I am not a technology savvy person (lets just begin with that info) I purchased the Dark Mahogany kit in BFD player. Now I am trying to save that on a thumb drive and load it into my Alesis Command X computer module brain thing. I am assuming (because its not allowing me to) that this is not possible. I was just trying to expand the onboard tones of the physical kit by purchasing the dark mahogany tones, and after a lot of trial and error I found out that I need to plug my laptop into the kit to make the noises that I want. This doesn’t work so well for me as the kit is on stage at the church, and my laptop doesn’t plug into the sound board, any advise for purchasing new tones fir Alesis Command X, or is there a work around to use the purchased product on the kit itself?
The BFD Player is just that …a Player…It is not a sample library for Drum Modules.
You can connect the Command X to a USB port and select as MIDI Device…load the proper MIDI Map and use as a MIDI Controller…for use with a Laptop an Audio Interface is recommended to take the strain off the OS Resources and you then have outputs to connect to a mixer etc.
If you are not going to use an Interface then as a last resort I recommend ASIO4ALL…it’s software developed years and years ago specifically for a solution using minimal sound cards.
BFD Standalone software requires ASIO and does not support Windows Audio.
Currently very few modules are Open OS and load “User” samples… typically wav files which must be prepared according to the modules requirements and capacity limits.
There are no aftermarket sample libraries for specific drum modules as modules that are capable of wav import have different specifications on file sizes and naming (character length).
ALL BFD Drum Libraries and the majority of Vst/Software on the market use proprietary files (containers) to prevent Piracy of the copyrighted wav files.
There is not a Drum Module on the market that can load proprietary Vst/Software Libraries.
The cost of such a module would easily be in the $5k-$10K range and licensing requirements between all of the software developers participating.
The Alesis STRIKE Pro was the first module available to load Multi-velocity wav files.
The MIMIC Pro was updated to load multi-velocity wav files and is currently the most expensive module ($2500) on the market that supports importing wav files.A used STRIKE Module around $500 and up.
The Command Module is a Re-Brand of the Medeli DD650.
These modules do not support Multi-Velocity wav files…you load single (AKA One Shot) wav files for each instrument.The module is Amplitude based.
The maximum total of wav samples (Requirement of Sample wav’s format: mono 16 bit, 48k / 44.1k /
32k / 22.05k / 11.025k rate) per kit is 15MB be it one sample or multiple the TOTAL cannot exceed 15MB…PER KIT.
The total amount of samples you can add to the Module is based on it’s internal memory which is very minimal.A “con” for this module is you cannot delete just one sample…you have to delete them all.
In order to add/load new sounds/samples into the module you need to follow the instructions in the Command User Guide v1.4 on adding wav files and creating Kits/Instruments.
There are limits and these modules have minimal sample capacity.
The Minimum requirement is at least reading the manual and being familiar with the basics of drum modules/software…if not you’ll have nothing but hours of disappointment/frustration.
ALL drum modules are shipped with generic settings to cover all of the Masses…genres/styles etc.
Out of the Box all will require adjustment to playing style/Technique etc…No One plays the same.
The more advanced modules with additional features are more expensive and require more knowledge in order to utilize those additional features to get the best performance.Even high end Modeled/Synthesized modules like Roland require adjustment and “Tweaking” out of the box.
Beginner/Entry level modules you adjust your playing style/Technique to accommodate the module…
Advanced modules you adjust the module to accommodate your playing style/Technique.
The combination of an advanced module and Vst/software gets you the best result…the more advanced the features the more “Realistic” performance.
The bottom line is getting the best performance/results using your module is going to be based on experience/knowledge…
1 - Learn how to use/setup your module with Vst/Software for Live performance
2 - Learn how to prepare/load user samples for your module
(FREE and Paid wav files are available through out the Internet)
3 - Learn how to adjust the current Samples/Voices the best you can.
any laptop can connect to a sound mixer. You just need the correct adapters. Usually 1/8 stereo out of your laptop into either quarter inch or XLR and this will give you everything you need for less than $20.