What do you want in BFD4?

My issue is a physical limitation that leads to an undesirable audible effect that is clearly discernible before it ever it ever gets to the recording stage, never mind the ears of joe public :smiley:

My use of the word “legit” is how I need it to sound. If pitching the drum makes it sound like a different drum entirely then it’s not going to work for me.

Thanks for the idea, though. Will definitely experiment

Thanks!

Perhaps! I certainly wasn’t suggesting that thousands of extra samples be recorded to solve a very particular use-case scenario. I’m surprised that the difference wasn’t discernible in tests, however. Not to doubt what you’re saying, but have ToonTrack et al really got it so wrong?

el-bo.

Yes - always good to experiment.

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Looking at my most recent TT packs (Death & Darkness) I don’t actually see distinct L+R hits in the library. Which packs are you referring to? I’d certainly be up for checking them out! Like I say, I’d be open to exploring it again.

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Something similar to midi “Tap to Find” in SD3, and a search for similar grooves function.

In terms of samples, various cymbal scrapes would be awesome.

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I can’t believe I forgot to ask for this. It’s really important.

I want to be able to load/overload just part of a kit. So, if I have a kit, and I want to just swap out the cymbals, or toms, or add a Latin percussion section to it, I want to be able to use just those pieces from another kit or preset, without having to rebuild the whole thing.

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Bring back the following features:
1.) Direct buss channel
2.) Dedicated mixer presets
3.) Swing templates (and come up with some way to create them in the Groove Editor, and/or, ideally, read and apply ProTools or other format groove templates)

Does turning everything off except the mixer button in the ‘load’ dialogue not do the same thing?

Bit more fiddly I guess.

Steve

Open up articulations and multi-channel samples to user-created instruments. I imagine the current limitations are somewhat due to making construction available in-app and easy but I personally don’t mind writing XML. Since it’s an advanced option it doesn’t need a GUI. As for multichannel I have no problem creating such files with other tools, but you’d need to provide info on which channel is which for those who don’t know. I’d rather have these instruments in BFD than building them in Kontakt or whatever.

More fiddly. Also, more error prone. I could accidentaly blow away my groove pallette or other work that way.

I would like to see better hihat control options for a more realistic, reactive and playable feel. I went with BFD vs Superior Drummer as I preferred the more raw sound, but the HiHats seemed much more realistic and playable in Superior Drummer. Similarly the anti machine gun in SD / EZ seems more effective than BFD.

In my setup, the hats don’t choke properly alot of the time when they are closed following a trigger, especially if they are closed more gently. I kind of got around this by using a Reaper plugin that creates a choke note at a certain threshold that I mapped in BFD. I couldn’t find any combination of options within BFD that would achieve the same thing.

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I have eight toms on my V-Kit (actual drums with Pintech triggers). In BFD2 it was VERY easy to set up a 70s Hal Blaine type Octopus kit or a giant Neil Peart kit. There were templates for large kits (instead of having to substitute a tom for a cymbal). I also definitely like mucmusic’s suggestion of concert toms. I’d also love some classic Neil Peart 6 and 10 high concert toms

I’ll definitely come back again, but what I can say :

  • Please, make one more snare drum articulation, like Superior Drummer 3 → Center, mid-center, half-edge.
    When I’m programming drums I love to vary by using a little bit off-center hits, but the half-edge on BFD3 sometimes differs too much from the center… So I have to use center + half-edge and balance them.

I know that means a hell lot of work to add an other articulation, but that will add so much realism to your already great software.

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So sorry for the delay. Completely forgot to reply. And also another apology: Seems I got it wrong about Superior. I’ve never owned it, but could have sworn it was a feature that came up as part of an older thread (KVR, probably) in which BFD and SD were being compared. However, a cursory look through some of the documentation and it seems I misspoke.

Sorry :slight_smile:

Guess NI are quite unique in this regard. When I have a spare few moments, I’m gonna see if I can really tell the difference.

Screen-size scaling options :slight_smile:

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I would like to see a better GUI. It needs an over haul. The sounds are fantastic with great detail. It is just the GUI that really needs work. It is very clunky. In reality the only competition to BFD3 is Superior Drummer 3 which has a much nicer interface. I prefer to make my drums manually myself so the editor needs improvements there as well. Take a look at the drum editor in Cubase with the key commands that are available. I would like to be able to set key commands to hold down for 5 different velocities. Also key commands to increase and decrease the grid. Key commands to turn snap on/off as well as turning snap on/off.

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Being able to work offline.

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Just make the groove editor better, so I don’t have to bother editing in my DAW. Currently, the groove editor definitely has a lot going for it. It just needs some more refinement and efficiency when working with grooves and navigating. More shortcut options needed there as well.

Make it easier to work with BFD2 grooves with BFD3 kits. Or at least make it possible to tell BFD what articulations to substitute to. For instance, older grooves with Ride “Hits” will be swapped with “Edge”, when it should be “Bow”. Currently, you have to change all the grooves in a palette to swap with the proper articulation. Also, a quicker save palette, or groove option. Having to stop and navigate to the folder you want to save it to, every time is less than ideal.

Bring back mixer presets. It would make it easier to recall routing to DAW settings

Working offline should definitely happen. The internet is not perfect and depending on where you live it would bring your sessions to a halt if BFD only functioned online.

I’ll assume the new kit view GUI/overhaul will look like a real kit, which is fine, but I might suggest also giving the option for the BFD3 science themes for users that prefer that if possible.

Maybe some more vintage modeled FX (eq/comp)? Console emulation and tape saturation would be nice additions. The better the FX are, the less I have to do to the drums in my DAW. Have a zoom option for viewing FX, or have them detach and resize. That would especially be useful for the EQ, having a larger graph to work with. An output knob for each FX would help trying to level-match. We all know how easy it is to get tricked by something that sounds louder.

An extra HiHat articulation across all new kits between the closed and 1/4 open hits. Good for making tighter grooves just a little dirtier.

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Might be useful to see (using a shade of colour over affected notes in editor) the effect (see what is being ignored) of simplifying a groove before copying or committing, rather than just hearing it.

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Ain end to the steamroller graphic on the vca comp (or leave it, whatevers, I can live with it but it does not please me much :laughing:.