I don’t get it. Could someone explain?
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Corporate greed/paranoia on the part of inMusic.
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my cynical bet is they’re putting in the infrastructure to move to a subscription model, period.
you have to wonder about a priority on DRM for a product that was on life support. the only models that use a (time) period base for DRM are subscription. and why else would they hijack everything purchased -before- the InMusic acquisition in addition to the following “user acquisition” strategies?;
- bargain basement pricing on the flagship product (BFD3)
- as well as expansions
- the introduction of a free player
- with no mention of updating any 3rd party expansion support (used to be a strength)
the (1) post-InMusic expansion I own continues to de-authorize after a week or so here, perhaps because my production systems are typically off line?..
unfortunately a sign/symptom of general market conditions, declining revenue as a result of;
- outdated business models
- general lack of product innovation
- market saturation (how many more emulations of anything do you really need?)
- post pandemic (discretionary budget) hangover
- demographic shifts in potential user base
leading to recent activity such as;
- drastic pricing strategies, typically done to salvage operating budgets -or- drive up pre-deal numbers
- PE acquisitions and consolidation (i.e. Soundwide, Avid, Rode/Mackie, etc. etc)
InMusic lacks a track record for any sort of market leadership, innovation or customer orientation…
turning the golden goose into a cash cow amounts to little more than flogging a dead horse…
…
jmho, of course, would love to help prove myself wrong and see them become a long term viable entity
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As it stands, we cannot use this version without their constant (90 day) permission. We are essentially renting it already except that our payment comes in the form of having to “call home” and prove that we are the legal owners. Why? Not sure. This software is more than ten years old… That’s pretty messed up already.
On that same cynical trajectory: If and when an update comes, maybe we won’t be able to use this current version anymore also without their continued permission. And if they create a cutoff date for authorizing “legacy” products like this, we’ll all be forced to buy the next version.
Maybe it will have one snare, one kick, one high hat and a bunch of EDM loops instead. 
(How’s that for cynical?)
I hope these folks work it out. I left Studio One after many years (v1-v5) because they were treating the owners of the DAW like outcasts in order to sell their subscription/rent-a-DAW business model. I moved to Cubase and discovered a much better DAW for professional use.
I still like BFD3. I may not like how it’s being treated by its new step parents though. 
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Yes - this is a reasonable, and completely legit question if you ask me. I’m all ears, do tell.
I suspect we probably agreed to this via the long user license boilerplate notes that none of us reads (myself included) upon clicking, “agree” when we installed BFD3. Somewhere in there it probably gives the developer the right to do even more outrageous stuff to us as license holders if they deem it necessary. What was that quote from Lethal Weapon: “they f you at the drive through?”
This having to reauthorize every 90 days really is invasive and unreasonable. We have to re-up our licenses 4 times a year? Really? Why? It only inconveniences legit, actual license holders at the end of the day. Which amounts to unnecessary hassling of the customer in my view.
So, because there are jerks out there who steal software such as BFD3, WE get the gestapo treatment for being legit customers. That is completely upside down and ridiculous IMHO.
I tolerate it because I like the app - and Toontrack crossed me years ago. So I’m done with them. I have loads of really good drum apps though.
I joined the BFD3 club a few years ago because it was on sale for $50. Everyone has a number, they found mine. LOL
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I don’t even think the authorization scheme was in the fine print, nor did the product page state that an internet connection would be required, when users were migrating from FXpansion. That’s what got people into raising the legality issues. There wasn’t even the 90 day timer yet. I still haven’t read the fine print, so I’m not sure if it’s been added or not.
Honestly, there’s no one out there pirating BFD3 nowadays, let’s be real. It’s a decade old software and they don’t really release updates, or expansions regularly. I’ve seen it uploaded once since inMusic took over. People looking for pirated drum software today, look for Toontrack.
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The purpose is to help us go away. It’s my case now. As I still have some projects with BFd I have to use it but now I’m a NI Session drummer. My latest bad expérience with bfd was an internet problem which last several day. Unfortunatelly my bfd has end to. No drum but a mix to deliver…I really don’t understand this…
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^ this is -the- issue. it was -not- in the t&cs for the initial purchase (i.e. FXpansion) or at the time the free expansion pack was offered for the migration. the definition of a classic bait & switch tactic.
had no prior opinion/interaction with InMusic and as the original core team had a well earned reputation, was not overly concerned about “migrating” all my existing licenses at the time. my bad…
it took a couple of disrupted sessions to discover the true nature of the plot twist to this horror show, which has made planning for the worst a priority.
Dark Farm continues to de-authorize on my system after 1-2 weeks. Support has been responsive, could be something specific to this configuration, but just might be related to a “less than optimal” DRM.
just a long time paying customer perspective. ymmv.
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I paid nearly $500 (CDN) for BFD2 in 2008 when it came out and our dollar was near USD values. Once installed, I had it on my old computer for over a decade and never once did it ask me to validate my license. It just worked. It had its flaws, but it worked. I didn’t upgrade when BFD3 came out because I thought the new interface was ugly and the software was also expensive for me at the time.
I’ve had internet issues where I live — in the countryside — where they’ve had to replace the underground wiring after months of interrupted connections. For me, whenever BFD3 fails to start up and requires me to go online, its always possible that I won’t be able to authorize it that day.
Subsequently, the “new” 90 day BFD3 auth. scheme is a curse for people like me whose internet connection is vulnerable to everything from rain (the wet wiring crackles then) and low rural DSP speed. This causes problems for any kind of online activity, but BFD3 auth issues is one problem that I should never be having to deal with.
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I totally agree with you!!!
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I had just opened Studio One on my Mac, ready to work on music when all of a sudden:
FU to whoever came up with this licensing idea to divert my attention from being creative to being a computer administrator for my software. Thanks for wasting my time, again and again. Now I have to start the license manager and hope it works.
(Okay, it worked. Now I’ve borrowed another 90 days of hassle free use.)
Fact is, this acts more like “trial” software than something that I’ve bought and paid for.
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I haven’t had the chance to load up BFD3 for a couple months. I’ve seen a bunch of posts recently about having issues, so I just decided to do a quick check and see what was up. I opened the LM and I had 6 days remaining on the counter. That quickly changed to 90 days once it pinged home. Everything was authorized and “Ok”. I opened BFD3 Standalone with no trouble and tried loading 3 different presets. They all loaded fine with audio output. I then opened up a Pro Tools session with BFD3 and no trouble there either as an AAX plugin.
Not that I use it, but I checked BFD Player (still on the initial public launch version) and although it took more time to scan the core library and get up and running, that is working fine as well.
I’m not sure if it’s because I’m on Intel, but I don’t seem to get as many issues as others have. Occasionally, I do get de-authorized, but I have been able to authorize all my products pretty quickly. A couple times over the years I’ve had an issue with AAX and had to uninstall/install BFD3 again though.
I can’t argue with that assessment.
My post was not about BFD3 usefulness or whether it works or not as advertised.
My beef is that I live in a remote area where my internet connection has often been faulty due to underground wiring getting corroded/wet/broken. If I can’t reach the auth. server, then I have to use another drum plugin that remains authorized — which is something I don’t want to do when I’ve set up an entire project with multiple drum VSTi outs, FX inserts/sends, etc.
That’s my biggest issue, aside from being reminded that I don’t actually own the software anymore.
And yes, I like my previous assessment too: “Fact is, this acts more like “trial” software than something that I’ve bought and paid for.”
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fwiw, exclusively Win10 / Intel here (perhaps you were alluding to a Mac issue?)
this ^. same/similar issue here and the topic of my latest post. i do a lot of remote work (nature of the industry/client profile for me) and got hit with the latest train wreck after doing my best to be pro-active about having a tool that I can count on…
…
ime, this does not work as claimed nor meet any sort of reasonable expectation for usefulness. i would love to be proved wrong.
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I wasn’t really replying to your post. As I said, I saw a few recent posts of users having issues with the LM de-authorizing. Rather than create a new thread, I just posted on this one, as it was the most recently updated.
Yes, I forgot to mention that I am on Intel/macOS.
We’ve been moaning about this auth. problem for a long time. My guess is that “they” (The wing of the Illuminati that controls drum software) have no intention of improving our situation or treating us as innocent until proven guilty.
I thought I had read that at some point they want to ditch the BFD3 LM and use the inMusic Software Center for authorization and updating of BFD products. Maybe that will be less intrusive and a better experience? Idk.
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I haven’t seen anyone mention a new system — if you have a link to that conversation, that would be great. In the meantime, this has been going on for a long time and looks like it will continue to do so — unless we upgrade in the future, if that’s how they plan to roll that feature out.
So I misspoke about the inMusic software center working with BFD3… Looks like that will only apply to BFD4 when it launches, but I’m going to assume that it will function with BFD expansions as well. All speculation I suppose.
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I love that word — “misspoke.” Reminds me of politics and politicians.
Either way, it looks as though none of us really has any answers, yet all of us suffer from the same problem, which is that our allowable usage time of 90 days is perpetually running out.
I don’t like that feeling of concern for my software timing out, nor do I like the feeling when it actually happens to me.
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