AD 2 Custom Collection : Easy to use, enormous drum simulator.

I can't remember where I was introduced to AD2 - maybe it was one of those "Best 10 Drum VSTs" articles. It's definitely my favourite. The Custom Collection allows you to choose three full drum kits, three drum pattern collections and three single kit pieces (extra special kick drums, snares or other pieces). You don't have to pick all of your kits, patterns or single pieces all at once if you don't want to, and you can expand your collection whenever you need to with additional custom packs.

It sits really nicely in the midi piano roll (I'm using Reaper 6.47 with paid license). The velocities are really subtle and nice, with multiple different snare hits so you can tailor your drum track really nicely. The midipaks are basically pre-programmed rhythm patterns and fills loaded into complete bars.

That's really useful for a non-drummer (like me) to begin to get a basic pattern but then add fills and other special bits. It's very useful for a rhythm beginner and I found that it gave me a lot of help when creating my own rhythms and fills. It can often be quite a daunting task to program anything more than a simple 4/4 beat, but I found using AD2 helped me enormously.

There's also a lot of customization of almost every aspect of your kit if that's what you want. I have not really done a deep-dive into all the settings, I've mainly used the massive collection of preset kits and relied on midi velocities as much as anything to control my sound. You can make this as easy or as complicated as you want.

Thank you XLN Audio!