BFD 2...What's the performance like?

[Tritonemusic]

I have BFD 1.5. I'm quite happy with it. Actually, I love it. I'm interested in upgrading to BFD 2 but am afraid if it uses more CPU than the previous version.

I'm using a dinosaur:

••• G4 Dual 1.25 MDD, 2GB RAM
••• OS 10.4.11
••• System drive (WD Raptor 10,000 rpm), Audio drive (WD Raptor 10,000 rpm), BFD drive (7200 rpm).

Still, BFD 1.5 is working well. Has anyone noticed a big difference in performance between the two versions? Keep in mind that my computer doesn't have a lot of horsepower.

Thanks.

[wylie1]

I haven't tried it yet because I'm in the middle of installing new hard drives and updating to Leopard.
But I can tell you that to do a full installation of BFD2 you need 55gb of hard drive space.
How ever it does let you do a smaller install with less sample layers.

[Tritonemusic]

But I can tell you that to do a full installation of BFD2 you need 55gb of hard drive space.
How ever it does let you do a smaller install with less sample layers.

Thanks wylie1,

I was not aware of that. 55 GB...! Sounds like a lot to this Old Fart. My BFD drive has a capacity of 148.93 GB. I'd imagine that would be sufficient. Thanks again, for your reply.

[zed]

I have BFD 1.5. I'm quite happy with it. Actually, I love it. I'm interested in upgrading to BFD 2 but am afraid if it uses more CPU than the previous version.

I think it is more CPU efficient, actually. Certainly don't think it uses more resources than BFD 1.5, but it is not drastically different. Probably you should expect it to be almost the same, despite having more options and effects.

Fantastic upgrade. You will be so happy you did it. BFD 1.x is like a toy compared to BFD 2. Better sounds, delicious effects (which allow you to properly sculpt your kit pieces to sound the way you want them), and a great user interface which not only looks fabulous, but is also well designed for optimum user efficiency.

After the upgrade you will never want to open BFD 1.5 again. When I open up a project where I had BFD 1.5, my first task is to immediately replace it with BFD 2 (either by opening up the same kit in BFD 2 or by just starting with a better sounding kit), and then I disable BFD 1.5 from the project.

[wylie1]

Old Fart?
I belong to that club as well.
I'm upgrading now to over a Terabit of drive space.
That was science fiction when I was a kid.

[wylie1]

my first task is to immediately replace it with BFD 2 (either by opening up the same kit in BFD 2 or by just starting with a better sounding kit), and then I disable BFD 1.5 from the project.

Hi Zed: could you give some more details on that.
When I started using BFD1 I downloaded the DP template from BFD's web site so I never really had to do any setup it just worked the way I wanted it to.
When I launch DP,BFD just boots up right beside it.
I was hoping BFD2 works the same does it?
Where in DP to you set it to auto launch a second program?

[nikki-k]

Hi!
With the BFD2 install, you could always choose a smaller install for pieces. Or, install it all, and then delete pieces you do not think you will ever use. Since I also own and use the Platinum Samples packs, once I built my main kit, I simply installed what I needed to my MacBook Pro and installed those pieces with smaller footprint (less velocity layers), making the footprint small enough to fit on the onboard drive. On my Mac Pro, I install everything, and thus have all the velocity layers and options for substitution if I want when mixing. Under 20G on my MBP, over 200G on the Mac Pro. Works for me!

[Spikey Horse]

666, BFD2 as you probably know has its own mixer now (I mean a proper one) with built in comps and EQ's etc. Plus the included content, if you use it, is maybe 3X as detailed as the original BFD content (ie 3X more detail in samples). Although it's not as detailed as some of the other expansion packs if you are using any of those. And there's the added hit of the fancier GUI.

On the other hand, you don't have to use the FX or complex routing in the mixer (I mean you can have it working just like BFD1.x) and you can disable all FX with a single button but keep them 'in place' still (very handy). Also BFD2 allows you to scale how many velocity layers are used for the main groups (kick, cymbals, snare, toms etc) so you could have normal detail in the snare and reduce the cymbals and toms considerably- -this is in addition to the normal global 'set max no. of velocity layers' setting (which it has just like BFD1).

Another feature is its ability to import (multi layer) samples of your choosing and include them as kit pieces along with the rest. It can only create stereo kit pieces without all the ambient channels of course..... but here's the thing - if you wanted to make a few ultra streamline / non system taxing kit pieces you could (for example) sample a BFD cymbal at, say, four velocity levels (with the ambients mixed how you like it). Now chop up that stereo mix of those four cymbal hits and reimport into BFD to create a new kit piece. Name it 'Paiste crash STereo lite' or whatever (maybe use the same photo too). Now you have a four layer (stereo only) version of that crash cymbal which uses about as much streaming/ RAM as 1 ordinary (11-channel) BFD sample.

This is an idea I am currently working on for building a ultra efficient macbook/ Zendrum BFD library specifically for playing live which will use a combo of normal BFD samples for critical kit pieces like snares etc and DIY custom stereo samples for occasional kit pieces like crash cymbals/ percussion. The point is you could also use such a system for tracking at low latencies and then reload the full sample sets for rendering ... although as mentioned, BFD2 does have plenty of in built efficiency settings that'll probably work fine without you needing to start mucking about with resampling! LOL! ... I'm just mentioning it as an option.

Anyway, personally I think you would be able to run BFD2 in a similar way to how you can run BFD1 and not notice much of a difference. Adding FX and so on and obviously it's going to hit your system harder. But that is all optional.

If you're going to get BFD2 can you stretch to some extra cheap RAM as well? .. I think you may be in business then!

You say you are happy with 1.5 .... so was I ... but once you use BFD2 you won't ever want to go back - it really is so much of an improvement in all areas

[zed]

my first task is to immediately replace it with BFD 2 (either by opening up the same kit in BFD 2 or by just starting with a better sounding kit), and then I disable BFD 1.5 from the project.

Hi Zed: could you give some more details on that.
When I started using BFD1 I downloaded the DP template from BFD's web site so I never really had to do any setup it just worked the way I wanted it to.
When I launch DP,BFD just boots up right beside it.
I was hoping BFD2 works the same does it?
Where in DP to you set it to auto launch a second program?

I don't know anything about such templates. I have never had DP launch a second program for me. I use BFD within my DP projects as an instrument plug-in in the V-Racks. That way it remembers and loads all BFD settings that are relevant to the project I'm opening. Does your method do this?

Either way, I suspect that BFD2 will do everything you can do with BFD1.x, and more.

[FMiguelez]

Fantastic upgrade. You will be so happy you did it. BFD 1.x is like a toy compared to BFD 2. Better sounds, delicious effects (which allow you to properly sculpt your kit pieces to sound the way you want them), and a great user interface which not only looks fabulous, but is also well designed for optimum user efficiency.

After the upgrade you will never want to open BFD 1.5 again. When I open up a project where I had BFD 1.5, my first task is to immediately replace it with BFD 2 (either by opening up the same kit in BFD 2 or by just starting with a better sounding kit), and then I disable BFD 1.5 from the project.

Hello, Zed.

Can you tell me more about BFD 2, please? I need to get another drums VI (I currently own Larry Seyer's drums for Gigastudio).
I am looking for killer sounds, realistic sounds, easy to use, and the option to buy drum sounds played with brushes (for Jazzy stuff).

How does BFD 2 compare with other similar products? Who would you say is BFD's closest competitor?

And how would they compare performance-wise?

In other words, if you were in the market for a Drums VI, which one would you get, and why?

Thank you.

[wylie1]

Hi Zed, ya there is a DP template on their site you might want to try it.
it looks like this


When you click it DP launches with BFD right after you can do the same thing with Reason its a setting in DP somewhere.

And I just notice it is trying to launch BFD2 but got a error when scanning audio units.

O well I'm starting new with Leopard this weekend hopefully it all works well.

[zed]

Can you tell me more about BFD 2, please? I need to get another drums VI (I currently own Larry Seyer's drums for Gigastudio).
I am looking for killer sounds, realistic sounds, easy to use, and the option to buy drum sounds played with brushes (for Jazzy stuff).

How does BFD 2 compare with other similar products? Who would you say is BFD's closest competitor?

And how would they compare performance-wise?

In other words, if you were in the market for a Drums VI, which one would you get, and why?

Hey FM,

I haven't seen you around in a while. Welcome back!

First off, the one short-coming with BFD2 is that it doesn't ship with any kits pieces played with brushes. So to add brush stuff you will have to get one of the expansion packs. Having said that, I have managed to create a killer brush-type kit using a snare from the regular BFD2 set, by simply playing with the dynamics (i.e. raising the volume of the more soft hits) and then applying appropriate effects to give it some umphh.

I can't say that I have tried many of the competitor products. Most of what I have heard has not really appealed to my ears. I know that EZDrummer has some nice sounding kits, BUT I gather that you have very little control when it comes to modifying the sound of the kit pieces and altering the overall sound of the kit as it sits in the room.

BFD2 allows you mega control over everything, including how much snare and kick bleeds into each and every kit piece. Magnificent control over a variety of overhead mics, allow you to transform the entire kit sound easily. The effects are fabulous, and the most important thing I learned since getting the upgrade, is how much that appropriate studio effects can modify and allow you to really sculpt your drum sounds. Kit pieces which at first I didn't think had the characteristics I wanted, were drastically transformed when adding the right amount of compression, drive, eq, and snare bleed. With a little practise you can get pretty close to almost any sound you hear on a rock recording.

For this reason, I would encourage all of you who do not already have BFD 1.x, to purchase v.1.5 first and then get the v.2 upgrade. There are certainly some kit pieces in the original BFD set which sound even better with BFD2 effects and combined with new BFD2 drums.

All the high-hats play MUCH better than in BFD 1.x. There was something unsmooth with the previous hats, but in BFD2 you can play realistic performances with your fingers.

I don't really know what else I can say. I am really picky about my drum sounds, so I wouldn't endorse it unless I was thoroughly impressed. Sometimes I listen to a track I have recently recorded and I can't even believe it is BFD. Nevertheless, I still resort to grabbing little sections of loops from my extensive DrumCore collection. I would also encourage everyone to have that product in their arsenal.

[FMiguelez]

.

Thank you so much for this thorough review on BFD 2, Zed

I'll definitely check their site. It sounds that, if BFD 2 is SO customizable, and you have so much control over so many things, it would probably take a good while to program it the way you want it and tweak away... which is awesome for the times you actually have time to do this and really sculpt your drum sounds.

So it looks like, for projects that demand crazy dead-lines, maybe somethings easier or simpler might be ad hoc, but when there's time to be anal and picky, BFD 2 is the way to go.

There are also these addictive drums out there. So would you agree BFD 2, Addictive drums and EZ drummer are THE major contestants?

I've also heard around about Storming Drums, or drums from Hell, or Demon drums ( ) or something like that. Do you know those? Any comments on them?

Thanks again, my friend.

[zed]

So it looks like, for projects that demand crazy dead-lines, maybe somethings easier or simpler might be ad hoc, but when there's time to be anal and picky, BFD 2 is the way to go.

No, no, no. On the contrary. BFD2 comes with a bunch of kit presets, and it is very easy for you to customize the settings. You COULD spend hours being anal and picky (or just having fun and experimenting), but you don't have to. The kits sound good out of the box, and as soon as you fine-tune one of them to suit your needs even better, you save the preset, and then you can always go to that kit without having to spend any time fiddling. A BFD2 preset saves all the parameters for a kit, including effects used and any adjustments you may have made to the MIDI setup, etc.

There are also these addictive drums out there. So would you agree BFD 2, Addictive drums and EZ drummer are THE major contestants?

I've also heard around about Storming Drums, or drums from Hell, or Demon drums ( ) or something like that. Do you know those? Any comments on them?

They seem to be the main ones. I don't know about the ones you listed in the second list. Addictive Drums look good, but you would have to ask someone who has both to find out how efficiently they function when compared to one another. Addictive Drums seem to ship with less than half the kit pieces that come with BFD2, so you may be limiting your palette with that purchase. But I did hear some nice sounding acoustic kits in the demos. And EZdrummer has some nice sounding kits too.

For me, having maximum control is important. But admittedly, that does sometimes result in my spending way too much time tweeking instead of just doing other important stuff. No wonder I hardly get anything done.

Thank you so much for this thorough review on BFD 2, Zed

My pleasure.

[Tritonemusic]

Guys, you've talked me into it. Damn it! I can't resist. Time to make ANOTHER purchase!