My BFD 3.5 Upgrade: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

BFD3 Latest Builds & Release Notes
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I’ve been using BFD for years, stuck at v3.4, and was simultaneously yearning for InMusic to figure things out, take ownership of the software, and put out a new update, while also dreading the actual upgrade process. So let me say that I upgraded a couple nights ago and The Good was the experience itself. As others have noted in this forum, I did have to re-download all the software and all my content again–which is lengthy as I own a lot of the expansions–but I let it run overnight and addressed a few minor problems easily enough the next morning.

Pro tip: make sure you have enough disk space. I didn’t. So it downloaded like 70% of all my stuff, and I had to jigger things around on my hard drives and close the InMusic application to stop the downloads that strangely stayed “in progress” but never resumed. Weird. But overall the download and install process was simple. It all worked. I soon found I had a new stand alone player and a new version of the plugin–VST3 no less, yay!–on my hard drive.

As to The Bad, I have a couple nits to pick. First, the new BFD seems to have the same problem as the old BFD insofar as many of my kits and grooves and such are all missing by default after a clean install. I could search, for example, for the 8-bit kits and not find them at all until I did a full rescan. And to be clear, I even let the installer put its stuff in the default location on my C: drive to see how good a job it would do. I don’t keep the files there because my D: drive is much bigger, so it was only after copying everything to my D: drive, manually deleting all the existing content libraries in the BFD 3.5 stand alone application, and then manually adding the new folder on my D: drive for a full rescan that all my kits and stuff showed up. I don’t know why that is, but it would be great to have the software actually recognize all the stuff I’ve installed without rescanning everything one or more times.

The second nit I’ll pick is that I’m not real fond of the new “dark” UI. I haven’t found if there’s any way to change it yet as I’m honestly a bit lost in some of the UI changes. I used to know my way around the software quite well, but too many things have changed. And to be clear, I like many of those changes: it’s much easier, for example, to click and drag the new “handle” in the lower-right corner of the window than use those plus/minus buttons at the top to change the UI size incrementally. But I’m a bit lost at the moment. I sure hope there are some options I’m missing so far to revert to a brighter, higher-contrast, easier-on-my-old-eyes palette.

But then I found The Ugly, which is two truly unacceptable things: (1) the license manager taking bloody forever to validate my licenses at startup every single freaking time, and (2) the crashing. I hate licensing nonsense but can tolerate it when it largely stays out of my way. Yes, it was annoying to find out every 90 days when trying to open a project to get working that my BFD stuff had expired again, close my DAW, trundle off and open the authorization tool, run that, re-open my DAW, blah, blah, blah, but I could live with it because it happened basically four times a year. But this new version sucks hard, and I can’t emphasize that enough. Every single time I open the standalone it takes minutes before the UI even appears. I’m assuming that’s the ridiculous license check because whenever I open the plugin in my DAW, I immediately see the plugin window but then get to sit there for a minute or more while it shows the spinner and tells me it’s checking my licenses. This is bloody ridiculous.

Worse is the crashing. I think I can count on one hand with fingers to spare the number of times the old BFD crashed on me in all the years I used it. Last night alone I had four crashes in less than an hour of use. Simply opening a project in my DAW (Nuendo 14.0.20), adding BFD as an instrument track, closing that project, opening a new project, and adding BFD again as an instrument track crashes the software about half the time. I had a crash last night after a cold restart of my system doing nothing more than creating a new project, adding BFD as an instrument track, loading the first 8-bit kit listed, and trying to play a groove. BOOM! Nuendo killed. Instantly. Only a meaningless empty tiny message box with the word “error” in the title remained of my DAW. BFD positively murdered Nuendo in cold-booted blood. Yikes.

I’ve reported the crash to InMusic, so we’ll see how it goes. In the meantime I’m basically doing a cold reboot any time I want to use BFD, and I’m being super careful with it. This new version is clearly unstable and needs “more time in the oven”, so to speak, before it’s done. But I thought I’d post to reassure users on the fence, like I was, that the upgrade process at least is about as painless as one can hope. The software after the fact is a different story.

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I too was bugged by crashes that i just couldn’t explain. Because I’m running it in Luna on Mac, I swapped the AU version of the plug-in to VST3, and has been flawless ever since

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Just a datapoint: I’m not currently using BFD much, but I did upgrade to 3.5, and I’ve fooled around with the standalone app several times. I haven’t seen the license validation delay you mention (with the standalone app). When I launch it, there’s a brief “BFD3” startup window for ~2 sec, then a black window the size of the standalone app that displays a login progress indicator for about 3 or 4 sec, and then a registration validation progress indicator for about 7 sec. At that point, the standalone app is ready to go.

I’ve yet to see the standalone app crash, but I’ve only used it for brief sessions.

This is with an old Intel Mac Mini (a 2018 model that I purchased in Jan 2020), running the latest macOS (Sequoia 15.4.1).

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If you don’t mind my asking, how many expansions do you own? I have nearly all of them and wonder if that’s the difference.

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Just one (Horsepower).

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I’m with you on the disk space. It is not easy to find out the size on disk of the various expansions. They should publish this and make it easy to find. By the way, if you have a USB3 port and can pick up an external SSD hard drive this will provide enough bandwidth to operate successfully. I suggest using grok3 beta on X to get a recommendation. Total cost $100 to $200.

I have not experienced even one crash. Using mostly standalone or Cubase 14 in win10. I’m on the beta team and I certainly would have reported any crashes along with some harsh comments. Makes me wonder what is going on your situation.

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I had something like 350 GB available, which is more than what I actually end up with, but what I (stupidly) didn’t consider was how I’m going to need roughly two or three times that space for it to have a copy of the downloaded archive, an extracted copy of the archive, and the final result in place. I’m not quite sure of the internals of that process, but you should always leave at least twice what you’ll need in the end and preferably more :slight_smile:

As to crashing, I had it crash again this morning on opening a Nuendo project that merely had a single BFD instrument track and that was after a completely cold boot. I think this software is seriously fragile in its current state. BFD 3.4 maybe crashed once or twice on me in all the years I used it. This thing is into the dozens after not many days of use. Sadly.

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Phileosophos:
I haven’t used Nuendo, but as a Cubase user I’m thinking there might be some similarities since they are both made by Steinberg. In Cubase it is possible to load up a vst 2 or a vst 3 version. You may want to check and make sure you have the vst3 version in your project. VST3 is likely to be much less crash prone. As a side note, making BFD3.5 available as a VST3 was one of the last things done, maybe there is a possibility that the implementation needs more fine tuning that will be corrected in an upcoming maintenance release. Just a shot in the dark, but worth looking into. VST2 plugins have caused me a lot of crashes in Cubase, so I’ve been moving away from them.

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It crashes all the time for me in Logic on Mac also. It’s just an unstable piece of software as a plugin. I run many other 3rd party plugins and nothing that is up to date has anything like the issues of BFD.

The problem with the 2-5 minute delay every single time the plugin loads has been around since the beta test phase and was widely reported then. It has not been addressed. That’s completely unacceptable, especialy when I have to reload Logic and the project every time BFD crashes and takes it down.

I’ve simply removed BFD from my projects, if it was a new purchase I would be demanding a refund.

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Seems there’s a variation of experience here. Interesting. FWIW, the InMusic support folks claim to be escalating my ticket, so we’ll see how they respond.

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Same frustrating loading times here (Cubase 13 on win 10 pro), about 1-2 minutes. Support said, I should disable my internet connection to avoid the issue. Hmmm …

Oh, and I have 8 expansions installed.

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Sorry to hear that, Uni, and welcome to the BFD community. The replies I’ve received so far, yours included and thanks for that, really make me think the number of expansions has something to do with the super-long startup times.

As an update, I can say that the InMusic people so far have handled my support request… poorly. They responded initially with a boilerplate we’re-sorry-you’re-experiencing-crashes message, which itself may be suggestive, asking me to submit crash dumps I’d already attached to the ticket and answer questions.

I did as they asked, re-supplied the dump a second time, and then got a response from a person who said they were escalating my case. That’s about the time I posted here previously saying as much. What do I find in my inbox today? The same stupid boilerplate BS asking me for crash dumps and to answer the same questions I’ve already answered.

I provided the dumps a third time and answered the questions a second time, struggling with disbelief and anger I might add. Maybe at some point I’ll get an actual meaningful response. If so, I’ll post it here.

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Thanks so much for telling your experiences. I’ve been a long time BFD user… I had to go to another plugin since the transition/update from FXpansion has been so slow and I’ve had tech issues with things since all this crazy started. I still prefer BFD to what I now use (and I have more BFD samples) but I have to make the donuts… bills don’t pay themselves haha.

Anyway, I’m on the road now and when I saw there was an update, I almost started installing it etc, but seeing there are so many tech issues, I’ll NOT be doing that while on the road and fighting other deadlines. Can’t afford to be dealing with crashing and HDD space on the road etc.

thanks again

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First, you’re welcome, @blatboy, that’s why I take the time to write these things. I’ve benefited from the forum posts and hard work of others and hope that by adding content here maybe others won’t get hung up in the ways I have.

Second, toward that end I’ve had a couple messages since from InMusic support. The first round of suggestions they had for me were as follows for reference:

1. Clear and Rebuild Content Paths:
It looks like BFD3 is trying to read from multiple locations, which can cause conflicts.
Open BFD3 and go to Tools > Set Up Content Locations.
Remove all current paths.
Re-add only the main BFD3 content directory, making sure it includes all of your authorized expansions.
Hit Rescan All to ensure the database is correctly rebuilt.
2. Check MIDI CC Folder:
I noticed a warning in the logs about a missing MIDI CC folder:
"BFD2Manager midi CC folder at C:\Users\John\Documents\BFD Drums\BFD3\Maps has no sub folders, suggest pruning from data paths."
Make sure this directory exists and contains the necessary subfolders. If not, try removing this path from your content locations.
3. Optimize Memory Usage:
I also saw some unusually high memory usage, which could be contributing to the crashes.
Open BFD3 > Preferences > Engine tab.
Reduce the Max voices setting to a lower value (e.g., 64 or 128) to prevent overload.
Make sure the Load All to RAM option is disabled to avoid excessive memory consumption.
4. Check Buffer Size and Sample Rate:
Double-check that your audio buffer size and sample rate settings in BFD3 match your DAW settings.
Mismatched settings can cause audio dropouts and instability.
5. Reset Mixer and Kit Settings:
Given the "No stream manager!" errors, it might help to reset your mixer settings and re-add your kit pieces to ensure nothing is corrupted.

I had some follow-up questions in light of that because I have plenty of RAM: even with BFD and a big kit loaded I was at only 26% of system memory in use. I was more confused by the concerns about the MIDI CC folder because I had nothing in it. So here’s the content of the next reply I got when I asked those and other questions:

MIDI CC Directory
The directory you mentioned should contain several subfolders, including Grooves, Fills, KeyMaps, Presets, and Programs. If this directory is empty, it could be missing critical files needed for stable operation. I recommend performing a full rescan in Tools > Set up Content Locations to ensure BFD is recognizing the correct paths.
RAM and Voice Settings
Given your available RAM, it’s unlikely you’re hitting a memory cap, but lowering the voice count to 128 was a good move. If the crashing persists, it might be worth testing with a smaller kit to see if it stabilizes.
Buffer Size and Sample Rate
These settings are often managed directly within the DAW (Nuendo in your case). I would recommend checking the buffer size in your ASIO driver settings within Nuendo. Higher buffer sizes can reduce CPU strain and improve stability, though it may introduce a bit of latency.
Mixer Settings Reset
Resetting the mixer can clear up routing conflicts that might be causing crashes, even with factory kits. It’s a good idea to try this as a test to see if it resolves the issue.

And finally, I tried to get clarity on what the MIDI CC folder is actually supposed to contain as I don’t know what it’s even for. Here’s the latest and greatest on that point:

Thanks for the follow-up—and great question regarding the Maps folder. I want to clarify why we were looking at that specific directory and how it could possibly relate to the issues you're seeing.
The BFD3\Maps folder is where BFD stores user-created or imported MIDI maps, which are used to remap MIDI input from electronic drum kits or other controllers. By default, this folder is usually empty unless you’ve manually saved or imported a custom mapping.

Now, under normal circumstances, this folder has no impact on core functionality—it doesn’t store kits, presets, or samples. However, in some rare cases, if there’s a corrupted, incompatible, or legacy map inside, and BFD tries to load or scan it (especially during startup or when switching kits/grooves), it could contribute to instability or even crashes—especially with version 3.5.

To rule this out completely, here’s what I recommend:
Navigate to the following path(s):
C:\Users\John\Documents\BFD Drums\BFD3\Maps
D:\Music Libraries\BFD Drums\BFD3\Maps (if that’s where your active content is now)
If you see anything inside those folders, move the contents somewhere else temporarily—like to your desktop.
Then relaunch BFD3 and test your normal workflow (e.g., loading a groove, switching kits, etc.) to see if stability improves.
Even if the folders are empty, removing them from the scan equation ensures BFD3 isn’t trying to access a broken reference or path. It’s a safe and reversible step that could help us isolate the cause of the crashes.
Let me know how it goes after trying this—I'll be here to help with next steps either way.

So overall I’d say my support experience got off to a bad start. I’ve done the things they’ve suggested but haven’t been using the software quite as heavily. So far I haven’t had as many problems, so maybe rescanning all my content for a third time was the charm?! I don’t know yet. I’ll keep updating this thread as more information becomes available.

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I find the desktop version crashes on Mac running Cubase but the vst3 seems more stable

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I think this is the last update I’m making to this thread. I’m still having crashes with BFD 3.5, and I think it’s actually gotten worse since updating to Nuendo 14.0.30. But then I’ve had several other plugins–that were previously stable and used regularly I might note–simply make Nuendo crash so hard it just disappears completely, not even giving me a warning, and doesn’t leave any log dump. So I’m inclined to believe that the latest Nuendo release is actually less stable than any of the prior Nuendo releases by my experience.

As to the InMusic support team, they’ve closed my initial ticket and say they’re working on a number of issues but don’t know when any patches might be forthcoming. I actually reported two other tickets to them recently, one about how the plugin on/off and bypass buttons in the Nuendo-provided bar at the top cause BFD grooves to stop playing, and they say they’ve escalated that one. They also gave me a free BFD 3.5 expansion library for reporting it.

And when I took a video of how ridiculously long it takes to launch the BFD 3.5 plugin—roughly two minutes in my case every single first time I use it in the software–they told me I’m not the only person to report long load times. They claim to be working on that but again can’t give any estimates as to when patches might be available. They gave me a 20% off coupon good at any of the InMusic properties when I reported that.

So in the final analysis, I’ve been happy with the way InMusic seems increasingly on the ball with responding to support issues, and they’ve certainly been generous in doing so. They haven’t actually fixed any of the problems I’ve had, though at least in the case of the buttons stopping playback they did offer a workaround that I’m now using to avoid the issue. If I had it to do over again, I probably would have stuck with BFD 3.4 until whatever next round of patches they issue fixes a few more things and improves stability. But for the time being, I am able to keep using the software for the most part and simply have to deal with more instability than I’ve ever seen from it before.

Fingers crossed they actually do issue patches someday. Thanks to all who contributed!

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I have a copy of the previous build, 3.4.5.28 and the License Manager, if you want to revert back. Let me know and I will send you a link. Other than not being able to download expansions, it’s been working fine on my end and can at least handle your authorizations if the timer runs down.

Support has been pretty generous with me too, this past year. I had an issue during one of the previous sales and they ended up giving me the expansion I was trying to buy for free. Then recently, after raising a ticket about the old License Manager not being able to download any content anymore, they gave me a 20% off coupon code. They were also pretty quick to respond, which didn’t seem to be the case in the past.

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Thanks, that’s very thoughtful of you to offer, but I actually kept all the BFD 3.4 stuff I had too (grin). If I ever get desperate enough, I guess I’ll say goodbye to the expansion I’d have to quit using. But for the moment I’m going to keep prodding InMusic and hoping they eventually release something that addresses the variety of open issues.