FXpansion BFD Drum Instrument VST/RTAS/AU (Macintosh and Windows)

55GB of pure studio quality drum sounds.

Item: FXPBFD

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    • $399.95
    • Installment Plan:4 payments of $99.98
    • List: $499.99
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  • More expected Monday, October 13, 2008. Preorder today.
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    We have been given a date of Monday, October 13, 2008 for the arrival of this item. This date is not guaranteed, rather an estimate based on either information obtained directly from the manufacturer or historical delivery data for the specific manufacturer.

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  • Pricing
    • $199.95
    • List: $299.99
    • SAVE 33%
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    Ground
    free shipping
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    2 Day Shipping
    $6.99
     | Overnight
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  • In Stock :: Will Ship Monday

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customer reviews

Rate and Review This Product:

36 People rated this product : * * * * * * * * * * 8 out of 10

2 People wrote reviews

* * * * * * * * * * 8 out of 10

"Great tool for the money... but..."

Feature:
Lots of cool features like adding room ambience, level and pan adjustments, pitch, changing kit pieces, etc.

Quality:
As I said, some of the cymbals are 'rough' sounding (although you CAN find kit pieces that sound better than others). Aside from working with cymbals, I like the sounds.

Value:
For the price I paid at Zzounds ($199), it's way worth the headaches.

Desirability:
BFD has awesome marketing. I bought based on the hype. I believe the product will improve with the next version. I'm not unhappy with the purchase.

Sound:
Franky, I expected more. After reading the marketing hype and then finally buying it, I think the marketing is too hyped (but kudos to the sales guys... I was one in a former life!). Some of the cymbals sound obtrusive. Snares are good as well as the kicks. HOWEVER, I use it almost always over the sounds on the Korg Triton, Roland JV-2080, and some of the other soft synths in my toolbox.

Ease of Use:
Like too much software it seems to be designed by nerds and not by musicians. I use it as a DXi plugin. ONLY.

Support:
The web site is efficient. Otherwise, I don't know.

Overall:
Conceptually, it's an awesome product. In the real world it needs some work. I'm a producer. I don't produce part-time- it's my full-time gig. I use it every day on my client's songs. I wish it were a bit more memory-friendly (seems to use lots of RAM). Other than the comments above, I believe it's a great tool for the money.

Submitted: 9/19/2007

Style of Music: Adult

* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10

"Absolutely brilliant!"

Feature:
Really, I don't know what other features you could ask for to make realistic sounding drum tracks. All the samples are recorded clean so you can EQ and process them however you like, or not at all. You can output each of BFD's drums (as well the room, overhead and PZM mikes) to 17 different tracks in your DAW. Or you can just use the BFD module's internal mixer and output to stereo. Or you can start with the stereo and then switch to the 17 output version for later mixdown, when you're ready. The humanizing and quanitzation features are outstanding.

Quality:
It shipped with a buggy installer, but otherwise I haven't had bug problems. I'm cutting down the quality points because the system requirements are quite heavy. You need to have a ton of RAM to run this thing most smoothly. Otherwise, samples have to stream off your hard drive. My experience is that I need to make most of the samples for the kit I've got loaded play once to warm it up. After that, it runs smooth and the system load isn't too bad. But until then, you get all kinds of audio problem and system useage spikes. This is really annoying, and I'm sure it convinces some people that BFD is unusable if they only try it for a few minutes. With another gig of RAM, I don't think I'd have much of this problem anymore. Even without the extra RAM, it's just a hassle and not something that interferes with useability. (EXCEPT, if you need something for live performance, you'd have to stick with just the one kit that you "warmed up.")

Value:
They could have charged twice the price and I've had still been glad I bought this.

Desirability:
Drool worthy.

Sound:
This thing sounds absolutely amazing. It makes sampled drums sound like you were recording a real drummer playing a great kit recorded in a top notch studio. The individual samples are superb. The BFD module that triggers them does a far better job at easily mimicking a real drummer's playing than anything that's out there. This is the drum module I've been dreaming of.

Support:
Quick responses to questions in the support forum. FXpansion supports their products well.

Overall:
If you want realistic drum kit tracks, forget about Drum Kit From Hell, Perrfect Drums and all the rest of the multisampled collections. You don't need that. You need BFD and that's it. For electronic drum sounds, this just wouldn't be your thing.

Submitted: 3/13/2004

Style of Music: reggae, r&b, dub, ambient

Read all reviews...

Additional Images:

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Main
Mixer Page
Mixer Page
Groove Edit Page
Groove Edit Page

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About This Product!
Description
Multimedia
From Our Catalog
The new FXpansion BFD 2.0 virtual drum library gives you a staggering 55GB of rare, vintage, boutique, and classic drum sounds that will punch up the quality of any recording. The BFD 2.0 sound library, which was recorded at London's legendary Air Lyndhurst studios, features each instrument captured in immaculate detail with multiple mic setups. Within the user interface, you have complete control over the mics like you would in a mixing situation. If you want to assemble your virtual dream kit, look no further than BFD 2.0!

BFD2's easy to use interface is redesigned from the ground up to give you more power and control for shaping your drums than ever before. It's fast and easy to set up and integrate into your digital audio workstation of choice.

Create expressive, complex drum parts using 55GB of rare, vintage, boutique and classic drumkits. Recorded at AIR Studios in London, BFD2's sound library combines extreme realism with stunning sound quality.

Mix your drums with flexible routing, submixing and built-in EQ, compressors and other effects.

Meanwhile, BFD2's Groove engine offers advanced editing, performance and humanization functions for creating realistic drum parts. You can even lay out a full song's drum track entirely within BFD2!

Now you can purchase the BFD2 upgrade. All BFD1.5 users are eligible to purchase BFD2 upgrade. All BFD1.5 and expansion pack sound content is compatible with BFD2 and BFD2 upgrade.

Fxpansion BFD 2.0 Features

10 full kits, extra snares, cymbals, and more

Incredible detail: Multiple mic positions, expressive articulations, up to 96 velocity layers

User stereo multi-velocity layer sample import

EQ and FX suite containing everything from flanger, bitcrusher and delay effects to circuit-modeled dynamics, filtering and distortion

Great-sounding presets let you concentrate on writing and playing instead of engineering

5000+ Grooves ready to use in your projects

Built-in multi-channel audio export

Better management of kits, instruments, Grooves and other files

Easy mapping for keyboard/pad controllers and automation

Electronic drum triggering support including expressive hihats and snare positional sensing

A huge range of powerful new features and workflow enhancements

Setting up your ultimate drumkit
Customized 10, 18 or 32 piece kits are at your fingertips, with full control over tuning, damping, ambience levels, velocity response and more. Layer parts of the kit for powerful hybrid sounds perfect for modern productions and flick through preset kit-piece profiles for quick access to dry, damped and other useful settings. BFD2 lets you configure your sounds like a real drum kit instead of pushing buttons on a sampler.

You can even import your own stereo sample-sets with multiple velocity layers so you can mix and layer your own sounds with BFD2's for experimental kits and 'drum-replacement' production tricks.

A universe of detail and sonic power
The hyper-detailed 55GB library features sounds with multiple articulations recorded with up to 96 velocity layers to open up new worlds of rhythmic expression. BFD2 makes it possible to program or play convincing nuances and ghost notes, intricately varied and dynamic hihat parts, elaborate cymbal workouts and visceral kick and snare lines.

The refined tone and definition of the space at London's legendary AIR Lyndhurst studios is captured with two pairs of room mics, including a mid/side set. Meanwhile, the kit is mic'd with stereo overheads and mono close directs. All audio is routed through the magic of a custom Neve desk with Air Montserrat preamps into Prism A/D converters, sealing the foundations of a killer drum sound.

BFD2 is compatible with the entire BFD library, so if you've already bought FXpansion or third-party expansion packs you'll be able to use them in BFD2 and take advantage of all the new sound shaping features to get even more out of your investment.

Mix, route and process
BFD2's flexible, comprehensive mixing console lets you blend, route, submix and process the mic channels just like a real-world drum recording. Tweak bleed levels, play with ambient mic width, create aux sends and patch sidechain effects to shape your drums into infinite variations that sound convincing and powerful. The built-in processors include circuit-modeled dynamics, filters and distortion to deliver fat and floor-shaking sounds, while the flanger, bitcrusher, ring mod, delay and other effects allow subtle to extreme timbral variety.

In fact, the depth and scope of BFD2's mixer rivals that of many fully-fledged sequencing hosts, meaning that you don't have to worry about setting up multiple outputs in your host for mixing your drums. If you want to take advantage of external reverbs and other plugins or outboard you can route channels freely to any of the 32 available outputs. However, if you're more of a musician than an engineer, you may prefer to browse through the supplied presets from experienced studio veterans, suitable for a variety of musical styles.

A versatile and full-featured Groove engine
BFD2's Groove engine provides the perfect environment for editing patterns, setting up performance modes and applying humanization effects for added realism. Although you can create and record your own Grooves, over 5000 stylistically diverse patterns are ready for you to slot straight into your productions or edit and combine with elements of each other to make new, customized parts. You can even lay out a sequence of Grooves to form a full drum track entirely within BFD2.

If you're a previous user of BFD, you'll love the new time-saving and powerful functional enhancements in the Groove engine like the advanced editor, synced audition previews, individual start and end actions for each Groove and improved sorting, searching and management of your Groove library.

Technical Info

System Requirements

Windows XP SP1 or higher, Vista 32, P4 or better CPU (Windows)

OSX 10.4, G5 or Intel CPU (Mac)

1 GB of RAM

60 gig HD, 7200 rpm

DVD drive

Internet connection for product authorization

Recommended for best results

2 GB of RAM or more

Fast, multi-core modern Intel or AMD CPU

Dedicated hard drive

VST, RTAS or AU compatible plugin host

Low latency audio interface
The new BFD 2.0 is here, with a brand new interface for even more control over your drum sounds! You can build the ultimate kit with 55GB of the best vintage, modern, and boutique drum samples recorded in a pro-quality studio. Choose any of the 10 preset kits with extra snares and cymbals, then mix, route, and tweak with EQ and effects until it's perfect. Record your own sequences with keyboard/electronic drum mapping, or get started right away with over 5,000 rock-solid grooves! Multi-channel audio support for total recording control.

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