In an attempt to redress some of the nightmares that people have been suffering since the great migration I’d like to say how much I’m liking the new slew of air effects and the accompanying presets that showcase said effects.
Especially like the ‘Fuzzed’ preset but their all pretty nice and so far the AIR effects look like a step up.
Not sure about the resizing and kit rotation dials but maybe I’ll use them one day.
Are there any other new features that have snuck under the radar with this new release?
A list of features and fixes anywhere perhaps?
The per-voice envelope shaper is pretty damn cool. It’s in the model panel. I’m finding some great tones in some drums that I never really particularly liked in the older libraries. Guess I like a modern snap to the initial attack.
That’s interesting, the only envelope shaper I have is the Decam one.
I thought I’d read somewhere that there were 13 AIR effects but I only have 12, so am I missing one?
Also, whilst were on the subject of effects, may moons ago Scot_fx told me he was busy working on a Pitch Envelope similar but ‘better’ (obvs) than the one in AD2. I don’t think Scot’s there any more but could someone put it down as a BFD4 feature request or something?
Skot is still around! He’s one of the devs on BFD still.
The brilliant thing about the env shaper in the model panel is it’s per-voice. So no dodgy pumping artifacts like what you’d get if you put it on a mix channel. So you can really shape the voice of a drum. I’ve been using it to give the Modern Drummer Snare Selects a lot more tail than they have naturally - sounds brilliant!
I’ve used BFD for 20 years (ok, not sure if it’s been that long but I’ve had it since it was first released). I also own just about every other drum VI out there (once again, probably an exaggeration). This migration has made me spend a lot of time with it again, most of which has been just trying to get it to work properly. But even so, I love rediscovering my old tools. I still think that BFD sounds more like “real drums in a room” than most other drum software. Probably because it’s super raw at it’s core. Currently I’m spending a lot of time using and tweaking the new “pop kit”. I like the new air fx and am finding them to add some weight and sustain. Let’s hope things continue to improve!
Every other BFD competitor I’ve heard sounds less real than BFD to me. I’ve always wondered if it was just the implementation by the people I’m listening to at that moment, but its one reason why I’ve never wanted to switch to a competitor.
This is VERY good news. Skot’s awesome. I had a weird licensing issue that he resolved for me by creating my own personal build of BFD3! The fix was included in the next release which was the one before last.
I am afraid that it will be bad if we don’t get reassurance that BFD3 will work offline. Nobody in the BFD team has been willing to say that this is the intention to allow BFD3 to work offline. It is quite simple. A simple yes or no will suffice.
Despite my considerable investment in BFD I will be prepared, possibly like many others, to move on if the answer is no.
True. There are many claiming that Superior Drummer is better but I can often hear something wrong… Perhaps they are not programming well, because it seems great…
I just wish that BFD had a large community as Toontrack and lots of video content. However if too many people gets BFD, its samples won’t be “original” anymore
I personally think Superior Drummer is a great product. But I have to say I prefer bfd - to me it feels more individual within what I write and program.
I’ve always found bfd easier to program than Superior Drummer. I think at the end of the day it falls down to personal choice - and for me bfd wins hands down. But the two programs do sit very well side by side.
I will agree with that as I spent quite a while looking at and listening to SD3. I have simply decided that I will be better off with BFD given the investment I have made in it and because all my projects have used it and I know it inside out…well nearly. Plus I like the sound of the kits, especially the Chocolate Audio ones.
Where I struggle with sd is the drum maps - they are fine within sd but I can’t create drum map from kit in cubase. It’s a pain. And I simply will not spend the time making drum maps for all the kits I make or use.
99 times out of 100 I will simply revert to the piano roll and figure it out. Though that’s a problem/issue between sd and cubase.
I feel the same as you - the investment in bfd takes centre stage.
It was (BFD) - for me - always a better program to work with and the sounds are exactly what I want.
I’m struggling with Superior Drummer at present because of the teething problems with bfd.
Well let’s agitate for help in creating drum maps. I have made one drum map and it seems to work for all the kits I have been using. Although I have to admit some pieces are unnamed and I am too bloody lazy to correct it. The problem I had and the reason I have not made more is that I have found it impossible to save the maps in a logical way in Cubase as they all seem to have the same name.
Have you actually made some maps. Perhaps we can help each other. I would like to sort this out. I will bring this up in the beta forum.
