A Complete Beginners Adventures with BFD Eco and Sonar X1...

LOL... by all accounts it is a much cut down version of full strength BFD2, but It is quite easy to use and sounds just fine to me. An excellent addition to your drum arsenal.

Yep, open that box dood and start writing lol. I'll chip in from time to time, as I'm still picking it up myself. Actually, it is quite easy to use and set up. I had each of the drum elements running to  individual tracks in short order. Much easier to use than Battery.

I've been on a "spending spree" too. I'm not meaning to brag or anything here, and we all have our different budgets and what have you. But I've had my eye on this bundle for a few weeks now:-

http://www.applied-acoustics.com/modelingcollection/overview/

And I've gone and splashed my cash. And having spent the last month or so saying how much I'm having to learn now that I'd upgraded to X1 and stuff, I've now got another seven "physical modelling" soft synths to learn, one of which is Tassman, which I'll probably never learn to use properly, it is that massive.

synkrotron


Yep, open that box dood and start writing lol. I'll chip in from time to time, as I'm still picking it up myself. Actually, it is quite easy to use and set up. I had each of the drum elements running to  individual tracks in short order. Much easier to use than Battery.

I've been on a "spending spree" too. I'm not meaning to brag or anything here, and we all have our different budgets and what have you. But I've had my eye on this bundle for a few weeks now:-

http://www.applied-acoustics.com/modelingcollection/overview/

And I've gone and splashed my cash. And having spent the last month or so saying how much I'm having to learn now that I'd upgraded to X1 and stuff, I've now got another seven "physical modelling" soft synths to learn, one of which is Tassman, which I'll probably never learn to use properly, it is that massive.

Wow, that's some major learning you'll be doing skytron.
I think I actually printed off the manual that came with tassman 2 when i9t shipped with sonar 4 (I think)
It was huge and I never really got to grips with it as I'm not so much a synth dood.


Eco is obviously a cut down version of BFD2 but it's really not that far behind.


Steve

Beepster


I'm hoping it will map to my padKontrol easier than Session Drummer does. Never quite figured that one out and I had to resort to manually programming the pK which is a PAIN. Anyway... I'll change the title and start writing as soon as I have it downloaded. Cheers.

Glad you got it at last beepster.
There is an included key map for pad kontrol but I can't vouch for how good it is as I don't have it.
(Pad kontrol that is)

Steve

I'm also kind of curious whether I can use the Andy John's kit for SD3 I bought a little while ago in Eco. I doubt it but if I can that would be cool. That's got some nice sounds.

@twaddle... Thanks. I'll check it out. I'm not sure how those premapped thingies will work for me though. I'm guessing it's kind of a standard set up but I'm probably gonna want my pad set up a little differently. I'm hoping the learn function on it is similar to Addictive Drums where you simply press a "Learn" button within the program on a kit piece and then tap the pad you want it to map to. Super simplz. I think someone was describing something like that in another thread in regards to BFD. I'll know soon enough. Just waiting for a system backup to complete and then I'm gonna download it. Cheers.

Should I have a 32bit installation as well as a 64?

Compose drums in 32 then export them as wav's...

Guess I'd rather pay the $20.

Not according to sweetwater:
----------
Windows XP SP3 (32-bit), Vista SP1 (32-bit), Windows 7 (32-bit), Pentium 4-based CPU or better (Windows)
---------

But I also missed this little notice on their web page:

All purchases registered after 1 Jan 2012 are eligible for a free upgrade.

http://www.fxpansion.com/index.php?page=103



So - never mind.

Oof... glad I wasn't here to read that 32 bit comment. That would have stressed me out. lol...

On the FXpansion site you have to go to "Support" and "Register". This page asks for a serial number and gives you the option of Win, Mac or Win + Mac. I'm just gonna go with Win because it is unlike I'll be using a Mac anytime soon. On the right hand side of the page (if you are logged in) it shows you what you have bought. It says registered products but mine aren't registered yet... so that's weird but whatever.

Okay... scratch that. It seems to have registered automagically. Weird. I clicked on the BFD Eco link and I've got a ton of downloads waiting for me and a list of instructions on how to download for different installs. The one I want is "Installing from scratch" which is the "Eco FULL Installer-V.1.5.0.11"

From there I am supposed to install all other updates on the page.

BRB

Beepster -
 
Works great with padKontrol - -but you may want to tweak where on the pads the midi notes are for your own style.
 
I think it (BFD Eco)works a lot like session drummer, including the many ways you can tweak sounds in the mixer.
Have Fun!
 
Brian

@Brian... Good to know, man. I think you're one of the only other guys on here with a pK. It's such a cool device but it is quite wacky getting it all figured out. Especially for a n00b like myself. As I said with Addictive Drums it mapped so easily so I'm hoping there is a learn function similar to that. I kind of like my pads set up in an... urm... unusual way I guess. We'll see though. Just as long as I can find the note numbers I can just resort to programming the pK manually but that is rather time consuming. I figured out a nice set up for SD3 that way and saved it to the internal memory so at least I won't be stuck if worse comes to worst. Cheers!

Okay, downloaded. Now I'll do my usual Right Click on the file in the FireFox download window, open containing folder, copy. Then I show the desktop, create a new folder, name it BFD Eco and paste the copy there. I do this because I like all my stuff organized and to have easy access and backups. I close Firefox (and all other programs because this may interfere with installs but I did not have any other programs open this time). Now from that folder I right click and "Run As Administrator" (best to install EXE's this way as some programs will screw up if you don't). It took a about a minute to extract everything and now I have the "BFD Eco Installer" wizard on screen. Now I'm even gonna close the folder just because I like EVERYTHING except the install wizards closed before proceeding with stuff like this. Clicked next. License agreement screen. Click agree. Next. Now it's showing me the install path but it is telling me this is the 32 bit version. Uh oh. I'm assuming I can correct this with the free updates like were mentioned up thread. If that's a problem I guess I'll have to contact FXpansion. Whoops. However it is showing a rpoper path so... Click next. hmmm... "The folder you have selected to install to doesn't exist. Would you like to create this folder?" Yeah, I supposed I'll do that. Click OK. Ah... now I have a 64 bit VST path thingy. Welp, let's just see what happens here. Click Next. Again gotta create a folder. OK. It did this four times. Once each for VST Plug In Path 32bit, APP Path 32bit, VST Plug In Path 64bit, VST App Path 64bit. Well alrighty then. I hope that worked. Now I have "Choose the size of install you would like". It only gives me an option for "Full" which is what I want anyway because it is telling me it installs all available velocity layers. It is saying the install is 2.68GB. Click Install. It is now installing and giving me a fancy splash screen while it does. I'm gonna go for a smoke while it does this.

Okay... it looks like there is some BETA stuff in here so I'm making a decision and just installing everything. Otherwise I would probably stick to the "Eco Upgrade Installer, the Groove Monkey Xmas 2011 Freebie and the Eco Data installer. If anything borks out on me I'll just uninstall and follow that path. First in line will be the Eco Upgrade installer. From here on out I will be using my "Open Containing folder > Copy > Paste to BFD Desktop > Install" procedure so I won't type all that crap every time. Click the Win download. 321MB and an approximated 4 min download via broadband.

Now the Eco Update Beta V.1.5.1.0... Seems to just be some fixes. 72MB about a minute to download. Took about 20 seconds to unpack and install.