Hi,
I had a conversation with Gustaf Svenungsson from xlnaudio the Producer of Addictive Drums.
I want to share his Answer with You because I found it very useful.

My Question was:

There is a question in my mind I Personally can not answer. I send You a preset of AD2. I made this to create my own Drum Taste. As I compare it with the default presets I see You could make the Presets sound much Better. I know you have tried to give the consumers the base for sounds but You made some Procceded presets too. Why my Preset sounds Punchier, sharp and clear? Do I make a mistake by mixing?

His answer was:

Hi, The short, dull answer to your questions is that it always depends on what the other instruments are playing, how they sound, and what you want to achieve.
A really dry, short snare without a lot of lower mid frequencies may sound amazing in one track and really awful in another, so it's really hard to give general tips on how to make drums sound better.
It's all about context.

Here's what I would do if I were you:

1. Listen to your favourite music and try to analyze the drum sound. How much reverb is used on the snare? Is the bass drum clicky or boomy? How are the toms panned? What would I need to do to recreate this sound in Drums? etc.

2. Scroll through a bunch of presets that you like and try messing around with them. What makes this snare sound better than the other one? Does it still sound good if I turn off the compressor? What happens to the sound when I mute the Overhead channel?

3. Post songs in the XLN forum or the KVR Audio forum and ask for advice. It will be a lot easier for people to help you when they can hear your track.

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum

While you're at it - check out the Free Tutorials section in our forum. It contains a lot of information on different subjects in music production:

www.xlnaudio.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=13

A big part of learning to produce great sounding music is to train your ears. In the beginning it's really hard to hear subtle differences in, for instance, small EQ boosts, parameter changes in the compressor and so on.

Just keep at it (and for gods sake - make sure that you have fun doing it!) and you'll get better.

You'll go back to an old track and think "what the hell was I doing?" *yes* and that's a good sign

Best regards,

Gustaf Svenungsson
XLN Audio

What I think:

Addictve Drums offers much more than the Default presets they made. Practically You can Achieve any Sound You Expect by some editing. I gave EZDrummer a second chance after EZD 2 came out. No chance. Drums 2 was again the winner. My edited ADD 2 Sounds are Much better than EZD 2 Sounds. EZD2 has the very interesting and intelligent Song creator but no editing features like ADD. Who like to use EZD 2 Song creator can use it with ADD sounds. I know there are users who have opposite Opinion. Just like Peoples Music style Taste. This is Just my Opinion and believe me I have spent much time to find the Best sounds.

 

In arrange or mix I always think myself as a taylor that do clother for my boss: the song.
The novices always think that putting good thing toguether everything will be awsome...
I say: 'Do you like barbeque and desert?
They always respond: yes
and I: Do you put both in a blender and eat?
Music is development! In university I studied every major style of composing and is a hard work to maintain coesive a composition, otherwise it will be called:
1 improvision
2 copy & paste or blender gender (soulless urban polysexual that is all and nothing)

 

Exact. We can not expect to create Hits by copy pasting and assembling ready made material. That is why I try ever find my own Sound, Melodies, Harmonies and even Music style.

 

I would like to say this is also true for Addictive Keys. Basically XLNaudio gives you a piano/drum factory where the presets are just the tip of the iceberg of sonic possibilities. It is up to you to explore and use those tools they give you to play with. Listening to your favourite songs or genres is a good starting point, then it is up to your creativity and talent.