times is Black Friday weekend. 
Best, Tom SmithWin10/64 • i7-8700K • 24 GB RAM BIAB 2026 • Reaper 7.57 • Izotope MPS AKG C1000S • IK iRig I/O Pro
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Several years ago, BFD gave away a fully functioning demo of BFD on the cover DVD of Computer Music with the only restriction that it was stereo out only. BFD normally has multi-outs that you can process downstream.
I found it to be very useful with one exception - either the closed or open hi-hat sample would not respond properly to velocity - you got one level and one level only.
I ended up putting that on it's own track so that I could tame it.
However, very nicely recorded and easy to use, though deep.
Jamstix - I have version 2 and have used it successfully in all of it's modes; jam to audio, jam to midi velocities, and as a drum sample playback unit. This is with a host that properly interacts VSTi with tempo cues, which PG products do not. There is something unique about PG products (perhaps the SMPTE coding capability?) that does not work properly with tempo locking VSTi like Jamstix. Also very nicely recorded and more affordable for additional kits than BFD.
Great customer support from Rayzoon/Jamstix. With the exception of the hi-hat funkiness on BFD - never had to contact them for customer support.
-Scott
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The only drum modules I own are Session Drummer 2 & 3 within Sonar, JamStix, and of course Real Drums/MIDI drum styles in PG Music.
I thought about trying out the other popular drums sets but I have been thoroughly satisfied with what I have.
JamStix can be very easy to use or as complicated as you wish to delve. The samples are not bad either. As mentioned, the support is superior.
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+1 for XLN's Addictive Drums, I have a few drum samples programs but this is the one I always go to. Highly recommended.
I do use EZDrummer, but only the latin percussion addon kit for realistic shakers, tambourine, congas, etc. I don't use the main kits as I really dislike how they've recorded the kick drums - they all sound too hard/solid.
John
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Quote:
Several years ago, BFD gave away a fully functioning demo of BFD on the cover DVD of Computer Music with the only restriction that it was stereo out only. BFD normally has multi-outs that you can process downstream.
I found it to be very useful with one exception - either the closed or open hi-hat sample would not respond properly to velocity - you got one level and one level only.
I ended up putting that on it's own track so that I could tame it.
However, very nicely recorded and easy to use, though deep.
[ ... ]
-Scott
Never saw that CM issue -- in fact, I never heard of BFD until about a year ago. BFD Eco is missing some features, and has less detailed sounds than BFD2. From the FAQ:Quote:
Each kit-piece features a maximum of 24 velocity layers, at 16-bit resolution, for each of its articulations. Any expansion pack kit-pieces are also reduced to this detail level when loading them within BFD Eco.
BFD2 has 55 GB of samples, I think all at 24-bit. In any case, I haven't had any problems at all with Eco. It's fun.
Best, Tom SmithWin10/64 • i7-8700K • 24 GB RAM BIAB 2026 • Reaper 7.57 • Izotope MPS AKG C1000S • IK iRig I/O Pro
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I know this is an old thread, but perhaps someone can help me...I have a copy of BFD Eco, but cannot figure out how to integrate it into Realband. I'm sure I'm missing something on the conceptual level...I've tried to handle it like other vst modules, but it seems like it needs more "steps" to get it to actuate in RB...anyone have any tips, or point me to some assistance...the BFD manual hasn't helped me.
Thanks.
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You're not going to like this. Programs that need tempo information like drum plugins don't work properly inside RB. Something to do with vst implementation. I know, I know, we've b...and moaned about it for at least 5 years now, Peter even said about two years ago it was getting fixed but then, nada. Must be some major problem I guess. Those drum modules do work fine as sound synths only though. If you want to use it with Biab or RB to playback a generated midi drum track no problem but you can't use BFD, Jamstix or any other drum program to generate it's own drum track.
Right now the only workaround if you want BFD to create something for you is to load it up in another host like Sonar, Reaper, Cubase etc and then import that track back inside Real Band.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Have you tried dragging and dropping the MIDI grooves from BFD Eco into RB? You know, just drag it right onto a drum track. Then you can use BFD Eco as a VSTi without having to worry about how its internal tempo is set.
Best, Tom SmithWin10/64 • i7-8700K • 24 GB RAM BIAB 2026 • Reaper 7.57 • Izotope MPS AKG C1000S • IK iRig I/O Pro
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I just said that didn't I?  Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.
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