I’m fully expecting BFD4 will be fully native on M1/M2 and it’ll be a paid upgrade.
Paid? I hope it will come at a great discount for the time I could not use BFD3, first for about a year when I couldn’t use it when Catalina was introduced, and now I still cannot use it in full on my M1 system. Will I trust BFD4 enough to buy it?
I am repeating myself here: it is a great program IF IT WORKS. I think the frustration with some users also comes with the fact that they spent quite a bit of money on the program and its extensions, but it has shown to function badly, or only conditionally for much too long. If that can be repaired, I think the program is good enough to be forgiven in not too long.
I have no idea why it has taken the crew so long, and I have no idea if it could have been done any quicker, and if the speed of development is being criticised unfairly, but I think the impatience and the frustration are quite understandable.
@Mr_Arkadin I wouldn’t call it a holy grail, but it has a different feel and sound to it than SSD, SD3, AD, and EZD, or Modo. They are all quite good, although tastes may differ. I use whatever feels best in a mix. BFD is not indispensable if you own any other drum program, but it is definitely worth it - if it works as should.
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They had a beta ready to go 6 months ago. Slow dev was been blamed some difficult AU problem that they apparently still remains unresolved. I guarantee you there are resources that would have helped them resolve it long ago.
Maybe I’m wrong , but I smell a business decision.
It’s a technical debt issue, not a business decision. People will absolutely NOT be expected to pay for M1 support.
BFD3 will have full M1 support, and I am extremely keen on VST3 support too. We can’t really avoid that what with Cubase 12 going in the direction it is going.
I doubt we will increase the number of outputs for BFD3. Maybe for BFD4.
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Sadly it’s definitely not worth me banging my head against a brick wall, no matter what it sounds like. This developer is dead to me now after nearly 20 years. It takes a special skill to make the ROLI years look good, but inMusic sure have a special talent for it.
I’m using the BFD3 M1 Mac beta, just not in VST3 format so I can’t get it into Cubase yet. As standalone and in Reaper it works well and even has something really cool I didn’t expect to see till BFD4.
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I completely understand your disappointment, but if I called it dead, it would be completely lost. So, I will wait until the program functions again. I hate it when something potentially good is wasted. In the meantime, I will use alternatives.
Judging from @snplmn 's comment, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Let’s just hope that there won’t be any more tunnels after that.
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I am logged in with Focusrite right now and I see AD + Studio Rock ADpack free for the taking. You might want to take a look?
@pleudpniem I suspect that your bundled software may vary depending on what Focusrite interface(s) you have registered? Addictive Keys, not Drums is showing for me.
Even though you’re only allowed to select one Addictive pack per account, you can register the same interface with separate email addresses to get all of the expansions. I never bothered with that and just chose the Mark One, which is the Rhodes emulation I reach for all the time.
As an aside, the latest added freebies through the Plugin Collective are NI Massive and Izotope Ozone Elements.
“I’m using the BFD3 M1 Mac beta, just not in VST3 format so I can’t get it into Cubase yet. As standalone and in Reaper it works well and even has something really cool I didn’t expect to see till BFD4.”
I am very encouraged by this!
I’m glad I’m wrong. 
We have other stuff going on that already has some amount of M1 and VST3 support. But getting all of that into BFD3 is seriously non-trivial. It will happen though. We’re about 80% complete with M1 support for BFD3. Once we figure out our AudioUnit issues, we’ll be all the way there and it will be released.
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I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your work. Thank you for continuing to support the community, despite the frustration and vitriol that surfaces. I’ve invested a lot in BFD since purchasing BFD 1.0 (!) and am happy to wait to upgrade my hardware since BFD is working for me at the moment on my ancient 2011-era IMac running 10.13. Which also says a lot about the work you and the team have done over the years! Thank you again for sticking with it!
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SD3 has a Standalone version (I use it sometimes), but most of the time as PlugIn in Cubase 12 Pro.
True. So does AD, Modo, and BFD. I think the NI drumsets also have one, if only via Kontakt. Strangely enough, SSD does not have a standalone. I need to open a DAW to get it to work. They say that was intentional, but I have never heard a reason for it.
Having someone like Drew being as candid as he is with the userbase is rare and very much appreciated.
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You may not have issues with Ventura, other companies like Valhalla said Ventura wasnt that bad and didnt cause him any issues.
Any updates on this?
I’m sorry to say that I have to enter 5 topics in order to be able to PM Drew for a beta. I am in dire need of the beta as I’m working on a second season for a series that heavily relied on a few custom kits I built in BFD. I’ve been waiting for 2 years to get it up and running and now I absolutely have to. Don’t know what else to post but hoping it gets out of the 6-7 month beta soon OR I can just get a beta copy and actually work again.