So, after being forced to ‘upgrade’ to something that didn’t work, wasting weeks fiddling with a drum sampler instead of working on projects, getting info piecemeal from a variety of forums (still 0% of sod all on the official web site), having a new, unannounced authentication method imposed (at odds with the published system requirements) and an opaque ‘statement’ about future requirements to be online ‘sometimes’, here we are five weeks later and still no clarity. I don’t mind software f***ups if there is some management of expectation, information sharing and published plans to fix. This has been the worst migration I’ve seen. I work in IT and have managed business acquisitions, mergers and big software implementations and if I had delivered anything remotely as poor as this I’d be out of a job. I can’t wait for some indeterminate period of time to be able to use my DAW so I’ve bought another product. Hello Steven Slate Drums. Maybe not as great as BFD but at least it works.
You aint alone bro. I agree 100% here. Slate and Superior here for me
It is a shame they can’t quite get it together here. I’d expect it to take a couple of months more to iron it all out.
Totally understandable. I’m in the minority of users who came back to BFD, after switching to Steven Slate for some years. It was the cheapest way to upgrade from BFD2 to 3 I had seen over the years, so I finally did it.
I really like the simplicity of the SSD5 GUI and workflow, but the cymbals just don’t really cut it and the shells are too mix-ready. And his limited expansions don’t really address those problems. There is a huge opportunity for Slate to create more highly detailed expansions that are on par with SD/BFD, but he seems to have left it in the dust, in favor of his other products.
I think the problem with the Slate drums is that Steve is too diversified. It used to be about drums, now it’s about plugins. As a result, the original product (SSD) doesn’t get as much of that needed attention as in the early days.
I’m expecting Steve to put out a new line of jet skis soon. I mean, would it come as a surprise? 
@rolandk Well he did split them up into 2 different companies, so there should be dedicated crews at the helm of each.Trigger 2 alone is huge in the engineering world, so there’s no excuse why they don’t try to at least put effort into that.
I like the fact that SSD is very simplified and user-friendly, but if he were to add a fulll mixer with Slate Digital style FX, expanded on the grooves and shored up the lacking cymbals, they’d be up right up there with SD3 as one of the big boys. Better yet, he could offer 2 versions like Toontrack does. Keep the current style SSD as the economical/easy version and another as I suggested, as the higher-end sampler.
I don’t know anything about Superior…
I’ve been using BFD2 and then BFD3 [until a few days ago because I’ve just found out my old Mac can’t take 3.4 and so it’s basically dead]…
I hope you don’t mind, but I have a couple of questions
how does Superior compare with BFD3?
do you know if Superior will run on El Capitan [osx 10.11]?
Well, he does already have the Jet Ski approved hair so…
Yes. SSD5 never sees any love that is correct
Superior Drummer:
macOS 10.10 or higher, Intel or Apple silicon processor, 4 GB RAM (8 GB RAM or more recommended).n64-bit host (with support for VST, AU or AAX).
SD3
- Sounds are personal pref IMO as to which you like better. I dig BOTH
- SD3 does not CRASH here like BFD does.
- SD3 does NOT have a LM issue and a call home function
- SD3 finds all my presets just fine unlike BFD where you have to go searching for things all the time
- SD3 has surround for 5.1 and 11.1 for height/room. if you need all that. I don’t use it personally
- Interface is EASY to operate and well laid out. BFD3 feels clunky and confusing to me. Especially the groove stuff.
- Mixer is laid out logically in SD3
- TAP to Find is great
- TRACKER is great for drum replacement if you need that.
- I would look at EZ3 first to see if you NEED all the bells and whistles of SD3.
- Graphics on the drum kits KILLS BFD straight out the gate. You are looking at a drum kit in SD3.
from their FAQ:
WHAT ARE THE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR SUPERIOR DRUMMER 3?
64-bit Windows 7 or newer, 4 GB RAM (8 GB RAM or more recommended). Mac OS X 10.6 or higher, 64-bit Intel-based Mac with 4 GB RAM (8 GB RAM or more recommended).
64-bit host (with support for VST, AU or AAX). Standalone is included.
SOFTWARE: Approx. 320 MB download + installation space.
SOUND LIBRARY: Basic install: Approx. 41 GB download and an additional 41 GB for the installation process. Complete install: Approx. 236 GB download and an additional 55 GB for the installation process.
SSD install (optional): Approx. 236 GB pre-installed.
I have SSD5 (started at SS Platinum Drums back in the stone age). That VSTi seems to get totally ignored — as do us customers. I never get emails saying “Hey, here’s what’s new” or “Here is our plan for the future” or even “Hello. Just wanted to say hi.” Nope. Crickets. And they announce fixes or updates that are still not available a year or more later. As I said earlier, I think Steve’s got his hands in too many pies.
BFD3 was an easy choice for me because of the upgrade price. I already had BFD2 since 2008 but hated the new BFD3 interface when it came out — it was all the rage back then to make DAWs and interfaces look shitty. I’m used to it now and the features were improved. The auth thing seems stable at the time of this writing, too. 
But yeah, the upgrade price made all the difference.
I originally paid $468 or so for BFD2 when it first came out. It was okay, but I realized I’d overspent on something that wasn’t giving me the drum experience that I wanted — the sound was a little too raw for my workflow (unlike SSD stuff) — AND ALSO LOUD AS HELL; each drum preset was overloading the channel just playing a basic beat. It felt broken because of that and was less fun to work with: I felt like I had to fix the VSTi each time before using it.
A while back I looked at the price of Superior Drummer and it’s pretty high. I heard someone say that the samples are not hit as hard as they would have liked to hear them. I guess that’s a taste / style / expectation thing.
Just rambling on, really, but yeah…this drum software journey is not an easy one, no matter your experience or budget. Good luck to those just getting started. It’s a labyrinth of choices.