maybe, but so far just more of the same that still doesn’t work for us, have yet to find anything that sounds as good or works as well. for some perspective, the pandemic significantly impacted our workflow with drums being the biggest challenge to make a difference for clients (= something that inspires them). we have a go-to drummer in LA, but that gets rather expensive/schedule challenged for preproduction, so BFD has filled the gap.
tried Slate, AD2, SD2 and found them all limited soundwise. The SD3 based productions we’ve checked have been “ok” but nothing to convince us to switch, yet. SD3 has a few kits which note “raw sounds” but no demos, keeping them on the radar. Chocolate Audio/DrumDrops were in the mix based on BFD expansions, but having to use Kontakt is pretty much a buzzkill here.
we hit up a couple of major devs to consider an opportunity, but as you can imagine the start up investment in high quality sound is significant and requires experienced talent. ya know, someone with more than a Juce sdk and a pretty pixel editor.
and ya, I know this is all ridiculous overkill for most ‘bedroom producers’. InMusic’s wretched drm implementation has directly impacted 2 sessions of mine (costing me time/money/client credibility) so ya, a bit hacked about it all. IIRC, you managed to secure full reimbursement for your investment in BFD. I trust that was worth the effort for you, but we still have work to do.
BFD at one time was the go-to for pro quality releases. we like to think we’re in the business of creative problem solving, and choose to be pro-active about exploring all options for a solution. BFD has a couple of core advocates from the original team and a proven track record of quality. And despite InMusic’s abysmal track record, they’re hardly alone, given the issues we’ve had with others previously mentioned (and adding Apple, UAD to the list). just continuing to give them something to think about and perhaps prove us all wrong. ymmv
i’m sure you’re right, just keeping things positive while trying to get something done but believe there is an opportunity out there. to that end, was just made aware of a potential alternative in the works. with a focus on well recorded / highly detailed drum samples. no grooves, fx, presets, pictures, etc. just drums with a range of mic options. sounds like a bit of a side project atm, but they claim to have access to name studios in Nashville and LA, exploring cost/schedule options in the EU… hmmm.
Well, had another thought after dealing with the same old issues for a couple of new users who decided to give BFD3 a shot based on BF pricing.
let me preface this by saying;
I wish them success despite the short sighted, misguided drm “feature”
I deal with difficult problems all the time (they’re called ‘clients’ or ‘customers’)
I believe in finding a positive solution to a problem.
is to get rid of it for BFD3. full stop. they have enough challenges with the relaunch just to re-establish relevance for BFD without crippling it right out of the gate. let alone the existing user base.
make the case for a proprietary drm with BFD4, which I’m sure will be awesome based on the previous efforts of the original FXpansion crew. this would allow the user base the option of signing up for it, or not, depending on the value as determined by the market, which is the only source of revenue going forward. If it’s deemed acceptable -by users-, it will be fine. I use a number of products that require some form of authorization without issue.
i understand “it’s better than it was” but the point that does not seem to get proper consideration is the ability to open past BFD based projects in the future, whether subject to faulty LM, server up time, internet access, whatever. we were concerned with the move to Roli and even more so when they went under, but were always able to open projects until the relaunch under InMusic. we since made the decision to pull up projects and re-render drum tracks for the entire catalog for two clients. ya. maybe we should have done that in the first place, but there aren’t enough free expansions to cover that cost. just our experience, of course.
we quit starting any new projects with BFD in August, but would be pleased if they sort this out before the 2 year anniversary.
Good post. Sadly I think inMusic will just double-down on this LM debacle. They will not U-turn, they will not change course. This is why I have deleted BFD3 off of my system. It will not be reinstalled even if inMusic did as you suggest, which are great and sensible suggestions, because I do not trust them as a company to not do something else dumb in the future.
The fact is, they introduced the reauthorisation procedure with no user consultation and, once implemented, no statement to users. There has been no website update to reflect this and most importantly from a legal standpoint, no new user agreement was issued when installing BFD3 updates.
What future can you expect for any products owned by this shady company?