FXpansion BFD-3.0 Operation Guide

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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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Browsing for sounds 17

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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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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Add Layer(s)

Click this button to add a sample. Any mono or stereo WAV file can be selected, but it must be at a sample rate of 44.1kHz, at a bit depth of either 16 or 24 bit.

If only one sample is specified, BFD3 automatically scales the amplitude of the imported Drum with incoming Groove/MIDI event velocity.

If 2 or more samples are specified, they are split proportionally across the velocity range. Any additional mplitude scaling must be applied manually with the Range control after the Drum has been loaded.

Remove Layer(s)

With a sample selected, click this button to remove the sample from the list of velocity layers.

Move layer up

Click this button to move the selected sample up the list of velocity layers: it changes places with the sample immediately above it.

Move layer down

Click this button to move the selected sample down the list of velocity layers: it changes places with the sample immediately below it.

Import & Cancel

Click the Import button to import the Drum with the current settings - it is saved to the content location specified and added to the current database, so once the Import operation is complete, it is now available to use from the Drum Browser (it is not loaded automatically to the current session).

If you change your mind and decide that you don’t want to import a Drum at this time, click the Cancel button.

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Central to BFD3 is the concept of selection - selecting a Drum slot results in showing its adjustable parameters in the Drum Editor.

Selecting a Drum slot in the Kit display

Click a Drum slot in the Kit display to select it.

Selecting Drum slots is central to many functions in BFD3.

As described in the previous chapter, the selected slot is used as the target destination slot for loading Drums from the browser via double-click.

If the slot already contains a loaded Drum, its contents are shown in the Drum Editor when selected.

Selecting a mixer channel

Clicking a mixer channel to select it. If a channel is associated with a Drum - a Drum channel or one of its mic sub-channels - it is also selected as the current Drum slot, and its contents are displayed in the Drum Editor.

The differences between Drum slots and mixer channels

While some mixer channels represent Drum slots, this is not true of all mixer channels, such as Ambient or Aux channels for example.

The currently selected Drum slot is effectively the last Drum slot that was selected.

3 Using BFD3's sounds

Once you've assembled a kit in BFD3 using the Browser (see the previous chapter), you're free to manipulate the sounds using the extensive Drum modelling and mixing engine.

This section provides an overview for using BFD3's audio engine. The subsequent sections throughout this chapter go into more detail about each part of the interface.

1. Drum slots and selection

See the Kit display section for further details on using the Kit display panel to manage slots and use the Link function for Drum layering.

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General & Tuning

The Trim and Pan controls allow you to change the overall level of the Drum and the panning of its direct mic channels within the stereo field. Each Drum also features Mute and Solo buttons. The Tuning function changes the pitch of the Drum.

Bleed and Ambient Mics

These controls relate to certain mic channels for the each Drum which are mixed with signals from other Drums before the mixer. These controls allow you to adjust levels and other aspects of these signals - bleed can be disabled or routed to the Drum's own mixer channel while Ambient mic signals can be routed to discrete Aux channels if you wish.

Loudness

The Loudness functions allow you to adjust the dynamic response of the Drum. BFD3's drum sounds are recorded at a wide variety of velocities (striking intensity) - adjusting these settings can drastically alter the feel and sound of drum performances.

The Velocity Dynamics control scales the velocity of incoming events (from MIDI notes or from the Groove engine) - in effect, making the 'drummer' play the kit with more or less intensity. The Curve control alters the velocity response of incoming events to the Drum from the default linear 1:1 mapping. The Dynamic Range control introduces amplitude scaling to increase or decrease the dynamic range (the difference in level between the quietest and loudest layers) of the Drum's velocity layer range.

Damping/Hihat Tighten

The Damping section lets you reduce the decay time of a Drum. For basic damping, simply increase the Damping Amount control as desired.

The Hihat Tighten controls (available only for the hihat slot) achieve a similar result, except that only the closed articulations of hihats are affected.

Choke Response

This set of controls provides adjustment over the choking behaviour of a Drum

- in other words, how a preceding event for the Drum decays when a new event is triggered.

Tom resonance and Cymbal Swell

The modelled functions in BFD3 use dedicated synthesis in order to recreate certain properties of a drumkit.

The Tom Resonance function creates the sympathetic resonance generated by toms when other toms, kicks and snares are struck.

When the Cymbal Swell function is activated, additional shaping is applied to cymbal articulations when played rapidly in succession to simulate their realworld behaviour.

Articulations

This section offers level control and more advanced velocity-related functions for individual articulations.

It also contains the Variance control - this adjusts the degree to which articulations are affected by the AMG (Anti-MachineGun) functions in BFD3's

Dashboard panel.

By default, these controls are applied to All Articulations - as indicated by the drop-down menu - so the entire Drum is affected.

2. Using the Drum Editor

The Drum Editor contains a comprehensive set of tools to adjust the sound and response of the Drum in the currently selected slot. It is divided into 2 pages - the Tech page features 'drum tech'-oriented functions, while the Model page's functions deal with modelling real-world kit behaviour. C lick the Tech or Model buttons to show the panel if it is currently hidden. The following controls are described in full detail in the Drum Editor section.

Tech page

Model (Modelling) page

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Drum channels are the basic building blocks in BFD3's mixer - they can be considered in the same way as recorded drum tracks.

A Drum channel represents a Drum slot and its direct microphone channel(s) and can take the following forms:

A Drum Mix channel fed by a mix of Drum mic sub-channels

The first Kick and Snare slots exist in this form.

A single direct microphone channel

Hihat, Tom, Cymbal, Percussion and further Kick/Snare slots

Click the Expand/Collapse button to show the mic channels within the Kick or Snare channel.

Click the Expand/Collapse button again on any of the mic sub-channels or the parent Mix channel to return it to a single mixer channel.

3. Using the Mixer and Effects

Channel types

BFD3's mixer contains a number of different types of channels.

Drum channels

Using the Kick 1 and Snare 1 channels

Each mic sub-channel can be treated individually, from basic adjustment of the level and pan controls to using effects and sends for processing. If you prefer, these channels can be routed to other Aux channels instead of their parent Kick or Snare channel.

Auditioning Drum channels

Drum channels feature an audition function for auditioning the main articulation of the Drum loaded within them ALT-click the image at the top of the channel to preview its main articulation.

Ambient channels

Ambient mic channels appear in the mixer in a similar way to Kick and Snare mic channels - they are comprised of an Ambient Mix channel fed by a mix of Ambient mic sub-channels.

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Using BFD3's sounds 35

Click the Expand/Collapse button to show the ambient mic channels within the Ambient Mix channel. The Ambient Mix channel is selected in this example.

Click the Expand/Collapse button again on any of the Ambient mic sub-channels or the parent Ambient Mix channel to return it to a single mixer channel.

Aux channels, 2 of which exist in the default BFD3 mixer layout, can be considered in the same way as a 'buss' or a 'group' on a mixing console. Any number of signals can be routed to an Aux channel, from the following sources:

Drum and Ambience mixer channels

The entire output of one or more mixer channels can be routed to an Aux channel using their Output selector controls for sub-mixing before further routing afterwards.

Alternatively, a variable amount of one or more mixer channels can be routed to an Aux channel in parallel using the Send controls.

The Output selector and other mixer channel controls are discussed in detail in the

Mixer controls section later in this chapter.

Each Ambient mic sub-channel is a mix of the Ambient mic channels of that type from all Drums in the current kit: for example, the OH channel is a mix of all Drums' Overhead mic channels.

All sounds compatible with BFD3 contain at least 3 sets of stereo ambient mics - OH (OverHead), Room and Amb3 (usually a set of PZM boundary mics or a room mic set further back than the Room set). Some Drums feature additional mono room and compressed direct channels which appear as numbered Mono and Comp channels.

Adjusting the Ambience Mix channel's level effectively sets the 'wet' level of the overall mix. Note that the Drum Editor's Ambient Mics section allows powerful control over each Drum's Ambient mic

channels - it is possible to independently set levels and also to route Ambient mic channels to Aux channel destinations rather than the default routing to the corresponding Ambient channel in the mixer.

Aux channels

Drum Editor

The controls in the Ambient Mics section of the Drum Editor allow individual Drums' Ambient mic channels to be sent to Aux channels for discrete processing.

In actual fact, the Kick, Snare and Ambient mix channels are special Aux channels to which the Kick, Snare and Ambient sub-mics are routed via their Output selector controls. However, even if their sub-mics are routed to other destination channels or outputs, the Expand/Collapse buttons still toggle their visibility in the mixer.

Master channel

The Master channel is, by default, the eventual Output destination for all channels in BFD3. It is effectively a special Aux channel that is hard-wired to the primary stereo output of the BFD3 plugin.

As mentioned above, channels can be sub-mixed into other Aux channel 'stems'. Alternatively, channels can be routed outside BFD3 using its multiple sub-outputs.

Of course, a combination of all these approaches can be used.

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The Output selector control at the bottom of each channel lets you route any channel to one of BFD3's multiple sub-outputs. This routing can occur at any stage of the mix individual Drum mic channels can be routed externally to do all your mixing with plugins in your DAW or outboard gear, or some sub-mixing using Aux channels can be conducted first within BFD3, with the Aux channels being routed to external outputs.

Shortcuts for sequential output assignment

The mixer channel context menu, displayed by right-clicking on any channel, offers shortcuts for simple sequential output assignment. To conduct all mixing and processing of mic signals outside BFD3, use the Auto-Assign outputs (Direct) function on the mixer's channel context menu. Use the Auto-Assign outputs (Master) function to return to the default output assignments.

Selecting a Mixer channel results in showing its contents in the Effects Editor. This panel displays the channel's 6 effect slots and 4 Sends which operate in a very similar way to those found in most DAWs - see the Effects and

Sends section for a detailed guide.

This panel and the Kit display cannot be viewed simultaneously. Use the Effects and Kit buttons in the navigation bar to switch between them.

Routing channels to plugin outputs for further external processing

Using the built-in mixing functions, FX and Sends

4. Mixer channel modes

The mixer features 4 modes, activated by the Channel Mode switches: the Faders, Effects, Sends and Tweaks buttons above the mixer. Each mode shows a different set of controls on each mixer channel.

Faders channel mode

The Faders mode is the default, and displays controls regularly found on mixer channels, most of which should be familiar to you already. See the Mixer channel controls section for full details of all the controls.

Tweaks channel mode

The Tweaks channel mode offers varying types of controls for each channel, depending on the channel type. The most important functions are described below - see the Mixer channel controls section for details of all controls.

Drum channels

Drum Mix channels feature Tune, Trim and Damp (Damping amount) controls in Tweaks mode. These parameters are also found in the Drum Editor but are provided within the mixer for convenience and and overview of multiple channels' settings.

Ambient channels

The Distance control adjusts the distance of each pair of ambience mics from the kit. This control effectively introduces a delay between the relevant set of ambient mics and the direct mic signals.

The Width control (available only on stereo channels such as OH (Overhead), Room and Amb3) adjusts the stereo width of the channel between mono (especially useful for powerful, fat room sounds), stereo at the centre position and expanded stereo at the fully clockwise position.

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Effects and Sends channel modes

The Effects channel mode displays all channels' Effect insert slots, allowing an overview of multiple channels' Effect slots simultaneously.

Effect devices cannot be edited directly in this mode - devices can be only inserted and powered on/off. Clicking the E (Edit) button for a slot takes you directly to the device within the Effects Editor.

See the Effects/Sends modes section for more details of these controls.

The Sends channel mode shows all controls for the channel's 4 Sends. The controls are smaller versions of all the controls in the Sends panel in the Effects Editor.

5. Other mixing functions and exporting audio

The Mini Mixer displays any combination of often-used mixer channels within a panel visible at the right side of the mixer. Click the Mini Mixer button to toggle its visibility.

Any channel(s) can be added to the Mini Mixer using the channel context menu - simply right-click on any channel and use the Add Chan to Mini Mixer function.

See the Mixer controls section for more details on using the Mini Mixer.

In the example below, the Overhead, Room, Amb3 and Master channels have been added to the Mini Mixer so they are always visible.

Minimixer

Using BFD3's sounds 37

Mixer toolbar

The toolbar above the mixer features a number of controls for managing mixes - see the Mixer controls section for a guide to these controls.

Export panel

BFD3 allows you to export audio directly to disk using the controls in the Export panel. These functions are useful for creating drum recordings using the BFD3 standalone application, or they may be more convenient for creating multi-channel mixdowns than your host/DAW. See the Exporting audio section later in this chapter for more details.

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The Kit display has 2 modes - Select and Link - selectable via the corresponding buttons at the top of the panel.

With the Select function active, clcik a Drum slot in the display to select it.

When a slot is selected in the Kit display, it also becomes selected in the mixer, and vice versa. Its contents are also shown in the Drum Editor if it is currently visible.

When the Link function is active, slots cannot be selected. See below for details of using Link mode.

Moving the cursor over a Drum slot results in indicating the location of the slot in the mixer with an arrow.

The same is true of the reverse mousing over a Drum mixer channel highlights the corresponding slot in the Kit display (if it is currently displayed) using the same type of indicator arrow.

In the screenshot, the Snare slot is selected - shown by the selection indicators on the Kit display and mixer - but the cursor is hovered above the Hihat slot - its mixer channel is indicated by an arrow.

3.1 Kit display

The kit display offers a top-down view of the current kit, representing its physical layout. Each part of the kit that is shown represents a Drum slot.

Selecting slots

Slot indicators

Auditioning Drums within slots

The current contents of any slot can be quickly auditioned by clicking the slot. This plays the main articulation for the Drum - closed tip for hihats or 'Hit' for other Drum types. To audition any articulations, use the Articulations section in the Drum Editor Model page.

Drum event indicators

When a Drum receives a MIDI, Groove or preview event, its surface flashes in the kit display to indicate that it has been played.

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Using BFD3's sounds 39

Click the Info display button to show the Kit display info. This shows information about the Drum slot under the cursor. If the cursor is moved away from any slots, information about the currently selected slot is shown.

The display shows information such as the name, manufacturer, model, materials and other information about the Drum within the slot.

This display also shows the Drum Slot identifier, the Class (type) of Drum currently loaded into it and its Size, in MB, both on disk and currently in RAM.

Enter Link mode by clicking the Link button at the top of the Kit display panel. When the Link function is active, it is not possible to select Drum slots in the Kit display. Instead, this mode is used for linking Drums together for layering purposes.

To link two Drums while in Link mode, click and drag one of the Drums (the source) onto the other (the destination).

When the source Drum is triggered, the linked destination Drum is also triggered. If it is the same Drum type, the corresponding articulation is triggered. If the destination Drum's C lass differs from that of the source Drum, an attempt is made to trigger an articulation with the same name. If this does not exist, the first articulation is played ('closed tip' for hihats and 'hit' for all other Drum types) .

It is also possible to set up Links using the slot context menu - see below. Note that to layer specific individual articulations, it is necessary to set this up in

the Key Map.

After the link has been created, it is represented on the Kit display and in the mixer when the mouse cursor is moved over the source slot.

Removing a link

To remove a link, right-click on the source Drum slot and use the Unlink from... sub-menu on the slot context menu that appears.

A list of links from the Drum are shown in the context menu that appears. Click on the link that you want to remove in order to break the link.

Info display

Audience / Drummer perspective

By default, BFD3 is set to Drummer perspective, meaning that the panning of the kit is oriented towards the drummer's perspective, as seated at the drumkit.

Switching to Audience perspective by clicking the Audience button inverts all mic channels within BFD3, meaning that the kit is heard from the other side - the audience facing the drummer at the kit. Click the

Drummer button to switch back to Drummer perspective.

Link mode

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Right-click on a slot to display the slot context menu. Note that the channel context menu applies only to the slot on

which it appears, regardless of whether multiple slots are currently selected. The exception is the 'Remove all unused' function, which removes all currently unused channels in the mixer.

The Slot context menu is also available on the mixer channel context menu for Drum slots (within its Drum sub-menu).

Drums load menu

This menu item is used for loading Drums without using the Browser.

The item opens a sub-menu that displays the available Drums in the database, arranged into sub-menus according to their parent library.

Navigate to the required Drum in the menu and click on it to load it.

Swap with Move to Copy to

These menu items allow you to swap, move and copy Drums between slots. All slots in the current kit size are shown in a sub-menu for each function, with details of their contents if applicable.

Navigate to the required slot in the list and click on it to perform the swap, move or copy operation. If a move or copy operation is attempted on an occupied slot, a warning is shown and you are prompted for confirmation in order to continue.

Slot context menu

Generally, during conventional kit-oriented usage, these functions should be used for rearranging kicks, toms, cymbals and percussion. It is recommended to avoid rearranging snare and hihat slots, as these slots feature more articulations than others - if a snare or hihat is moved to a slot with fewer articulation mappings, the additional articulations are inaccessible via MIDI until they are assigned to keys using the Key mapping panel. All articulations are always accessible via the Groove engine.

Link to

This context menu item performs the same function as Link mode (see above), using a list of Drum slots in a sub-menu instead of dragging one slot over another.

Unlink from

This function allows you to unlink Drum slots that have been previously linked using the Link function. In the context menu for the source slot, any links that exist are shown as items on the Unlink from sub-menu.

Click an item to remove the link.

Start MIDI Learn

This function starts the MIDI Learn wizard from the slot - see below for details of this function.

Clear slot

This function clears the slot of any kit-piece it contains.

Add another [Drum type] slot

This function adds another Drum slot of the same type to the kit. To add a channel for any type of kit-piece, use the Add Channel button in the mixer.

Note that only 1 hihat slot is available in BFD3 - it is not possible to add a second.

Remove slot

This function removes the selected Drum slot.

Next Drum

Clicking this item loads the next Drum of the same type from the available Drums in the database.

Previous Drum

Clicking this item loads the previous Drum of the same type from the available Drums in the database.

Unload Articulation

This sub-menu displays all the articulations present for the Drum in the slot - click on any articulation to unload it from the current session.

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Using BFD3's sounds 41

Click the Drum memory display button to show a graphic indicating the amount of RAM for the currently selected Drum.

The upper figure shows the size of the entire Drum on disk.

The lower figure shows the amount of RAM used by the cached portions of the Drum's samples.

The circular graph represents the amount of RAM used by the current Drum in relation to the rest of the Kit.

The MIDI Learn wizard is a simple tool for mapping Drum articulations to MIDI notes. It is provided as an alternative to using the Key Map panel, although for more complex mapping operations and fine-tuning existing mappings, it is necessary to use the functions in the Key Map panel.

When the wizard is launched using the Start MIDI Learn button from a Drum's slot context menu (see above), the relevant Drum's first articulation is presented on-screen, along with a message indicating that BFD3 is waiting for MIDI note input - play a MIDI note to map it to the articulation.

The wizard then allows an additional time period for a different MIDI note to be played (in case the original note was played in error) - this additional time period can be defined using the MIDI learn accept time setting in the Preferences. The default setting is 5 seconds.

Unloading any articulation(s) that you don't need frees up RAM resources, as the associated pre-cached start portions of audio are unloaded from RAM.

Any unloaded articulations remain unavailable until another Drum is loaded into the slot.

Drum memory display

MIDI Learn wizard

The wizard then moves onto the Drum's remaining articulations until they are all assigned or until the wizard is closed with the Close button.

Next slot mode

If this setting is activated, the wizard moves onto the Drum in the next slot after all the current Drum's articulations have been assigned to MIDI notes.

If Next slot mode is deactivated, the wizard is closed after all of the current Drum's articulations have been assigned.

Wait for MIDI input

When this setting is activated, the wizard waits indefinitely for a MIDI note to be played before moving onto the next articulation in the Drum.

When Wait for MIDI input is deactivated, a set time is allowed for a MIDI note to be played for each articulation (the default is 15 seconds). If no note is received within this time, no assignment is made for the articulation.

The amount of time that is allowed can be defined in the Preferences using the MIDI learn skip time setting.

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The Drum Editor contains a comprehensive set of tools to adjust the sound and response of the Drum in the currently selected slot. It is designed to allow you to tweak each part of the kit just like you would in a real-world drum recording environment.

The Drum Editor features 2 pages, each displayed with the Tech and Model tab buttons on the main BFD3 navigation bar.

General section

Trim

The Trim control is an overall volume control for the Drum. Adjusting it affects the level of all the Drum's mic channels equally. It can be considered as a 'pre' volume control - it sets the level of the Drum at the start of the signal path before any routing and mixing features are applied.

Pan

The Drum's Pan control is identical to that on its channel in the mixer. It sets the position in the stereo field of the Drum's Direct mics only. It

does not affect the Drum's Ambient mic channels. The Ambient mics section features the Flip LR button to invert the

stereo image of the Drum's stereo Ambient mic channels - this can be useful if you need to pan a Drum to the other side of the stereo field.

Mute / Solo

These buttons mute and solo all mic channels for the Drum.

Drum image

ALT-click this image to preview the Drum's main articulation.

Tuning section

Tune / st

The Tune function increases (clockwise from centre position) or decreases (anti-clockwise from centre position) the pitch of the Drum. It is possible to tune Drums up to an octave away from its original pitch.

The amount of tuning is shown in the st display. Click this display to enter a tuning amount in semitones.

3.2 Drum editor

Click the Tech or Model tab buttons to make the panel visible if it is currently hidden. To hide the panel again, click the currently active tab button.

The Tech page deals with 'drum-technician' type tasks such as tuning, control over bleed and ambient mics. The Model page is oriented towards BFD3's drum modelling functions such as tom resonance, cymbal swells,

damping and choking response. It also features advanced control over individual Drum articulations.

Tech page

While tuning cymbals has no obvious real-world equivalent, it is still very useful to do so in the virtual domain. With snares, the sidestick can optionally remain unaffected if the Disable sidestick tuning option is enabled in the BFD3 Engine Preferences.

Hz / Key / Learn

These displays and controls are available only for Tom slots. When a Tom is loaded, BFD3 automatically calculates its fundamental pitch, which is is shown in the Hz display and its equivalent MIDI note is shown in the Key display. C lick the Learn button and play a MIDI key - the Tune setting for the Tom is set to a pitch equivalent to that of the played key, within an octave of the tom's original pitch. The key that is played is shown in the Key display, with the new new pitch displayed in the Hz and st displays.

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Using BFD3's sounds 43

Bleed section

The Bleed controls allow you to adjust the level and routing of a Drum's bleed and spill signals. Bleed signals in BFD3 represent the sound of other Drums captured by the Kick and Snare mics, while spill is simulated bleed in the Tom mics.

Bleed destination

The Bleed destination buttons allow control over the routing of the recorded bleed from the Drum within the Kick and Snare mics. 3 routings are possible:

The Drum's bleed is routed as normal to the first Kick and Snare slots' mixer channels.

Direct

The Drum's bleed is routed to its primary direct mic channel. Therefore, there would be no bleed from the Drum in the Kick and Snare mic channels.

Off

The Drum's bleed is disabled completely and not heard in the mix at all.

Trim

This control adjusts the level of the recorded Kick/Snare bleed signals.

Bleed Send

The Bleed Send control adjusts the overall level of all bleed output from the Drum - this includes recorded bleed (the sound of the Drum recorded in the Kick/Snare mics) and simulated spill - simulated bleed signals of

the following types:

Kick in the Tom mics Snare in the Tom mics Toms in other Tom mics

Bleed Return

The Bleed Return control sets the input level of the mix of all bleed signals routed to the Drum's direct mic channels. This includes the following:

Any recorded bleed or simulated spill signals from other Drums The recorded bleed signal from the Drum itself if it is routed to its primary direct mic channel (using the

Direct Bleed destination setting described above) - this is the only possible signal for hihat/cymbal/percussion slots.

Adjusting bleed levels globally

You can change overall bleed levels by using the Kick, Snare and Other Master bleed controls on the mixer's Master channel, visible while the Tweaks channel mode is active (click the Tweaks button above the mixer).

Loudness section

The Loudness controls relate to the dynamics of the Drum - its playing intensity and the resulting level and timbre.

Power

Activating this button enables the Loudness section controls. With the Power button deactivated, none of the controls in the Loudness section have any effect on the Drum.

Vel Dyn (Velocity Dynamics)

The Velocity Dynamics control shifts the velocity range of incoming events (from MIDI notes or from the Groove engine) - in effect, making the 'drummer' play the Drum with more or less intensity.

Curve

The Curve control allows you to alter the amplitude of the Drum in response to the incoming velocity of MIDI or Groove trigger events.

With the Curve control at 0, there is an exact 1:1 mapping of incoming velocity to the natural recorded amplitude of the corresponding velocity layer.

As the control is increased, the level of the resulting audio from the event is increased from its natural recording level between the minimum and maximum velocity values. The greatest increase in gain occurs at the middle of the velocity range.

Range (Dynamic Range)

The Range control effectively extends the range of the dynamics curve by using automatic amplitude adjustment of the range of samples for the velocity layers. Increasing the control creates a larger difference in amplitude between the quietest and loudest layers for each articulation.

Ambient Mics section

The Ambient Mics section's controls allow manipulation of the various Ambient mic channels for a Drum, providing many creative opportunities that would simply not be possible in a real-world drum recording.

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Routing selector

By default, all Ambient mic signals for each Drum is routed to the corresponding Ambience mic channels in the BFD3 mixer. However, the Routing selector dropdown menus override these default routings - each channel can be routed to a discrete Aux channel for further processing or subsequent routing outside BFD3.

Flip LR

Most Ambient mic channels, such as Overhead/Room/Amb3 channles, are stereo and the sound of the Drum is 'fixed' within it - it cannot be panned within the stereo field, unlike the Drum's direct mics. This is an inherent drawback of true stereo ambience.

The Flip LR button inverts the stereo image of any stereo ambient mic channels for the Drum which can be useful if panning a Drum's direct mics to the other side of the stereo field.

In addition the Width controls for Ambient mic sub-channels (when the mixer is set to Tweaks channel mode by clicking the Tweaks button) can be used to manipulate their stereo properties.

Trim

The Ambient Mics Trim control provides an overall level control for all ambient mic channels for the Drum. It can be considered as a simple 'wet/dry' control for the Drum.

Any Ambient Mics Trim adjustments are applied in addition to the individual Level controls described below.

Link

Enabling the Ambient Mics Link button results in the Drum's main mixer channel level fader being linked to its Ambient Mics Trim parameter. This means that adjusting the kit-piece's mixer level results in a corresponding adjustment being applied to the Ambience Trim meaning that you can adjust the level of the Drum in the direct and ambient mics using a single fader.

Power / Level controls

Each Ambient mic channel type contained within the Drum features its own horizontal Level fader in this section, allowing you to independently set the level of the Drum within each set of ambient mics.

Each channel can be disabled entirely by deactivating its Power button.

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Model (Modelling) page

Damping section

The Damping controls allows you to decrease the decay of the Drum, simulating the effect of a blanket or pillow inside a kick drum or placing objects which absorb vibrations onto a snare or tom head.

Amount

Use the Amount control to set the amount of damping required.

Freq

The Freq control represents a crossover frequency. Below this frequency, the decay of the Drum's ambient mic channels is shortened according to the damping amount. Above the frequency, less damping is required. This results in a more natural ambience sound when using the damping functions. To damp the entire frequency range within the ambient mics, increase the Freq control to its maximum setting.

Amb Ratio

The Amb Ratio control allows you to adjust the amount of damping in the Ambient channels. With the control at the default maximum setting, less damping occurs in the Ambient channels than on the direct channels. With the control at the minimum setting, the same amount of damping is applied in the direct and Ambient channels.

Choke Response section

The C hoke Response section provides control over the choking behaviour of a Drum - in other words, how a preceding event for the Drum decays when a new event is triggered.

Power button

The Power button must be activated for the settings in this section to be applied to the current Drum. If the button is deactivated, the default choke response settings specified in the Preferences are used.

Base/Range

All Drum types have a default choking behaviour which is defined in the BFD3 preferences using a set of Base/Range values. The Base and Range controls in the Drum Editor allow custom choking responses for individual Drums. See the Engine Preferences section for more details on setting Base/Range values.

The controls in this section are only available when a C ymbal is the currently selected Drum. When activated with the Power button, Cymbal articulations played in rapid succession are shaped to simulate their real-world behaviour.

Swell algorithms

Several Swell algorithms are provided, selectable via the drop-down menu - each provides different swell characteristics.

Using BFD3's sounds 45

Drag (Snare only)

This parameter allows the adjustment of the additional Drag C hoke fade time for Snares, and is not available for other Drum types.

Choke Group

The Choke Group function allows you to create choking behaviour between Drums - setting 2 Drums to the same C hoke Group means that they choke each other.

Cymbal Swell section

Amount

The Amount control adjusts the intensity of the cymbal swell emulation. The meter displays a real-time representation of the energy within the cymbal when the Swell function is active.

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These controls are provided for tweaking the response of individual Drum articulations although they can be applied for all articulations if you wish.

Articulation selector

Select the articulation to adjust using the Articulation selector dropdown menu - select All articulations in order to affect all articulations in the Drum.

Multiple values

If any articulations feature individual settings for any of the controls in the Articulations section, a Multiple Value indicator is shown beside it when All Articulations is currently selected for editing. Note that adjusting any control with All Articulations selected results in overwriting the individual settings for any articulations.

Audition strip

The Audition strip plays a preview the selected articulation when clicked. The velocity of the audition depends on where the strip is clicked – the lowest velocity layer is at the left side of the strip and the highest later is at the right.

With All articulations specified in the selector, a preview of the Drum's main articulation is played.

Articulations section

Artic Trim

The Artic Trim control adjusts the level of articulations between -inf and +12dB. One of the most common examples for using this control would be to change the level of closed hihat

articulations in relation to open ones. With the Hihat slot selected, select the C losed Tip articulation and adjust the Artic Trim control, repeating the process for the Closed Shank articulation.

The default setting for this control is 0 dB, meaning that all articulations are played at their natural recorded levels.

Vel to Pitch

The Vel to Pitch control allows the tuning of each articulation to vary depending on incoming trigger event velocity. Uses of this control range from extreme creative effects to very subtle changes which can give some extra character to the sound of the kit.

Settings range from -100% to 100%. Positive values result in increasing pitch with higher velocities, while negative values result in decreasing pitch with higher velocities.

Vel to Damp

The Vel to Damp control allows the amount of damping applied to the articulation to be varied according to the velocity of incoming trigger events. It effectively allows you to control the decay of articulations with velocity and can offer very interesting approaches to dynamics and space within your drum tracks.

Any changes in the damping applied to each articulation as a result of this parameter are applied relative to the Drum's overall Damping Amount setting.

Settings range from -100% to 100%. Positive values result in increased damping with higher velocities, while negative values result in reduced damping with higher velocities.

Variance (Anti-machinegun variation)

This control adjusts the maximum amount of loudness or tonal humanization that is possible for the articulation. BFD3 features 2 controls to adjust the global amount of 'Anti-MachineGun' humanization, located in the

Dashboard - click the Dashboard button in the LCD display in the top-centre of the interface. The Loud

(Loudness humanize) control adjusts the amount of volume randomization applied across the kit, while the Tone (Tone humanize) adjusts the amount of randomization between velocity layers, leading to tonal variation due to the Drum being struck at a different intensity. The maximum amount of variation for each Drum in the kit is dictated using the Drum Editor's Variance control. The AMG button in the Dashboard must be activated to enable these functions.

These functions serve to make drum parts sound less 'robotic' or 'machinegun-like' by adding natural-sounding dynamic and tonal variations that are inherent in a human drummer's performance.

Setting the Variance control to zero can be useful for avoiding humanization of certain parts of the kit.

Tom Resonance

The Tom Resonance functions create the sympathetic resonance generated by Toms when other Drums are played. These functions are available only for the Kick, Snare and Tom slots.

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Using BFD3's sounds 47

Power

This button enables or disables the resonance function for the Drum. When it is active, the Drum triggers the tom resonance algorithm in the Tom slots.

Res Trim

This control adjusts the level of the resonance generated by the Drum in the Tom slots.

Spill Trim

This control adjusts the level of the Drum's bleed or spill signals (if they exist) in the Tom slots.

Hihat tighten (Hihat slot only)

This function allows you to adjust the closed Hihat sound to sound tighter and more snappy. It achieves a similar result to the regular Damping functions at the top of the Modelling page, except that only the closed Hihat articulations (Closed Tip and Closed Shank) are affected.

The Damping control adjusts the amount of tightening that is applied to closed tip articulations. The Pitch control adjusts the amount of subtle pitch increase that occurs as the hihat is tightened.

The Hihat Tighten function varies within the closed zone when using variable hihat control so that the amount specified with the controls is applied at the maximum closed pedal position (when the pedal MIDI CC # value is

127).

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Simple

When this setting is enabled, certain advanced controls are omitted from being displayed on BFD3's mixer channels:

Input trim controls (Input, Bleed, Sidechain) Effect/Send slot indicators

Animate Hits

When this setting is enabled, Drum channels are animated to indicate that an incoming trigger for one of its articulations has been received.

Signal

The Signal setting toggles the overlaid signal routing indicators which visually indicate output, send and sidechain routings for the channel underneath the cursor.

3.3 Mixer controls

Mixer Toolbar

The toolbar at the top of the mixer channels provides several useful functions for managing your mixes.

Export

This button toggles visibility of the Export panel, containing settings relating to exporting audio from BFD3.

View menu

The View menu features several settings to customize the current view of the mixer.

Export on Right

Enabling the Export on Right setting results in the Export panel appearing on the right side of the mixer when opened, rather than the left.

Visibility toggle settings

The relevant settings toggle the visibility of Aux Channels, Direct channels, Ambient channels, SideChain and Metronome channels in the mixer.

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Add channel

Clicking the Add channel button displays a menu of the types of channels that can be added: Aux channels and kit-piece channels/slots.

There are also 2 additional functions for automatic routing to newly created Aux channel(s).

Add Aux channel (Buss Selected)

If one or more mixer channels are currently selected, using this function creates a new Aux channel and sets their Output

selectors to route the channels' audio to the new aux channel.

Add Aux channel (Send Selected)

If one or more mixer channels are currently selected, using this function creates a new Aux channel, creating Send routings to it from each of the selected channels.

In this example, the Floor Tom, Mid Tom and High Tom channels are selected before using the Add Aux Channel (Buss Selected) function.

The new Aux channel is added to the right of the selected channels. The Output selector of all 3 channels is set to the new Aux channel.

Using BFD3's sounds 49

Remove channel

The Remove channel button removes the currently selected channel(s) from the mixer.

Reset Mixer

The Reset Mixer button resets the current mixer to the default settings for the currently loaded set of Drums. Clicking the Reset mixer button resets all channel settings to their defaults, as well as removing any FX and

Sends settings entirely. You are prompted for confirmation before this is performed. If there are any unused channels in the current mixer, you are also prompted to remove them. Unused channels

are typically Drum channels that are empty or do not have any signals routed to them from other Drums.

Expand/Collapse all

As described earlier in this chapter, this button expands or collapses the sub-mic channels within Kick, Snare and Ambient Mix channels.

Mixer Power

The Mixer Power button is a global power button for all effects currently loaded into the mixer. It operates in addition to the Power buttons on each effect slot. Therefore, after turning the Mixer Power off and on again, any Power settings that existed previously still apply.

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Click anywhere on a channel in order to select it. The selected channel is highlighted.

The last selected Drum channel is shown in the Drum Editor.

You can select multiple channels in order to manipulate their controls simultaneously.

All selected channels are highlighted. Click any selected channel to select it as the current

channel - this can be useful with Drum channels in order to show their settings in the Drum Editor.

When multiple channels are selected, their main controls can be adjusted together: the level, Pan, mute/solo functions, Record enable, Phase flip and Ouput selector controls can all be adjusted in this way.

Adjusting a control on one of the selected channels results in the control being changed for all selected channels.

Holding down ALT while adjusting a control on one of the selected channels results in the control being inversely affected on all the other selected channels. This functionality does not include the channel output routing selector.

Holding down the ALT and SHIFT keys while setting the channel output routing results in the selected channels being set to ascending destinations of the same type (i.e. either outputs or aux channels).

Working with the Mixer

Selecting channels

To select multiple channels:

• CTRL-click on a channel (Windows)

• CMD-click on a channel (Mac) Adds the channel to the current selection.

• SHIFT-click Selects all channels between the SHIFT-clicked channel and the existing selection.

Manipulating multiple channels

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Rearranging channels on the mixer

You may want to move channels around in the mixer in order to suit personal preference. In order to do this, click on a channel’s selection bar and drag it left or right as desired.

Channel processing order

There is one important caveat when rearranging channels. The processing order in the mixer is defined from left to right.

A channel's Output selector or Send Destination can only be routed to another channel to its right.

BFD3 does not allow you to move any channel that contains a valid routing to a position in the mixer that would break this rule.

The Master channel must always be at the extreme right of the mixer, and cannot be moved to any other position.

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3.3.1 Faders mode

Channel controls: Faders mode

This is the default channel mode featuring controls that are typically found in most mixing consoles or host/DAW mixing environments.

Channel colour

The coloured strip at the top of each channel is indicative of the channel type. Drum channels are light-blue, Ambience channels are green, the Ambience Mix channel is dark blue, Aux channels are orange and the Master channel is red.

Channel Image

The channel image serves as a visual indicator of the mixer channel type.

Drum channels

Drum channels display an image of the Drum loaded into them and also feature an audition function - ALT-click the channel image on any Drum channel to audition its main articulation (if the Drum slot is not empty).

Label strip and coloured tab

The label strip allows you to change the default labelling for each channel. Double-click the label strip to edit its contents, and press ENTER to finish.

It is recommended to keep names short, as only a small number of characters are visible on the strip!

Level fader

The Level fader sets the final level of the channel.

Level meter

The Level meter provides a visual guide of the channel's level. It includes momentary peak level indicators as well as red clip indicators – click these to reset their state.

Pan

For Drum channels, a Pan control exists on the main Drum channel (but not on its mic sub-channels), which allows you to set the pan position of the Drum's direct mic channels.

Drum channel Pan controls are duplicated within the Drum Editor (in the Tech page). On stereo channels, the Pan control actually functions as a balance control.

Expand/Collapse (Kick/Snare Drum and Ambience channels only)

The Expand/Collapse button is only available for Kick and Snare Drum channels and Ambience channels. It toggles the visibility of the parent Mix channel's mic sub-channels.

The Expand/Collapse All button above the mixer can be used to fold out all Drum and Ambience mic subchannels.

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Using BFD3's sounds 53

In this example, the indicators show that Send 1 is active on the Perc channel and effects 1-3 are active on the Aux 1 channel.

Effect and Send indicators

All channels feature a set of 6 orange LEDs to represent active Effect slots on the channel.

Additionally, they also feature a set of 4 yellow LEDs to represent active Sends on the channel.

Input trim controls (only available when Simple view disabled)

The following input trim controls are not visible by default - to enable them, disable the Simple option within the View Options menu.

Bleed input trim (Drum mic channels only)

This control is available on Kick, Snare and Tom Drum mic channels and adjusts the level of all recorded bleed and simulated spill signals arriving at the channel.

This control is not available for Hihat, C ymbal and Percussion channels.

Record enable

This button is used in conjunction with BFD3's

audio export features. Enabling this button for a

channel means that the channel is exported as a discrete audio file when performing any audio export.

Click the button to record enable a mixer channel; click it again to record disable it.

The Export panel contains several other features allowing you to record enable and disable multiple mixer channels.

Input trim (Drum Mix channels, Ambience Mix channel, Aux channels and Master channel only)

This control adjusts the level of the channel's main input signal. This input can receive signals as a result of routing one or more channels' outputs to it, and/or by creating one or more sends to the channel’s main input: the Input trim adjusts the level of the mix of all signals routed to it.

The current input signal's level is represented on the small LED meter above the control.

SideChain trim (Drum Mix channels, Ambience Mix channel, Aux channels and Master channel only)

Certain channels feature a sidechain input, for which the Sidechain trim control provides an overall level control. Sidechains can receive signals from more than one source: this control adjusts the level of the overall mix of these signals.

The current sidechain input signal's level is represented on the small LED meter above the control.

Mono/Stereo (Aux channels, Drum Mix and Ambience Mix channels only)

By default, Aux channels (and similar channels such as Drum Mix and Ambience Mix channels) are added to the mixer as stereo channels. The Mono/Stereo button toggles the channel between stereo and mono operation.

If any FX devices exist on an aux channel before it is changed from stereo to mono status, they are switched for mono versions automatically with their settings intact, and vice versa.

Phase flip

This button allows you to invert the phase of any channel. Please note that all BFD3's mic channels are provided in phase with each other (including for Drums which

feature multiple out of phase mics, such as kicks and snares).

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Solo Isolate function

Channels can be set to solo isolate mode, which means that they are always heard when soloing any other channel.

To put a channel into solo isolate mode, click its solo button while holding down the SHIFT key. The solo button becomes 'half-lit', and is always heard along with any other soloed channel.

Rude Solo indicator

The mixer toolbar contains a Rude Solo indicator, as shown in the image to the left. It is always lit whenever 1 or more channels are currently soloed.

This indicator can be ALT-clicked to un-solo all channels currently in a hard solo state.

Using the Output selector control, each mixer channel can be routed to any available output or any available Aux channel as long as it is positioned to the right of the source channel in the mixer layout (see the 'Channel processing order' section below).

Any number of channels may be routed to the same output or Aux channel - they are summed before the output or before the input of the destination Aux channel.

The output routing selector does not exist on the master channel, as it is hardwired to the first set of BFD3 outputs.

Mute & Solo

All channels have a mute and solo button. The mixer features very flexible mute and solo behaviour. It features two types of mute and solo states: implied

and hard.

• Engaging only the solo button on a channel results in implied mutes on all other channels: mutes are shown elsewhere, but the mute state of those channels is only implied. When the solo button is disengaged, the implied mutes on the other non-soloed channels are also disengaged.

• Implied solos are generated on channels contributing signals to the soloed channel, or in its subsequent signal path. They are shown in a 'half-lit' state.

• Engaging only the mute button on a channel results in only that channel being hard muted (it is in an actual muted state).

• Engaging both mute and solo buttons on a channel results in the mute overriding the solo. Both buttons are lit to show that the hard solo and mute states are engaged. While in this state, unmuting the channel results in it reverting to a hard-soloed state. If the channel is instead unsoloed, it will be left in a hard-muted state – it is not an implied mute.

• Hard-muting an 'auto-soloed' channel (in implied solo state) overrides the implied solo and the channel is muted.

Output selector

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Special channel types

There are 2 other types of channel within BFD3, which are enabled using the View menu in the mixer toolbar.

Metronome channel

The Metronome channel lets you adjust the BFD3 metronome, used when recording

Grooves from MIDI input. Its level can be set using the channel's fader and, using the

Output selector, it can be routed to a discrete output if required. The level can also be quickly set to one of 4 settings by right-clicking on the Metronome button in the Transport.

SideChain channel

BFD3 features an external SideChain input, allowing you to drive compression effects within BFD3's mixer The Sidechain channel allows you to process the Sidechain input discretely.

To use the SideChain input, a suitable signal (such as a bass track) should first be routed to BFD3's external SideC hain input - please set this accordingly in the standalone application's menus or consult your host/ DAW's documentation for details on how to accomplish this when using BFD3 as a plugin.

The output of the SideC hain channel (as specified by its Output selector) is always routed to the destination channel's SideC hain input rather than its main input. See the Effects and Sends section later in this chapter for details on using the SideChain input on a channel to drive suitable effects.

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In Faders mode, This channel is used for level control and setting the Output routing of the Transport's Metronome function, which is intended to be used during Groove

recording.

Tweaks mode allows access to additional options for the Metronome. These settings can also be found in the Grooves Preferences.

Type

Click the Type setting to display a drop-down menu allowing you to select between a number of available metronome sounds.

Mode

The Mode setting can be switched so that the metronome is heard in either of the following transport situations: Record only and Record and Play. This function can also be accessed by right-clicking on the Metronome button.

3.3.2 Tweaks mode

Channel controls: Tweaks mode

The controls in this mode vary depending on the channel type.

Drum channels

For Drum channels, controls for Tune, Trim and Damp (Damping amount) are available. These controls are also located within the Drum Editor.

Note that these controls are disabled for Drum mic sub-channels.

Ambient channels

The following controls exist for Ambient mic channels - like Aux channels, the Ambient Mix channel features

Trim and SC Trim controls - see below for details of these controls.

Distance (Ambient mic channels)

The Distance control offers a virtual control over the distance of each set of ambient mic channels from the kit. Effectively it puts a short delay between the ambience channels and the direct mics. It has a similar effect to the

ambience as a 'pre-delay' control has over the wet signal on an artificial reverb unit. If custom routing of ambience signals has been set up using the Drum Editor, the Distance control has no effect

on these signals with altered routings. It is possible to achieve the same effects using the Delay FX device on the relevant destination Aux channel(s).

Width (stereo channels only)

Using the Width control, you can change the width of Ambient mic channels' stereo field. Settings range from mono to fully enhanced stereo.

This setting is available only for stereo ambient mic channels. It applies to ambient mic signals of the relevant type even if they have been routed to custom Aux channel destinations using the Drum Editor

Aux channels

The following controls adjust the levels of the signals entering the the Aux channel's input. If the input is clipping, it may be more convenient to decrease these controls instead of reducing the levels of all signals routed to it.

Trim

This control adjusts the level of the main input to the Aux channel.

SC Trim

This control adjusts the level of the Aux channel's SideC hain input.

Metronome channel

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Master channel

Preview (Preview level)

The Preview Level fader sets the level of all Drum slot and Browser audition previews.

Direct (Direct level)

This fader controls the level of all direct channels together. It is a pre-mixer control – it alters the level of all mic channels before they enter their direct channels on the mixer.

Mute & Solo

These buttons allow you to mute and solo all direct mic channels in the mixer.

Kick (Master Kick bleed level)

This control adjusts the overall level of bleed signals in the Kick mic channels, relative to the individual bleed levels set for each Drum in the Drum Editor.

Snare (Master Snare bleed level)

This control operates similarly to the Kick bleed level control except it acts on the overall level of Snare mic bleed.

Using BFD3's sounds 57

Other (Other mic bleed level)

Some expansion pack libraries contain bleed in direct channels other than the kick and snare channels. For example, some BFD XFL kicks and snares possess an additional bleed signal in the hihat direct mic channel. This bleed appears in the hihat slot direct mic channel if one of these kit-pieces is used.

The Other control sets the bleed levels in all other direct mics except kicks and snares. If you are not using any such kit-pieces, this control does not have any effect.

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Effect slot Power

Each effect slot features a Power button to activate or deactivate it. Deactivate the Power button to bypass the effect.

ALT-click any Power button to activate or deactivate all effect slots in the channel.

Effect device selector

Click the Effect device selector to display a drop-down menu of available effects.

To remove a device from the slot, select No Effect from the menu.

3.3.3 Effects/Sends modes

Channel controls: Effects mode

The Effects channel mode displays effect selection and power controls for each channel simultaneously, allowing an overview for multiple channels.

Full control of the effect devices loaded into each slot is only possible within the Effects Editor.

E (Edit)

Clicking the Edit button for any of the 6 effect slots displays the contained device's interface within the Effects Editor (this panel replaces the Kit display if it is not already visible).

Channel controls: Sends mode

This mode displays the Send controls for all channels. The controls in this mode are fully editable (see the

Effects Editor section for details about the controls).

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3.3.4 Other mixer controls

The Mini Mixer allows you to add any combination of often-used mixer channels to an additional panel which is always visible at the right side of the mixer when the Mini Mixer button at the top-right of the mixer is activated.

This can be useful for viewing certain channels regardless of the current scroll position in the mixer, or whether the required Drum or Ambient Mix channel is expanded.

Any channel(s) can be added to the Mini Mixer using the channel context menu - simply right-click on any channel and use the Add Chan to Mini Mixer function.

Once the required channels have been added, click the Mini Mixer button. Click and drag left/right on the border between the Mini Mixer and the rest of the mixer to adjust the space devoted to each.

Drum sub-menu

This sub-menu, available only on Drum channels, offers the same functions as the slot context menu in the Kit display.

Load channel preset

This function brings up a system file load dialog which allows you to load a previously saved channel strip preset. Any applicable settings are loaded – if the preset contains settings that are inappropriate for the destination channel, they are ignored.

Save channel preset

Using this function, you can save the contents of a channel strip to a preset for future use via a system file save dialog box.

Copy channel

This function copies the settings of the channel strip to the clipboard.

Paste channel

This function pastes the channel strip settings stored in the clipboard to the current channel. Any applicable settings are applied – if the clipboard preset contains settings that are inappropriate for the destination channel, they are ignored.

Paste channel effects

This function pastes only the effects stored the clipboard without pasting any other channel strip settings.

Mini Mixer

Using BFD3's sounds 59

The above example shows a Mini Mixer configuration of Overhead, Room, Amb3 and Master channels

Channel context menu

BFD3's mixer features a comprehensive system of managing channel settings, including loading and saving channel settings as presets. This is achieved by using the channel context menu.

This context menu is displayed by right-clicking anywhere on a channel (in Faders mode) or on the channel image in Effects/Sends/Tweaks modes.

Note that the channel context menu applies only to the channel on which it appears, regardless of whether multiple channels are currently selected. The exceptions are the Remove all unused channels and Auto- Assign outputs functions.

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Reset channel

This function resets the channel’s parameters to their initialized state (default settings), although effects and sends are not affected.

Clear channel Effects

This function removes all devices from the channel's effect slots.

Clear channel sends

This function removes any send settings on the channel. It does not appear on the master channel’s context menu, as it does not possess any sends.

Remove channel

This function appears only when applicable. It allows you to remove aux channels and direct or ambience channels that are not being used by loaded kit-pieces or by bleed signals from other kit-pieces.

Remove all unused channels

Unlike the other functions on the channel context menu, Remove all unused channels does not apply only to the current channel. It removes all currently unused channels in the mixer – this includes direct and ambience channels that are not being used by loaded Drums or by bleed signals from other Drums, as well as aux channels that are not output or send destinations from any channels.

Auto-Assign outputs functions

These functions set the Output selector parameter for all channels simultaneously for 3 common routing scenarios. These functions can radically alter your mix configuration so please proceed with caution. You are prompted for confirmation before proceeding.

Auto-Assign outputs (Direct)

This function assigns the Output selector for all individual microphones to discrete outputs - this includes Drum mic/sub-mic channels and Ambient mic channels.

When this function is used, any existing Output selector assignments to Aux channels and 'parent' Mix channels (Kick/Snare/Ambient Mix channels) are lost.

This feature is designed to allow you to easily transmit all Drum and Ambient mic channels to your host/DAW for further mixing, processing or to bounce the signals as audio tracks.

Auto-Assign outputs (Mixdown)

This feature is intended to be used with Aux channel sub-mixes of Drums. It assigns the Output selector for all Aux channels and Mix channels (Kick/Snare/Ambient Mix channels) to discrete outputs.

This means that, for example, the default routing setup would be altered so that the Kick, Snare and Ambient Mix are set to discrete stereo outputs, with the Master channel containing all other Drums (and hard-wired to the first stereo output). The 2 Aux channels in the default mixer setup are also routed to discrete stereo outputs.

If Aux channel sub-mixes of the other Drums have been created (for example, if the Toms and C ymbals have each been mixed down to a single Aux channel), these Aux channels are also routed to discrete stereo outputs.

Auto-Assign outputs (Master)

This function assigns all channels to their default Output selector routing assignments, effectively sending all signals to the Master channel.

Kick/Snare Drum sub-mics are routed to their parent Drum Mix channels Ambient mics are routed to the Ambient Mix channel Drum Mix, Ambient Mix and all other Drum and Aux channels are routed to the Master channel.

Auto-Assign outputs (WYSIWYG)

Standing for 'What You See Is What You Get', this function sequentially assigns the output of each direct channel to a mono output, and any Bus, Aux or Ambient mic channel to a stereo output.

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3.4 Effects and Sends

The Effects Editor allows full control over the currently selected channel's 6 insert effect slots and its 4 Sends. This panel and the Kit display cannot be viewed simultaneously. Click the Effects button to show the Effects Editor in place of the Kit display.

The Effects rack

Effects are BFD3's built-in DSP audio processors. The Effects rack shows the contents of the 6 effect slots on the currently selected mixer channel.

Effect slots

Each of the 6 available effect slots can host any of the internal BFD3 DSP effect devices.

Sends can also be routed to other channels for SideChain processing purposes.

Click the Sends button at the top-right of the Effects Editor panel to show the Send controls if they are not currently visible. Click the Sends button again to hide the controls.

Sends are discussed later in this section.

Overview

Using BFD3's sounds 61

Effect scroller

The Effect scroller is a representation of the selected channel's 6 available effect slots, with the highlighted area indicating which slots are currently visible. The size of the visible area depends upon the current width setting of the BFD3 window.

To change the visible area, click and drag the highlighted area or simply click the part of the scroller representing the desired effect slots.

Sends

The Send controls represent the 4 Send routings available from the selected mixer channel, usually to destination Aux channels, allowing you to set up parallel processing routings suitable for reverbs and parallel compression: like any other mixer channel, destination Aux channels feature 6 effect slots for these purposes.

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Each of the 6 effect slots for a channel features a main header section which features an Effect device selector drop-down menu with a number of other controls.

Firstly, select the desired channel in the mixer by clicking it. Then, display the Effects Editor by clicking the Effects button in BFD3's main navigation bar.

Click the part of the desired effect slot header that shows No Effect - if the slot is empty - or the name of the effect already loaded into the slot. This displays a menu of available effects arranged within sub-menus according to effect type. Navigate to the desired effect device and click it to load it into the slot. The previous contents of the effect slot are discarded.

Display the Effects Editor for a mixer channel as described above. Right-click on any effect slot to display the effect context menu. The Effect

device selector menu is located within the New Effect sub-menu, again providing all available effects arranged within sub-menus according to effect type.

Navigate to the desired effect device and click it to load it into the slot. The previous contents of the effect slot are discarded.

Switching the mixer to Effects channel mode (with the Effects channel mode switch) shows basic controls for all channels' 6 effect slots simultaneously.

The Effect device selector allows you to load an effect device into each slot. Each slot's Power button is also available, as is an Edit button to quickly switch to viewing the effect in the C hannel Editor if it is not already visible.

Initializing and using Effects

Initializing an effect device within a channel's effect slot

There are 3 ways to load a device into an effect slot:

Effect slot's Effect device selector

Effect context menu

Effects channel mode in the mixer

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Using BFD3's sounds 63

Power button

The Power button enables or disables the effect device loaded into the slot. With the button deactivated, the device is disabled and bypassed.

This control is also available in the mixer's Effects channel mode. You can also turn all currently loaded effect devices on and off using

the main Effect Power button above the mixer.

SideChain mode

The SideChain mode button is only available on certain SideC hain-enabled effects when used on on Aux channels and the Master channel.

When the button is activated on the Comp Bus as in this example, the effect uses the SideC hain input for driving the peak detection circuit, meaning that the amplitude characteristics of a separate signal are used to treat the amplitude of the actual signal entering the compressor's main input.

When the EQ or EQ8 devices are used, activating the SideChain mode button results in the device processing the SideChain signal before it reaches a SideChain-enabled effect further on in the channel's signal path.

This function is provided for situations when greater tonal control of the SideChain input signal is required than that offered by the Key HP control on the Comp Bus effect, for example.

Main effect slot controls

All effect slots share the following common controls on their interfaces:

Effect device selector

This drop-down menu provides a menu of available effects. C lick any effect in the menu to load it into the slot and replace its previous contents.

Preset menu

The Preset menu features a drop-down menu showing all available presets for the effect device in the slot.

Preset Prev / Next

The Preset Prev / Next cycle through the effect's available presets.

A/B Compare

These buttons toggle between two distinct states for the effect, each with its own settings and preset-loading. By default, the 'A state' is in operation and highlighted in blue. To try completely different settings without having

to save the current settings as a preset first, click the B button - this switches to the 'B state' and all further adjustments are now made to the B state. Presets can be loaded and any effect settings can be changed as desired.

To return to the A state, click the A button again - the original settings reappear. Of course, any adjustments previously made to the B state are recalled should you decide to return to it by clicking the B button again.

Mix

The Mix control, which allows blending between the processed (wet) and unprocessed (dry) signals, exists on all BFD3 effect devices.

Note that this control only appears when an effect device is loaded into the slot. By default, all effects are set to 100% wet, but this control allows you to adjust this as required. This control is useful on compressor devices for creating parallel compression effects for a single channel without

needing to set up an additional aux channel.

BFD3's SideChain features are discussed in more detail later in this chapter.

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EQ / Comp Bus

These items represent shortcuts for loading the EQ or Bus Compressor into the effect slot, as these are likely to be the most commonly used processors in a mix.

New effect

This sub-menu performs the same function as the slot's Effect device selector it provides a menu of available effects. Click any effect in the menu to load it into the slot and replace its previous contents.

Swapping effects between slots

Simply click an effect device's interface, drag it to the left or right and drop it into another slot.

Any effect device already loaded within the destination is swapped into the original slot that was moved over it.

Managing Effects with the Effect context menu

Right-click on an effect interface to display the effect context menu.

Cut / Copy / Paste Effect

These functions allow you to cut/copy/paste effect devices between effect slots and mixer channels.

Reset effect

This function resets the current effect to its default settings.

Clear effect

This function removes the effect from the slot.

Load preset

Clicking this item displays a system file open dialog which allows you to load previously saved preset files for the effect.

You can also use the Preset selector in order to quickly browse through available presets saved in the default preset folder for the effect.

Save preset

Clicking this item brings up a system file save dialog, allowing you to save the effect’s current settings as a preset - it is recommended to use the default location so that presets become available on the effect's Preset

menu.

Swapping and copying effect devices between slots using drag and drop

Effects can be re-ordered and copied between a channel's effect slots using drag and drop. This offers a quicker way of performing these tasks compared to using the Copy/Paste and Clear functions on the effect context menu.

Copying an effect from one slot to another

Hold down the ALT key while performing a drag and drop operation as described above to copy the original effect onto the destination slot.

Any effect device previously in the destination slot is discarded.

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Using BFD3's sounds 65

Sends panel in Effects Editor

Firstly, select the desired channel in the mixer by clicking it. Then, display the Effects Editor by clicking the Effects button in BFD3's main navigation bar.

If the Sends panel is not currently displayed within the Effects Editor, click the Sends button to make it visible.

Sends channel mode in the mixer

Switching the mixer to Sends channel mode shows smaller versions of the Send controls for all channels simultaneously.

Power

The Power button activates or deactivates the Send. This button is activated automatically when the Dest control is used to set a Send destination.

Dest (Destination)

The Send destination is selected using the Dest drop-down menu.

Level

This control sets the Send level - the amount of the signal that is sent to the destination.

Routing mode

Using this set of buttons, each Send can be routed from any of 3 source points in the channel signal path:

Pre (Pre FX, pre-fader)

The Send signal is tapped before the channel's effect slots. This point is also pre-fader. Therefore, the signal reaches the Send destination without being processed by the channel's effects, and is not affected by any level adjustment via the channel's level fader.

Using Sends and Sidechains

4 Sends are available per channel for parallel processing and sidechaining purposes. Sends can be routed to any available Aux channel as long as the destination channel is to the right of the source channel. They can also be routed to the Master channel and other channels such as Drum and Ambient Mix channels (these are effectively Aux channels with Drum sub-mic or Ambient mic channels' outputs routed to them) for sidechain applications.

Sends can be routed into the main input or to the sidechain input of the destination channel. Sidechaining is used for certain effects which allow you to process the main input while reacting to properties of the sidechain input signal.

Displaying Send controls

Controls for Sends can be displayed in 2 ways:

Send controls

The following controls are available for all 4 Sends from the currently selected channel, and can be accessed using the Sends panel in the Effects Editor or using the Sends channel mode in the mixer.

FX (Post-FX, pre-fader)

The Send signal is tapped after the channel's effects but before the fader. Therefore, the signal reaches the Send destination after being processed by the channel's effects, but is not affected by any level adjustment via the channel's level fader.

Fader (Post-fader)

The Send signal is tapped after the channel's level fader. Therefore, the signal reaches the Send destination after being processed by the entire channel including its effect slots and level fader.

This is the default setting for the Routing mode parameter.

Sidechain mode

The send signal can be routed to either the main input for the destination channel or, with the SideChain mode button activated, to its SideChain input.

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To set up a channel as a SideChain source for a compressor on another channel, first set up a Send to a destination channel with the compressor, and turn up the level of the Send.

Then, click the Sidechain button for the Send source setting in the Sends panel.

This Send is now routed to the SideChain input of the destination channel.

Click the SideChain mode button on a compressor loaded into a slot on the destination channel. It now reacts to the SideChain signal with the resulting gain reduction applied to the main input signal.

A common problem when compressing is the existence of excessive low-end frequencies in a sidechain signal causing a compressor to react more than desired. BFD3's compressors include a high-pass filter to quickly filter out the low end from the signal used by the peak detection process.

However, you may need to apply a more complex EQ process to a SideChain signal in order to isolate a particular band of frequencies such as the mid 'crack' of a snare sound. In such cases, proceed as described above, but insert an EQ on the destination channel, ensuring that it is inserted before the compressor.

Now, click the SC button on the EQ's interface: the channel's SideC hain input signal is processed by the EQ rather than the channel's main input signal. The processed SideChain signal is then used by the compressor as the source for its peak detection circuit (after the compressor's SC button has also been enabled).

If the signal is sent to the SideChain input, the signal is not processed through the channel and its effects, but instead is used for sidechain-enabled effects with their SideChain mode button enabled. There is one exception

- the EQ is capable of processing a channel's SideC hain signal for reasons which are discussed in the 'Using sidechaining' section below.

Using Sidechaining

Sidechaining is the use of one signal to control the behaviour of a processor that acts on another signal. Generally, the amplitude of the sidechained signal is used to determine the dynamic output of the processed signal and it is not directly heard in the output of the processor at all. It is a common feature in compressors, in order to compress one signal according to the amplitude of another for a variety of dynamic effects.

In BFD3, any mixer channel can be used as a SideC hain source for a compressor or gate inserted on an Aux channel or the Master channel.

In addition, the SideC hain can also be used as the FM source when the filter FM function is used in the Filter Mod device.

Setting up sidechains

EQ-ing the sidechain

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Comp Chan (channel compressor) is derived from a classic 'feedback-based FET limiting amplifier' design.

It features a 'fixed-threshold' design – the threshold at which compression starts is not adjustable. In practice, this means you may need to adjust the

Input and Output levels when changing ratios.

Input & Output

This control adjusts the level of the signal entering the compressor. Once the input level has reached the internal threshold, compression begins. When this happens, use the Output control to turn down the increased input. The Input control ranges from -20 tp +40 dB, while the Output control ranges from -40 dB to +20 dB.

3.4.1 Dynamics

Common compression parameters

The following definitions apply to most of BFD3's dynamics processors. However, please note that the DC AM EnvShaper device has a very different approach to its time-related parameters (Attack and Sustain).

Attack

The Attack control on a compressor represents the speed at which the gain is reduced when transients pass through it.

This control is often misunderstood - the Attack time does NOT indicate the amount of time taken before the compressor starts to compress.

Release

The Release control on a compressor sets the speed at which the gain level returns to normal after a transient has passed.

Ratio

The Ratio specifies the gain reduction applied by the compressor. The numbers in the ratio represent the change in gain before and after compression.

For example, assuming that the threshold level has been breached, then a ratio of 2:1 would mean that for every 2 dB of increased signal level coming into the compressor, the output level rises by 1dB.

Advanced features in BFD3's dynamics processors

SideChain button

The BFD3 C omp Bus, NoiseGate and DCAM EnvShaper feature the ability to process a signal using the transient characteristics of another. By enabling the SideChain button, the device's peak detection circuit reacts to the channel's SideC hain input rather than the main input but still applies the processing to the main input signal. This allows you to control the dynamics of the main input signal with another signal entirely.

The Filter Mod device also features a SideChain button for driving its envelope follower and FM functions while the EQ and EQ8 devices also have a SideChain button for EQ-ing the channel's SideChain signal.

Parallel compression and the Mix control

Parallel compression involves mixing a compressed signal (usually fairly heavily compressed) with the original dry signal, in order to achieve the 'huge' sound of a compressed drum mix while keeping the transients of the original drums intact.

While it is uncommon to see a wet/dry mix control on a compressor, the Mix control on BFD3's compressors is very useful for applying parallel compression to a single mono or stereo channel without needing to create additional Aux channels. If you need to apply parallel compression to more than one channel at once, you must first create a sub-mix on an Aux channel.

Comp Chan

Attack

The Attack control has a range between 0.02 ms and 0.8 ms.

Release

The Release control has a range between 50ms and 1.1 seconds.

Ratio

This control sets the compression Ratio to 4:1 , 8:1 , 12:1, 20:1 or 'Nuke', which is an emulation of the 'all buttons' mode on a classic limiting amplifier design. It results in a particularly brutal type of compression with accompanying distortion artifacts.

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This device is based on a classic bus compressor design from the centre section of a well-known British large-format mixing console.

It is most commonly used to add 'glue' and power to a drum bus. However, it also works very well as a channel compressor in its own right, offering a different flavour of compression compared to the Comp Chan.

Key HP (Key signal High-pass)

The Key HP control adjusts a variable high pass filter on the key signal that is used for the compressor's amplitude detection. It is applied whether the main input or the SideChain input is being used to drive the compressor. No filtering is applied to the audible signal - only to that being used to drive the peak detection circuit.

This control is useful when there is too much low-end in the sidechain signal, resulting in the compressor reacting more heavily than desired.

The C omp VC A device is a modelled emulation of a VC A-based compressor circuit with a fast and clean compression characteristic.

Input

The Input control adjusts the signal level entering the compressor circuit. Higher levels result in the compressor circuit reacting more heavily.

Attack

The Attack time can be set between 100µs (microseconds) and 100ms

(milliseconds).

Release

The Release time can be set between 10ms and 2s.

Ratio

The Ratio can be set between 1:1 and 50:1.

Threshold

The Threshold represents the signal level at which the compressor begins to react.

Output

The Output control allows you to increase the overall output level after the compressor circuit has applied gain reduction to the input signal.

Comp Bus

Attack

Six Attack times are available: 0.1 ms, 0.3 ms, 1 ms, 3 ms, 10 ms, 30 ms.

Release

Five Release settings are available: 0.1 ms, 0.3 ms, 0.6 ms, 1.2 ms and Auto.

Ratio

Three Ratio settings are available: 2:1, 4:1 and 10:1.

Threshold

Unlike the Comp C han, the Comp Bus device allows you to adjust the Threshold, which represents the signal level at which the compressor begins to react.

Output

The Output control allows you to increase the overall output level after the compressor circuit has applied gain reduction to the input signal.

Limit

The Limit button applies analog non-linearities to the input to the compressor's amplitude detection circuit (while not affecting the input signal itself). This results in a more transparent character to the compression effect, especially on attack phases of transients.

Comp VCA

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DCAM EnvShaper offers an alternative approach to dynamics processing by allowing you to adjust the intensity of the attack and sustain portions of transients.

Attack

The Attack control adjusts the intensity of the attack phase of detected peaks in the audio signal. Increase the control to intensify attack transients, and decrease it to soften transients.

Sustain

The Sustain control adjusts the intensity of release portions of detected peaks in the audio signal, which increases or decreases the apparent sustain of sounds in the signal.

A noise gate is a type of dynamics processor that attenuates the input signal until its amplitude exceeds an adjustable threshold level, at which time the gate 'opens' to allow audio through at its actual level.

They are often used during drum mixing in order to isolate drums within signals containing bleed or spill from other drums. Another common use is to reduce the decay of toms and kicks. Noise gates are often referred to simply as 'gates'.

While BFD3 contains bleed channels, these can be turned down or off completely rather than having to use gates to minimize bleed. Likewise, the decay of kit-pieces can be adjusted using the Damping controls in the Drum Editor. However, using gates can be good for creative effects, or simply for recreating the types of techniques used in real drum mixing sessions.

DCAM EnvShaper

Increase this control for more sustain, and decrease it for less sustain. This control is useful for adjusting the perceived level of ambience in a channel. Negative settings can produce damping effects for drum sounds.

Signal Bias

The Signal Bias control adjusts the sensitivity and release characteristics of DC AM EnvShaper. At low settings it is more sensitive to short transients while at higher settings it is more sensitive to longer transients.

NoiseGate

BFD3's NoiseGate has a SideChain function which allows you to create triggered 'chopping' effects very easily. For example, route any channel such as a hihat or a user sample direct channel to the master channel's sidechain input and insert a noise gate in one of the master channel's effect slots. Enable the sidechain button for the gate and adjust the threshold until the sidechain input triggers the audio on the channel.

When setting very fast Attack and Release times, it is common to hear 'clicks' in the audio when the gate opens and closes, especially with sounds predominantly comprised of low frequencies such as kicks and toms. This behaviour is completely normal - these times simply need to be increased slightly to overcome the problem.

Attack

The Attack control adjusts the speed at which the gate opens once the Threshold has been exceeded by the input signal's amplitude.

Hold

The Hold parameter controls the amount of time the gate remains open after the input signal has dropped below the Threshold level.

Release

The Release control adjusts the speed at which the gate closes at the end of the hold time.

Threshold

The Threshold control allows you to set the level at which the gate starts to open. When the input signal amplitude exceeds the level specified by the Threshold control, the gate starts to open to allow audio through.

Input Filter

This control provides high-pass and low-pass filters to process the input signal used to trigger the gate (whether it is the main input signal or the SideChain input signal) while leaving the actual processed signal unfiltered. This allows you to isolate certain frequencies in the input to improve the gating response – for example, excessive low frequencies in the input can make the gate react more sensitively than required.

To adjust this control, click and drag the light blue arrows at the left and right of the blue active frequency band the light-blue arrows represent the cutoff frequencies of the high-pass and low-pass filters.

Key Listen

Enabling the Key Listen button lets you hear the key input being used to trigger the NoiseGate's amplitude detection circuit instead of the processed input signal. The key signal can be either the main input or the sidechain input.

It is very useful when using the Input Filter and/or the SideC hain input.

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The Distortion device is an updated version of BFD2's Drive processor which is now available within the Legacy sub-menu.

Mode

The Mode drop-down menu selects between a wide variety of distortion types.

Drive

The Drive control sets the amount of distortion that takes place.

Input Filter

This control provides high-pass and low-pass filters before the distortion stage to enable you to shape the tonal characteristics of the signal going into the drive circuit.

A limiter is effectively a compressor with a very fast attack time and a high ratio for signals that exceed the maximum level.

Input

The Input control adjusts the level of the signal going into the Limiter algorithm. Higher input levels lead to more pronounced and 'brutal' limiting.

Hardness

The Hardness control adjusts the strength of the Limiter's 'knee'. At high settings, peaks are clipped with a 'brick-wall' limiting effect. At lower settings, gain reduction occurs more slowly (with slower attack and release settings), leading to a more natural effect with less 'pumping'.

Hysteresis

Noise gates have a tendency to open and close very quickly when the input signal's amplitude remains close to the threshold level for longer periods, something that can result in 'gate chatter'.

Increasing the Hysteresis control smooths out the gate response to reduce this problem, although the gate becomes less sensitive to small changes around the threshold level.

Mix

With the Mix control at 100%, the NoiseGate mutes the signal completely when closed. If you want to let the signal through at a low level, decrease the Mix control to allow more of the dry signal through.

Distortion

For example, you may want to distort the high end of a kick drum while leaving the deep low end unchanged. To adjust this control, click and drag the light blue arrows at the left and right of the blue active frequency band

the light-blue arrows represent the cutoff frequencies of the high-pass and low-pass filters. These filters are crossover filters – the active frequency band is processed by the distortion circuit with its level

adjustable via the Dirty control. The frequencies that are filtered out before the distortion stage are accessible via the Clean control.

Dirty & Clean

The Dirty control sets the amount of post-distortion signal that is heard at the output. The Clean control sets the amount of the clean signal, which is comprised of the signals filtered out by Input

Filter control. Please note that these are not 'wet' and 'dry' controls – use the standard Mix control at the top of the effect

interface in order to mix between the pre- and post-effect signals.

Tone

The Tone control provides a simple -6 dB/oct low-pass filter for the processed signal after the distortion stage. It allows you to roll off unwanted high frequencies that may have been generated in the signal as part of the distortion effect.

Limiter

Output

The Output control allows you to attenuate the processed output signal from the Limiter.

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Gain

The Gain effect is a simple tool for increasing or decreasing a channel's level.

Gain

The Gain control lets you increase the channel's gain up to 18 dB, or decrease it up to -inf dB.

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BFD3's EQ provides 4 bands of EQ, including two parametric mid bands.

L (Low) and H (High) bands

The Low and High bands are switchable between a bell with a fixed Q of 2.5 octave (with the Bell button activated) and a shelving response with a fixed rolloff of 12 dB per octave (with the Bell button deactivated).

• Low band Freq range: 40 to 600hz

• Low band Gain range: +/- 16.5 dB

• High band Freq range: 600 to 14khz

• High band Gain range: +/- 20 dB

The EQ8 device is an 8-band version of the EQ - it features the same controls but for 8 bands (numbered 1-8) instead of the 4 bands in the standard EQ device.

Bands 1 and 8 behave in the same way as the Low and High bands in the standard EQ device, while all other bands behave in the same way as the EQ's parametric Low Mid and High Mid bands.

The Filter effect provides non-resonant high-pass and low-pass filters for broad tonal shaping of signals.

It can be used to roll off the low end in Overhead and Room buses, or to remove ultra-low frequencies from kick drums, espcially when low-shelving EQ is applied.

HP Frequency

The -18dB/Oct high-pass filter removes frequencies below the specified frequency which can be set within a range between 20hz and 500hz.

LP Frequency

The -12 dB/Oct low-pass filter removes frequencies above the specified frequency, which can be set within a range of 35 Hz to 3 kHz.

3.4.2 Filters

LM (Low Mid) and HM (High Mid) parametric bands

The Mid bands feature bell curves with adjustable Q.

• Low Mid Band Freq range: 200hz to 2Khz

• High Mid band Freq range: 800hz to 7khz

• Q range: 0.5 octave to 2.5 octave

Band Power

Each band has its own Power button allowing you to save CPU by only using the bands you need.

SideChain

Enabling the EQ's SideChain button allows you to EQ the channel's sidechain input. It can be very useful to EQ a SideChain input before it enters a compressor as it may feature excessive energy in a part of the frequency spectrum leading to an undesired compression response. Note that the EQ must be placed before the SideChainenabled processor in the channel's effect chain.

Frequency Display control

The EQ curve can be adjusted by clicking and dragging the graphical display in the EQ effect interface. To edit a band in this way, move the mouse cursor over the display. The display is divided into 4 zones for each band, each highlighted in a different colour corresponding to that of each band's controls on the interface.

With a band highlighted, click and drag up/down to adjust the band's Gain, and left/right to adjust its Freq. For the two Mid bands, click and drag up/down while holding down the ALT key to adjust the band's Q.

EQ8

Filter

Power buttons

The HP In and LP In buttons are power buttons for each filter – when activated, the filter is enabled, and when deactivated, the filter is bypassed.

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This device features a state-variable multimode filter with a response of 12 db per octave, capable of self-oscillation and featuring input and output drive stages.

It has a built-in envelope follower to modulate the filter's cutoff frequency relative to the input's amplitude. This function is modelled on an analogue fullwave rectified envelope follower. Additionally, the filter frequency can be modulated at audio rate by the input signal.

Alternatively, the channel's SideC hain input can be used as the audio source for the envelope follower and audio-rate FM functions. For example you could use a bass drum tuned very low as a rough and ready LFO to modulate the filter.

Filter Mod

Mode

4 filter Mode settings are available, each offering different filtering functions relative to the cutoff frequency.

Low (Low-pass)

Low-pass mode allows through only frequencies below the cutoff frequency.

High (High-pass)

High-pass mode allows through only frequencies above the cutoff frequency.

Band (Band-pass)

Band-pass mode allows through only a band of frequencies around the cutoff frequency.

Notch

This is the opposite of a band pass - it allows through all other frequencies except a band of frequencies around the cutoff frequency.

Modulating a notch filter can give phaser-like results.

In Drive

The In Drive control sets the amount of signal gain before the filtering stage. As well as increasing the gain, using more drive results in a rich and complex interaction with the filter's resonance due to modelled nonlinearities within it.

Out Drive

The Out Drive control adjusts the gain of an OTA-type non-linear amp function at the output, in order to boost and colour the filtered signal.

Pitch

The Pitch control adjusts the cutoff frequency of the filter. It is measured in semitones.

Resonance

This control adjusts the resonance of the filter, accentuating the frequencies around the cutoff frequency set by the Pitch control.

High Resonance settings cause the filter to self-oscillate – please exercise caution with your speaker levels when using resonant self-oscillation.

Attack

This control changes how quickly the envelope follower section responds to transients in the input signal. Longer

Attack times mean that the filter takes a longer time to respond to amplitude changes.

Release

The Release control changes how quickly the envelope follower causes the filter to return to its original position when the input signal decreases after a transient.

Env Depth

The Env Depth control adjusts the amount of modulation of the filter's cutoff frequency by the built-in envelope follower.

FM Depth

The FM Depth control sets the amount of audio-rate modulation of the cutoff frequency by the input.

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The C omb device is useful for psychedelic chorus and phaser-style effects. Comb filters use technique of feeding a delayed version of the signal back into itself to create a series of harmonically related notches across the frequency spectrum reminiscent of the teeth of a comb. Changing the amount of delay affects the position of these notches and creates the effect of 'sweeping' the resultant frequency bands.

Pitch

The Pitch control adjusts the centre frequency of the comb filter, changing the position of the comb frequency bands.

Resonance

The Resonance control adjusts the amount of feedback used for the comb filter.

The HiLo Balance device is a 'tilt'-style EQ which cuts high frequencies when boosting low frequencies, and vice versa.

Balance

The Balance control sets the degree of 'tilt' between low and high frequencies. At the centre position no effect is applied to the incoming audio.

At values higher than the centre position, high frequencies are boosted while low frequencies are attenuated by the same amount.

At values lower than the centre position, low frequencies are boosted while high frequencies are attenuated by the same amount.

Crossover

This control sets the point between the low and high frequency bands.

SideChain

Enabling the SideChain button results in the channel's SideC hain input being used as the source for the FilterMod device's envelope follower and audio-rate FM features. This means other channels can be used to modulate the filter cutoff.

This function allows you to be very creative with the filter – here's a few ideas to try out:

for quick and dirty LFOs, try tuning a kick down really low and using it as the filter FM source, perhaps after some additional processing such as low-pass filtering

load arbitrary sounds as user samples using BFD3's sample import functions, and use them as the filter FM source

try using the TestTone or TestPulse devices as filter FM sources

Comb

Mode

The Mode control sets the feedback polarity between positive and negative settings.

Drive

The Drive control increases the level of the signal entering the comb filter circuit, adding saturation and overdrive.

Rate

The Rate control adjusts the speed of the Comb device's built-in sine LFO for modulating the Pitch.

Depth

The Depth control adjusts the amount of modulation of the Pitch control with the internal sine LFO.

HiLo Balance

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The Delay effect can operate as a stereo or mono delay line, depending on whether it is used on a stereo or mono channel.

Time

The delay Time can be set either in absolute time values in seconds or in tempo-based values (selectable using the Sync control).

Sync

When the Sync button is set to BPM, the delay time is set in tempo-based values relative to BFD3's current tempo. Possible values range from 64th note to 2 bars, including dotted and triplet variations, the latter being especially useful for classic shuffle grooves using simple ¼-note input. In Seconds mode, the delay time is set as an absolute time value, ranging from 31 ms to 4 seconds.

This device provides 4 separate delay taps.

Time

The 4 Time controls set the delay time for each of the 4 delay taps.

Sync

When the Sync parameter is set to BPM, the delay time is set in tempo-based values relative to BFD3's current tempo. Possible values range from 64th note to 2 bars, including dotted and triplet variations, the latter being especially useful for classic shuffle grooves using simple ¼-note input. In Seconds mode, the delay time is set as an absolute time value, ranging from 31ms to 4 seconds.

Gain

The 4 Gain controls allow you to set the level of each of the 4 delay taps.

3.4.3 Spatial

Delay

Feedback

The Feedback control sets the amount of delay regenerations, caused by feeding the delayed signal back into the input. Higher values feed the delayed signal back in at a higher amplitude, leading to more regenerations of the input signal. Settings of 100% lead to indefinite regenerations until the value is reduced, and with good use of the built-in filtering can result in classic psychedelic, dubby analog delay effects.

Swing

The delay features 2 taps, which are played at the same time with the swing control at the centre position. By turning down the Swing control, you can move the left tap before the right tap, up to a distance of half the

delay time. By turning up the Swing control, the right tap is moved up to a distance of half the delay time before the left tap.

This control opens up a wide variety of swung delay grooves.

Feedback Filter

This control consists of a high-pass and low-pass filter allowing you to apply tonal shaping to each delay regeneration.

Sum In (stereo only)

When the Delay is used on a stereo channel, activating this button sums the left and right inputs to a single mono signal and feeds one delay line instead of two.

Delay Multi Tap

Feedback

The 4 Feed controls set the amount of feedback for each of the 4 delay taps.

Pan (Stereo only)

When the device is used on a stereo channel, the Pan control allows each of the 4 taps can be positioned within the stereo field.

Feedback Filter

This control consists of a high-pass and low-pass filter allowing you to apply tonal shaping to each delay regeneration - the same filtering settings are applied to all 4 delay taps.

Time (Master)

This control offers a master control for the delay time of all 4 delay taps. It applies an offset to the Time settings for all 4 taps.

Feedback (Master)

This control offers a master control for the feedback of all 4 delay taps. It applies an offset to the Feedback settings for all 4 taps.

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Delay Drive

This device is a version of the Delay with an additional circuit-modelled overdrive stage. The Drive parameter adjusts the amount of overdrive.

This effect is a recreation of a cheap-sounding room reverb unit, perfect for trashy sounding drum mixes and an antidote to the lush, real ambience in BFD3's recordings. It is not intended to serve the function of a premium quality digital reverb – for this purpose, it's best to use a good quality external reverb plugin or hardware unit.

Size

The Size control lets you adjust the size of the virtual reverberation room. Smaller rooms offer subtle ambience, while large rooms result in a more 'cavernous' and reflective effect.

Decay time

This control adjusts the Decay time of the reverb effect. Use shorter settings for subtle small room effects and longer times for special effects.

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Damp

Increasing the Damp control results in less high frequencies in the effected signal, leading to a darker reverb sound. At least some damping is essential to avoid overly tinny and fatiguing results.

Pinch & Squeeze

These controls manipulate the shape of the virtual reverb room, leading to a variety of resulting effects. They make the reverb sound a lot more artificial and are useful for special effects.

Freeze

As the name suggests, this button 'freezes' the current reverb buffer and loops it indefinitely until the button is disabled. Automating this effect is excellent for dubby special effects.

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FXverb is a high-end algorithmic reverb device.

Input & Output

These controls adjust the level of the Input signal into the device and the Output signal from the device.

Room Size

This control adjusts the size of the virtual reverberation chamber. Increasing the

Room Size leads to a more pronounced and longer reverberation effect.

Decay

This control adjusts the length of the reverberation tail (which is also affected by the Room Size control).

Time (Sec)

The Time control sets the duration of the reverberation tail (which is also influenced by the Size parameter).

Size

The Size control sets the rate of build-up diffusion after the initial period (the amount of diffusion is is controlled by the Diffusion parameter). The Size control also acts as a master control for the amount of Time and Spread. The apparent size of the space created by Breverb Hall is actually a combination of the settings of the Size, Shape and Spread controls.

Diffusion

The Diffusion control sets the degree to which the initial echo density increases over time.

FXverb

Pre delay

The Predelay control introduces a delay between the dry sound and the reverberated output, creating a sense of space and distance.

Density

The Density control adjusts the density of reflections in the generated reverberation.

Early

The Early control adjusts the level of early reflections within the reverb output signal.

Late

The Late control adjusts the level of late reflections within the reverb output signal.

Damping Gain

The Damping Gain control adjusts the amount of damping applied by the Damping EQ before the output of the FXverb device. Increasing this control leads to more attenuation at the Damping Freq.

Damping Freq

The Damping Freq control adjusts the centre frequency of the Damping EQ positioned before the final output.

Breverb Hall

Shape

The Shape control works together with the Spread parameter to control the overall ambience of the reverberation created by Breverb Room. It specifically determines the contour of the reverberation envelope. With the Shape control fully turned down, reverberation builds explosively and decays very quickly. As the control is is increased, reverberation builds up more slowly and sustains for the time set by the Spread parameter.

Spread

The Spread control sets the duration of the initial contour of the reverberation envelope. Low settings result in a rapid onset of reverberation at the beginning of the envelope, with little or no sustain, while higher settings spread out both the build-up and sustain.

Pre delay (Sec)

The Pre delay control sets the time that elapses between the original signal and the onset of reverberation. It can be used to create a sense of distance and volume within an acoustic space.

Low, High

The Low and High parameters can be used to adjust the frequency response of the reverb. Low (kHz): Sets the frequency under which the reverberation is attenuated. High (kHz): Sets the frequency over which the reverberation is attenuated.

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Time (Sec)

The Time control sets the duration of the reverberation tail (which is also influenced by the Size parameter).

Size

The Size control sets the apparent size of the acoustic space being emulated by the algorithm. Values from minimum to 50% are typical of the ambience of a typical recording room.

Diffusion

The Diffusion control sets the degree to which the initial echo density increases over time.

Time (Sec)

The Time control sets the duration of the reverberation tail (which is also influenced by the Size parameter).

Size

The Size control sets the apparent size of the metal plate emulated by the Breverb Plate algorithm.

Diffusion

The Diffusion control sets the degree to which the initial echo density increases over time.

Breverb Room

Decay

The Decay control sets the balance between late reverberation and early reflections. When the control is fully turned down, only the early reflections are present. As it is increased, late reverberations are introduced to the signal.

Pre delay (Sec)

The Pre delay control sets the time that elapses between the original signal and the onset of reverberation. It can be used to create a sense of distance and volume within an acoustic space.

Low, High

Breverb Plate

Pre delay (Sec)

The Pre delay control sets the time that elapses between the original signal and the onset of reverberation. It can be used to create a sense of distance and volume within an acoustic space.

Shape

The Shape control determines the contour of the reverberation envelope. With the control fully turned down, reverberation builds explosively and decays very quickly. As the control is increased, reverberation builds up more gradually and sustains for longer.

Low, High

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Time (Sec)

The Time control sets the duration of the reverberation tail. This time, added to the Pre delay time, is the time that elapses from the original signal to the end of the reverberation process.

Diffusion

The Diffusion control sets the degree to which the initial echo density increases over time.

Pre delay (Sec)

The Pre delay control sets the amount of time that elapses between the original signal and the onset of reverberation. It can be used to create a sense of distance and volume within an acoustic space.

Breverb Inverse

Low, High

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The Flanger effect is a short modulated delay line with feedback to the input. It is used for a sense of movement and for psychedelic effects from the subtle to the extreme. It features a built-in sine LFO for modulating the flanging delay line.

Rate

The Rate control affects the speed of modulation of the flanger delay time.

Depth

The Depth control adjusts the amount of modulation of the delay time.

Display

The VU-style display represents the current flanging delay time.

The Phaser uses phase cancelling techniques (with the use of all-pass filtering) to create a series of peaks across the frequency spectrum. When these peaks are swept, a psychedelic sweeping effect is created.

Mode

The Mode control selects between a number of phaser responses. 4, 6, 8 and 12 stage phaser types are available, with positive or negative feedback. The number of stages refers to the number of all-pass filters within the algorithm.

Pitch

The Pitch control adjusts the centre frequency of the all-pass filters used in the Phaser algorithm.

3.4.4 Effects

Flanger

Pos (Position)

This control introduces an additional fixed delay time to the Flanger's delay line. It is a very short delay, ranging from 0 ms to 15 ms.

Feedback

This control adjusts the amount of the flanged signal that is fed back into the input. Higher Feedback settings result in a more pronounced flanging effect. Settings over 50% lead to extreme comb

filter type effects.

Spread (stereo only)

This control allows you to adjust the panning of the left and right channel processed signals.

Phase (stereo only)

The Phase control offsets the phase of the internal LFOs for the left and right channels.

Flip Phase

By default (with the Flip Phase button deactivated), the flanged signal is in positive phase with the input signal. Activating the Flip Phase button inverts the flanged signal's phase in relation to the input signal. A positive phase setting tends to lead to a more obvious flanging effect.

Phaser

Resonance

The Resonance control adjusts the amount of resonance (feedback) in the all-pass filters.

Phase

The Phase control adjusts the phase between the dry signal and the all-pass filtered signal.

Depth

The Depth control adjusts the amount of Pitch modulation from the Phaser device's internal LFO that modulates the Pitch parameter for classic phaser effect sounds.

Rate

The Rate control adjusts the speed of the internal LFO.

Sync

When the Sync parameter is set to BPM, the Rate control is set in tempo-based values relative to BFD3's current tempo. Possible values range from 64th note to 2 bars, including dotted and triplet variations.

In Seconds mode, the Rate control is set as an absolute time value, ranging from 31ms to 4 seconds.

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Chorus

The C horus effect is a modulation effect that is pitch-based. It is used for thickening up sounds.

Rate

The Rate control adjusts the speed of pitch modulation.

Depth

The Depth control adjusts the amount of modulation away from the input signal's original pitch.

Spread (stereo only)

This control varies the panning of the left and right pitch-modulated signals.

The Bitcrusher effect provides a type of digital distortion that occurs when the sample-rate and bit-depth of the audio is reduced. It allows you to simulate the sound of early samplers, useful for underground hip-hop and other 'lo-fi' styles.

Bits

The Bits control reduces the bit depth from a maximum of 16 bits to a minimum of 1 bit, which is effectively digital noise. The digital noise generated by the bit-reduction process is referred to as quantisation noise.

Early digtal drum machines and samplers tended to have 8 or 12 bit resolution.

Bit Crusher

Using BFD3's sounds 81

Freq

The Freq control adjusts the sample rate frequency of the audio processed by the effect and ranges from a maximum of 100 kHz to a minimum of 1 Hz.

Lower sample rates result in an aliasing effect on the processed audio.

Drive

The Drive control adjusts the amount of drive in an OTA-type distortion stage after the crossover filters. This allows gain and colour to be added to the signal before it is processed by the Bit and Freq processes.

Input Filter

This control provides high-pass and low-pass filters for isolating a part of the signal before the sample-rate and bit-depth reduction stages.

These filters are crossover filters – the active frequency band is processed by the bitcrushing circuit with its level adjustable via the Dirty control. The frequencies that are filtered out before the bitcrushing stage are accessible via the Clean control.

Dirty & Clean

The Dirty control sets the amount of processed signal that is heard at the output. The Clean control sets the amount of the clean signal, which is comprised of the signals filtered out by the

Input Filter before processing. Please note that these are not 'wet' and 'dry' controls – use the Mix control at the top of the effect interface in

order to mix between the pre- and post-effect signals.

Tone

The Tone control provides a simple -6 dB/oct low-pass filter for the Dirty signal after the bitcrushing process. It allows you to roll off unwanted high frequencies that may have been generated in the signal as part of the distortion effect.

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A ring modulator multiplies two signals together, giving you the sum and the difference between them and the output.

BFD3's RingMod device contains an internal oscillator that provides one of the signals, the other being the drum sound passing through it.

This effect is useful for radical, inharmonic timbral changes for more

experimental-sounding mixes.

Mode

The Mode control adjusts the waveshape of the internal oscillator which is multiplied with the audio input to the effect. Sine, Triangle, Saw, Square and Parabolic oscillator shapes a re available, as well as white or pink noise.

A frequency shifter changes the frequency of the sound passing through it - all frequencies in the signal are adjusted by a fixed amount. This differs from a pitch-shifter which adjusts the frequencies of fundamental frequencies and their harmonics by a proportional amount to preserve the harmonic series of the original signal. Therefore, a frequency shifter usually results in inharmonic and clangorous sounds.

Pitch

The Pitch control adjusts the amount of frequency shifting, and is represented in semitones. You can shift the input signal's frequencies up or down by up to 36 semitones (3 octaves).

Gain

The Gain control adjusts the level of the output signal.

RingMod

Pitch

The Pitch control tunes the internal oscillator within a range of an octave.

Drive

The Drive control introduces an adjustable amount of distortion on the input signal. Overdriving the signal in this way changes the waveshape of the input, leading to further variations in the resulting effect.

Frequency shifter

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3.4.5 Legacy

The Drive device offers 4 distortion circuit models, useful for adding colour, grit or more extreme distortion to your drum sounds. This device has been superceded by the Distortion device, but the older version from BFD2 is provided as a legacy device for compatibility with older projects.

Mode

The Mode control selects between 4 available distortion types:

Diode

Diode clip circuits are found in countless guitar pedals and other distortion units. It gradually drives the input throughout the amplitude range.

OTA (Operational Transconductance Amplifier)

This mode models the behaviour of an overdriven OTA chip.

The Env Shaper device has been superceded by DCAM EnvShaper. It is provided in the Legacy section for compatibility with older projects.

It allows you to adjust transients and change the dynamic shape of a signal in a different way to using a compressor.

Sensitivity

The Sensitivity control adjusts the response of Env Shaper's peak detection circuit to transients with higher values leading to more detected peaks.

Attack

The Attack control adjusts the intensity of the attack phase of detected transients in the audio.

Drive

OpAmp (Operational amplifier)

This mode models the behaviour of an overdriven OpAmp chip.

HalfRect (Half Rectifier)

This type of distortion allows through only the top half of the input signal's waveform.

Drive

The Drive control adjusts the amount of distortion applied to the signal.

Input Filter, Dirty, Clean, Tone

These controls function in exactly the same way as those on the Distortion effect device.

Using BFD3's sounds 83

Env Shaper

Increase the control to intensify attack transients and to make drum sounds punch through the mix harder. Decrease the control to soften transients. This can be particularly useful on percussion sounds and on one of two

linked Drums.

Sustain

The Sustain control adjusts the intensity of release portions of detected transients in the audio. This effectively increases or decreases the apparent sustain of sounds in the signal.

Increasing the control results in more sustain - useful for intensifying the natural reverb in BFD3's sounds. It is particularly suited to making room ambience sound huge.

Decrease the control for less sustain and making ambience appear more 'dry'. At higher settings it can produce damping effects for drum sounds.

Gain

Use the Gain control to adjust the level of the signal as needed after the Env Shaper's dynamic processing.

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The Utility device is a stereo gain and pan adjustment tool. It allows for individual gain and pan levels to be set for both left and right

channels of the signal independently. Please note that the Utility device can only be used on a stereo mixer channel.

Amp

This control adjusts the independent left and right gain levels of the signal.

Pan

This control adjusts the independent left and right pan levels of the signal.

Phase

When enabled, this control inverts the phase of either the left or right channel of the signal.

The LR 2 MS device is used to encode a left/right stereo signal into a Mid-Side stereo signal, which can be used to create a wider or narrower stereo mix and allows for a more precise adjustment of stereo width that pan controls.

Mid Gain

This control adjusts the amount of gain applied to the Mid element of the signal.

Side Gain

This control adjust the amount of gain applied to the Side element of the signal.

Both the Mid and Side elements of the signal can be independently disabled using the Mid Gain and Side Gain buttons.

The MS 2 LR device is the reverse of the LR 2 MS device, and is used to decode a Mid-Side signal into a left/right stereo signal.

Mid Gain

This control adjusts the amount of gain applied to the Mid element of the signal.

Side Gain

This control adjust the amount of gain applied to the Side element of the signal.

As with this LR 2 MS device, both the Mid and Side elements of the signal can be independently disabled using the Mid Gain and Side Gain buttons.

The FFT device is a spectrum analysis tool. It shows a representation of the output signal from the

effect device immediately to its left. It is useful for tracking down causes of problematic frequency output that may be generated by some effect settings.

Please note that FFT processing consumes substantial amounts of C PU power.

Smoothing

This control adjusts the amount of smoothing used to reduce jitter in the display. Increasing the Smoothing control results in a more stable display although accuracy may be compromised.

3.4.6 Utility

Utility

Mute

This control allows either the left or right channels of the signal to be muted independently.

LR 2 MS

MS 2 LR

FFT

Update Time

This control adjusts the frequency at which the audio signal is analysed and displayed. Shorter Update Time settings consume more CPU cycles (FFT analysis is a substantially CPU-hungry process).

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The TestTone device is a sine wave generator which can be used for checking the frequency and transient response of effects further down the signal path.

The On Time and Off Time controls allow the device to cycle on and off for testing the responses of dynamics processors and other transient-sensitive effects. This device may also be used as an audio-rate FM modulation source for use with suitable devices such as the FilterMod effect.

Pitch

This control adjusts the frequency of the sine tone generated by the device between 7 Hz and 28 kHz.

Amp

This control adjusts the level of the test tone between -36 and +12 dB.

The TestPulse device generates a pulse wave with a minimal PWM setting so that its value is 1 for a single sample with silence for the rest of the duty cycle. This creates even and odd harmonics, useful for checking the response of spectral effects such as filters further down the channel's signal path.

Like the TestTone device, the pulse tone can cycle on and off for testing dynamics and other transient-sensitive devices and it can also be used as an audio-rate modulation source for suitable devices.

Pitch

This control adjusts the frequency of the pulse tone generated by the device between 0.1 Hz and 10 kHz.

Amp

This control adjusts the level of the test tone between -36 and +12 dB.

TestTone

On Time

This control sets the time for the test tone to be active if the Off Time control is set to a value greater than 0. A continuous tone is generated with the On Time and Off Time controls set to 0. If the On Time control is set

to 0 and the Off Time control is set to a value greater than 0, the device produces silence.

Off Time

This control sets the period of silence before the tone is produced again for the duration set by the On Time control.

TestPulse

On Time, Off Time

These controls behave identically to the On Time and Off Time controls in the TestTone device (see above).

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Click the Export button to display the Export panel if it is not currently visible. This panel allows you to export multi-channel mixdowns directly to disk from BFD3.

BFD3's export functions operate in conjunction with the mixer's Record enable buttons - activate the Record enable button for any channel that you desire to export as a discrete audio file, or use the functions for record enabling channels within the Export panel as described below.

Exporting is also possible from the Groove engine - individual Grooves or the Drum Track can be exported using BFD3's File menu when the Groove Editor is visible.

Export folder

This control shows the path (folder location) to which to write exported audio files. Click the Browse button at the right to specify any location on your system.

It is recommended to use a drive that is not used for BFD3's audio data, as it may not be possible to properly stream samples for playback while recording to the same drive.

File Prefix

The filename of each exported audio file contains the name of each mixer channel (editable in the label strip) enabled for export, along with the optional File Prefix. Resulting files are named in the following format:

FilePrefix_MixerC hannel.WAV

All current mixer channels are displayed in the channel list at the left of the Export panel. C lick any channel to toggle its Record enable status.

Alternatively, click any channel and drag up or down to toggle the Record enable status of multiple adjacent channels. The Arm Group buttons can also be used to quickly Record enable various channel types:

All

Click this button to activate the Record enable function on all mixer channels.

None

Click this button to deactivate the Record enable function on all mixer channels.

3.5 Exporting audio from BFD3

Groove engine export operations follow the settings specified in the Export panel where applicable.

Bit depth

This setting dictates the resolution of the exported audio files. 16, 24 and 32 bit resolutions are available.

Functions for record enabling channels

Export channel list

Dir

Click this button to toggle the Record enable function on all Direct mic mixer channels.

Amb

Click this button to toggle the Record enable function on all Ambient mic mixer channels.

Aux

Click this button to toggle the Record enable function on all Aux mixer channels.

Mix

Click this button to toggle the Record enable function on the Kick/Snare/Ambient Mix channels.

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Free

The Free mode lets you manually start and stop the export by clicking the Export button. Audio is written in real time as BFD3 is used, until the Export button is clicked again.

This is the only mode that is available when using BFD3 as a standalone application, since there is no host timeline to which to synchronize.

The Groove engine's functions (in BFD3's File menu) can also be used when in standalone mode.

Range

This mode starts and stops exporting within a definable Start point and Duration. This mode is intended to be used when using BFD3 as a

plugin in a host.

Export button

The functionality of this button changes depending upon the state of the Export Sync mode setting.

When the Export Sync mode is set to Range or Host, clicking this button 'arms' the export function, meaning that the export commences when certain conditions are reached.

Click the Export button again to disarm the Export function. When using the Host sync mode, the export commences when the host

or BFD3 transport is started and stops when the host or BFD3 Transport is stopped.

In Range mode, exporting commences when playback in the host or the BFD3 Drum Track reaches the Start point, and stops when the

Duration has been completed.

Export Sync mode (Free/Range/Host sync buttons)

Before performing the export, you must first 'arm' the Export function by clicking the Export button. This mode is not available when using BFD3 as a standalone application.

Host

When Host mode is selected, the Export function commences when the host transport is started, and stops recording when the host transport is stopped.

Before performing the export, you must first 'arm' the Export function by clicking the Export button. This mode is not available when using BFD3 as a standalone application.

Start

This value defines the start time (in bars) to commence the export when the Export Sync mode is set to Range. This setting is disabled when any other Export Sync mode is selected.

Duration

This value defines the length of the export (in bars) when the Export Sync mode is set to Range. This setting is disabled when any other Export Sync mode is selected.

When the Export Sync mode is set to Free, clicking the Export button starts exporting immediately, and clicking it again stops it.

Time

During an export, this display shows the time, in minutes and seconds, that has elapsed since the export began.

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4 Using the Groove engine

Groove engine overview

The Groove engine is BFD3's sequencer or 'virtual drummer': it provides access to a large library of drum performances as well as providing the ability to edit these performances or create your own.

If you simply intend to use BFD3 as a sound module triggered by external MIDI notes, it is possible to ignore the Grooves page completely.

To use the Groove engine, click the Groove Editor button in BFD3's main navigation bar.

Groove Browser

BFD3's Browser, on the left side of its interface, is used to preview and load Groove and Palette files - click the Grooves button at the top of the Browser to switch to the Groove Browser from any other Browser tab or if the Browser is currently hidden.

Previewing is synchronized to the BFD3 transport (which is synchronized to the host/DAW when running as a plugin) so you can preview different sets of Grooves in context with your project. In fact, it is possible to jam in a live situation using Groove and Palette previewing in the Browser. However, to create controllable, flexible setups that can be recalled in future, Grooves must be loaded into the Palette or Drum Track.

Palette

At the right side of the Groove Editor panel is the Palette - click the Palette button to make it visible if it is not currently displayed. The Palette is a bank of 'slots' to which Grooves are loaded.

Grooves loaded into the Palette can be used in several ways:

They can be played automatically in sync with the BFD3 transport (and that of your host/DAW when running the BFD3 plugin) using the Auto-play settings

They can be arranged into the single-lane Drum Track, allowing you to lay out a full song's drums within BFD3 They can be assigned to MIDI notes using the Key Map panel and triggered using external MIDI notes

The Palette is discussed in detail later in this chapter.

Palette files

BFD3 also contains the concept of Palette files on disk - these represent saved states of the entire Groove engine: a set of Grooves loaded into the Palette slots along with all other Groove engine settings.

Grooves and Groove events

The basic components used in the Groove engine are Grooves: pattern 'clips' containing sequenced events that trigger BFD3's Drum articulations. Grooves aren't MIDI clips, but they behave in a very similar way. They are sequences of time-stamped drum hit events but they bypass MIDI note mappings, instead triggering BFD3's Drum articulations directly.

It is possible to record events into Grooves via MIDI note input and import or export Grooves as MIDI files or sequences in your host/DAW. Grooves can also be triggered with MIDI notes - each Groove 'slot' within BFD3's Palette can be assigned to a MIDI note for external triggering.

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When using BFD3 as a plugin in a host/DAW, the BFD3 transport is started simultaneously with that of the host. It is also possible to start the BFD3 plugin's transport with the Play button while the host is stopped - however, subsequently starting the host transport results in resynchronizing BFD3 to the host.

The transport is used in conjunction with BFD3's Auto-Play mode which is located to its right. The Auto-play functions dictate whether to automatically start Groove playback from the Drum Track or the Palette when the transport is started.

Every operation performed in the Groove page can be reversed by clicking the Undo and Redo buttons. The multiple-level Undo function is very useful as many functions which can drastically change your work are only a click away. C licking the Redo button reverses the last Undo operation.

To view the action that would be undone by clicking the Undo button, move the mouse over the button – the last action is shown in the context info display.

Drum Track

Grooves can be arranged on the the Drum Track - a simple, single-lane sequencer for Grooves by dragging them from the Palette or directly from the Groove Browser. The Drum Track is activated by setting the Auto- play mode accordingly - when active, the Drum Track is automatically synchronized to the BFD3 transport or that of your host/DAW when using the BFD3 plugin.

Groove Editor

The Groove Editor provides comprehensive tools for creating and editing Groove events.

Groove FX

The Groove FX section can apply several non-destructive real-time processes to change the feel of the Groove engine's output in a number of different ways. It is possible to make Grooves sound more 'humanized' or more quantized and 'robotic' while the dynamics, complexity and amount of swing-style syncopation that is applied to Grooves can also be adjusted.

Transport and Auto-play mode

The BFD3 transport is central to most aspects of Groove engine operations. The transport is started by activating the Play button.

The Auto-play mode setting is discussed in more detail in the Palette section later in this chapter and in the

Global controls section in the opening chapter.

The Stop button stops the transport. This is possible even when the BFD3 plugin is playing in sync with the host – Groove playback stops while the host keeps playing. If the host is stopped and restarted, Groove playback restarts in sync with the host position. After playback has been stopped in this way when using the Drum Track, if BFD3 is restarted without host sync, playback commences from the position at which playback was previously stopped.

The Panic button stops playback of any Grooves that may be currently playing (it also stops any drum sounds and effect tails that may be currently playing).

The Record, Loop, Metronome and Return to start buttons are used for certain features involved with

recording Grooves and using the Drum Track.

The Tempo and Time signature indicators display the current tempo and time signature. When running BFD3 as a plugin in a host/DAW that provides tempo and time signature information, these controls are not editable and BFD3 is locked to the host. In other situations, these displays can be manually adjusted: double-click and type a new value. The Tempo can also be adjusted via click/drag up/down.

The Beat light indicator flashes on every beat when the Groove engine is playing. The Playback position indicator displays the current playback position in bars and beats while the transport is

started. When using BFD3 in a host, this indicator shows the current song position of the host. When using the standalone application, this indicator can show any of the following:

• The current position in the current Groove when using any Auto-Play mode except Track

• The current position in the Drum Track when using the Track Auto-play mode

• The current position in the Groove when recording events in real time via MIDI

Undo/Redo function

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Virtually any action can be undone, even loading an entirely new Palette. While you can set up any number of levels for the multiple-level Undo/Redo in the Grooves Preferences, note

that more undo levels use more RAM.

MIDI Out function

In compatible hosts, the output of the BFD3 plugin's Groove engine is available as a MIDI output stream for triggering other instruments on entirely different MIDI tracks.

The only plugin format that supports this feature is VST although not all hosts support MIDI output from plugins. To use the MIDI output, the Send MIDI out setting must be activated in the Session Preferences. By default,

MIDI channel 1 is used for transmitted note events. This can be changed using the MIDI Out channel setting.

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To fully utilize Grooves within BFD3, they must be loaded into Palette slots or directly to the Drum Track from the Browser.

While it is possible to preview Grooves in sync with the transport and even to export them as MIDI or audio using only the Browser, they must be loaded into the Palette to fully control them, trigger them via MIDI or arrange them within the Drum Track.

The Palette and Drum Track are shown on the same page as the Groove Editor - click the Groove Editor button in BFD3's navigation bar to display it. It replaces the Key Map panel or mixer/Kit display/ Effects Editor/Drum Editor if they were previously visible.

There are 2 main areas in the Grooves Browser. The upper area displays a listing of all available Palettes. C lick a Palette in the listing to display its constituent Grooves in the lower part of the Browser.

Grooves shown in the lower section can be selected in the same way as Palettes.

Information about each Palette or Groove can be seen by clicking the

Info display button at the lower-left corner of the Grooves Browser.

Previewing Grooves

Each Palette and Groove displays an Audition preview button with the mouse cursor hovered above it. C lick the button to start previewing the Palette or Groove; click it again to stop the preview. If any Grooves are already being previewed (or if there are Grooves already loaded and playing in the Palette), they are muted when using the Audition preview function.

When previewing a Palette, playback steps through each of its contained Grooves sequentially.

You can also click another Palette or Groove's Audition preview button to preview it instead.

Auditioned grooves play at the current tempo through the Drums currently loaded into BFD3. Note that if the previewed Groove contains events for currently empty Drum slots, they do not produce any sound. If no Drums are loaded at all, previewing the Groove results in silence.

The Hold mouse button to preview setting in the Options menu results in auditions only playing back while the mouse button is held down on the audition preview buttons.

Automatic previews on selection

Using the Preview when clicking groove function in the Options menu, Grooves are automatically previewed

when selected in the Groove Browser, without having to click its Audition preview button.

4.1 Grooves Browser

The Grooves Browser is part of the main BFD3 Browser - it is accessed by clicking the Grooves tab button at the top of the Browser panel.

If the Palette is empty or no Groove is selected, a button is also shown in the middle of the screen which opens the Grooves Browser.

Selecting and previewing Palettes and Grooves

When Palettes are selected, playback steps through each of its constituent Grooves sequentially. Previewed Grooves are looped and synchronized to your host tempo and transport.

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To load a Palette, drag it from the Browser to the Palette at the right of the Groove Editor page. Any previous contents in the Palette and Drum Track are replaced.

To load a single Groove, drag it to the desired slot in the Palette. This can also be achieved with multiple selections: the Grooves are assigned to sequential slots starting from the destination. Any previous contents in destination slots are replaced.

The loaded

Groove

Loading by drag & drop to the Palette

To load Palettes and Grooves into the Palette via drag & drop, the Palette panel at the right of the Groove Editor page must be visible. Click the Palette button at the top-right of the Groove Editor page to display it if it is currently hidden.

Palettes

Grooves

Using drag and drop to export Grooves directly from the Browser

This method can be used to export Grooves or a Palette as MIDI or audio directly to your host/DAW or to an operating system file window or desktop. This function is described later in this chapter.

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First, click the desired destination Groove slot in the Palette to select it.

Then, double-click the required Groove in the Browser.

The Groove is loaded to the selected slot in the Palette.

Grooves or Palettes can be dropped directly from the Browser onto the desired position in the Drum Track.

The Groove(s)/Palette is also loaded to the next free slot(s) starting from slot 60 in the Palette.

Loading using double-click

Palettes

Double-click any Palette to load it (replacing all currently loaded Grooves). Any previous contents within the destination are replaced.

Grooves

Loading using drag & drop to the Drum Track

When dragging an entire Palette (or a multiple selection of Grooves) in this way, the Grooves within it are arranged sequentially in the Drum Track.

Loading multiple Grooves

To select multiple Grooves in the listing:

• CTRL-click on a Groove (Windows)

• COMMAND-click (Mac) Adds the Groove to the current selection. If the Groove is already selected, it is de-selected.

• SHIFT-click Selects all Grooves between the currently selected Groove and the lowest or highest selected Groove (a

contiguous selection).

With the desired Grooves selected, click and drag the selection to the required destination slot in the Palette. The Grooves are loaded into sequential slots starting from the destination slot, overwriting any previous contents of these slots.

A warning is displayed if the end of the Palette is reached and it is not possible to load all the selected Grooves.

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An additional filtering function exists for the lower part of the Groove Browser which shows a Palette's constituent Grooves. Using the

Groove/Fill Filter menu, this part of the Browser can be set to show All (Grooves and Fills), Fills (only Fills) or No Fills (only Grooves).

Filters Add to Favourite list Show in Finder (Mac) Show in Explorer (Windows) Change Library

These functions are described in the Browser Reference section.

Palette files also store a Drum Track if it existed when the Palette was originally saved. If the Also load Track button is deactivated, when a Palette is loaded, the Drum Track is initialized to an empty state.

Searching and filtering the Groove library

Using the Search, Filters and Favourites functions in the Grooves Browser involves exactly the same processes as the other Browser tabs - see the Browser Reference section for a guide to using these functions.

The following Filter categories are available in the Grooves Browser:

Favourites: show only specific Favourites groups Library: show BFD1, BFD2, BFD3 or other libraries Genre: filter Grooves by musical genres BPM: filter Grooves by original tempo range Time signature: filter Grooves by specific time signatures Author: filter Grooves by specific authors

Other Groove Browser functions

Groove/Fill Filter

Groove Browser context menu

Right-click on any Palette or Groove in the Browser listing to display the Groove Browser context menu.

In the Grooves Browser, the Filters sub-menu shows the Library, Genre, BPM, Time Sig and Author fields for the Palette or Groove.

The Change Library function is only usable with user-generated Grooves and Palettes.

Remove from database

This function removes the Groove/Palette from the 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.

Also load: Associated Track

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Click the Info display button at the lower-left of the Grooves Browser to show a panel displaying information about the currently selected Palette or Groove.

The fields that are shown are identical to those in the Palette panel's Info display - see the next section for details of each field.

The border between the Info display and the Palette/Groove listing can be clicked and dragged up/down to adjust the visible area of each section.

The Info display panel can be hidden again by clicking the Info

display button.

Preview when clicking Groove

If this setting is activated, Grooves are automatically previewed when selected in the Groove Browser, without its Audition preview button needing to be clicked. Previewed Grooves are looped and synchronized to your host tempo and transport.

Load Groove(s) from file

This function displays a system file open dialog allowing you to browse to and load Palettes or Groove(s) from any location that may not already exist in the database. This may be useful after downloading a Palette made by another user.

For the loaded Palette(s) or Groove(s) to be accessible in the Groove Browser in future, they must be saved after it is loaded into the current session.

If the file type extension is changed to *.MID in the open dialog, this function imports a MIDI file instead, as when using the Import functions described below.

Batch Import BFD1 Grooves or MIDI...

This function is used for converting MIDI files or BFD 1.x Grooves into BFD3 Grooves - see below.

Info display

Options menu

Hold mouse button to preview

This setting changes the behaviour of preview buttons in the Grooves Browser and Palette. With the setting activated, Groove previews play while the mouse button is held down on its preview button. When the setting is deactivated, clicking a preview button starts playing the Groove, and clicking it again stops it.

Drag exports Audio not MIDI

This function relates to exporting Palettes and Grooves directly from the Browser and is identical to that in the Groove Editor's Tools menu - see the Saving and Exporting Grooves section for more details.

Loading Groove sets Tempo

When running BFD3 in standalone mode, activate this setting to set the current tempo to that of a Groove or Palette when it is loaded.

When the setting is disabled, Grooves are always auditioned and loaded at the current tempo.

Double-click loads Groove into free Slot

This setting is provided in order to make it easier to compile Palettes from individual Grooves. With the setting activated, double-clicking a Groove in the Browser listing results in loading it to the next free Slot in the Palette. With the setting deactivated, double-clicking a Groove loads it in to the currently selected Slot, overwriting the Slot's previous contents.

Sort by

This sub-menu offers various sorting options for the Groove Browser display: items can be sorted by Name, Folder, BPM (tempo), Time Signature or Date Modified. The Folder setting is particularly useful if user

Grooves are arranged within sub-folders in the user location or if factory or expansion pack Grooves have been manually rearranged into sub-folders in the factory location.

Additional Groove functions in the BFD3 File menu

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Importing MIDI files and BFD 1.x Grooves

The Groove Browser displays BFD 1.x format Grooves in the Browser if they are found in the scanned content locations. There are several other ways of getting BFD 1.x format Grooves and other MIDI files into BFD3 such using the File menu while the Groove Browser is visible.

When they are imported, a Key Map needs to be consulted in order to determine which MIDI notes to assign to which BFD3 Drum articulations - this is specified using the Import MIDI Key Map setting in the Preferences (it can also be set in the MIDI Import panel which appears when using the File menu import functions).

See the Importing MIDI section later in this chapter for more detailed information on these functions.

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The Palette is central to the Groove engine in BFD3. It represents a 'pool' of the Grooves stored in memory and is composed of 128 individual slots.

To show the Palette, the Groove Editor must be visible - click the Groove Editor button in BFD3's navigation bar.

To show the Palette if it is currently hidden, click the Palette button near the upper-right corner of the BFD3 interface.

Click the Palette button again to hide the Palette when required.

4.2 Palette

Any Groove used in BFD3 must be assigned to a slot in the Palette, regardless of which of the various playback methods are to be used.

Use the scrollbar or mousewheel to access the full range of the 128 slots in the Palette.

Selecting slots

Click a Groove slot to select it. If the slot contains a Groove, it is now shown in the Groove Editor (if visible) and its Slot Actions settings are shown below the Palette.

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Actions

The Palette area contains 2 sets of controls above and below the list of slots, which let you define Actions, or playback characteristics.

The section above the Groove slots forms the Default Action controls while the section below shows the Slot Actions for the currently selected slot.

Unless Slot Actions are specified for individual slots, the behaviour of the Grooves in each slot follows the Default Action settings.

Note that Actions do not apply to Grooves on the Drum Track. Any structuring of Groove playback over time in the Drum Track must be created in the Drum Track itself by arranging Parts within it using drag and drop.

Start Actions

The Start Action defines how a Groove should start playing when triggered.

Next Beat: the new Groove starts on the next beat. Next Bar: the new Groove starts at the beginning of the next bar.

Fill slots and Actions

The Slot Actions section contains the Fill setting. If this button is activated, the current Groove slot is designated as a Fill slot and highlighted in green.

Designating a slot as a Fill means that it can be triggered if the Random Groove/Fill End Action is specified on another slot (the Slot End Action of the Fill slot should typically be set to Random Groove), or by the Auto-Fill button located in the Default Actions section.

Fill Slot End Actions Fill slots feature the following Slot End Actions:

Stop: Groove playback is stopped. Fill (Prev Groove): the Groove that was previously playing before the Fill is

played again. Random Groove: a random Groove in the Palette is played.

The playback indicators on the right of each slot in the Palette double as Preview buttons. C lick the button to play the Groove contained within the slot.

Once playback of a Groove has been started, it then follows the behaviour defined by its Slot Actions settings. C lick another slot's Preview button in order to start playing the Groove within it instead. The method of transition is dictated by the Slot Start Action setting.

Actions and Fills

End of Groove: the new Groove starts at the end of the current Groove. Play in Sync: the new Groove starts immediately from the position within it that corresponds to the current

play position.

Immediate: the new Groove starts immediately from its beginning regardless of the current play position. Default: this is available for the Slot Start Action only and specifies that the slot follows the Default Start

Action.

End Actions

The End Action specifies what happens after a Groove completes playback.

Stop: the Groove stops (in effect, stopping Groove playback entirely). Loop: the Groove repeats. Random Groove: a random Groove in the Palette is played. Random Groove/Fill: a random Groove or Fill in the Palette is played. Down: the Groove in the next slot in the Palette is played. Up: the Groove in the previous slot in the Palette is played. Default: this is available for the Slot End Action only and specifies that the slot follows the Default End

Action.

When activated, the Auto-Fill function plays a Fill slot at random at a definable period (a number of bars defined in the Preferences) during Groove playback.

Previewing Grooves

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Stopping previews

Each Groove can be stopped by clicking its respective Preview button again. You can also use the Stop or Panic buttons in the Transport to stop playback of all currently playing Grooves.

1. Palette

By default, BFD3 is in the Palette Auto-play mode. In this mode, BFD3 plays back Grooves in the Palette when the transport is started.

Current

When playback is started the currently selected Groove in the Palette is played according to the behaviour defined by Slot Actions.

This is the default sub-mode for the Palette Auto-Play mode.

Since the currently selected Groove is also shown in the Groove Editor, this mode is very useful when editing a Groove. Set the Groove's Slot End Action to Loop so that it keeps looping while you edit.

Clicking on another Palette slot that contains a Groove causes it to start playing and stops the original Groove.

2. Grv. Off

When the Auto-Play mode is set to Grv. Off, Grooves are only heard when they are played via MIDI notes, or when the Preview buttons are used to start playback.

Preview mouse behaviour

Activating the Hold mouse button to preview setting in the Editor Tools menu results in previews being active only while the mouse button is held down on a Preview button. When the mouse button is released, playback stops.

Playing Grooves

Playing Grooves using Auto-play modes

The Auto-play mode function is crucial in determining how the Groove engine is used. It has 3 modes:

3 sub-modes exist for this mode, configurable in the Session Preferences with the Palette Auto-Play Mode setting:

Groove

In this sub-mode, you can specify a specific Groove to play when the transport is started. The desired Groove slot is specified via the Palette Auto-Play Groove setting in the Session Preferences.

Random

In this sub-mode, a random Groove from the Palette is played when the transport is started.

3. Track

Choosing the Track Auto-Play mode allows you to arrange a sequence of Grooves from the Palette within BFD3's Drum Track.

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Grooves can be moved and copied around slots using drag and drop - hold down the ALT key while dragging in order to copy a Groove.

When the destination slot which already contains a Groove, the contents of both slots are swapped. When copying, any destination content is overwritten.

If the Move/copy slot actions with grooves setting is enabled in the

Groove Editor Tools menu, a Groove slot's Fill status and other Slot Actions

settings are transferred with its contained Groove when it is swapped with or moved/copied to another Palette slot.

Slot context menu

Right-clicking on any selected Groove slot displays the Slot context menu containing a number of further Groove-based operations. The Slot context menu features a number of functions for managing Grooves in the Palette such as the Cut, Copy, Clear, Paste and Rename functions for selected Grooves. When the Rename Grooves function is used on a multiple selection, a numerical suffix is used for the second Groove onwards.

There are also functions to create a New Groove (if you want to write or record a Groove from scratch in the Editor) to clear the contents of the Palette entirely (Clear Palette) and to export selected Grooves as MIDI or audio (Export MIDI.../Export Audio...).

The Cut and Copy functions can also be used to insert Grooves onto the Drum

Track using the Paste functions on the Part context menu.

Playing Grooves via MIDI

BFD3's Groove slots can also be mapped to MIDI notes so that they can be played with a keyboard or other controller that sends MIDI notes. Groove slots must be assigned to MIDI keys in BFD3's Key Map panel. The default BFD3 Key Map features MIDI assignments for the first 41 Groove slots.

Latching mode

By default, Grooves play while the MIDI note is held down. If the Latching mode setting is enabled in the

Grooves Preferences, playback of a Groove is toggled on and off when its MIDI note is played. In other words,

play a Groove's MIDI note once to start playback - playback then continues as normal according to End Actions. Play the same note to stop playback, or use the Stop or Panic buttons in the Transport.

Whichever mode is used, the behaviour when the Groove starts depends on its Start Action. In most circumstances you would typically set this to Play in Sync, Next Bar or End of Groove.

Managing Grooves in the Palette

Moving and copying Grooves

Multiple selections

The above processes can be conducted on multiple selections - hold down the CTRL or SHIFT keys when clicking to select slots to create arbitrary or contiguous selections.

When multiple Grooves are moved, they are placed on sequential Groove slots ascending from the slot on which they were dropped. If any other Grooves already exist within this sequence of slots, they are swapped into the original slot of the Groove which replaces it.

Even if an arbitrary multiple selection is moved or copied (in other words, the selected Grooves are not all in neighbouring slots to each other), the moved or copied Grooves are placed on sequential, neighbouring available slots.