The XLN audio forum has been shut down
http://www.xlnaudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php
 
I have been trying to use AD2 but it seems kinda obtuse in the way its designed.  For instance, there is no way to save any beats you transform.  But you can drag them into your sequencer and then from your sequencer drag to the desktop, then drag it into clip pane (where the beats will load), but this does not put it in the "my beats" library.  Anyone know how to save transformed beats into your library?  (it seems like the only way is to keep a desktop folder open to the "my library" and drag drop from AD2 into the folder, which means you need another window open.  Why cant they just have a "save to my library"?
 
I found if you want to transform a beat, instead of dragging from the clip pane, you have to drag the original beat from the browser into Sonar and the modified copy will be in sonar.  So the clip pane is only "in" not in and out.  Seems broken.
 
The manual is "high level" and doesn't delve into the functions, just glosses over many things.  I keep reading it hoping for more information but there is none, it looks more like advertizing than a manual.
 
While I like the sounds, the underlying function of the program seems half baked to me.  I contacted XLN about midi mapping question, the turnaround was a week, and it didn't do anything but highlight that the ability to import midi from other libraries with a mapping file is broken. THEY HAVE NO PHONE SUPPORT AND NO FORUM, EMAIL TURNAROUND TAKES A WEEK.
 
IS there a forum that answers AD2 questions and allow user interaction?  Or should we make a thread on the sonar forum because everyone here owns ad2?   Given the slow email turnaround, lack of a forum, and lack of good manual, and strange idiosyncrasies of the design, I almost believe very few people are using it seriously. 
 
 

Tons of people are using AD2. For some strange reason the forum is gone.
The explanation a while back was that all discussion/question etc., would be handled on Face Book.
The program is more than half-baked, that is your frustration talking.
I myself don't need/want to save "a transformed beat". I create my own with the my Roland V-kit or with the step sequencer in Sonar. So, unfortunately I can't really offer any advice.

Watching   this (and part 2) might help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwje3rdAFY8
 
Message them on FB? Their support is still available, but maybe some tutorials would get you going sooner.
Michael

I want to do the same thing and found this page from CW, that ought to get you on track. It explains how to put the edited midi back into AD2.
https://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Knowledge-Base/2007013364/Setting-up-a-Drum-Map-for-Addictive-Drums-2-in-SONAR-X3
 
Hope that takes care of it.
Michael

pentimentosound
Watching   this (and part 2) might help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwje3rdAFY8
 
Message them on FB? Their support is still available, but maybe some tutorials would get you going sooner.
Michael

Thanks.  There are a still few problems.
 
After several hours trying to create a custom map file so I could import and use other midi libraries mapped to AD2, and then waiting a week turnaround on email, I wasn't able to get it working.  This left me with a negative impression of support, and since I haven't seen any other detailed questions online, no forum, and I'm not on Facebook, I presumed few people are using it as more than a sound module.
 
The other strange things I'm finding are related to drag and drop and clip management.   For instance, if you use transform on a clip, and want to use the transformed clip in your project, you need to drag the *original* clip from the browser into sonar, instead of dragging from the clip window.  This is unintuitive, not documented, and I found it by sheer luck.  However, the clip window accepts drag *in* from external midi files, it just seems poorly designed and is not documented.  The intuitive thing would be to support drag from the transform clip view-- after all that is what you are dragging out of the app, not the original clip.
 
So to save a transform and reuse it from within AD2, you need to drag it to the sequencer or desktop, and then into the AD2 "external midi" folder.  Then you need to refresh midi library.  There should be a simple button that allows saving of transformed clips and refreshes the library, so you dont have to go through the extra steps.  This is a common use case, wanting to save transformed variation clips.
 
Also there appears to be a bug in the clip search function.  If you select a clip in the library and then "similar to", sometimes the original clip shows up at the top of the match list, other times it disappears, no rhyme or reason.  If it disappears, there is no way to A/B between the original clip and the matches derived from it.
 
With AD2 its possible to have a clip search function like EZD2, but you have to play the midi into the sequencer, drag it into the external midi folder, refresh, then select it and then button "similar to".  Sometimes the original played midi will show up in the results, sometimes not.  As this is a primary use case for me, I am not comfortable working around a bug that is staring me in the face.
 
I like the AD2 kits and I think the preset management and ability to audition kits in a composition is great, but the midi functionality has already presented me with some things that look like an afterthought or outright bugs.
 
 
 
 
 

Further testing...
 
Its possible to drag a transformed clip by dragging from the original clip into the shortlist. .. BUT there is no way to change the name and the shortlist will not accept more than one clip of the same name so you cant save more than one variation of a clip in the "shortlist".   Clip management and midi seems half baked.  I still stand by that.

I you (or anyone) can explain how the "replace" button is supposed to work, that would be appreciated.
 
 
Replacing "what" with "what"?  When you select a clip nothing is in the hit view until you choose to match a pattern.  Then the original beat disappears and random hits are redrawn.  To replace something you need to be able to select a baseline and the thing it is to be replaced with.
 
I've watched all the videos and everyone glosses over it and does not demonstrate it.  This shows me even the reviewers don't understand it.  Its not documented in the manual anwhere, nothing on their site.
 
 

I won't get into AD2's quality as a tool, till I understand it better, but what I've seen and heard made my decision to upgrade to AD2 easy. I trust that Cakewalk and xln are working to get all their ducks "quacking" properly.
Don't have any experience with the replace button, yet. Do post if/when you discover the lowdown on it.
 
Because I watch the CakeTV/Sonar Uni. tutorials, the Groove3 ones on both AD2 and X3(and all my other products), and then google even more, I can't always recall where I got some piece of info or tip. So, I have a habit of looking for answers rather than writing to a vendor. That has changed after getting immediate help from Rail at Platinum Samples, with some install issues. So, it does seem that xln is dropping the ball, regardless of their justification of shutting down their forum.
I agree one button to transform or being able to drag the transformed loop would be great and I hope that "they" are reading this forum (without having their own!?!).
 
Michael
 

Can someone please explain how the "replace" button in the pattern grid is supposed to work?

Anyone?