In summary - one midi track and multiple audio tracks.

This makes the most sense to me as well...
I wouldn't want to be limited to BFD's internal EFX/routing.

Although it may not be 100% realistic, most people use way less reverb on the kick than on the other drums (and sometimes zero).  I use ProChannel EQ differently on each drum.

That said, I often combine toms on one stereo track and pan them in the drum plug in, but I know CJ and others will disagree with that.  My set-up for audio tracks is usually 1-kick, 2-snare/sidstick, 3-hi-hat, 4-toms (stereo), 5-cymbals (stereo), 6-other perc (stereo).   Although this layout began with tape when tracks were limited, even with unlimited tracks I dislike the clutter of tracks I don't really need.  My console shows 8 active tracks at a time and I don't see the need for 5 tom tracks and 6 cymbal tracks.

I normally keep MIDI separate to make editing easier, but sometimes use a single MIDI track.  Depends on your workflow.
 

konradh

My set-up for audio tracks is usually 1-kick, 2-snare/sidstick, 3-hi-hat, 4-toms (stereo), 5-cymbals (stereo), 6-other perc (stereo).   Although this layout began with tape when tracks were limited, even with unlimited tracks I dislike the clutter of tracks I don't really need.   
 

That's similar to how I do it too.  I only have about 8 drum audio tracks - Kick, Snare, HH, Toms (all combined), OH, Room, Ride, other.  I don't like too much clutter.  However, combining the Toms presents another issue in that I can't EQ each tom in Sonar.  I like to high pass the "mud" out of each tom, and each tom has a different thud frequency.  So I use EQ in Superior (don't use BFD, but same concept) for each Tom. 

I go even further, because BFD exposes all the individual microphones:

Stereo Room
Stereo Overheads
Stereo Amb 3
Kick In
Kick Out
Kick Sub
Snare Top 1
Snare Top 2
Snare Bottom
Hi Hat
Tom 1
Tom 2
Tom 3
Tom 4
Tom 5
Tom 6
Crash 1
Crash 2
Crash 3
China Crash
Splash
Ride

This scenario opens up some interesting mix possibilities

I do the same with individual drums from Steven Slate drums in kontakt, then bus toms, hihats, cymbals etc.., then all buses into a final drum bus. Sooner or later you want to treat something on its own or slap some compression on everything and you have so much more control + it's easier to deal with pan/eq/vol etc.. finetuning from the console than going into a plugin and messing with it. I think I'm at 16 tracks for drums/cymbals and 4 buses or so.

There doesn't seem to be much overhead routing everything into individual tracks so why not?

I just wish folders worked in the console so you could just fold the drums to un-clutter all those tracks.

Understand about EQing toms individually.  I guess the particular sounds I have been using plus the type of music has not made this necessary for me lately.

Everyone will scream when I say this, but when I was cutting live drums—a rare occassion these days—I would EQ toms on the way in (in the input channel strip) to remove major problems, then tweak EQ in respect to the mix later.

Kenneth

I just wish folders worked in the console so you could just fold the drums to un-clutter all those tracks.

+100 

CJaysMusic


So you have more control over each drum.

This depends a great deal n what your using as your drums. Since we're talking BFD2 I don't see that you get any more 
control over it by routing it out to your sequencer.
In many respects I think the BFD2 mixer is a lot better than sonars.

Steve

guitartrek

Kenneth

I just wish folders worked in the console so you could just fold the drums to un-clutter all those tracks.

+100 

Absolutely 1000% If sonar X2 doesn't have this (and I've seen nothing to suggest it has) I'll be quite disappointed.


Steve

I am not familiar with BFD other than demos on its site; however, the only caution for me is the possibility that a plug-in will quit working.  For that reason, I like to capture separate audio tracks so I always have a remix option.

Sounds like I am being overly cautious, but right now Electri6ity, Acoustic Legends HD, and RealLPC are all non-functional.  (The first two due to a Vir2 update a tech did without asking me.  RealLPC issue is caused by confusion in how a tech set up VST folders.)  I also cannot find Andy Johns drums—no explanation for that one.

This will all eventually get resolved, but, in the meantime, I am glad I have audio tracks.