FXpansion BFD-3.0 Operation Guide
Contents
1 Introduction 4
2 Browsing for sounds 17
3 Using BFD3's sounds 32
................................................................................................................................... 5Using BFD31.1
................................................................................................................................... 9Global controls1.2
................................................................................................................................... 12BFD3 Core Library tracking notes1.3
................................................................................................................................... 14Setting up additional content1.4
................................................................................................................................... 22Browser reference2.1
................................................................................................................................... 28BFD3 File menu2.2
................................................................................................................................... 30Importing Samples into BFD32.3
................................................................................................................................... 38Kit display3.1
................................................................................................................................... 42Drum editor3.2
................................................................................................................................... 48Mixer controls3.3
.......................................................................................................................................................... 52Faders mode
.......................................................................................................................................................... 56Tweaks mode
.......................................................................................................................................................... 58Effects/Sends modes
.......................................................................................................................................................... 59Other mixer controls
................................................................................................................................... 61Effects and Sends3.4
.......................................................................................................................................................... 67Dynamics
.......................................................................................................................................................... 72Filters
.......................................................................................................................................................... 75Spatial
.......................................................................................................................................................... 80Effects
.......................................................................................................................................................... 83Legacy
.......................................................................................................................................................... 84Utility
................................................................................................................................... 86Exporting audio from BFD33.5
4 Using the Groove engine 88
................................................................................................................................... 91Grooves Browser4.1
................................................................................................................................... 97Palette4.2
................................................................................................................................... 102Groove Editor4.3
.......................................................................................................................................................... 108Editor Tools
.......................................................................................................................................................... 113Saving and Exporting Grooves
................................................................................................................................... 117Groove FX4.4
................................................................................................................................... 119Drum Track4.5
................................................................................................................................... 125Recording Grooves with MIDI4.6
................................................................................................................................... 127Importing MIDI files and BFD 1.5 Grooves4.7
© 2017 FXpansion
5 MIDI key and automation mapping 129
................................................................................................................................... 131MIDI Key Maps5.1
................................................................................................................................... 140Using Electronic Drumkits5.2
................................................................................................................................... 147Automation Maps5.3
................................................................................................................................... 150Program Change playlist5.4
6 BFD3 Preferences 152
................................................................................................................................... 153Data Preferences6.1
................................................................................................................................... 154Grooves Preferences6.2
................................................................................................................................... 156Session Preferences6.3
................................................................................................................................... 158MIDI Preferences6.4
................................................................................................................................... 159Engine Preferences6.5
................................................................................................................................... 162GUI Preferences6.6
7 BFD3 Key Map Reference 164
8 Using the BFD3 standalone application 165
9 DemoPacks 166
10 Jukebox player 169
11 NFUZD Export features 170
12 BFDLACTool 173
© 2017 FXpansion
3
BFD3 Operation Manual4
1 Introduction
Welcome to BFD3!
Thank you for purchasing BFD3!
Please take time to study this manual in order to get the most out of BFD3's deep and powerful functionality.
For an overview of how to operate BFD3, please read chapter 1 and the opening sections of chapters 2 and 3.
BFD3's Groove engine, mapping functions and preferences are covered in chapters 4-6.
Credits
Programming: SKoT McDonald, Steve Baker
Additional programming: Angus Hewlett, Paul Chana, Henry Lindsay-Smith, Andrew Simper
Tom resonance algorithm research: Alice Clifford
QA: Drew Vernon, Mike Bugh, Tom Meaney, Jamaine Obeng, Sam Gillies, Lawrence King
Project management: Rory Dow, Angus Hewlett, Henry Lindsay-Smith, Rhiannon McLaren
Video: Rory Dow, Ryan Sellers
Documentation: Mayur Maha
GUI design: Paul Chana, Angus Hewlett
Image design: Rus Brockman
Web development: Andreas Schnetzler, Sam Sharp, Rob Philp
Artist Relations: Clare O'Brien
Support: Alex Volmer, Ryan Sellers, Lawrence King
FXpansion USA: Terry Hardin, Leslie Crook, Brian McGovern
BFD3 Core Library audio production, recording and editing
Rail Jon Rogut and Andrew Scheps for Platinum Samples
John Emrich
Grooves
Steve Ferrone, Brooks Wackerman, Bobby Jarzombek, Peter Erskine, Stanton Moore, John Emrich (all
courtesy of Platinum Samples), Jacques Mathias
Preset design
Jacques Mathias, John Emrich, Drew Vernon, Rory Dow, Emre Ramazanoglu, Tristan Klein
Licensing and copyright
FX pansion grants the O wner of a BFD3 lic ense the right to create finished mus ic al works and performances with the s ounds and
software that compris e the BFD3 produc t, its expans ion pac k s , and any downloadable c ontent made available from
www.fxpans ion.com or its partners .
The making of s ample libraries in any form, commerc ial or otherwis e, be they either single hits, drumloops , or fully mixed audio
clips is stric tly forbidden without expres s written agreement of FXpans ion and its audio partners, and violations will be pros ec uted
to the full extent of international and local c opyright law. The owners hip of all the BF D 3 audio material and ass oc iated M I DI
performances is fully as s erted by FXpans ion and its audio partners . Pleas e feel free to contac t FX pansion for any c larific ation.
The O wner may only ins tall and us e BFD 3 on multiple c omputers stric tly under the following c onditions : where multiple computers
compris e part of a s ingle compos ition workstation for a s ingle compos er; or where the owner has two non-c onc urrent sites of work,
for example a s tudio des ktop c omputer and a laptop c omputer for liv e performances.
Multiple ins tallation is c ontrolled by a mac hine- s pecifc challenge and res pons e sys tem with a limited number of authorizations .
FX pansion may, at its own dis c retion, grant further authorizations for a partic ular lic ens e holder.
This s oftware is lic ensed, not s old. A s suc h, any re-s ale of your lic ens e will be s ubjec t to a one- time $ 50 U SD trans fer fee.
BF D and FX pansion are trademarks of FXpans ion A udio UK Ltd.
FX pansion A udio U K L td. is part of the RO LI ecosys tem.
© 201 7 RO LI L td. A ll trademarks acknowledged. 'Mac' and as sociated brands are trademarks of A pple Inc . RT A S and A A X are
trademarks of A vid T ec hnology I nc. V ST is a trademark of Steinberg GmbH . Windows is a trademark of Microsoft C orporation.
O ther trademark s mentioned are held by their res pec tive owners and are us ed for information purposes only.
Manual revis ion 6 for BFD 3 v3 .2.0.6
© 2017 FXpansion
1.1 Using BFD3
BFD3 layout
Introduction 5
Global controls and navigation bar
The upper part of the BFD3 interface features a number of Global controls that relate to working with and
managing BFD3.
The navigation bar features buttons to access various parts of BFD3, described below.
Browser
The Browser panel is used to load sounds and Grooves into BFD3. Using the tab buttons in the navigation bar at
the top of this panel, it can be switched to browse for Presets (entire BFD3 states), Kits (configurations of
Drums in slots), Drums (individual percussive instruments to load into the current kit) or Grooves (patterns or
sequences that play BFD3's sounds).
This panel is also switchable to the Automation panel using the Auto button.
The Browser panel can be hidden by clicking the currently active tab button. Click any of the buttons to make it
visible again.
To get started with BFD3, double-click any item in the Presets browser to load an entire mix-ready preset.
Kit display
The Kit display shows the physical layout of the kit, which is comprised of a number of Drum slots.
The currently selected Drum slot is highlighted - click any slot to select it and audition the Drum.
The Kit display is also used for the Link function which allows you to layer Drums together so that they are
played at the same time.
Drum Editor
The Drum Editor contains a wide array of parameters for tweaking the sound and response of the currently
selected Drum and contains 2 pages, accessed by the Tech and Model buttons in the navigation bar.
Clicking the currently active button hides the Drum Editor panel entirely. Click either button again to display it if
it is currently hidden.
© 2017 FXpansion
BFD3 Operation Manual6
Click the Effects button to show the Effects Editor
Mixer
The mixer area represents a comprehensive mixing
engine for the audio channels within BFD3's sounds.
A Drum (or Drum slot if it is empty) can be selected
by clicking its mixer channel.
Effects Editor
The Effects Editor is shown by clicking the Effects
button in the main BFD3 navigation bar. It displays
the currently selected mixer channel's effect slots
and Send controls.
Additional pages and panels
The following pages and panels are accessed using buttons in the navigation bar:
Groove Editor
The Groove Editor is displayed by clicking the Groove Editor button. This page represents the entire Groove
engine - it shows the Groove Palette, Groove Editor and Groove FX sections.
Key Map panel
Click the Key Map button to display the Key Map page, used for creating and editing custom Key Map setups for
assigning MIDI notes to Drum articulations.
This page is also useful for checking the layout of the current Key Map.
Automation panel
Click the Auto button above the Browser to display the Automation panel in place of the Browser. This panel
provides control over assigning MIDI C C, note and host automation parameters to BFD3 controls for remote
control purposes.
Click any other Browser tab button to exit the Automation panel.
How to approach the BFD3 interface
The philosophy of BFD3 is to recreate all aspects of studio drum recording and production within your computer.
The Kit display and Drum Editor can be considered as the drumkit in a studio.
The Mixer and Effects Editor represent the control room with a mixing console and outboard processing.
The Groove engine and Key Map panel are related to the 2 ways that BFD3's sounds can be played, in
effect representing the drummer.
Working with BFD3
The basic workflow in BFD3 can be considered in the following steps:
1. Load a BFD3 Preset, a kit or assemble a kit from individual Drums using the Browser.
2. Use the Drum Editor to modify the underlying drum sounds.
3. Use the Mixer to either process the sounds internally or to route microphone audio channels (either
completely discretely or after some submixing if you require) into individual channels in your host/DAW for
further processing or recording.
4. Play the Drum sounds with MIDI notes or with the Groove engine.
5. The resulting audio can be recorded by BFD3's audio export functions or, if you've routed channels discretely
into your host, you can use its own recording functions.
Please consult the opening sections of chapter 2 and chapter 3 for a more detailed guide to the main aspects of
this workflow. See chapter 4 for a full guide to operation of the Groove engine.
© 2017 FXpansion
Important concepts in BFD3
Direct mic
channels
Ambient mic
channels:
OH, Room,
Amb3 etc.
An articulation is a type of way of hitting a drum, cymbal, hihat or other
percussive instrument. The following are examples of articulations:
striking the main surface, bell or edge of a cymbal
striking the main head of a snare or playing a rim-shot or sidestick
Within BFD3, an articulation is the smallest addressable entity. It is itself
composed of a series of individual samples, called velocity layers, due to
the fact that they represent a dynamic graduation from quiet to loud,
designed to be addressable by the MIDI note velocity range of 0 (silent) to
127 (loudest possible sound).
Each velocity layer sample is actually composed of multiple direct and
ambient mic channels: audio channels captured by multiple microphones.
See below for more details on mic channels.
Articulations can be triggered in 2 ways:
MIDI notes assigned to articulations with the Key Map
Groove engine events
Articulations can also be triggered by audition previews in various parts of
BFD3 - the Drum Editor lets you preview all articulations in a Drum, for
example.
BFD3's Drums contain a variety of articulations - see the section below for a
list of available articulations.
A Drum is composed of 1 or more articulations, and is the name given to any
instrument within the kit in BFD3, whether it is a kick, snare, tom, cymbal,
hihat or percussion instrument.
Snares contain between 5 and 7 articulations and hihats contain up to 11
while other instruments such as toms may feature only 1.
Direct mic channels from each Drum are
represented by an individual Drum channel on the
BFD3 mixer.
Kicks and Snares feature multiple sub-mics which
are mixed into single Kick and Snare 'mix' channels.
These channels, along with Tom channels, can also
contain bleed and spill signals from other Drums,
depending on their Bleed settings.
Ambient mic channels of each type - OH, Room,
Amb3 etc. - from all Drums are mixed together into
the OH, Room, Amb3 etc. channels in the BFD3 mixer.
These Ambient mic channels are mixed into the
Ambient Mix channel.
Drums, articulations and velocity layers
Introduction 7
Mic channels
When Drum articulations are triggered by incoming MIDI or Groove engine events, the audio generated is fed to
BFD3's mixer in the form of Direct mic channels and Ambient mic channels. Direct mic channels contain audio
signals recorded by microphones close to the Drum, while Ambient mic channels contain audio signals recorded
by stereo mic pairs over the kit (Overhead, or OH) and at various positions in the recording room (Room, Amb3)
. BFD3's library also contains further mono room and hardware-compressed direct mic channels for increased
mixing flexibility.
For further details on mic channels, bleed and spill signals and other aspects of mixing within BFD3, see chapter
3.
© 2017 FXpansion
BFD3 Operation Manual8
Kicks
Hit [Default]
NoSnare
Snares
Drag
Flam
HalfEdge
Hit [Default]
Rim Shot
Rim C lick
SS (SideStick)
Hihats
Bell Tip
Closed Shank
Closed Tip [Default]
Half Shank
Half Tip
Open Shank
Open Tip
Pedal
Quarter Shank
Quarter Tip
Splash
ThreeQ Shank
ThreeQ Tip
Toms
Hit [Default]
Rim
Rim C lick
Cymbals
Bow [Default]
Bell
Edge
Percussion
Hit
Alt
Note:
Some Percussion Drums are classified as Snares, due
to possessing more than 2 articulations. Drums such
as these can be loaded in the same way as any other
Percussion Drum into a Percussion slot. However, the
additional articulations are not available via MIDI
notes until they are assigned in the Key Map panel.
They are, however, always accessible in the Groove
engine.
Alternatively, these drums can be loaded into the
Snare slot if you prefer, in which case the articulations
are already mapped to MIDI notes. An additional
Snare slot can also be used, although all its
articulations would need to be mapped using the Key
Map panel.
Articulations in BFD3's Drums
Note: the following list represents all possible articulations for each Drum. Not all included Drums include all
possible articulations. Articulations also vary between different BFD-compatible libraries and expansion packs.
BFD3 is capable of supporting all articulations - any Key Map assignments use an intelligent substitution system if
a required articulation is not present in the currently loaded Drum.
© 2017 FXpansion
Introduction 9
Current Preset
This indicator displays the name of the last loaded
BFD3 Preset.
Tune (Master Tune)
The Tune control adjusts the overall tuning (pitch) of
all Drums in the kit relative to their individual Tuning
settings.
AMG mode (Anti-MachineGun mode)
The AMG mode button activates or deactivates the AMG (AntiMachineGun) functions in BFD3.
1.2 Global controls
Master Gain
The Master Gain control can be considered as an overall volume level for the entire BFD3 audio engine. It
adjusts the level of all kit-piece mic channels relative to any individual settings.
BFD3 LCD: Presets view
Program change index
If a Program C hange playlist is currently active, this part of the LCD displays the index number of the current
program in the playlist.
Previous/Next Preset
These buttons browse through the available Presets sequentially.
Current Groove
If the Groove engine is currently active, the currently playing Groove is shown here.
Audio indicator
The Audio indicator is lit when the BFD3 plugin has successfully launched and been integrated into the host
audio engine or when the BFD3 standalone app has successfully established communication with the specified
audio device.
MIDI indicator
The MIDI indicator is momentarily lit whenever BFD3 receives any MIDI input.
LCD Dashboard
Click the Dashboard button in the LC D to show the Dashboard controls if they are not currently visible.
Dyn (Master Dynamics)
The Dyn control shifts the velocity range of incoming events (from MIDI notes or from the Groove engine)
across the entire kit - in effect, making the 'drummer' play the kit with more or less intensity.
If it is deactivated, there is no additional humanization applied - each incoming event velocity always triggers the
corresponding velocity layer directly.
Loud (Loudness Randomization)
The Loud control sets the overall amount of loudness randomization across all Drums while the AMG button is
activated. The degree of randomization imposed upon each Drum in the kit depends upon its individual AMG
Var. setting, found within the Articulations section of the Drum Editor's Model page - in fact, this setting can be
made for each articulation within each Drum.
Since this control scales, or multiplies, the individual AMG Var. settings (in the Drum Editor) for each Drum
articulation, if it is set to 0 then no loudness randomization will occur for any Drum articulations.
© 2017 FXpansion
BFD3 Operation Manual10
Auto-play Off
In the Off mode, Groove playback is not started automatically
when the transport is started.
The context info display, located underneath the
Transport, shows the parameter name and value for the
control currently under the mouse cursor.
Tone (Tone Randomization)
The Tone control sets the amount of velocity layer randomization across all Drums while the AMG button is
activated. The name of this control relates to the fact that velocity layer randomization predominantly imparts
timbral or tonal variation due to multiple velocity layer samples being used. As well as sounding different due to
subtle differences in drum resonances on each strike, different samples also feature subtle differences in
loudness, so a degree of subtle variation in amplitude is to be expected.
The Tone control operates in conjunction with each Drum articulation's AMG Var. setting in exactly the same
way as the Loud control described above.
Memory usage
This indicator features 2 parts:
The first part displays how much RAM is being used by BFD3 - this includes the cached start portion of each
sound, plus a small overhead for BFD3's engine.
The second part displays the entire size for the current kit - including the start portions of sounds held in RAM
and the remaining data on disk.
CPU and disk performance meters
The 3 horizontal meters in the status bar measure several aspects of BFD3's system resource usage.
Synthesis engine CPU usage
The synthesis engine is involved in receiving MIDI input or generating Groove engine events and playing back
the relevant articulations.
Mixer engine CPU usage
The mixer engine processes all routing, mixing and FX functions in BFD3.
Hard disk load
This meter indicates the intensity of hard disk resource usage. Do not be alarmed if this meter reaches high
values, as your machine may well be able to handle a large amount of disk usage. It is intended as an indicator
of the amount of hard disk activity that is occurring.
If your machine cannot handle the amount of disk usage required, the side-effects are usually clearly audible –
tails may be cut or intermittent, and audio dropouts or other artifacts may occur.
Transport, Position, Tempo & Time Signature controls
These controls are used in conjunction with the Grooves engine.
Grooves Auto-play mode
The Auto-play mode allows you to define how the BFD3 Transport affects Groove playback.
Instead, Grooves must be assigned to MIDI notes and played via MIDI. This mode should be used if you intend
to trigger BFD3's sounds with external MIDI notes rather than with its internal Groove engine.
Auto-play Palette or Track
When set to Palette or Track, Groove playback is started in the Palette or Drum Track.
See the Palette section for more details on the Auto-play mode setting.
Interface width
The Interface width buttons adjust the horizontal size of the BFD3 interface window. Increasing the width
allows larger visible areas of BFD3's panels: the size of the interface is not scaled.
Context info display
While a control is being adjusted, the context info display remains locked to the parameter until the mouse
button is released, showing the control's value as it changes.
BFD3 main menus
The BFD3 menus at the upper-left of the interface provide a number of additional functions.
© 2017 FXpansion
Introduction 11
Show Preferences
This function displays the Preferences panel.
Set up content locations
This function displays the Content Locations panel.
Set up DemoPacks
This function displays the DemoPacks panel.
Show MIDI Log
This function displays the external MIDI Log window, showing incoming
MIDI data for troubleshooting purposes.
Save disk space with BFDLACTool
This function launches the BFDLACTool application.
Launch online Manual
This function launches the online HTML operation manual. A PDF manual
can also be downloaded from FXpansion.com/BFD3
Launch "What's New?"
This function launches the What's New document which details changes
since BFD2.
Start BFD3 Setup Wizard
This function starts the BFD3 Setup Wizard, which adjusts a few
preferences, the most important of which is the Profile - this sets up
BFD3's engine preferences in a way that is best suited to the amount of
RAM you have in your machine.
File menu
The contents of this menu are covered in the Browser chapter - it mainly provides additional loading/import and
functions to those in the Browser as well as functions to save various elements in the current BFD3 session.
Tools menu
This external application allows pre-BFD3 expansion data to be compressed into BFD3's new BFDLAC lossless
compression format in order to save disk space.
Offline mode
This switch is intended for use with hosts that provide an offline (non-realtime) bounce or mixdown facility. When
the Offline switch is activated, BFD3 waits for all data to be properly delivered from the hard disk before
allowing the host to continue, ensuring that sounds are not cut off before their full decay is complete.
Please note that Offline mode is non-realtime, and should only be used during offline mixdown or rendering in
your sequencer, if it even offers this feature. Do not leave the Offline switch enabled during regular realtime
playback.
If your sequencer only provides realtime bouncing facilities, you should leave Offline mode turned off at all
times.
Help menu
Use the drop-down menu to specify the amount of RAM in your machine from the 3 available choices.
The Main host application setting simply adjusts the Octave numbering scheme setting in the BFD3
Preferences, while the MIDI controller setting specifies the current Key Map - this can also be achieved using
the Load Key Map function in the File menu.
Launch BFD3 Online FAQ/Online Support/Online Forum
These functions launch various online help resources.
Check for BFD3 updates
This function checks the FXpansion.com website for BFD3 updates.
About BFD3
This function displays the About box, containing the credits listing for BFD3. Click the About Box to return to the
main BFD3 interface.
© 2017 FXpansion
BFD3 Operation Manual12
1.3 BFD3 Core Library tracking notes
Kits 1-4
Kits 1-4 were recorded at Ocean Studios, Burbank, C alifornia, USA and are oriented towards metal, indie, 70s
rock and pop, but they are capable of being used for all kinds of styles with the right Drum Editor tweaking and
mixer processing.
Production/engineering by Rail von Rogut and Andrew Scheps for Platinum Samples.
Kit 1 (Metal)
DW Mardi Gras Sparkle kit
2 kicks and 6 toms
Tama Tempesta snare
Zildjian cymbals
3 crashes
splash
china
ride
New Beats Mastersound hihat
Kit 2 (Indie)
Pork Pie Black Sparkle kit
Kick and 3 toms
Tama Bell Brass snare
Zildjian A-series cymbals
Crash
2 rides
Kit 3 (70s rock)
Ludwig Stainless Steel kit
Kick and 3 toms
Ludwig Hammered Supraphonic snare
Paiste cymbals
2002 crash
202 ride
2002 hihat
Giant Beat crash
Kit 4 (Pop)
Gretsch Purple kit
Kick and 4 toms
Canopus Bronze Piccolo snare
Paiste Signature cymbals
ride
2 crashes
hihat
Recording chain includes:
Neve 80 series console with 1081, 1073 and 1084 EQ modules
Neve 2254E, 33609 compressors
Fairchild 670 and 660
EL8 Distressors
ADR Vocal Stresser
DBX 160
Urei 1176
© 2017 FXpansion
Introduction 13
Kits 5, 6, 7
These kits were recorded at Omega Studios, Maryland, USA and provide dedicated Stick, Brush and Mallet kits.
These kits offer a different room sound to kits 1-4 and a different character of sound with its own recording
chain. They are very well suited to jazz and funk projects, but with tweaking and processing can be used for a
variety of sounds for other genres.
Kit 5 (Stick) / Kit 6 (Brush) / Kit 7 (Mallet)
Mapleworks Custom kit
Kick and 6 toms
Mapleworks Custom snares
2 versions: 13" and 14"
Mapex Black Panther Blade snare
Bosphorus cymbals
6 crash/ride/splash cymbals
Hihat
Bonus Percussion
Cabasa
Tambourine
Group claps
Jam blocks
Cowbell
Recording chain includes:
UA, API, JDK ATI8MX2, Neve VR-60, Metric Halo ULN2 preamps
Yamaha SubKick mic on kicks
© 2017 FXpansion
BFD3 Operation Manual14
If you're using BFD3 with only the BFD3 Core Library,
the location to which the audio data was installed is
already specified within BFD3 when it is launched.
If you would like to use additional libraries or expansion
packs with BFD3, they must first be added to the BFD3
Content Locations panel and scanned.
To display the C ontent Locations panel, use the Set up
content locations function in BFD3's Tools menu.
Searching for additional content locations
Before any additional content can be specified within
BFD3, one or more content locations must be detected
on your drive(s) by performing a search using the
controls in the Search for content section of the Set up
Content Locations dialog box.
Search a hard drive or multiple hard drives
All drives on your system are shown, along with a checkbox indicating
that it will be searched. Uncheck any drive(s) if required and then click
the Search Selected Drives button. You can click the Search All
checkbox to click the checkbox for all detected drives.
Click the Refresh Drives button to refresh the list of detected hard
drives in your system - you may need to do this after connecting an
external disk, for example.
Specify a folder to search
To search within a specific folder (and sub-folders within it), click the
Search Folder... button to navigate to and select the desired folder.
The drive(s) or folder is searched for compatible data - this
process can take a while so please be patient.
Any folders which contain expansion packs usable within
BFD3 are shown in the list of content locations along with the
Core Library location. If its Activate box is checked, it is
ready to use after clicking the Close button to exit the
Content Locations panel.
To avoid using any detected content location, simply
deactivate its Activate box.
1.4 Setting up additional content
Content Locations panel
There are 3 ways to search for content locations:
Drag and drop a folder onto the Content Locations panel
To proceed, search for valid content locations using the Search Drives... or Search Folder... buttons.
Alternatively, a folder can be dragged from an OS file window onto the Content Locations panel to initiate a
search within the folder.
Completing the process
© 2017 FXpansion
Introduction 15
Show Log
Click this button to display a separate log window containing
a detailed report of any content location scans which can be
useful for troubleshooting purposes. The log can be saved
using the Save... button or by using the Copy to
Clipboard button to paste into a separate document or
email, while the Clear button empties the contents of the
log buffer.
Info display
This display is hidden by default - its visibility is toggled by
clicking the Info display button. When visible, it displays a
summary of the contents of each selected path in the listing.
Additional Content Path functions
The main part of the Content Locations panel is a listing of the currently specified content locations (known as
'data paths' in previous versions of BFD).
A content location can contain 1 or more BFD-compatible libraries, presets, kits, key maps, grooves or other
files. Use the Info display button to show a summary of the contents of each content location.
Activate
Each content location features a checkbox which activates it within BFD3. Uncheck the box to deactivate any
path.
Activate All
Click the Activate All button to activate all paths currently listed.
Rescan Selected Paths
Click this button to rescan the data within the currently selected content paths. This may be required if any items
have been manually deleted or added.
Rescan All Content Paths
This function rescans the contents of all currently detected content locations in the list.
Rescan User Content Paths
This function rescans the BFD3 user content locations within your Documents/FXpansion/BFD3 folder, useful
if any Presets or other files have been added manually. Note that the BFD3 user content location is not shown in
the Content Locations panel listing.
Remove selected Path
This button removes the currently selected location in the list. The removed path does not reappear in the list
until it is encountered by one of the search operations described earlier.
Add BFD2 Paths
This function can be used if an installation of BFD2 also exists on the system - all data paths (content locations)
currently specified in BFD2's settings are read and added as BFD3 content locations. In addition, BFD2's system
and user documents locations are also added as content locations so that all Presets and Kits available within
BFD2 are also available in BFD3's Browsers.
Remove All Content Paths
This function removes all content locations currently shown in the list.
Filters
The Filters menu is provided in case it is necessary to manage a very large number of data paths, as it allows
the list to be filtered by various criteria to make management easier. By default it is set to Show all Paths - the
following additional settings are available:
• Hide Disabled paths
• Hide Groove-only paths
• Hide Drum-only paths
• Hide Preset/Kit-only paths
If any data paths are hidden as a result of the current Filters setting, an alert is shown next to the Activate All
button.
Close
Click the Close button to exit the C ontent Locations panel and return to the main BFD3 interface.
Authorizing additional expansion packs
If you are upgrading to BFD3 with BFD2 on the same system and your expansion packs are already authorized
for use within BFD2, they do not need to be re- authorized for use in BFD3.
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BFD3 Operation Manual16
If they have not yet been authorized, they must be authorized in License Manager at this point. Once it has been
encountered during a BFD3 content scan, each expansion pack is inserted as a separate product into FX License
Manager.
Therefore, after scanning, launch License Manager if it is not already running and authorize the expansion packs
in the same way as you authorized BFD3.
Potential issues with content locations/data paths
If you are having problems with content not appearing within BFD3, please ensure the following:
Content location folder structure
Each content location can contain either a /Data or /Audio sub-folder - not both.
If any of your specified content locations features both a /Data and /Audio sub-folder, the easiest way to
overcome the issue is to create a new folder elsewhere, move the /Audio folder to it, then add and activate
the new folder as another content location within BFD3.
If you are continuing to use BFD2 on your system to load older sessions, the new folder should also be added
to your BFD2 data paths after which the BFD2 database must be rescanned.
Users of the BFD Big Orchestral Marching Band expansion pack should be aware that its original installer
offered a choice of installing to a BFD1 or BFD2 data path.
If in any doubt regarding the above, please contact our support team who will be happy to assist you.
Check for all installed elements
Drums
Expansion pack content often contains multiple types of files which can be loaded, such as Presets, Kits, Kitpieces (Drums) or Grooves. Not all expansion packs feature Kits and/or Presets so to conclusively verify
whether the expansion pack has been installed and authorized, please make sure that its contained Drums exist
in the Drums Browser. Use the Library Quick-filter menu in order to filter the Browser to only show the contents
of the expansion pack.
Presets and Kits
All expansion packs which were released prior to BFD3 will feature only BFD2 and/or BFD1 Presets or Kits. If any
such files exist in an activated content location, they are shown in BFD3's Presets and Kits Browsers.
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The Browser panel is actually switchable between the Browser and
Automation mapping panel. It is also capable of being hidden entirely.
If the Automation mapping mode is currently active or if the panel is
currently hidden, click any of the following Browser mode buttons - each of
which switches the Browser view to one of 4 loadable elements in BFD3:
Presets
Kits
Drums
Grooves
the entire state of BFD3
a set of Drums with additional Drum Editor settings
individual drums, cymbals or other instruments within a kit
such as kicks, snares, hihats, rides, crashes, toms,
cowbells
and other percussion
drum performance patterns
Double-click a Preset in the Browser listing to load it.
Loading a preset replaces the entire state of BFD3 including grooves,
key and automation mappings and session-specific settings. Therefore,
you are prompted for confirmation before the Preset is loaded.
This confirmation prompt can be disabled by deactivating the Confirm
Preset loading setting in the Options menu.
2 Browsing for sounds
The Browser lists only 1 of these 4 types of components at any one time - click the Presets, Kits, Drums and
Grooves tab buttons to switch between them.
Click the currently active Browser tab button to hide the Browser panel if required.
Loading a preset
By default, the Browser shows the available factory presets. Presets are loaded in either of 2 ways:
Double-click
Drag and drop
Drag and drop a Preset from the Browser listing onto the main part of the BFD3 interface. Again, you are
prompted for confirmation before the preset is loaded - the prompt can be disabled in the Options menu.
It is possible to avoid loading parts of presets by deactivating the various Include when loading buttons - see
the Browser reference section.
Try loading one of the factory presets - this loads a set of Grooves, so press Play in the BFD3 transport or in
your host/DAW to hear the sounds being played.
Loading a Kit
A Kit is loaded in the same ways as a Preset. In both cases, you are asked for confirmation when loading a Kit
by default - this prompt can be disabled by deactivating the Confirm Kit loading setting in the Options menu.
Double-click
Double-click a Kit in the Browser listing to load it.
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Drag and drop
Drag and drop a Kit from the Browser listing onto the main part of the BFD3 interface.
When loading a Kit it is possible to choose whether to Include its stored Drum Editor Tweaks and whether to
Reset the current array of Drum Slots and Mixer settings - see the Browser reference section for more details
on these controls.
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Browsing for sounds 19
1. Press play on the BFD3 transport (or in your host/DAW) if it is not
already running.
2. Double-click the Snare channel in the mixer or
the Snare in the kit display. The snare slot is now
selected and the Browser switches to show the
available snares in your library (the Focus
Browser setting in the Drums Browser Options
menu must be enabled for this to occur).
3. Click a snare in the listing - this previews it in place
of the previous snare and will be heard whenever the
snare slot is triggered by the Groove engine (or by
incoming MIDI).
4. Try out the various snares until you find one you
want to load into the kit permanently - click the
Load button flashing at the right in order to do this.
... or click the Cancel button to return to the
previous snare without loading anything.
The preview-in-context function requires that
the Preview drum on channel when
selected setting is activated in the Drums
Browser Options menu.
Loading Drums into slots
Drums are the basic building blocks for building your own kit or for replacing parts of an existing Kit or Preset.
There are several ways of loading Drums:
Preview-in-context
Let's say you've loaded a preset as described above. Try swapping out the snare as follows:
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First, select the desired destination Drum slot by clicking it in the Kit display
or in the mixer.
Then double-click a Drum in the Browser listing to load it to the currently
selected Drum slot.
To load to a specific Drum slot, drag and drop from
the Drums Browser onto the desired Drum mixer
channel.
To load to a new Drum slot, drag from the Drums
Browser and drop between channels in the mixer.
Drums can also be loaded in the following ways:
Double-click
Drag and drop
Drums can also be dragged to the Kit display - into a specific slot or to an empty area in order to load the Drum
into a new slot. In the above example, a 2nd Kick is being added to the current Kit for a double-kick
configuration.
In addition, Drums can be loaded to Drum lanes in the Groove Editor page - either via drag and drop or by
double-clicking to load to the slot associated with the currently selected Drum lane.
The Target slot indicator always shows the currently selected destination slot when loading a Drum, along
with its currently loaded Drum if it exists.
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Audition methods
Drums can be auditioned in several ways before loading:
Preview-in-context
The preview-in-context system, enabled by the Preview drum on channel when selected setting in the
Options menu, is described above.
Hold down ALT during selection
Hold down ALT when clicking any Drum in the listing to audition its main articulation.
The preview click area is velocity-sensitive: click towards the left side of the Drum item in the Browser for lower
velocity layer previews, and towards the right for higher velocity layers.
Preview on select
If the Audition when clicking drum setting is enabled in the Options menu, the main articulation of the Drum
is played when it is selected - without the ALT key having to be held down.
Again, the preview click area for the Drum item is velocity sensitive.
Previewing articulations
The Info display panel contains functions for auditioning any articulation within the selected Drum. See the next
section for details.
Processed Drums
Many Drums in the listing feature the same underlying Drum, transformed with additional damping, tuning,
effects and other settings within BFD3. The purpose of these Processed Drums is to have an array of productionready sounds which can slot straight into a mix with little or no further adjustment. You can think of them as
'Drum channel strips'.
To show Processed Drums in the Browser, activate the Processed button. To revert to viewing only raw Drums
with no additional processing, deactivate the Processed button in the browser.
Loading files from BFD 1.5 and BFD2
Presets and Kits from BFD 1.5 and BFD2 are shown in the Browser if they are found within any data locations
scanned by BFD3's C ontent Locations panel. Their settings are recreated within BFD3 as closely as possible,
bearing in mind the differences within BFD3's audio engine and approach to dynamics and humanization.
If you have chosen not to add your BFD 1.5 and BFD2 file locations to BFD3, the Load from file and Import
functions in BFD3's File menu can be used to load files into the current session or to convert files to BFD3
format manually.
Loading Grooves
See the Grooves Browser section for information on loading Grooves.
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When the Preset Browser is visible, several toggle switches are shown
at the top of the Browser panel. These allow you to activate or
deactivate certain elements when loading Presets.
By default, all elements of Presets are loaded - effectively replacing the
entire previous state of BFD3.
By deactivating its switch, any of the following elements can be
prevented from loading:
In the Kit Browser, if the Include... Tweaks button is activated, the
Drum Editor settings for each Drum in the Kit are loaded.
If the button is deactivated, the Drum Editor settings are reset to
factory defaults when a Kit is loaded.
These buttons toggle whether certain elements in BFD3 are reset when
loading a new Kit.
Slots
If the Slots button is activated, any current slots not which are used in
the kit to be loaded are removed.
If the button is deactivated, only slots used by the kit are affected unused slots remain completely unaffected.
2.1 Browser reference
Loading options for Presets and Kits
Include when loading...
Presets
• Kit (Drums and Drum Editor settings)
• Mix (Mixer)
• Grv (Groove Palette, Drum Track and Groove Editor settings)
• Key (Key Map)
• Auto (Automation map – MIDI CC, note and host automation assignments)
• Glo - (Global settings, Session preferences)
By default, the Key and Auto buttons are deactivated, because typically it would not be desirable to keep
changing these settings when trying different Presets.
Kits
Reset when loading... (Kits only)
Mixer
If the Mixer button is activated, all mixer channels are reset when the kit is loaded - unused mixer channels
including Aux channels are deleted and the Drum channels used by the Kit are set to factory defaults.
If the button is deactivated, the current mixer configuration and settings remain unchanged.
Processed (Drums only)
This button toggles visibility between regular Drums and Processed Drums in the Browser listing.
Processed Drums are regular Drums saved with additional Drum Editor and mixer channel settings for a more
produced, mix-ready sound compared to that of a raw underlying Drum.
Processed Drums are shown separately to regular Drums to reinforce the fact that loading them changes the
entire contents of the Drum channel including mixer settings, which is much more difficult to overcome than
returning to the previous Drum if you decide you don't like the one you just loaded.
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The Drums Browser offers a number of criteria with which to filter the
listing.
Favourites
Favourites are user-defined groups to which any Drums can be added working with Favourite Lists is discussed below.
Filtering the browser listing
The Browser's filtering functions allow you to narrow down the Browser listing according to various criteria.
Click the Filters button to open the Filters panel - this panel allows you to see all available filtering criteria
simultaneously.
Many filters are also available on the main Browser panel in the form of Quick-filter drop-down menus - see
below.
Filters panel: Drums
The Filters panel shows all filtering criteria simultaneously. The numbers in brackets represent the number of
items that would be available when specifying each of the filtering criteria.
Library
The Library field refers to the original library to which the Drum belongs - for example, the BFD3 C ore Library
content represents a library, as does the BFD2 factory content, or any expansion pack.
Class
The C lass field represents the Drum class or type - whether it is a kick, snare, tom, cymbal, hihat or percussion
instrument. Toms and cymbals also feature sub-classes.
By changing the C lass that is shown by default for the currently selected slot, you can load any type of Drum
into it - not just those intended for the particular slot type, but please note that certain caveats apply when doing
so. See the 'Possible loading problems' section below for usage guidelines.
Beater
The Beater type varies according to various Drum classes.
Manufacturer
This filter type lets you see all Drums by certain manufacturer(s).
Filtering the listing to display only cymbals played with mallets
Filters panel: Kits, Presets
The Kits and Presets tabs of the Browser feature only 2 filtering criteria: Favourites and Library.
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The Browser context menu contains a Filters submenu which lists the filtering criteria for an item in
the Browser listing.
Selecting the Beater type, for example, adds it to the
Search bar and filters the Browser listing accordingly.
The Drums Browser features dedicated buttons which display dropdown menus for filtering the Drum Class (and sub-class in the case of
toms and cymbals) - these achieve the same function as using the
popout Filters panel.
When the Focus browser setting is activated in the Options menu,
the corresponding Class filter button is enabled when selecting a Drum
slot if the Drums Browser is currently visible. Double-click the Drum slot
to bring the Drums Browser into view as well as enabling the relevant
Class filter.
Using the Search text-box is another way of narrowing
down the Browser listing.
Click the text-box and type a search term - the
example shows typing "18" while viewing all cymbals to
find all available 18" cymbals.
Searches operate in conjunction with the Filters
described above.
Setting filters according to Browser items
Quick-filters: Class filters (Drums only)
Quick-filters: Favourites and Library filters
The Presets, Kits and Drums Browsers all feature dedicated buttons which display drop-down menus for setting
the Favourites and Library filters. The Favourites system is described below.
Searching
The Recent searches drop-down menu lists all recent searches for the Drum type. Use the Clear recent
searches function to remove all entries from this menu.
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Favourites
Right-click on a Browser item in order to display
the Add to Favourite list function. This is a submenu showing all available Favourite Lists to which
to add the selected item.
In the above example, no groups have yet been
set up. C lick the Create New List... function to
display a dialog prompting you to enter a name for
the new Favourite List.
The item is added to the newly created Favourite
List, which is now shown on the Fav menu and also
in the Filters panel under the Favourites column.
When the List is activated, the Browser listing is
filtered to show the items in the List.
Each search term or filter that is active is represented within the search
bar at the top of the Browser panel.
To deactivate any item, simply click the Remove button at the right side
of each item - the item is then removed from the active searches/filters.
The Target Slot indicator displays information about
the destination Drum slot:
Target Slot
This part of the indicator shows which slot is currently
set as the destination for previewing-in-place and
loading when a Drum is selected in the listing.
Currently loaded in Slot
This part of the indicator shows the name of any Drum
already loaded into the slot.
Hide (remove from Browser)
This function removes the item from the Browser listing. No files are
deleted - instead, the item is hidden until the next time the content
location which includes them is rescanned.
To remove items permanently, their files must be deleted from disk.
The location of each file can be seen using the Info display panel (see
below) or the Show in Finder / Show in Explorer functions.
Change Library
This function is available only for user-generated Presets and Kits. It
allows the Library tag of the file to be set - an existing Library tag can
be used or a new tag can be created by using the Enter Library
name function.
Search/Filter status and removal
Browsing for sounds 25
Other controls
Target Slot indicator (Drums only)
Browser context menu
Right-click on any item in the Browser listing to display the Browser context menu.
Filters
This sub-menu provides a convenient way to set Filters according to the selected Preset/Kit/Drum. For Presets
and Kits, the sub-menu shows the Library Filter settings. For Drums, the Library, Beater and Manufacturer
Filter settings are shown. Click any of these items to filter the Browser listing according to the Filter setting.
Add to Favourite list
This function is used for the Favourites system - see above.
Show in Finder (Mac)
Show in Explorer (Windows)
This function displays the selected file within a system file window (Finder on Mac, Explorer on Windows).
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Most functions in the Options menu are available
only when the Drums Browser is currently visible.
The Sort by function offers a number of ways to
order items in the Browser.
Resizing the Info display
Activating the Info display button enables the Info display at the lower part
of the Browser. This display contains information about the currently
selected item in the Browser. For Drums, it also has additional functions for
manually auditioning individual articulations.
Click and drag up/down on the separator above the Info display to resize the
area of the Browser devoted to the actual item listing and the Info display
panel at the bottom.
Presets, Kits
The info display shows information about which Drums exist in each of the
slots within a Preset or Kit. Any contained Drums which are invalid unauthorized, not present or corrupt - are listed in red.
The location of the Preset or Kit file is also shown.
Drums
The Info display shows information about the selected Drum and audition
functions for its articulations.
Articulation audition strips
Each articulation present within the selected kit-piece can be previewed by
clicking its Audition strip. C lick towards the left of the strip for lower velocity
layers, and towards the right for higher layers.
Info
The info box shows factory information about the selected kit-piece.
Dimensions
Materials
manufacturer
Options menu
Get extra drums
This function opens the FXpansion website and displays available expansion libraries for BFD3.
Import samples (Drums only)
Clicking this button opens the Sample import panel with which you can create single-articulation mono or stereo
Drums with multiple velocity layers from a set of one of more samples. These Drums can be loaded from the
Browser into any BFD3 session after they are created.
Audition when clicking Drum (Drums only)
Enabling this setting results in the main articulation of each Drum being automatically previewed as it is selected
in the Browser.
Preview drum on channel when selected (Drums only)
Activating this setting enables the preview-in-place functionality of the Browser.
Focus browser on selected channel (Drums only)
With this setting activated, selecting a Drum slot or Drum mixer channel results in the relevant Drum type being
shown in the Browser listing. This means that with a kick slot selected, the Browser shows available kicks, when
a snare slot is selected, the available snares are shown, and so on.
Sort by...
Presets and Kits can be sorted by Name, Folder or Date Modified (again, this is particularly useful for user
Presets/Kits). The Folder setting is particularly useful if user presets are arranged within sub-folders in the user
location or if factory or expansion pack Presets/Kits have been manually rearranged into sub-folders within the
factory location.
Drums can be sorted alphabetically by Manufacturer name or by their Dimensions.
Confirm Preset loading (Presets only)
Deactivate this setting to disable the confirmation prompt when loading a new Preset.
Confirm Kit loading (Kits only)
Deactivate this setting to disable the confirmation prompt when loading a new Kit (or when using the Load
random Kit function in the File menu).
Browser info display
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Auditioning a Bell articulation
for a ride cymbal
Model/name
Beater type
Production date
Class
Size on disk
Location in the data path
Factory Library
Possible loading problems
Even though each Drum slot in BFD3 is intended for a certain type of Drum - be it a kick, snare, hihat, cymbal or
percussion instrument - it also allows you to change the Drum C lass filter to load any Drum into any slot. When
building arbitrary kits in this way, you should be aware of the following potential issues:
1. Articulation mappings
Because different Drums have different numbers of articulations, the Key Map may not feature enough
articulation mappings for the non-standard Drum.
If you load a Snare into a Tom slot, for instance, the slot holds 6 Snare articulations although only 3 are actually
mapped. The extra snare articulations need to be mapped to MIDI notes before they can be triggered.
If, on the other hand, you load a Tom into a Snare slot, any mappings which exist for the Snare that do not have
a logical equivalent for a Tom 'fall back' to a suitable available tom articulation.
It is not recommended to load different types of Drums into the Hihat slot. This slot is specially designed to load
Hihats and there is no real reason to load any other type of Drum into this slot.
If you have an electronic drumkit, you should be aware that the Hihat slot is the only slot that supports variable
hihat control. Likewise, only the Snare1 slot supports positional sensing control.
2. Grooves
Even though Groove events do not rely on articulations being mapped, they are nevertheless usually intended
for a certain type of kit-piece articulation. In the vast majority of cases, Grooves are designed for kits that follow
suggested kit-piece slot uses.
Like articulation mappings, Groove events fall back intelligently to suitable articulations in the loaded kit-piece,
so this can be good for experimentation. Please bear in mind, however, that a Groove simply may not make
sense when played with a completely different type of kit configuration.
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Reset BFD3
This function resets BFD3 to its factory default state.
Clear Kit
This function clears the kit within BFD3 while leaving other elements in BFD3
unchanged.
Load random Kit
This function loads a random selection from the available Drums into the
current set of Drum slots. You are prompted for confirmation in order to
continue, in the same way as when a Kit is loaded from the Browser.
Save Preset
Save Kit (not available with Groove Editor or Key Map panel visible)
These functions save a Preset (entire BFD3 state) or a Kit (Drums loaded into
Drum slots along with Drum Editor settings) from the current session.
A system file save dialog is displayed, prompting you to save the Preset or Kit
to disk. Type the desired name and hit ENTER or click the Save button.
2.2 BFD3 File menu
BFD3's File menu contains functions for managing your BFD3 session and is also used to save elements for
loading into future sessions.
Many functions on the menu are context-dependent - they vary depending on whether the Groove Editor, Key
Map panel or Automation panel are currently visible. These dependencies are specified below wherever
applicable.
The default save location is within the user folder: <user location>/Presets or <user location>/Kits
It is recommended that you use this location so that your Presets and kits are accessible from the Browser
without further adding and scanning of data locations.
Elements saved with Presets
When a Preset is saved, all the following elements are always saved with it:
• Kit (Drums and Drum Editor tweaks)
• Mixer
• Groove Palette, Drum Track and other Groove page settings
• Key Map
• Automation map – MIDI C C, note and host automation assignments
• Session Preferences
Using the Include while loading buttons in the Preset Browser, you can choose to load only certain elements
(with the exception of embedded Session preferences) when reloading Presets at a later time.
If you specifically do not want to save certain elements, for example Grooves or mixer effects, within a Preset,
you should first clear the Palette or remove the effects from mixer channels before saving the Preset.
Save Processed Drum Preset (not available with Groove Editor or Key Map panel visible)
This function saves the current slot's Drum with its Drum Editor settings as a Processed Drum preset, available
when the Processed button is activated in the Drum Browser (see the previous section for details).
Load Preset from file
Load Kit from file (not available with Groove Editor or Key Map panel visible)
Clicking this button brings up a system file open dialog that allows you to browse to and load a specific Preset or
Kit file into the current session. This may be useful after downloading a file created by another user.
When loading the file, you are prompted if you would like to save it into the BFD3 database for future use. Even
if you opt not to do so, the current session can be saved later as a Preset or Kit into your user location if you
change your mind.
These functions can load Presets and Kits in BFD 1.5 or BFD2 format - their contents are recreated within BFD3
as closely as possible.
Import Presets
Import Kits (not available with Groove Editor or Key Map panel visible)
These functions create BFD3 Presets or Kits within the database (saved into the user location) from a folder
containing these files. It may be useful to do this if downloading multiple presets or kits created by another
user.
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The Import Kits function can import BFD 1.5 or BFD2 format kit files - their contents are recreated within BFD3
as closely as possible.
The Import Presets function works only with BFD3 Presets - BFD 1.5 and BFD2 Presets can be loaded directly
from the Browser - simply ensure that your BFD 1.5 and/or BFD2 user locations are included within BFD3's
Content Locations panel.
Groove-related functions (only available with Groove Editor visible)
Save Groove palette
Save Groove
Export Groove MIDI
Export Groove audio
Export Drum Track MIDI
Export Drum Track audio
These functions are discussed in the Grooves section.
Key Map-related functions (only available with Key Map panel visible)
Load Key Map
Save Key Map
Save Key + Automation maps
Load Key Map from file
Import Key Maps
Save MIDI Event Log
These functions are discussed in the Key Maps section.
Automation Map-related functions (only available with Automation panel visible)
Load Automation Map
Save Automation Map
Save Key + Automation maps
Load Automation Map from file
Load Program Change Playlist
Save Program Change Playlist
Save MIDI Event Log
These functions are discussed in the Automation Maps section.
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BFD3 allows you to import mono or stereo .WAV files to create single-articulation
Drums, which can have multiple velocity layers.
The following caveats apply with the Sample Import function:
There can be only 1 articulation in the imported Drum. It can be either one
amplitude-scaled sample, or multiple velocity layers.
Imported Drums only produce sound in the direct bus. There is no facility for
multiple microphones or ambience channels. It is possible to add space to imported
sounds by using BFD3's reverb effects.
Only 1 channel is active for the imported Drum in the mixer, regardless of which
Kit-Piece slot is used, unless it is loaded into the kick1 or snare1 slots.
Samples can be mono or stereo, but you cannot use a combination of mono and
stereo samples in the same imported Drum.
In order to create a Drum from a set of one or
more samples, you must open the Sample Import
panel using the Import samples... function in the
Drum Browser Options menu.
Import settings
Destination
Select a Content Location to which to save the
imported samples as a Drum.
Imported sounds stream in the same way as other
sounds in BFD3, so the path must be one of the
locations set up in the BFD3 C ontent Locations
panel.
Choose the Drum type (C lass) from this drop-down menu. The Drum can be
classified as a Kick, Snare, Tom, C ymbal or Percussion Drum. Hihats are not
an available option because they would require more than one articulation.
If you require imported hihats, create separate Drums for open and closed
samples with a Percussion classification. Load each of these into Percussion
slots, then use the Key Map page to layer the relevant hihat articulations with
those of the imported Drums. It is advised to save the session as a Preset in
order to use it again in future if required.
2.3 Importing Samples into BFD3
Overview
Sample Import panel
If you receive an error when importing samples, make sure that you have adequate permissions to write to the
location, and try again.
Drum Type
Drum Name
Type a name for the created Drum. This is the name which is visible in the Drum Browser.
Photo settings
Any JPEG, PNG or TGA image file can be specified as a photo to associate with the imported Drum. If none is
specified, a default image is used.
Browse button
Clicking the Browse button opens a system file open dialog allowing you to browse to a JPEG, PNG or TGA file to
specify for the imported Drum. The file must have a resolution of 180x150 pixels.
Clear button
Clicking this button removes the photo currently specified for the imported Drum.
Velocity layer settings
This section lets you add samples, and sort them into the desired order, from the lowest velocity layer at the top
of the list, to the highest layer at the bottom.
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