Sonar X2 and BFD 2 is a marrige made in heaven.

As you may know I am a Battery 3 user for awhile now. I just did a song using BFD 2 and I am impressed. 

Battery 3 is still a very useful drum machine but BFD 2 is the way to go if your needs are not as eclectic as mine are. Having both is the ideal situation.

One neat thing that is a bonus is BFD2 shows up in the PRV with the drum names without the need of a drum map. DR008 did that too. Battery 3 doesn't. 
 

Indeed. I'm only on Eco but what a great program.

Funkybot

John


As you may know I am a Battery 3 user for awhile now. I just did a song using BFD 2 and I am impressed. 

Battery 3 is still a very useful drum machine but BFD 2 is the way to go if your needs are not as eclectic as mine are. Having both is the ideal situation.

One neat thing that is a bonus is BFD2 shows up in the PRV with the drum names without the need of a drum map. DR008 did that too. Battery 3 doesn't. 

I'm a huge BFD2 fan. It's just a fantastic plugin, offers great flexibility, has great effects, is expandable, works great in Sonar. What's not to like?


In addition, Platinum Samples has the best expansions for BFD2 (IMO), with some of the best drum sounds I've ever heard in the Joe Barressi and Jim Scott packs, and if you're more of a classic rock guy, there's always the Andy John's pack too, which also sounds great. They also have a ton of grooves in different genres.


Disclosure: I test for both companies, but in both cases, I was a customer first and later became a tester. If I didn't strongly believe that these are just fantastic products, I'd just keep my mouth shut and not post at all. 

Funkybot you've become my new best friend. That information is very welcome. Right now I already have the Maple Jazz kit. Just got it with half price sale. 
It is a very versatile drum synth. My only problem with it is not having more percussion sounds. Thats why Battery 3 will not be sitting idle. Although BFD 2 is not as easy to use as many others it repays the complications with totally controllable sounds. 

Beepster my good friend. I posted the thread thinking of you. If you ever get the chance get it. No ifs ands or buts. Just get it. I think its still on sale. 

BFD Eco is nice but its really nothing like BFD2.  The kits are bigger in sound and have a lot more layers. I would compare BFD Eco with Session Drummer 3 with Eco getting a bit better sound. BFD2 is the drum synth to get. Along side Battery 3 BFD2 make the most useful drum synths there is. 

guitartrek


John - I'm a Superior user and am entrigued with your comment about drum names showing up without a drum map.  How does that occur?  And can you alter the order of the drum piece names so that you can put all the toms together, all the hihats together, etc.?

I don't know. Your idea is a darn good one.  Keep in mind although I have had it for awhile now I haven't done much with it. The last couple days I was using it in a serious way and found it outstanding. Before that it was very casual use. Ever since I got it I have been impressed but haven't done much to know enough to post anything about it. Normally I would use Battery 3 because I know what I will get with it and it is extremely tweakable down to the underlying wave files. Really its the only drum synth that can be used in any music. BFD2 is aimed at pop and rock music, country too.  

I don't know clearly how a synth shows patches to Sonar but many do. The problem with drum synths is that each note is a sort of patch and when you want to edit a MIDI drum track you either have to use a drum map or with BFD2 or even BFD Eco Sonar is able to read the kit pieces and display them in the PRV. 

Maybe when I know more I can answer your questions better. All I know now is it sounds great and is not too hard to get the sound you are looking for.

It definitely helps to have a professional, 3rd-party virtual instrument to help better the sound of your projects. Toontrack Superior Drummer is also excellent.

Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://garrigus.com/?ProAudioTutor
* Publisher of the DigiFreq free music technology newsletter: http://digifreq.com/?DigiFreq
* Publisher of the NewTechReview free consumer technology newsletter: http://newtechreview.com/?NewTechReview

Hallelujah and amen to that  

Very glad to read of your joy of discovering the wonders of BFD2 John. 
Like funkybot I too am a beta tester but just for fxpansion and like funkybot I was a massive fan long before I begged them to let me help out in the test department.

To answer a few questions... Ahh, funky beat me to the first one.

I don't use the step sequencer but I think it works for all drum vsti's although having looked again I see it works much better in BFD2 as you say, it shows within BFD2's interface and all the note names show up
like they do in the prv, very cool, don't know if superior drummer does the same but addictive drums and ezdrummer don't, as I expected BFD Eco also manages to do this. 

There's a very useful and well made video from groove3 called, BFD2 Explained that covers pretty much all you need and more.

And a very good BFD2 mixing tutorial on youtube called (oddly enough) BFD2 Mixing Drums It's a good tutorial but I had to watch it about a 100 times as he goes far too fast and does things without explaining what
he did but I got there in the end.

There are more home made tutorials on youtube that are entertaining and sometimes informative.

Steve

John


OK now you guys have got me mad! WHY didn't you tell me about it before?

Beepster was important in me getting BFD Eco I had BFD dv but was uninterested in going any further.  

So now I am going to hold you Twaddle and you Funkybot responsible for me being uninformed all this time. 

John, where have you been for the last 3 to 5 years? 
Seriously I've been banging on about how good BFD2 is for at least that long and can link plenty of posts hereto verify the fact if required.
I've got in to a few spats with folk here too about other brands the names of which I dare not mention.


I've read a lot of your posts over the years too and I'd like to say I've always been impressed with your depth of knowledge and your patience with other, less knowledgeable folk on here
who might have driven others (me) over the edge. 


Steve

Sorry, double post

The next time there is a sale on the upgrade from BFD Eco to BFD2... I am IN!!
 
J

jbow


The next time there is a sale on the upgrade from BFD Eco to BFD2... I am IN!!
 
J

Dude... it's on special right now for $129.

http://www.fxpansion.com/...ge=11&currency=USD

At least I think that's a special. Pretty sure the upgrade is normally $200.

Wish I could afford it but Eco's doing the trick for now. Cheers.

Its still on sale for the upgrade which is $129. It is normally $199. The regular version is $259, I think. If you can jump on it.

Funkybot

guitartrek


John - I'm a Superior user and am entrigued with your comment about drum names showing up without a drum map.  How does that occur?  And can you alter the order of the drum piece names so that you can put all the toms together, all the hihats together, etc.?

There's something in BFD2 that tells Sonar the note names. How it works is beyond me, but it does. 


Can you change it? Yes, if you adjust the keymap in BFD2, those changes will be reflected in Sonar's PRV.

it's an instrument def or along them line.. the 808 and 909 kits in the groove synth do the same... so when it calls that specific patch / instrument  it adjusts the prv

sadly cakewalk make it a PITA to do editing of such (drum maps being a prime example, something SO wrong about text import) / same again for SD 2 and 3 etc.. why have multiple SFZ's when 1 could do...  , when it could be FAR simpler and they would find people didn't mind making such things / sharing them

if they didn't over engineer certain things, they'd find people would do more resources for it..

Fog

Funkybot

guitartrek


John - I'm a Superior user and am entrigued with your comment about drum names showing up without a drum map.  How does that occur?  And can you alter the order of the drum piece names so that you can put all the toms together, all the hihats together, etc.?

There's something in BFD2 that tells Sonar the note names. How it works is beyond me, but it does. 


Can you change it? Yes, if you adjust the keymap in BFD2, those changes will be reflected in Sonar's PRV.

it's an instrument def or along them line.. the 808 and 909 kits in the groove synth do the same... so when it calls that specific patch / instrument  it adjusts the prv

sadly cakewalk make it a PITA to do editing of such (drum maps being a prime example, something SO wrong about text import) / same again for SD 2 and 3 etc.. why have multiple SFZ's when 1 could do...  , when it could be FAR simpler and they would find people didn't mind making such things / sharing them

if they didn't over engineer certain things, they'd find people would do more resources for it..

You mean the rolland groove synth?
I just loaded it and firstly I don't see any kits just individual hits, then when I do load them the prv doesn't respond.
Anyway, it sounds horrible to my ears. 

Steve

Ah boo I HATE threads like this ever since my Jan 1 resolution to stop bankrupting myself with new plugs. Having said that I'm doing fine with NI's drummer series and Battery 3. 

jbow


Yeah... I will jump, I just have a habit of asking for a better deal... sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't. Usually on a guitar or mic... I can get a better deal, maybe not on this... but the worst they can do is say "no", then I'll buyit for 129... and be happy!

J

Glad to hear it Jbow
Just as a word of warning, BFD2 like superior drummer isn't really for people that want drums that sound polished out of the box, it's for people who want to do their own polishing.
Having said that there are presets included that come in different genres but there aren't as many as addictive drums but many more than ezdrummer.
I'm only saying this because some people have complained that it doesn't sound like the drums they here on the records they like which to my mind is probably a good thing 

Steve