Truth be told, I started playing real drums a few years ago and have reached a point where I’m good enough to record myself and be satisfied with the results. It took a great deal of time and money to get here, so it certainly isn’t for everyone.
As this whole Acquisition episode happened, I tried to go with the flow and of course that immediately went wrong. The new licensing system has been a disaster, which many of you can attest. It really just pushed me back onto my real kit which wasn’t such a bad thing.
Now I’ve reached a point where I want to use drum software again for convenience and workflow enhancement, a scratch pad for ideas and getting things recorded quick for in the moment situations instead of having to turn on my whole recording situation.
Almost every time I go back to BFD3, I get bogged down by licensing and authorization problems. Also, the UI is terribly out of date and very annoying to work with after awhile. My hands start to get tense at all of the small buttons. You can’t resize the actual UI even though you can stretch the window, which is hard on the eyes as well.
I’m stating all of this to send a message to whoever it may concern. You got it way wrong! Your priorities have wrecked an otherwise excellent body of work. This product was in bad need of improvement after years of neglect on the dev side and you guys did the exact opposite when you bought it…I can’t imagine you’re drawing in too many new customers now.
Again, I still want to thank Drew for his hard work and efforts in trying to mitigate the damage. I’m sure a lot of the user base shares my sentiment. I’ll still keep everything installed in hopes that someday might be a better story…
I’ll be joining you as soon as there’s a good price on SD3. Luckily I can wait as I’m not really using acoustic drums in my music at the moment, but long-term I know I’ll need some.
Indeed, well done bean-counters.
I’d be interested in your thoughts Stadank0 on SD3 after you’ve had it while.
Happy to Mr_Arkadin. Been watching lots of videos before pulling the trigger. The UI is way more in the present. There will certainly be trade offs like giving up my massive BFD library. Will definitely give an update in the near future. In all these years, I never even looked at Superior before now…Says a lot!
It certainly won’t help their bottom line that people like me will be spending money with their direct competitors…
@Stadank0 Congrats on learning to play the drums. I played on stage and in the studio for years and it was most enjoyable and satisfying. Now I program the drum parts or play them in using a Roland SPD30 Octapad.
@BigFriendlyDrums Thanks man…I wasn’t sure if it was gonna take there for a while. I really love my kit and play it every day. It’s a DW performance 7 piece. Developing the pocket took some time…I still have a Yamaha DTX 790k midi kit that I’m on the fence about selling. It’s a really good product but I prefer playing my real kit if I’m gonna play. I’ve got Maschine pads and some foot pedals for practical use on drum software.
As always, playing is a work in progress…I have a long way to go before I’ll out do some of these midi files! LOL…If ever!
Also, to all who are curious. The UI for SD3 is far superior IMO. I’m still digging in of course, but as it stands, I will never go back to the current BFD3 UI. That alone was worth the change for me. Probably just the fact that its easier on the eyes and smoother with the mouse, not to mention simpler and more logical. Way better groove management. Just no comparison.
The major thing that stands out in BFD’s favor right now is that there is more variety available in content with regards to percussion and abstract instruments.
I never used BFD’s presets and mixes. I always used presets made from scratch. That being said, I’m learning a ton right away from SD3 presets. They really do have some great mix work in their presets. I’m sure that has a lot to do with the fact that some of their expansions were done by folks like Al Schmidt and Bob Rock etc…The stock presets have great sounds out of the box too though.
Still a lot more to do to really have a comprehensive opinion. That might take a month or so.
@Stadank0 My advice is don’t sell your electronic kit. You never know when it might come in handy. I’ve sold so much gear over the years that I wished I never sold.
Two ways to improve you chops on drums:
Play to records, I guess that would be downloads these days. Showing my old age
Join a band and play on stage. It’s the quickest way to polish off the rough edges. If you can learn to play well in front of an audience when you are nervous everything else will be easy.
@Stadank0 Thanks. I’m sure you’ve already thought of all this.
There are many great drummers with awesome instructional YouTube channels. They leave me in the dust. I’ve learned a lot from them.
It’s been 30-some years since I last played in a band slugging through the 4 night gigs. My hands are still good, but my feet ain’t what they used to be.
@BigFriendlyDrums There are boatloads of shredders on social media these days…Then there’s Drumeo and the Drum Channel etc. No shortage of people to follow. I’ve learned a lot that way. It’s good that you’re still into it! Gotta have something to live for…
@Stadank0 I’m old (turning 67 in January) but still kicking. I’ve been concentrating mostly on writing, playing piano/synth/keyboards the past 30+ years, with some guitar and electric bass, plus vocals. Writing and recording my stuff in my home studio.
I started drumming when I was in high school in the early 1970s. All self taught, learning to play Led Zeppelin, Rush, Deep Purple, stuff like that. Made most of the stuff I played professionally (in bands) easy in comparison to what I was capable of playing. But it paid real money and kept me busy. Was great fun. The time of my life.
@Stadank0 Sorry to reminisce, but it shows just how much I loved playing the drums on stage. It’s definitely an instrument made to be played live.
I could have easily played keyboards or electric bass in bands, but to me rock music was about guitars and drums. There’s no way I could hold down the fort being the sole guitarist in a rock band. I also sang lead and backing/harmony vocals.
Heck, I wanted to play drums ever since I saw Buddy Rich playing big band jazz on TV when I was a small child.
I would be playing/recording myself playing drums on my songs/recordings if I had an engineer to work with that I trusted. I had one back where I used to live. But since I moved to another state 25 years ago I don’t have such a person. I tried to teach my wife but that just didn’t work out.
Anyway, good luck in your musical pursuits and with the switch to Superior Drummer 3.
@BigFriendlyDrums Thanks man. Its always good to hear a story like yours, that for better or worse, amounted to something that you have good memories of. I love the drums too!
It’s amazing what young kids can do these days! I am in awe and totally amazed. She’s even got the John Bonham right foot down pat (see the inset view in the lower left corner). It took me 2 years to master this song and I was twice her age.
Oh, and watch all the way to the end to see some 2-footed action. Simply amazing!
The small UI in BFD3 was FXPansions fault, as were the years of neglect. I never bought the upgrade to v3 until after it was bought up by the current company and put on sale. As such, I can’t complain for having paid a small upgrade fee compared to what I paid for BFD2 (close to $500) back in the day.
As for recording: the drum sounds are still there and so is the means to recording solid tracks. I’ve only had to set up a single template and get it right ONCE to use it for unlimited songs into the future. I can also just switch out drums for that template, etc. So I don’t really understand why it’s such a struggle.
I think the auth thing will all get worked out over time. It has to. But in the end, it’s all about the sounds and I think some of the kit pieces in BFD3 are worth the trouble to put up with a few inconveniences.
Not saying it’s perfect, but I also don’t think we’re quite ready for the drumpocalypse yet.
@rolandk I agree that it’s still usable software. I understand that not everyone will be in the same frame of mind. My eyes are to what they used to be. The UI has really started to bug me like it didn’t in the past. I’ve been playing a lot more real drums than software for quite a while now. My template needs a complete makeover. The last few times I’ve gone to use the software, it’s broken again. I fix it, then lose interest and come back in another several weeks. I just got sick of having to spend a few hours fighting with the licensing problems every time I came back to it. This time was the last straw. I’m also recording a live guitar rig and drums and composing Electronic sound (or trying to anyway)…There’s plenty of things to struggle with and and get lost on. Things can get super frustrating and so it goes!
I don’t have time for broken things anymore…Loving SD3. SD3 sounds every bit as awesome to me, but you know that’s subjective… I don’t miss BFD3 at all so far. That being said, I’m sure BFD3 is still a good option for many depending on their circumstances.
I should also mention that I’ve been a user since the mid 2000’s with BFD1. I own near 400 gb of samples. Clearly, that’s not gonna help the bottom line for the people who just bought it and need to think about generating revenue. (I’m worthless to them under the current circumstances) BFD was really ground breaking stuff back in its day. I sincerely hope that BFD3 finds a way to get updated properly. The only way I’m going to be a revenue source again is if they outdo SD3 by a good margin and don’t invent a way to screw me out of my current library licenses. We shall see. I am grateful to have found SD3 for now.
I think the biggest mistake the new owners made was to break the product out of the gate with no improvements and leave the existing customer base stewing in that. Here we are several months later and no insights from the company at all. New product coming??? Place your bets! Or not…
All of these companies have a policy of strict secrecy which gives way to big fanfare and excitement when something happens. In this case I think they ruined that option by seriously pissing away the benefit of the doubt.
Its just sad InMusic means all the goodwill thats disappearing wont be there if/when bfd4 comes out and if its an awesome bit of kit, the internet is still going to remember who owns it.
The explosive fanfare that could have happened will be muted on their own forum, by their own potential customber base, at this rate.
