Money is of no concern to The Mighty Konrad. 

@Rain... You bring up a very valid point that I actually factored into my decision making as well. I did not like many of the demo sounds for BFD2. They are good and all but not to my taste. It seemed like a waste to blow a wad of cash on such a large library that would for the most part go unused. BFD Eco although it is missing some functionality that the full version has is exactly what I wanted without all the extra gack and for a lot less cash. Now I can install what I want/need as I go along. As far as the problem with your external drive just get a hold of the PS guys. They are ultra helpful and actually I'd bet one of them (Rail) will stop in this thread and help if he sees it. Cheers.

chuckebaby


i preffer ez drummer myself.the sounds are just a tab bit more realistic in my opinion.
and you cant tell me the gui isnt the coolest thing since sliced bread.

Let me put it this way - they're realistic BUT they sound closer to pre-mixed drums than to what you'd get if you set up a drum kit in the room and record that.


Not as extreme as Steven Slate's which wins for the most heavily processed.


BFD coupled w/ Platinum Samples libraries gives you realistic drums sounds, well recorded - they don't sound sterile or digital by any mean - but not as pre-mixed. It's more like a brilliant recording engineer routed every track to the board using awesome sounding gear but left you in charge of sculpting them and mixing them.

That is indeed the big difference between BFD and other similar programs. They are supposed to be raw samples for tweaking as opposed to something you can just drop right into a mix. However all the presets allow you to do that as well. It just depends on what you are looking for from your drum software. For me I want full realism even if I gotta dig my teeth into it a little more. I'd prefer to actually have my own kit again with the right mics going through the right board and the ability to play the buggers again but none of that is gonna happen so this is as close as I can get. ;-)

hallelujah!!

It's so good to hear you guys praising BFD Eco (and perhaps even BFD2 one day) for all the reasons my self, bristoljonesy & others have been shouting from the rooftops for the past year or so. 
Brings a big smile to my face.
See? 

Steve

Rain


May be worth mentioning...

I think BFD's GUI would benefit from a bit of refinement, graphics-wise. It's strictly aesthetic, but, it had an impact on my perception of it. I also think that the demos on FX Pansion's web site do not do the product justice. Honestly, it wasn't until I heard Rock Legends that I revised my judgement.

I'd say the same thing about Platinum Samples web site design. I don't mean to sound like a prick because honestly those guys make the best samples I have heard, but there's something about it that reminds me those old geocities web pages. I'd hate to think I may be insulting anyone at PS so I apologize if I am - your libraries are just so incredible! 

I totally understand that PS probably focuses on what really matters, but these are just my 2 cents - between BFD's GUI, the demos on FXPansion's web site and the design of Platinum Samples' site, I discarded BFD for a long time - for all the wrong reasons. But I find it sad to think that other pricks like me could miss out on those terrific products because of that.

So to anyone like there who neglected to check these guys out on similar basis - dude, do yourself a favor, forget about graphics and go listen to those samples!

That's interesting your saying that about not liking BFD2 for all the wrong reasons. I wasn't impressed with superior drummer for "some" of those reasons.
I'm really not a fan of metal/heavy rock (that doesn't mean I don't love Black Sabbath, The Pistols & The Clash) but what I heard of the demo's seemed to lean very much that way. 
I particularly don't like the drums in a lot of modern metal, those horribly tinny kicks that I hear. 
 
I thought the demo's on the fxpansion site for Eco & BFD2 covered a much wider range, particularly as you had 10 different kits with BFD2
Not that the demo's were the style I wanted as such, just that they seemed more eclectic. 
 
One thing I will say about fxpansions web site that no other site has and I think is really useful is that you can demo each kit piece on it's own. 
To my mind that seemed very professional and gives an indication as to what their philosophy is with regards to giving you the raw sounds so that you can be the engineer. 
Ultimately though I much prefer the sound of BFD Eco & BFD2. The "B" in BFD does stand for BIG and that's as accurate a description as you can get.  

There are 3 installs for BFD2, small, medium and large but what that actually does (I think) is install kits with less velocity layers so most people would want the full kit.
What might have been a better idea would be to allow you to choose which kits you wanted to install. But of of course you would still have to buy all 10 kits of which you might only use 4 or 5. 
 
Still whether I was going to use them or not I still thought it much better value than superior and most places in the UK it seemed slightly cheaper too.
Partly, the reason platinum samples stuff sounds better is probably on account of the fact that they have many more velocity layers (up to 256)
I thought this to be a bit over the top at first but perhaps not. I figured most loud heavy rock and punk wouldn't really need more than 10 to 15 layers and the subtlety and dynamics would be wasted
but the Gen-16 Z-packs sound much better. But would I really notice in a well mixed heavy rock track? Who's to say. But I still want them 

Steve

Sorry, double post.

twaddle

Sorry, double post.

But whilst I'm here 

Apologies to the OP for meandering off topic slightly but one thing I will say..........

Right now if you want to demo any of the main contenders there is only one choice.
That's not an opinion but a fact. BFD2 is the only one that you can try before you buy.

Admittedly it comes with just one 16bit (not 24bit) kit and with fewer velocity layers but apart from that it is fully featured
and gives you a great idea of what it's all about. Not sure about all the midi loops but that's not really the point.
It is obviously more complex but well worth checking out.

Steve

twaddle


That's interesting your saying that about not liking BFD2 for all the wrong reasons. I wasn't impressed with superior drummer for "some" of those reasons.
I'm really not a fan of metal/heavy rock (that doesn't mean I don't love Black Sabbath, The Pistols & The Clash) but what I heard of the demo's seemed to lean very much that way. 
I particularly don't like the drums in a lot of modern metal, those horribly tinny kicks that I hear. 

I thought the demo's on the fxpansion site for Eco & BFD2 covered a much wider range, particularly as you had 10 different kits with BFD2
Not that the demo's were the style I wanted as such, just that they seemed more eclectic. 

One thing I will say about fxpansions web site that no other site has and I think is really useful is that you can demo each kit piece on it's own. 
To my mind that seemed very professional and gives an indication as to what their philosophy is with regards to giving you the raw sounds so that you can be the engineer. 
Ultimately though I much prefer the sound of BFD Eco & BFD2. The "B" in BFD does stand for BIG and that's as accurate a description as you can get.  

There are 3 installs for BFD2, small, medium and large but what that actually does (I think) is install kits with less velocity layers so most people would want the full kit.
What might have been a better idea would be to allow you to choose which kits you wanted to install. But of of course you would still have to buy all 10 kits of which you might only use 4 or 5. 

Still whether I was going to use them or not I still thought it much better value than superior and most places in the UK it seemed slightly cheaper too.
Partly, the reason platinum samples stuff sounds better is probably on account of the fact that they have many more velocity layers (up to 256)
I thought this to be a bit over the top at first but perhaps not. I figured most loud heavy rock and punk wouldn't really need more than 10 to 15 layers and the subtlety and dynamics would be wasted
but the Gen-16 Z-packs sound much better. But would I really notice in a well mixed heavy rock track? Who's to say. But I still want them 

Steve

I got my first real glimpse of EZ when I received a LE copy after buying Studio One during a sale. Actually, it was over 6 months before I even installed it. But when I did it just won me over almost instantly. And since there's sales all the time, it didn't cost me much to upgrade to EZ full, then SD.

I always thought the audio demos on Toontrack's web site didn't really do the kits justice either. Sometimes, they give you a fair idea - at other times, they leave you guessing. Recently I was considering their Custom and Vintage expansion - because technically, that should be the closest thing to what I want. But once again, the demo weren't exactly it. And it's happened to me a few times to buy expansions based on the specs hoping that I could tweak them to my liking only to find that they were too pre-produced for me to be able to "salvage" anything.

I'm not fan of the metal type of kicks either - though I do have to work w/ those as well and Toontrack does the job fairly well in that case. But I'm a huge Bonham fan and I like big fat kick drums for my own stuff. The one EZX that I found myself constantly using was the Nashville one, because it could sound big. Just a bit of layering here and there and I could get close to what I want.

Also, and I insist on that one - part of the reason why I stayed away from BFD was that I wasn't confident I'd have the skills to mix more natural sounding drums. But as it turns out, it's even easier for me.

Update - A big thank you to Rail @ Platinum Samples who went the extra mile to quickly provide an updated installer that fixed my little issue. :)

Amazing samples, top notch service.