Sphere - Black Beauty snare has incorrect mic channels

BFD Expansion Packs Bug Reports
1

  • BFD Version and expansion pack
    3.4.5.28/Sphere Expansion

  • Steps to Reproduce:

  1. Solo either the top or bottom mic channels of the Black Beauty snare (Raw) from the Sphere expansion.
  2. You can hear that the channels are outputting the other’s samples, opposite of what they should be.

  • Expected Result:
    The top/bottom snare mic channels should be outputting the correct audio from their respective samples.

  • Actual Result:
    The wrong samples are sounded through the top/bottom mic channels. The Top mic channel outputs audio from the bottom mic samples and vice versa.

  • Reproducibility:
    Constant

  • Additional Notes:
    This is only with the Raw version of the snare. The processed version has correct audio output. I’m just not sure that simply renaming the channels works because it prompts you when you change back to the default name that that channel already exists. i.e. Change the Top Mic channel name to Bottom and then revert back to Top Mic and you get the warning.

  • Link to Video Repro:
    BFD Sphere-BB SNR Mic Channel Bug.mp4 - Google Drive

2

You are correct…Channel 6 and 7 were opposite in both the BFDInfo and Info…

Remove exisitng BFDInfo and Info (save originals/backup)
Unzip replace in Sphere RAW Ludwig Black Beauty Snare…rescan the Expansion…

I checked a few others and Heavy has the YS2 Snares snares the same as the RAW Ludwig , however the factory Default Kits match the Sphere Processed

Sphere RAW.zip (1.8 KB)

1 Like
3

Thanks @CHASER, that worked fine, thank you. I did find something else with Sphere that’s funky. The #2 and #3 DW toms (Raw) are loading in the wrong channels. Basically, the #2 tom wants to be a floor tom and the #3 tom wants to be a mid tom.

4

I checked ALL…Presets…Kits XML etc etc.
I couldn’t find anything wrong with the mixer slots…mostly everything was properly assigned.
There is a couple issues with BFD2 Kits and Presets…some were 5 pc Kits (For example:Crisp Speed Metal ) so Tom 3 is assigned to Floor. and 7pc kits have Tom to a Percussion slot.
but the BFD3 Kits and all other Presets should be good.
This will sound like a Strange fix…

In Both Sphere Processed and Sphere RAW Folders…DW and Vibe
Rename Tom 2 Folder to Tom 3.
Tom 3 Folder to Tom 2…

Rescan the expansion…

5

Thanks. I only had this issue with the DW (Raw) kit and swapping the folder names seems to have worked, but it messed up the Vibe kit, so I just reverted to default naming. Edit: Not sure that worked after all.

I’m not sure that it matters, but when creating my kits I used Mid Tom 2/Mid Tom channels for Toms #1/#2 and Floor Tom 2/Floor Tom channels for Toms #3/#4. The 4 stock presets that installed seem to use a high tom, 2 mid toms and 1 floor tom. I think I did try this setup with the DW before the folder naming change and it still got T2/3 mixed up, but maybe I’ll just update my two custom kits with tom channels the default presets use.

Another thing I noticed is the volume of DW (Raw) Tom #3 is considerably lower than the other 3 toms. It almost sounds like you’re getting ambient signal instead of the spot mics out of the direct channel. Can you confirm?

Edit: Ok I changed the toms layout to Hi/Mid2/Mid/Floor and even with no samples loaded, the Hi and MidTom2 are backwards where they should be on the kit view graphic, so there’s something funky going on even with no samples loaded into slots.

Screen Shot 2024-04-16 at 9.02.10 PM
Screen Shot 2024-04-16 at 9.02.10 PM1912×1089 252 KB

Screen Shot 2024-04-16 at 9.01.56 PM
Screen Shot 2024-04-16 at 9.01.56 PM1912×1089 255 KB

6

Your 1st screenshot (Top) show a Mid tom assigned in a Hi Tom Slot (5) …layout correctly shows Hi.

The 2nd Screenshot Bottom show a High Tom assigned in a Mid Slot (4)…layout correctly shows Mid.

The Mixer Slots/layout for Kit Pieces in BFD and BFD Player are as follows…0-55…L to R
There is a Total of 64 Mixer Slots (Channels) (0-63)
For an example you can see …take the Classic Rock preset (Sphere)…open with Notepad and you will see the Strings/slots…top to bottom…0-63

Kick SLOTS
0,10,32,33,34

Snare SLOTS
1,11,35,36,37

Hi hat SLOT
2

Floor Tom SLOTS
3,12,38,39,40

Mid Tom SLOTS
4,13,41,42,43

Hi Tom SLOTS
5,14,44,45,46

Crash (Cymbal) SLOTS
6,7,15,16,47, 48,49,50,51,52

Ride
8,17,53,54,55

Percussion SLOTS
9,18

from left to right you will have the Floor.then Mid…then Hi…

The Sphere Kits are as you thought
Tom 1 - High
Tom 2 - Mid
Tom 3 - Mid
Tom 4 - Floor

a couple Presets were slotted
Tom 1 - High
Tom 2 - Mid
Tom 3 - Floor

Coincidentally I had a friend that’s been bugging me to make up presets for this expansion for his 7pc kit …so I made up 30 (Including 4 Default)…If you want some extra Presets to experiment with

They will show up under the Main Menu…not User…

Unzip…place the Folder in the BFD3 Presets Folder…rescan system content.
If you have your Preset folder with lose presets remove the 4 Factory Default ones or you’ll have doubles.

BFD Sphere.zip (1.8 MB)

7

@CHASER I’m confused… With most kits the toms are displayed in the kit view (physical parts of the kit, not channels) from left to right as Hi Toms to Floor Toms with any additional toms i.e. Hi Tom 2 to the left. In my pics, the Mid Tom 2 is farthest to the left and the High Tom is to the right. I know the cymbal layout of the actual kit picture gets funky, but from my experience, the toms usually display correctly from left to right.

Thanks for the presets.

8

The layout and building especially from scratch…gets “wacky” (Technical term) as it depends on when kit/slots are added.
Sometimes I’ll build a kit with multiple extra pieces so I can delete ones inbetween…but you really don’t have much control as one would like…

for example…I just threw this one together for an example…the Hi Tom 1 ended up far right…from 2 Mid Toms…while the Hi Tom 4…ended up far left in the Tom 1 position…just by using “Add Tom”
Then you reach a point where rows appear outside the main kit.

Over the years I got to the point where I made up enough Templates for all prcaticval Kit layouts and I just load those …then add…kit pieces… mixers…(I have over 1,000 Mixers converted to Presets , like when you could load a Mixer Preset in BFD2…which I have converted all 150 of those into BFD3 Presets with empty layouts.)

HI TOM 4 FAR LEFT
HI TOM 4 FAR LEFT534×530 62.5 KB

MID TOM 3 NEXT TO MID TOM 2
MID TOM 3 NEXT TO MID TOM 2456×528 59.6 KB

MID TOM 2 NEXT TO HI TOM
MID TOM 2 NEXT TO HI TOM602×504 61.8 KB

HI TOM TO THE RIGHT OF MID TOM 2
HI TOM TO THE RIGHT OF MID TOM 2534×531 62.3 KB

9

Ok. I never really experienced this issue with the toms before. When I was building my Sphere kits, I just loaded Crush and saved that as a new preset to start because I planned on using the Meinl cymbals. So I just right-clicked on the shells to change them to the Vibe/DW. The Vibe kit is fine and the toms are what and where they should be. For some reason the DW is not. No biggie, I’ll just deal with it.

That’s a lot of presets you’ve created. Do you have any links to mixes you’ve done with BFD? I’ll check them out when I have time.

10

I am mainly focused on Live performance with Electronic Drums these days.
I haven’t done any Studio Mixes in years other than I spend a lot of Time creating “Artist” Presets/Kits and editing/trimming/exporting the wav’s for module use (STRIKE,MIMIC Pro,2Box) and creating Full Artist/ MIDI Albums song by song and syncing Audio to MIDI so it lines up when using a MIDI Player to send to Hardware and Lighting.
The NEW Alesis STRATA Kit with the BFD Module imports BFD3 Presets…so eventually I’ll know how or if all of the Presets etc I have done over the years either sound good…or completely suck…

It was -70db compared to Tom 2 (-59db)…

Replace the Artic Tweak in the Audio Folder with this one…
Rescan Expansion

BFD Sphere.zip (1.8 KB)

Here are also the Kits that match the Presets…
Usually Expansions that are just the Shell Packs I use the Core Library Cymbals…and typically I spend a day on an Expansion…then won’t touch it for months…

Unzip…place BFD Sphere Folder in BFD3 System Kits Folder…Rescan System Content…
same as before if you have loose Kit presets delete or move somewhere else or you’ll have doubles.

BFD Sphere.zip (1.2 MB)

11

Many moons ago I downloaded some BFD2 presets (a boatload) and I think they are listed under the name “Artist”. That wasn’t you by any chance? Probably around 2008.

Thanks again for all the help with this. You’re a true gentleman and treasure to have around here. They should put you on the payroll as you get around to bug fixes before the staff even responds. Then again, the reason for that is probably because there isn’t much payroll to go around.

12

Did you zip and upload the modified file? It’s still coming in low volume for me. I did rescan all paths and reload the kit. Aside from the volume, the attack just seems to be off with #3 compared to the others. It has a more hollow, almost out-of-phase tone to it.

13

Here is the original artic to put back… if you don’t have it…
The Tom 2 artic is a little louder…-43 instead of -52

BFD Sphere.zip (1.8 KB)

I only have 1 preset/kit Classic Rock …that was included with the expansion … (out of the 30) that re-produces the same as the video…all the others are normal.
I don’t show a Preset or Kit Sphere - DW.
Did you use Classic Rock as a Base?

14

No, I used one of my custom Crush presets and just swapped out the shells for the Sphere ones. This is how I normally make presets for new kits, so I have tweaks and amb send levels already adjusted where I tend to like them.

15

I went through ALL and did side by side comparison…everything is proper…the Toms are for the most part identical for information other than the artic has different range of velocities for all of the samples…
ALL 3 of the Info’s were identical as they are kit piece info and mic channels…no settings like in a preset…except a small difference in the BFDInfo…It was so small I wouldn’t even think it would have made a difference as the info shouldn’t affect it.

I just turned the loudness on and increase the range and velocity dynamics a little to bring it up.
If all else fails save a processed kit piece

1 Like