As a long time user of Sonar regularly building up from Home Studio 6 years ago, to Studio 8, and now to Sonar Platinum, I long ago looked into a better drum system then SI-Studio Drummer, and considered Additive Drums to be rather expensive and very limited in expandability, they had name brand gear and decent quality. As a past drummer having access to more is always better and after considerable investigation decided to buy into the BFD system. A high quality, name brand, less expensive system, with nearly unlimited drums to add. At this present time I have some 67 Drums kits & over 1,675 loadable kit pieces for BFD3, against 6 - ADII kits & a couple of extra pieces, ADII only wants to sell you single drums for $10. each or kits for $100+, for $149 you get 7 drum kits in each (Deluxe, or Eldorado) in an expansion pack for BFD3 and on 50% off sales $75. vs 33% off a single ADII kit for $66. each, never mind that you can get the drum kits of some very famous Bands with the real drummer actually generating the hits, people like 'Nick Mason from Pink Floyd'. I feel I'm not alone on this, as it was first $100 to upgrade, then $149, & now ongoing $199/year. You are THE - DAW, not a sub-retailer for ADII drums. I agonized over going with Professional due the the waste of the drum kits, but for the $49 could justify it for the couple of additional processors.  I own Nomad Factory Integral Studio III ver.5, so the BT pack was of no value to me. How about including more Mastering processors, Sonar haven't introduced any since the LQ & LP 64's, way back, Blue Tubes is fine but RETRO. I see you advertizing some new high end mastering effects Just IN, how about including some of them for our $199. or some additional Prochannel units on renewal instead of another $350. in wasted drum kits.
 
I see Cakewalk Sound Center is still 32 bit, let's get some more of your existing units up to 64 bit as an upgrade.
 
You have a great DAW interface with Professional grade - stay the leader. 
 
WiLLi & MMX3P*
Sonar Platinum Owner
West Coast BC, Canada
 
(* the MMX3P MusicMachine was conceived & constructed by myself, it has 11 input MIDI devices, including a Roland synth, in a 3-sided arrangement flanked with 2 triple tier keyboard racks and center console with twin video monitors, Audio supplied by a Scarlet 18i20 driving 10 monitors, with 6 mic's, & DJ-TT, just in case. Sonar Platinum supplies the DAW engine in My OWN Custom designed system driven by a - Quad 3.4  processor & 16Gb x1600bus mem & 5.140Tb storage. Other major software - Sampletank 3 with a 20,000+ sound library, Amplitube 3 complete + $400 extra gear, - for guitar. The MMX3P has over 50 plug-in instruments not including Sonars, and 200+ effects processors such as; Waves - Tony Maserati Signature collection, IK Multimedia TRacK-3 System, and Magma. Fully Operational & Playable by One - recording in full MIDI 24/96 with multi, multi, overdubs, then on to master down.)
 
Don't be a 'Looper' - PLAY it MANN!
WiLLi

I don't think AD2 and the ADPacks are the reason for the 'Price Hike', actually I thought the price was pretty much the same ? anyway, there are also a bunch of new features fixes etc, it's not just AD2
 
I am a BFD user myself, I have all expansion packs except for marching drums and the Japanese Percussion one,  I own AD and AD2 and most ADPacks, in my opinion BFD is in another league compared to AD, and to me the sound the feel and everything about it is just about perfect, I don't really use AD, give it whirl every now and then, but always end up replacing it with BFD. But that is only personal opinion, personal preference.
 
There would be a lot of people out there who would find the inclusion of AD in the deal to be a real bonus, after all it is a pretty good system, and for those who have never delved into the 3rd party drum apps, maybe only using the included SD3 (which there is nothing wrong with, and some of the kits you can get for it are quite good) it would be a good selling point on it's own, considering the value of the product and the additional ADPacks you get with it, it's sought of like getting Sonar for free.
 
You're never going to please everyone, and for me, with or without AD2 in the deal, I consider $179AU to upgrade to Sonar Platinum to be a bargain
 
 
 

I tend to agree with Jeff...
AD2 was NOT a factor in my immediate upgrade the moment I got the invite... but it was a wonderful bonus.  As I don't have BFD, it's fantastic for free, although I tend to gravitate to quicker/cinematics like Damage, DM-307, Storm Drums, and the like... I'm lazy on the drum side...
 
For a basic platform offering a collection of reasonable drums, especially for average users with limited funds, AD2 is fantastic and I've really begun to invest a bit of time in actually building drums in some new material... wouldn't have otherwise. If the bakers could just include a real drummer, like my brother was before leaving this realm, I'd REALLY be stoked!
 
Personally, I don't see how they offer all this stuff plus enhancements and make a profit. And while I see your point about maybe lowering costs if they weren't making these deals, they are trying to grow their market and this is one way to do it! AD2 is way better than their earlier drums...
 
 

Haha, I feel your pain on AD2. Great stuff but it doesn't really work for the music I'm doing. If I were doing alternative or classic rock, AD2 would probably be my go to plugin for my drum scratch tracks but I would still use a real drummer and a real kit for any kind of release in those genres. It's a PITA to try to do much more than dynamics with any drum plugin, a real drummer can nail that stuff without even thinking about it. There are literally a million sounds between the edge and the bell on a ride, no way any plugin is ever going to get close, and that's just one cymbal. Plugins are great for SoundCloud demos though. You'll probably get the most bang from your buck by going for the weirdest stuff XLN makes.
As far as the price hike is concerned, $200 is pretty much the industry standard for the latest and greatest. I haven't crashed Sonar in a while so I'm taking a wait and see attitude.
 

Oh, Tom... I've crashed it several times... I'm good at doing stupid things like playing an mp3 or wave mixdown or YouTube thru my Forte and forgetting to disable it before going back to Sonar... I'm good at Stupid!
 
Yea, miss my bro... awesome drummer... can't imagine doing what he'd do in a minute if I took a month! 

Yes nothing beats a 'real' drummer, but an Electronic Drum kit with your Drum plug of choice goes along way to making 'certain' things a lot easier to attain, as apposed to pure programing, not to mention a lot more fun, or a bit less fun, using professionally played drum grooves, midi tracks and altering them to taste, but still you can't beat the real thing I guess, with a 'real' drummer that is ;).

There is nothing in the AD drums for me, too.  I do mostly classic country, western swing, etc.  Its all for other genres of music.  If I worked hard at it, I may be able to adapt one or two, but I shouldn't have to do that. 
 
My old Alesis SR-16, program 31A is still my go to for classic country. 

I'm a fellow BFD3 owner, too. AD had no impact on my decision to upgrade. I never even downloaded it. No need. But I also feel that the upgrade price for Platinum is fair, even if AD wasn't included.

Leadfoot
I'm a fellow BFD3 owner, too. AD had no impact on my decision to upgrade. I never even downloaded it. No need. But I also feel that the upgrade price for Platinum is fair, even if AD wasn't included.

Same here (w/o the BFD).  I don't care for AD1/2, as well as their licensing method etc.  I have no idea what part of the $$ AD2 is, and as said - I still think Plat is a great deal.   Only CW knows the cost in terms of the percentage or what the "cost" is - if it IS substantial though, I would definitely be in the camp of voting to spend it on something else.  Not that this is a democracy - just my customer input.

I have to agree - AD2 has got nothing on BFD or Superior drummer.