So I'm curious to see how their aD5 module evolves in relation to whatever may supersede the Roland TD-30 (http://atv-global.com/music/ad5).
Perhaps you should said TD-25 at most as comparable units?, TD-30 it's another beast in term of everything, output\inputs, sequencer, DSP, display, editing etc.. TD-30 lifetime is done more then the half now, AD5 not even a year of lifetime.
Just think one sec, why the AD5 module is pretty much empty, no tuning, no sound editing, no pan, no dsp, no dual trigger on toms, 5 kits in total, no percussion sound, no sequencers, no usb recorder, no midi in\out\true, etc ? Another things, why ATV is relying on Mike Snider to do the sound?, if you accumulate all these from above, there is alots of things AD5 will take a lots of time to grow if ever it will, by the time AD5 will be at average level of feature even if I don't see any of td-30 feature in AD5 complete different approach, others will already be ahead by that time.
I think Roland will surprise us this time, it's not like before, Pearl and Alesis already show their gear and they are aware of them, Roland had kind of advantage now and can surpass them, they have more advanced developer\resource then ATV\Alesis\Pearl, it's not always the first that show things are in the main positions.. NFUZD had big intention but nothing really worked well and still now..
I forgot about YAMAHA, they could hit a big home run with Steve Fisher on-board don't forget him, and Rick (Developer) as well, I don't see how AVT can compete with others Flagship module out there, unless they release a totally new Module like AD10, with many input\output, full feature on board, full sound etc.