BFD Drum problems. Any help?

I know this is the Sonar Forum, but I am a registered user of 3.1.1. Producer. I'm a new BFD user that's having a problems with BFD Drums. I've RTFM and visit the KV support forum before I send out a plea for help. I'm stumped. I'm a new user with problems that are stumping me, as I think I've got a fairly good handle on this stuff and I follow directions well:-)

First of all, my DAW:
Operton 165
2gb ram
(2) 160 Seagates 7200 rpm
streaming, however, off of an external Seagate.

I downloaded latest version as of May 2, 2006. I have read and continue to read the manual.

Issues are:

Still choking cymbals: I changed the max buffer thing to 64. I've verified my note durations. I even tried to load all to RAM, but I ended that when the reading went as high as 1.4GB, figuring that as I still had some kit to go that wasn't going to leave too much for processing. Now while I played around with the cymbals when they were loading into memory the cymbals did not choke on me. Please advise if I mis-read that parameter and, with 2gb, I should still load all to ram. I don't suppose their is a way to just load cymbals to memory, is there? Haven't read about it.

Does this have anything to do with streaming off the the external Seagate? I have contemplated buying a third HDD for BFD and will if it fixes this issue.

Open Hi Hat: I am aware that every set of hats do not have an "open tip" or other open hi hat sounds. However, I am not getting an open hi hat sound when I click on open tip- it is a closed hat, at least to my ears. Oddly enough, the very first time I clicked on the drum map (Sonar 3) to "test" the sample I did get an open hi-hat sound, but after that first time it disappeared. This perplexes me - and yes, I did download, install, and have used the add-on Zildjian set. But I still hear NOTHING that resembles an open hi-hat sound.

I am continuing to read, tweak, and experiment. I love the control over the kits. I would appreciate any feedback as I would like to get to making some music! Smile

Dono in Frisco, Baja Oklahoma.

Do the cymbals cut off when you play the "built in" grooves in the Groove Librarian, or only on the MIDI patterns you create in the SONAR PRV with a mouse, keyboard, or whatever? Try importing one of BFD's MIDI grooves into SONAR and see what the durations, etc. are on those notes. Same thing with the high hat expressions. I've never had to manipulate any values relating to durations, so I'm thinking that's not the issue but you never know... I'd check.

Try increasing the latency for the project. BFD consumes a fair amount of resources and it sounds like your system can't "keep up" with the streaming samples from the BFD disk. If you are early on in a project and don't want the additional latency, switch to 16 bit "preview" mode until you are ready for final mixdown, bounce, etc. then switch back to the 24 bit mode.

One last thing, I would read the BFD manual again with regards to all of the options menus... I seem to recall some settings that relate to the streaming cache sizes.

Good luck!

I think part of your bfd problem is getting to know the usage (i'd review that manual) - it sounds like your re-arranging or editing the kit (or parts in it) and not understanding how or why there.
Look at the choke fade options first.

The other problem is, IMO cymbals are bfd's weakest link (for example: see the dennis chambers kit in "artist drums" for a good example of proper cymbals). Although I like the mic/point/kits options and editing capabilites.

Just sounds like you need to dig in more with it and learn it (initial user errors)