No problem guys....glad that helped you. Honestly, I really do put these drum modules through their paces which have formed my opinions. However, a lot of the good and the bad with drum modules depends on how you use them as well as the style you play. The crazier (think prog metal drums or intricate jazz) drumming will need a drum module that is just as intense. For lighter stuff or simple beats to keep time where you're not really focusing much in dynamics or cool drum fills, the drum programs earlier in my list are really good.
I honestly didn't mean to sound negative about any of them because they all really are awesome tools no matter how we slice it. Once you find what works for you and use a few of these things, you'll see what I was talking about. Or...depending on your individual use, maybe you won't. You know how it goes...what works for one may not work for another...or we'll get some guy to come on here that pops out of nowhere saying "well, if you do this that this and this using SD3, it allows you to do this that this and this" and the next thing you know, we learn something from someone. :)
Steve (twaddle) you test for fxpansion too?! I don't think we ran into each other over there, did we? Or maybe my memory is failing me? It's so funny what you said about the UI. I was so against the looks of BFD 3 as well as some of the UI stuff that I thought for sure they would boot me off the team. LOL! I know it does a lot more than BFD 2 and is way more intuitive in ways....but man, I don't get the direction they went in for everything else...especially the eye-candy department and where the options are scattered about.
Kinda like the new Lincoln...they went from looking majestic and intimidating to small, compact and pretty much like everything else in life...scaled down and lifeless. Heck I posted on the beta forum over at fxpansion "that's why I liked the 80's....it may have looked rediculous to some people, but we really did take pride in our appearance." or something along those lines. LOL! All that aside, it is an incredible drum program.
Kenni: Glad it was helpful. Sorry to hear about the financial situation....it's not easy for most people these days, that's for sure. Studio's are really taking a hit due to people being able to get decent results on their own. They can either buy software at a decent price at Wal-Mart or Staples or heck....steal it right off the net. :( The problem there is they will take a loooong time to get what we are capable of getting for them....but people learn so fast and have so many cool tools to assist them, you're only goal has to be "ok, I need to be able to give people something they can't get anywhere else." Once you find that niche, you push that as hard as you can. I have quite a few of those types of things offered in my business that no one else does.....or they may do it, but they charge obnoxious amounts of money to do so.
To make things cheaper so people come to you....take a look at the things you do and see if there are ways of making them take less time. Quick example for you just to feed your head. I do lots of stuff here. Recording, producing, mixing/mastering, forensic audio, video editing, recording lessons in-studio or via video etc. With each of those comes something I offer that no one else does....so it keeps me busy. But for example....when I master something, one of the things that takes the longest for me is the pre-master editing.
It can take an hour or longer per song just to clean things up and man, I hate it with a passion and started charging more for "problem children" files. Then I started experimenting with different programs, different configurations of effects, different ways of thinking and going about the process....you know, like a re-evaluation period. I wound up making incredible changes that literally give me BETTER results in 5-10 minutes instead of an hour!
The biggest thing in my studio is the time it takes to do things because I'm a perfectionist. I have to manually get my hands on everything. Until some automatic plugin is created, I'll always do things manually as I know they will always be the way I want/need them to be. But sometimes we have to take a step back and take a look how we're doing things and investigate what other methods might be able to save time. When you save time, you save money...when you save money, you can pass that savings on to your clients and when your prices drop, you get more business.
I've been all word of mouth since 1999 and to this day don't have any ad's in papers, the phone book or even on my site. I don't even have a facebook page for my studio. LOL! But thank God I'm booked solid and always have room for other clients even if I have to take care of them on my personal time or during another client render. I've done what I call "specialty work" for a long time so I kept things relatively quiet and under the radar. But I bought into another studio so this extended my business to "everyone" now as I have a bigger facility and more people to help me out.
Anyway, just figured I'd share some of that to feed your head. The above said, even though I'm in good shape right now, I wake up every day and think of going to work at UPS part time from 4 am to 9 am just to get full benefits! This Obamacare crap has been a nightmare for me. I pay insane money for my benefits as is...now they are dropping me and the new plan will be over $100 more. UPS, here I come....that's $700 per month I won't have to pay any longer for crying out loud! ;) I don't even use the plan. Ok, wait...I better not say that. I said that about 6 years ago and on the weekend in which I said it, my appendix burst. LOL!!! Trus story! :)
Be well brother....I hope things get better for you and anyone else experiencing financial hard-ships.
-Danny