Those of you with Platinum Samples libraries, are they still worth getting nowadays?
From the demos I’ve heard it sounds like they’re a bit more machine-gun-like than regular BFD—is that true? Currently on the fence about picking up the Jim Scott library.
Also, do you get an installer in the license manager or do you still have to PM Drew?
They are great kits, not outdated by any means. They were ahead of the game when they came out.
I have Jim Scott and Andy Johns up for sale on knobcloud if you’re interested
Edit: Just recognized your user name, so I guess you know this already 
Yeah I’m the nutcase buying all your licenses haha, nice to meet you on here.
As you know I’m dipping my toe in with the Glamouflage kit and may then go for the Jim Scott if I like it.
Cool! How are you liking the glam kit so far?
Andy Johns Classic Drums kit 1 is still one of my top 3 go-to kits, and I’ve been using it since BFD2. The Jim Scott kits are some of the most detailed and best recorded kits of all time. Everything PS has done is still as great sounding as ever.
Just had a quick play on the e-kit with it and am very happy, worth it for the hi hat alone, tight and crisp just how I like it. The ride has an edge articulation too which I also appreciate.
Thanks for yet another great deal.
*edit - to answer my original question, yes I was able to download it from the license manager
Thanks for sharing. I’m definitely eyeing up the Jim Scott library now, I can believe what you say about the level of detail.
I’ve been very happy with my Platinum Samples libraries.I wouldn’t hesitate to pick any of them up.
Last week I purchased the Andy Johns Classic Drums library and was told by Rail at Platinum Samples I needed to reach out to Drew about getting a serial number for the BFD 3 installer/license manager. Since then I’ve reached out to Drew twice now and still haven’t heard a thing.
Rail from Platinum Samples even reached out to him on my behalf and still no response. I realize it’s summer and perhaps he’s on vacation, but I’m wondering if there’s anybody home at BFD or InMusic these days? I mean it’s almost been a week and I still haven’t even been able to install my purchase.
I’m not sure what I’m supposed to make of this, but so far it’s been disappointing to say the least.
You can try putting in a support ticket instead. I know Drew is juggling a lot of things, maybe some on a personal level, so he might not be able to get to every inbox request he gets.
Thanks for your reply - my 2nd attempt was to open a support ticket. I just sent a followup to that. I still want the library. Typically all of my online software purchases are realtime, but I’ll wait. Sooner is better.
Sorry to hear you’re having trouble. I was considering buying Andy Johns too but this is putting me off.
If Drew is perpetually snowed under, isn’t it about time they hire more people? Would be great to have someone exclusively dedicated to sorting licenses seeing as it seems to be such a common problem.
Yeah, I’m not sure how he could be snowed under with license or serial number requests. That’s a 30 second email. If there is some other type of personal challenge going on I’m inclined to be patient, but I still have yet to hear a thing from anyone at InMusic.
This makes me think InMusic is probably a one person operation and there’s no one minding the store at the moment. If I can ever get this library installed this may be my last BFD related purchase until I’m convinced InMusic a functioning, actively engaged business. Right now, that’s not the impression I’m getting.
Okay - things have now been sorted. Yay.
edit: These are really great sounding kits too !! I like the grooves as well.
How did you end up sorting it?
I just bought Andy Johns too, do I need to open a support ticket to get the installer?
When I placed my order, Rail, from Platinum Samples sent an email explaining I’d need to reach out to Drew (he also provided his email) and request a serial number for the BFD3 installer/manager. It took longer than I expected, but eventually Drew took great care of me. I did file a support ticket, they eventually responded as well, but by the time I’d heard from them the matter was resolved.
I really like this library too.
Oh ok, thanks for clarifying.
I got the email from Rail too and just forwarded it to the address he gave, hopefully that works. Won’t bother with a support ticket.
I’m still waiting for a serial too. Thought I’d give this thread a gentle bump.
In the meantime, my 2cents on Andy Johns … There’s no shortage of velocity layers but you might need to tweak your velocity scaling (compared to using other libraries) to dig into those lower velocities, especially if edrumming. I settled on a broader velocity range (a more J shaped curve) for snares and toms, and maybe kicks too.
Also a tape saturation plugin and broad EQ on the drum bus is useful to tame some of the brightness / brittleness and solidify the low end. Once you tweak the overall sound you can dive into the individual drums, but there’s really not much to do - sounds great with very little processing (there is some EQ baked in). Compress the room mics for a Zepplin-eque sound. That’s it.
Kit 1 is a beast (as mentioned by kafka). As is kit 3 (vistalite). And kit 7 (dampened with towels) works really well for acoustic folky songs (think Big Thief) or even (old school) pop styles.
The huge selection of toms (with and without snares) is also very useful as a collection of really ballsy concert toms.
Also there’s a snare with a really nice ‘snare off’ articulation which I didn’t discover for years (usually snare off is a separate kit piece).
Awesome, thanks for such a detailed response.
There is definitely a difference in feel and sound between the PS kits and the official BFD ones, but as you say, it doesn’t take much tweaking to get everything blending together.
Regarding velocities, I’ve found that the Loudness function in the Tech window usually allows me dial in what I want without having to mess with velocity curves in the Key Map page or in my module. Super convenient.
I’m excited about what you say about the toms, they’ve been a highlight of the Jim Scott library for me so far. My e-kit pads have hotspots so many of the BFD toms are too quiet unless I hit exactly in the centre of the pad, but for some reason the PS toms are more consistent.
As a side note, the machine-gunning in the demos I mentioned when I started this thread seems to just be a case of them not had AMG turned on, or maybe BFD didn’t even have AMG back then, I don’t know. In any case, it’s not an issue now.
One problem I have had though is occassional bursts of noise that almost blow my ears out. I can’t figure out if it’s a particular kit piece with corrupt volume data or something else, but it’s super annoying. Happens only very sporadically so it’s difficult to diagnose.
I’ve only just upgraded to BFD3 so I’ve never used those features. There’s no AMG mode in BFD2. I think some of the AJ demos just needed the velocities scaled back a bit - especially the kicks (that was my subjective impression anyway). I think Andy Johns is one of those libraries that sounds heavier (more hefty) when the midi is NOT at 127 all the time.
Other libraries need to be maxed out to cut though a mix, but not this one. It definitely doesn’t suit all styles of playing / genres, but it’s great at doing what it does! There used to be a short video of Andy Johns (RIP) talking about the BFD/ PS session. It might still be on YT.