I just saw this surprising email about Zildjian sample packs becoming a thing again. I’m guessing these are just gonna be repackaged expansions from the original Zildjian vaults and not newly sampled cymbals? Still hilarious that expansions are being announced and yet there still hasn’t been a single update to BFD 3.5 since its release.
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Just more milking of the cash cow. I’ve given up any hope of progress with BFD 3,5. Mind you, having said that, I’d also given up hope of progress with Rayzoon’s Jamstix and it appears that life will be breathed once more into that long dormant drum software.
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I used to be as big a partisan of BFD as you were likely to find. I loved v3.4 and found its warts far easier to cope with than the infinitely more annoying v3.5. I’ve since switched to Superior Drummer. There are things I don’t think it does as well, but at least the developers are actively supporting that and not making stupid decisions that make it worse for the users than the pirates.
Yeah, v3.4.5.28 still working fine for me. No annoying product verification on every startup. I’ve got SD3 and D&D. I messed around with it a bit, setup a multi-out template and used it in a production and it was good, but I prefer the sound of BFD3. I like SD3 for putting MIDI grooves together though.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who prefers the BFD3 sound, at least sometimes. The thing I most miss is the very focused tools available for creating, refining, and working with grooves. I think there’s superior to every other tool on the market. It’s a pity they’re ruining the product.
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EDIT:
Additional Posts were made while watiting for approval.
Approval Time:4 Days
InMusic/Alesis partnered with Zildjian for the Strata Drum Modules…
Unfortunately they are also using the same Licensing System as BFD /BFD Player on the Module…
You can’t select/load a Kit/Preset until the Content/Licensing Scan is completed.
The Module scans on every startup and you must be Online..
The “New” Expansions include 3 versions for the price..BFD..BFD Player..and Strata Drum Modules…3 Activations.
The Zildjian Sessions is actually a TAMA Starclassic Bubinga Kit with (4) Zildjian Cymbals.
22x18 TAMA Starclassic Kick
14x6 TAMA Starclassic Snare
10x8,12x9,14x12,16x14 TAMA Starclassic Toms
ZILDJIAN 17" A Custom Rezo Crash
ZILDJIAN 19" A Custom Rezo Crash
ZILDJIAN 15" New Beat Hi Hat
ZILDJIAN 20" K Custom Dark Medium
I Expected after the release of the Strata Drum Modules… Alesis PRIME Acoustic Library (recorded at Power Station Studio - New England) would also be released for BFD as it is in BFD Format…it has been a couple years.
There are a number of New Kits..PEARL Crystal Beat..A&F Drums Steel and Walnut Kit’s…CANOPUS Birch Kit,…,.GRETSCH NY Brooklyn Maple Kit…REMO Rototom Kit…SONOR SQ2 Maple Kit… and all have the Updated/Upgraded Hi Hat Samples.
The difference is in size..the Strata Drum Modules only have 5 Mic channels.
One of the features is you can layer/Stack up to 3 additonal articulations for each Kit Piece.
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Oh, interesting. So these are newer samples and not from the legacy BFD Zildjian Vaults?
TBH..it’s been hard to keep up with…
InMusic acquired BFD in 2020..Module Development started immediately and was released in 2024.
Zildjian did not re-license InMusic in 2020 and was developing their own module.
The only Rezo Cymbal in the Digital Vaults was a 21 Ride (Z1)..
The only New Beat HH in the Digital Vaults was a 14 (Z1)..
The Digital Vaults Vol 1 , were the SP1,SP2 and Z1 packs.
SP1 = K
SP2 = misc
Z1 = A…and a few misc China Boy.. New Beat..Rezo etc
The Digital Vaults Vol 2 is/was Orchestral.
The New Libraries to be released are “Artist” Vaults…
I attached the list of Instruments for the Digital Vaults to compare against the Artist Vaults when they come out…may help those who already have the Digital if the Artist are/are not the same..and just the name was changed.
There isn’t much info available yet..
DIGITAL VAULT Vol 1 SP1-SP2-ZP1 .txt (1.9 KB)
DIGITAL VAULT Vol 2 DV3-4-5.txt (2.2 KB)
PowerStation has also been hard to keep up with..
Founded (1977) by BonJovi’s cousin…Tony Bongiovi.
A lot of big names/Albums recorded there.
It went Bankrupt in the mid 1990’s..became AVATAR Studios in 1996 until around 2015..then sold/re-vamped and re-opened/re-named PowerStaion NYC Berkley around 2016/ 2017.
In 1995 around the time of the Bankruptcy, Sonalysts, licensed the Power Station’s design and naming rights from Bongiovi. The company built a perfect replica of the original Studio A in Waterford, Connecticut, as a part of the new Power Station New England.
“Power Station New England is located within the Sonalysts, Inc. media center, which houses five full production stages suitable for large scale concert rehearsal and multi-camera video production.”
So the Alesis Prime Acoustic Library was recorded at PowerStation New England… an Exact replica of either Studio A or Studio B (I seen another room “B” was added) from the Original Studio PowerStation NYC.
The STRIKE Module also had PowerStation Kits…
TOONTRACK recorded the AVATAR Kits before it was renovated/renamed PowerStation..
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I’m really confused about the one new, and three “coming soon” packs. Is there crossover and duplication between the packs? And what is the thing about “strata” drum modules?
The purchases are all in BFD format and include separate downloads for BFD..BFD Player and Strata Drum Modules…unkown at this point what exactly the packs include..New Instruments/Samples or Re-Issued from the Digital Vaults which the Licensing was not Re-Newed when InMusic acquired BFD.
Existing Expansion Owners received New Serial Numbers for InMusic.
The Kits/Presets and Instrument .info’s..are not interchangeable.
For Example…the InMusic Software Center will Activate/License the BFD Player Expansions in BFD..however you can’t load the Kit/Presets as the file extension is bfdplayer and the mixer setup is different for all 3 versions…they have to be modified in order to load.
I expect at some point there may be compatibilty patches in order to use BFD as an Ediotr.
Todate..still hasn’t happened.
The Strata Drum Modules are BFD Powered and for the most part..the main reason InMusic acquired BFD in 2020…which was when development started on the Modules.
ALL Alesis Drum Modules are now BFD Powered…from Entry level to Intermediate to Advanced.
Alesis and FXpansion relationship goes back to the mid/late 2000’s when Alesis included Special Edition BFD Lite CD with the Trigger I/O which also had programming (syx) for BFD Kits..
What sucks most is that there appears to be no company representation on this forum. It’s just dead air — and a bunch of us trying to guess what will happen.
If it was any worse, I’d swear BFD3 was being overseen by the current US gov’t. 
I haven’t been to the BFD forums for a while… but y’know… been using 3.5 with DP11.
I have to say I really don’t have a lot of complaints if any
One thing I do miss…there was this Ludwig snare in BFD2 - I think it was the vistalite? But it was Ludwig and was this great open tone and good punch - like a bonham snare… just sounded great…but it didn’t really translate into the London Sessions pack… I’m almost tempted to load BFD 2 - is that cool with BFD3 on my PC?
BFD3 is working great so I don’t want to screw it up.
But yknow… overall…between tweaking drums in BFD itself - then having some insert processing on the drum channel… it’s pretty awesome honestly.
I had authorization issues with BFD when I intalled Headrush guitar suite…another story…switched back to Line 6 till I feel like dealing with it
I need BFD working at all times…
But yeah… BFD is killer - love it…
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If you’re talking about Fxpansion BFD2, that isn’t a problem to use alongside the current BFD3.5. You do have to use the BFD2 audio content though and not London Sessions from inMusic.