FXpansion BFD RTAS PC

Been making music for almost 20 years. Recording for about 10 years.
Guitarist, singer, keys, bass, etc.
Used BFD with Pro Tools 7.
I write pop/indie music.
Windows XP, Athlon dual core cpu, 2GB ram.

Primary LIstening equipment is an Alesis RA100 into Alesis Monitor Ones.

The BFD 1.5 interface is pretty messy in my opinion. Even after using it I found myself forgetting where things were and how to accomplish certain tasks. Part of the deal with BFD is that there is a LOT to it. It's very involved if you want it to be. Personally, I didn't need all the customization available in BFD. And if you DON'T want to weed thru it all, you can't really get it to be that useable.

The sounds sound good for raw tracked sounds. But keep in mind that you WILL have to do a lot of work to get to a finished sounding drum track. For engineers that have a good ear for drums, I'm sure they love this program. But if drum engineering/recording/mixing isn't your forte, you might want to look elsewhere.

I have had BFD1.5 for about a year, and have used it very little. The final version release did not work properly on either PT6.4 or 7.4. Reading on the DUC and other forums I saw that others had the same problem. I moved back to the Q version of the software, and although it worked, the drag & drop would not work correctly in 7.4 (I'm aware that 6.4 didn't support this anyway). I knew when I got it that one of BFD's strengths was the ability to treat it like a real drumkit and get it sounding the way you want, I just didn't have the time to put in to all this. I am a songwriter and need my drum tracks up and running a little bit quicker.

I have been making (recording) music for about 6 years. I play bass, guitar, piano and a bit of mandolin and steel guitar. I have the latest version of BFD. I keep up with all the updates. I use the plug-in with a AMD 64 3200+ PC (XP) with 1.5 GB ram. I use Pro Tools 6.9 with an 002. The setup is monitored through KRK Rockit 5 monitors. I record mostly folk/acoustic rock music so I was really in the market for an acoustic sounding drum instrument.

This plug in could not be any easier to use. Installation was a breeze. The sounds are AMAZING. This program is pretty RAM intensive. I originally had 1GB of RAM but the cymbal tails would drop out. After upgrading to 1.5 GB, there have been no problems. I run this plug in with several others (sampletank, Waves Ren. Comp ect) and I have no problems. The manual is straight forward for the actual plug in. It is helpful to have a background in MIDI setup with your specific sequencer.

The sounds are incredible. Some of the hits have up to 46 diffenet velocity samples. Unlike other drum software which simply lowers the volume of a single hit sample, this software will actually play a entirely diffent sample (recorded at a lower hit). Using Rewire, you can apply eq, compression and other effects to each drum part and mix it entirely with in your sequencer.

This is definately a straight forward and easy to use program. The sounds are simply unbelievable. If you need acoustic drums for you music this is your program. If you are looking for electronic or loop based sounds, this may be helpful but will not suffice alone. This program has been rock solid from day one. The increase in RAM has helped alot. The developers suggest at least a gig of RAM. I would suggest higher if you want to use it other plug ins. Overall, it is a wonderful program and I am very very happy with it.

Ive been a guitarist for 40 years...a band player for 35, an engineer for 20. I have a home studio with PrTools LE vesrion 6.4 on a P4 2.8GB with 1 GB RAM. I record mostly guitar instrumentals with as "real"a band sound as possible...

This interface is as easy as it gets. No "never use"functions, just the important things.

This is the drum software I always dreamed of!!!! The only limit is the quality of the users performance!.

Well woth the price.

Be aware that many people find it CPU hungray, but I have it running with sampletank, 3 Dverbs, 4 assorted complessors, Maxim, 2 x tracks EQ.....and only peak at about 60% processoir usage.
I am taking 1 mark off cos theres an occassional bug in the close down (it closes PTLE as well!)