I agree the word "dead" is a little drastic. But if you'll search the XLN website and the internet in general, you can no longer buy kits for AD1 and the way I understand it is the new kits for AD2 will not work in AD1. So if I didn't buy the kits I would have liked to have they are no longer available! Unless I upgrade to AD2 I can't get any kits. So, I'm stuck now with AD 1 and can't add any new kits. That is what I feel uncomfortable about.
It really is not a big deal as I said before. I have gone back to my laptop I use for live performance and now I'm spending a lot of time and energy back tracking and replacing AD1 with Superior. I would rather learn to tolerate a little longer load time and have the variety of drum kits. My issue is I play so many different styles of music in my sets that I have to have a wide variety of kits to match the style. I also play a lot of corporate gigs, weddings, partys, etc. so I have everything from country to smooth jazz. One kit just will not suffice for the songs to sound as authentic as possible. The load time is not an issue in the studio but it is a major issue when you're trying to keep people on the dance floor when they're in a partying mood. Just that extra 10 or 20 seconds can make all the difference.
I don't mean to come across as angry about this as it may seem. You know how it is with e-mails and posting. Sometimes it's hard to tell the persons attitude. I do still think that 75 dollars is rather steep for such a short time to have used AD1.

Sorry, Bent. That was Craig that gave the kind response. At any rate, Thanks, Craig. I highly respect you. I used to read your articles in Guitar Player magazine back in the day. Your posts and webinars are truly among the best I've ever seen. Thanks. again, my friend!

My understanding is that if you upgrade to AD2, you get your existing packs upgraded without having to re-buy them.

Guitarpima,
 
When you say it sounds better than AD1, just curious what you mean by that. I love AD1 and the AD PAKS so Im curious to hear the comparison of the two.

I upgraded to AD2 and got the upgrades for all I had in AD1 free. I wish I had to money for Fairfax. The demo sounds very nice. I like AD2 cuz it gives more choices on an already great sounding soft synth. Different engine and takes more CPU than AD1. 

I noticed bayoubill commented that AD2 is more CPU hungry than AD1. Depending on how hungry could be a deal breaker for me as well. I may come off of the fence and cough up the money in the long run. I just had to grumble for a while about digging in my wallet again. The wife wouldn't be too happy about that either. Hee-hee!
This has been a great thread and I think we all learned a lot about XLN. Funny how upgrades can be great advertising on their own.

bayoubillI upgraded to AD2 and got the upgrades for all I had in AD1 free. I wish I had to money for Fairfax. The demo sounds very nice. I like AD2 cuz it gives more choices on an already great sounding soft synth. Different engine and takes more CPU than AD1.

BOLD: me too....
I've been trying to get familiar with the AD1 free with X3 also and (somehow) got through the AD2 online installer process.
I like AD1's kits and although AD1 works just fine with little to no latency AD2 is a different story.
While trying AD2 there is a weird sort of latency and the patches have this fuzzy, unclear sound.
It's hard to explain but AD1 does not exhibit this at all....I'm baffled by the AD2 behavior.
Now that I think about it I am using the Delta44 ASIO drivers (up to date according to device manager) rather than ASIOFORALL which could also be factor.
Don't know if the comment about the CPU demands are the cause or not as mentioned by another poster.
 
Admittedly, my system is a less than ideal but X3 works well given my work flow and the fact I'm not a power user like many here.
I know I'll have to upgrade the DAW eventually as it's only a very meager (8 year old) Sempron 2800+ 1.6ghz w/2 gig memory from the Sonar 5.0 days.
 
A good day to all....

gkephart
 
As for the upgrade there are just barely enough features that justify it (much like every Sonar or NI or fill-in-the blank software company upgrade)...

I think Sonar does pretty significant upgrades, actually. The X3 upgrade gave Melodyne integration with Melodyne Essential, seriously reworked comping, VST3 support (I can run PadShop Pro now), much better video handling, and the QuadCurve flyout with spectrum analyzer. Given that Melodyne Essential alone is $100, getting all that other stuff for $50 is a pretty good deal...in some ways I think the comping alone almost justifies that. But then you throw in Addictive Drums, the Blue Tubes effects, and all the other enhancements, and I think there was a lot to justify the $150.

I thought I would be exited about being able to us both the main outputs as well as the individual. It doesn't sound right or, I need to tweak some more.

Well, I downloaded the infamous AD2 upgrade. After a couple of hours of downloads and playing around the verdict is in. Great upgrade. Like all the beat features but like I said before, I write my own so that won't help me much but it's nice to have it. Sound quality somewhat improved but not a HUGE difference. I do like the Studio kits. They sound pretty good. First negative! This thing is CPU hungry. Even on my i7 this thing is sucking power. Superior doesn't even break a sweat in the same project. I substituted AD2 in it's place and my first core shot sky high and bounced around in the red! I guess it's a good thing I spent the last week pulling Superior in to my performance tracks. I will try raising my buffers to see if it will play nicer but I am concerned about having higher latency when trying to record.
Overall, I'm fairly pleased with AD2 and I can see where I will continue to use AD1 and AD2. Lastly, I still think the price was a little steep. I do have to keep reminding myself that I got AD1 for free. I guess it's just fair to have paid for the upgrade. I thank my lovely wife for a very, very shocking surprise for my birthday. I thank my lucky stars I have her. 

Anderton

gkephart
 
As for the upgrade there are just barely enough features that justify it (much like every Sonar or NI or fill-in-the blank software company upgrade)...

I think Sonar does pretty significant upgrades, actually. The X3 upgrade gave Melodyne integration with Melodyne Essential, seriously reworked comping, VST3 support (I can run PadShop Pro now), much better video handling, and the QuadCurve flyout with spectrum analyzer. Given that Melodyne Essential alone is $100, getting all that other stuff for $50 is a pretty good deal...in some ways I think the comping alone almost justifies that. But then you throw in Addictive Drums, the Blue Tubes effects, and all the other enhancements, and I think there was a lot to justify the $150.

+1000

Hello AD users,
 
Today I received an email from XLN stating that there are "Bugs" in AD2, that there design programmers are working to correct the issues. They didn't mention what type of bugs, other than to address a couple that I'm having like the CPU usage and extending the bars (overlapping causing volume increase).
 
They told me that there technical center has been flooded with issues since the release of AD2 and should soon release a "patch" to correct them. I'm not sure if customers are notified through Cakewalk or your personal email, I just thought as an FYI for those that are currently experiencing anything they were not experiencing from the original version.
 
Mike.

Did the 2.01 update help any?   I wasn't really have much in the way of issues with AD2 from the start so I'm probably not a good gauge for how the update fairs.    But I sure am liking the new kits.    

That is certainly an improvement!
 

It feels like a slap in the face that you didn't get something you didn't buy? Why? people who get the AD2 included dont get the AD1 kits, so its about fair I say. You bought sonar when it included AD1, not when it included AD2, why should you get both? by that logic I should be mad cos I didn't get AD1 as well.