No surprise at this point that I started my project to find BFD3 and its expansions not authorized—again. Maybe it’s because the 31st of the month came and passed or maybe it’s because I updated Windows. Don’t know, don’t care.
The problem is that this time I got a Gateway Timeout for several hours and couldn’t authorize at all…Eventually, I managed to Authorize but at this point my day is lost…
I don’t know why these problems started but I certainly know when. I made a forum account to post this and saw that I’m not alone. Being in the middle of a huge project heavily depended on BFD3 I’m legit worried that it will betray me at the 11th hour… In between the multiple attempts to use a software I’ve counted on for several years, I downloaded a cracked version as a last resort…
I love BFD3 but I don’t love it more than my job security. Get your sh!t together. There are other drum software out there, as I’m sure you are well aware.
It’s kind of ironic (in a bad way!) and tragic that you how to download a cracked version because your legit version doesn’t work because of the copy protection.
At this point I can’t see why anyone could possibly use BFD3 in a mission critical project - there is no guarantee if it will work or not. I know of no other company that has this embarrassingly bad licencing/protection. However decided it was a good idea needs to have a serious word with themselves. Can we PLEASE go back to the old FXP system before BFD have no customers left ?
The internet is full of people complaining about it…
Can you imagine your session today if you had paying clients sitting over your shoulder ?
Unfortunately I’m working on a project that is a sequel OST and I have used BFD3 extensively on the original so I want to keep the same kits and sound. And I do love the software & samples. I own almost every expansion, it has been my main acoustic drums engine for years. Back when FXpansion owned it licensing was never an issue.
It’s a shame that now I find myself having to look for other drums engines and building a sample catalog and new kits all over again, but I can’t risk such snafus happening… Not only there are clients who depend on me but I wouldn’t care to bother with this frustration even if I was a hobbyist.
I’m also having this again today. In the middle of working for a client, BFD declares itself unauthorised so I need to go online, try three times to get the server to authorise my products because it misses some each time, then re-start the project. Then BFD wants to connect again for some reason. And then… silence from the drums… the kit pieces aren’t loaded. Do I have to reload the kit? But I’ve tweaked things since I last loaded it - and I don’t want to save this ‘broken’ version of the kit…
I’ll solve it somehow, of course, but do I really have to keep wasting so much of my professional time devising workarounds for this chaotic situation?
I think I’m about to join the many formerly loyal BFD users who are getting out of this broken mess. It’s such a shame - it really is (or was) such a great virtual drum solution.
Yes, another major issue of this mess… Unfortunately if you save a project that’s loaded with an unauthorized BFD3 then you are stuck with an empty kit, even if you authorize and reload…
Make sure you save/update your kit preset within BFFD3 whenever you change it so you can recall it later from within the project (or into other projects).
I save presets within BFD3 and Pro Tools plugin settings. I assume most DAW’s have automatic session file backups, so just find the last session it was active before the “thing” happened. Also, backing up to hard drives midway through a long session is a good idea.
Ok, so I’ve had a private message from a BFD / InMusic support person about this.
They’ve asked me to clarify that my BFD3 is now “up and running” so I don’t “scare off” anyone reading this. Well, don’t panic everyone, my system is up and running, you can sleep tight—for the next 84 days at least.
As I mentioned in my OG post, I did manage to authorize. I would hardly call this “up and running” though. First of all the process was messy af, as I’ve already mentioned (even when timeouts stopped I had to run the tool 2-3 times to get all expansions auth’ed).
But the main problem is that my authorization (in fact all of our authorizations) is only temporary. It was communicated to me that these errors happen because the system does a full re-authorization every 90 days. As far as I understand it, this not an authorization check, but a complete renewal of our authorizations. The reason this happens is beyond me, and—obviously—beyond any kind of logic.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel particularly content knowing that the company I spend money on distrusts me by default. Nor do I feel happy knowing that every 90 days I need to worry about an arbitrary system deeming me worthy. I have been using BFD3 for many years and I have only praised it as a software—to the point that FXpansion had gifted me a couple of sample packs! It seems to me the way to build loyalty with your customers is to provide a good product paired with a streamlined user experience and to NOT creep out on their computer every 90 days as if they are thieves. That last part is really easy too.
Anyway, I was told this process takes place automatically and that as long as my system is online I shouldn’t notice it. Well guess what? My system is online and I did notice it. Several times. And so did many others, judging from these forums.
I’d like to say one final thing to all InMusic personnel reading this (and to their credit, they do): Even if this supposed silent process was working as intended (again, it isn’t) the idea that paying customers need to be scrutinized every 90 days—as if we’re about to crack the software we bought—is in itself outrageous and completely unacceptable.
I sincerely hope this does not scare you (BOO!) but I do hope this is a warning to anyone considering buying BFD3 right now. DO NOT BUY IT until this ridiculous policy is changed.
Couldn’t agree more @AstronautDown. I’ve just re-authorized BFD and now the stand-alone application can only Quit if you use Force Quit. (I’m running Apple macOS 10.15.4 with BFD 3.4.3.7). Worse, as a plug-in, it keeps crashing Logic Pro 10.6.0. What causes it to crash can be almost anything processor-intensive, despite the fact I’m running 12 cores of 3.46GHz Intel Xeon and 128GB RAM.
I assume the authorization process inserts a file into BFD, and that this file is corrupt in some way.
Whatever, I’m afraid I can’t use BFD again until these issues are fixed, not just for me but for all users. BFD has been my preferred way to create drum parts for a long time, but I have other ways, and they don’t bring my entire workflow to a grinding halt.
Thank you for your response. All I really know is it was working fine until I reauthorised. If pasting the Problem Report into a Text document and using the Upload function isn’t the best way to do this, please let me know and I will resend another way.
I’ve had the unauthorized thing in the middle of sessions several times recently. And because I had (foolishly) saved my work as I was going along, my kits were lost. Why is this happening? I haven’t seen an official notice that the licence terms have changed since I bought the software. I should only need an internet connection to download. Nothing else. This is unbelievable. Why indeed would anyone use this broken piece of legacy shit in a commercial environment? The only comments I see on here are triumphant ‘I fixed a little issue’ posts from the authors. Nothing about this constant requiring authorisation bul***. I think I’ll troll their Facebook page and warn people not to use their crap software. Pity, because the crap software has some very good samples.