FXpansion BFD Premium Acoustic Drum Module User Manual

WELCOME TO BFD

Thank you for choosing FXpansion’s BFD! We hope you will agree that the pains taking
effort of putting it together has resulted in the most realistic and versatile acoustic drum
machine ever.

CREDITS

Lead Programming: SKoT McDonald
Audio Engineering: Steve Duda, Elan Trujillo
Drum Technician: Josh Baldwin
Additional Programming: Angus Hewlett, Paul Chana
Interface and Packaging Design: Adam Ferns (
Web Site: Andreas Schnetzler, Adam Ferns
Additional Graphics: Alex Akers, Rhiannon Bankston-Thomas
Project Management: Rhiannon Bankston-Thomas
Manual and Groove Engineering: Mayur Maha
MIDI Session Drumming: Chris Dagley

With thanks to:

The entire beta-testing team, Andy Simper, Diana Bankston, Tara Surry, Matt Hooper,
Swedish Moose, John Bradshaw, Tom Santamera, Bat, Simon Allen, Monkey, Shane
Champers, Nicolas Lacoumette, Gareth Green, Charlie Norton, The Bean, and of course
our Long Suffering Signifi cant Others.

www.raresense.co.uk)

Recorded at Eldorado Recording, Burbank CA, USA

www.eldoradorecording.com

Manual revision 1.5

Copyright 2005 FXpansion Audio UK Ltd. All trademarks Acknowledged. Mac is a trademark
of Apple Computer Inc. The “Built for Mac OS X” graphic is a trademark of Apple Computer Inc.
used under license. RTAS is a trademark of Digidesign. ReWire is a trademark of Propellerhead
Software. VST is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technology AG. Windows XP is a trademark
of Microsoft Corporation. Other trademarks mentioned are held by their respective owners.

www.fxpansion.com

i

BFD Reference Manual - Contents

1 1 INTRODUCTION

1 1:1 The BFD concept
3 1:2 Potential uses for BFD
3 1:3 Documentation
4 1:4 Technical support and updates

5 2 INSTALLATION

5 2:1 System Requirements
6 2:2 Installation

6 Windows installation
7 MacOSX installation
8 ReWire installation

8 2:3 Authorization
8 2:4 Installation and Authorization problems
8 2:5 Registration and support
8 2:6 Getting started

9 3 OVERVIEW OF THE BFD INTERFACE

11 4 LOADING KITS AND KIT-PIECES

11 Selector panels
11 Sticky Button

11 4:1 Loading Kits

11 The Kit Selector panel
12 Load & Save Kit buttons
12 Reset Kit button
12 Saving & Loading Programs
12 Kit name and Program name
13 Loading a default Kit when BFD is initialized

13 4:2 Loading Kit-Pieces

13 Kit-Piece Selector panels
14 Auditioning Kit-Pieces
14 View and Sort Options
15 Loading Options

15 4:3 Hit types and Kit-Piece slots

16 Kit-Piece slots in BFD

ii

19 5 MIXING IN BFD

19 5:1 Mixer Pages
20 5:2 Control conventions, shortcuts and remote operation

20 Control shortcuts
20 MIDI remote control of Mixer controls

21 5:3 Mixer controls

21 BFD audio architecture
21 Kit-Piece Mixer area
23 Direct Mixer area
24 Bus Mixer area

25 5:4 Mixer presets

25 Saving defaults
26 Reset button

26 6 TWEAKING THE KIT: The Kit-Piece Inspector

26 6:1 Different ways of tweaking the Kit
27 6:2 Kit-Piece Inspector

27 Next / Previous / Clear Kit-Piece buttons
27 Information displays and auditioning loaded Kit-Pieces
28 Damping controls
29 Link to Kit-Piece
29 Flip stereo mic fi eld

30 7 CONTROLLING BFD: The Hit Options panel

30 7:1 Overview
31 7:2 Page 1 tab

31 Editing key assignments
32 Hihat controls
34 Cymbal Choking
34 Auditioning Hits
34 Unloading Hits
35 Hit trim

35 7:3 Page 2 tab
36 7:4 Advanced tab

36 Cut, Copy and Paste settings
37 MIDI Learn
37 MIDI Log
37 Advanced key assignment editor

39 7:5 MIDI CCs tab

40 MIDI Learn
40 Mixer MIDI CC assignment
40 Default MIDI CCs

41 7:6 Hit Options presets

41 Saving defaults
41 Reset buttons

iii

42 8 THE GROOVE LIBRARIAN

42 Overview of Groove Librarian-related functions

43 8:1 Fundamental Groove Librarian concepts
45 8:2 Play Options panel
45 8:3 Auditioning Grooves
45 8:4 Auto-accompaniment inside a host sequencer
45 8:5 Playing Bundles using MIDI notes
46 8:6 Kit-Piece Note Filters / Half-time buttons
47 8:7 Auto Repeat Groove functions
48 8:8 MIDI out and drag & drop export/import
49 8:9 Creating and importing your own Grooves and Fills

49 Tips on creating Grooves
49 Importing Grooves into BFD
50 Groove Import panel

51 8:10 Humanization functions

51 Quantization panel
52 Humanize panels

54 9 CUSTOMIZING BFD: Options and Play Options panels

54 9:1 Options panel

54 Interface options
55 Choke Fade options
56 Engine Options
59 Data options

59 9:2 Play Options panel

63 10 BFD AND MULTIPLE OUTPUTS

63 10:1 BFD audio architecture

63 Microphone channels
64 Microphone buses
64 Primary direct and bleed channels

65 10:2 BFD plugin output confi gurations

65 BFD Stereo
65 BFD Groups
66 BFD All
67 BFD Ultra

68 10:3 Output Options panel

68 Output Matrix
70 Bleed controls
70 Output Options presets
70 Saving defaults
70 Reset button

iv

71 11 OTHER CONTROLS AND DISPLAYS

71 11:1 Miscellaneous functions on the interface

71 Help buttons
71 Context info display
71 Mixer MIDI Learn
71 Bounce switch
72 Panic button
72 Tempo display
72 Time signature display
72 Beat LED
72 MIDI activity and Audio stream LEDs
72 CPU and disk load meters

73 12 OTHER INFORMATION

73 12:1 Preset fi les used within BFD
74 12:2 Other fi le types used in BFD
75 12:3 BFD audio content
76 12:4 BFD MIDI content
76 12:5 License agreement

v

1 INTRODUCTION

BFD is a high-quality acoustic drum module. It concentrates on playing back impeccably­recorded multi-velocity acoustic drumkits, with some crucial differences to using a
general-purpose sampler with sample-CDs, or using pre-recorded acoustic drum loops.

1:1 The BFD concept

• Flexible mixing of multiple microphone placements: 17 mics were used in total,
with each part of the kit being recorded through 11 microphones

• Hyper-detailed kits: up to 46 velocity layers and a wide selection of articulations

• Easy compilation of new kits without wrestling with time-consuming editing and
combining of sampler programs, or having to load multi ple whole kits

• A versatile automated drummer in the Groove Librarian

• Endlessly variable sound and feel

All this and more is provided in an intuitive, highly integrated interface, plugged into the
heart of your favourite sequencing environment, via the VSTi, DXi, RTAS, AudioUnit
and ReWire interfaces. A standalone version is also supplied, which uses the ASIO and
CoreAudio protocols.

BFD supports Windows and MacOSX operating systems. While BFD may work in
Windows 98SE and ME environ ments, we only recommend and support its use in
Windows 2000 and XP. For Mac users, MacOSX version 10.2.8 or higher is required.

When designing BFD, we tried to make it easy to use for people who prefer to write music
rather than mess with the inner workings of a plugin. However, it still offers a massive
amount of control and fl exibility for people who want to deeply customize the sound and
response of the drumkit.

Multiple microphone positions

Each drum component, or Kit-Piece, in BFD is sampled with a number of microphone
place ments simultaneously:

Direct: a clean, close-mic’d signal. A variety of microphone types were used for this,
including Sennheiser MD421, Neumann KM81 and M49, ElectroVoice Re20, AKG 451
and Shure SM57. They were recorded through custom modifi ed API preamps.

Overhead: a lush set of overhead mics - namely AKG C-12’s (which, incidentally, cost
around $15,000 each), recorded through Summit MPC-100A tube preamps.

Room: a room ambience signal, recorded with Neumann U87’s and Avalon preamps.

PZM: Crown PZM microphones placed at fl oor level, tracked with API preamps, and an

additional compression stage (Empirical Labs Distressor set at 3:1 ratio) for added body
and sustain.

1

Chapter 1: Introduction

These signals can be mixed together as desired, so you can ‘dial in’ exactly the amount
and type of natural ambience you need, without having to use CPU-heavy reverb plugins.
The ambience in BFD is totally natural and the result of painstak ing recording through
the best possible equipment in a high-quality space. Any reverb processor can only try to
emulate such a sound, while BFD gives you the real thing. There is additional control over
the distance placement of each set of mics, and the width of its stereo fi eld.

The ambient send levels of each kit element (such as kick, snare, toms, hats and
cymbals) can be adjusted in the detailed Mixer section, resulting in exceptionally versatile
control over the fi nal drum sound. The Mixer even has controls to handle the blend
between mics inside and outside the kick drum, and above and below the snare. In
addition, each individual microphone bus, and even each indi vidual direct mic signal, can
easily be routed to an individual output into the host sequencer’s mixer for further sound
processing.

Each part of the kits in BFD is recorded with up to 11 microphones, including the ambient
and bleed channels. Please see section 10:1 of this manual for more details on BFD’s
audio architecture.

Hyper-realistic kits

As well as the fl exibility offered by the multiple microphone positions, BFD’s high quality
drum sample library features an unparalleled degree of realism. For each part of each kit,
there are a number of different articulations, or ‘Hit types’: for example, the snares offer
fl ams, drags, rims and side-sticks, while the hihats include closed, 1/2-open and open
pedal positions, in tip and shank versions.

Each of these Hit types is sampled at up to 46 velocity layers, resulting in drum parts of
unparalleled detail and expressive ness.

The BFD XFL and 8 Bit Kit expansion packs, as well as some free downloads, expand on
the number of Hit types and velocity layers available

Easy compilation of new kits

Ever tried to edit and combine elements of large disk-streamed sample libraries? You’ll
know that it isn’t exactly the most productive use of creative time in the stu dio. To save
you this tedious, time-consuming process, BFD allows you to easily mix and match the
kicks, snares, toms, hats and cymbals of the various supplied kits to create custom kits.
All this within seconds, and with just a few mouse-clicks! You can preview any potential kit
changes in real-time and in context, leaving you free to concentrate on the sound rather
than losing your creative fl ow through excessive fi le and sample management operations.

Custom kit creations can be easily saved into a small preset fi le, so it’s easy to cre ate a
library of drumkits tailored to your requirements, and the small size of these fi les makes it
simple to share your kits with others.

Flexible play modes: introducing the Groove Librarian

In addition to functioning as a single-hit module which can be triggered via a MIDI
controller or a host sequencer’s MIDI engine, BFD also incorporates an extensive
library of ‘Grooves’, in a number of different styles, feels and time signatures. There is

2

Chapter 1: Introduction

also a compre hensive fi ll library. What makes BFD so powerful is that these ‘Grooves’
are standard MIDI fi les, so it is incredibly easy to create and import your own, or use
commercial MIDI-fi le libraries, such as the Twiddly Bits and GrooveMonkee products.
BFD conforms to the General MIDI (GM) standard as much as possible (BFD includes
some articulations which do not exist in the GM specifi cation), making it very easy to
import standard MIDI drum parts as Grooves.

Endless variety of sound and feel

BFD offers a huge array of controls with which to shape the sound and response of
the drumkit. Virtual damping controls are provided, as are a variety of different levels of
choking and velocity variation in order to further enhance the realism of your drum tracks.
Artifi cial-sounding rolls are banished forever with the Anti-machinegun mode! There are
even some rather experimental controls, for modulating the damping amount and tuning
with velocity.

Within the Groove Librarian, BFD’s intelligent humanization techniques inject that elusive
‘soul’ into your drum parts. The provided MIDI Grooves are dripping with a variety of
feels, and the inte grated swing controls make it easy to tighten or relax the vibe as much
as required. On top of this, the feel of the Groove can be further humanized through the
controlled randomization of velocity and timing.

1:2 Potential uses for BFD

BFD has the ability to be many things to many people. Perhaps the primary reason for
BFD’s existence is that it provides con venient access to the very highest quality sampled
drum sounds for producers without access to a real drumkit and good recording facilities.
It also caters for com posers who require ‘ready-rolled’ but fl exible and realistic acoustic
drum accompaniments which facilitate song-writing without interruption to the creative
fl o w .

BFD’s sounds and Grooves are perfectly suited to rock, jazz, funk, hip-hop, blues,
metal, drum & bass… in fact, anything that may require a real drumkit. It can be used for
anything from auto-accompaniment, traditional song-writing and production, to modern
techniques such as creating new drum breaks to use in hip-hop and drum & bass music.

1:3 Documentation

We have designed BFD to be as intuitive as possible, to the point where it is possi ble to
fi re it up and be up and running within seconds for instant gratifi cation. How ever, we urge
you to thoroughly read this manual, in order to learn how to make full use of BFD’s sheer
depth.

Please also be aware of the supplemental electronic PDF documentation installed with
BFD, which contains further information on a number of issues such as host/sequencer
integration and technical issues regarding performance and troubleshooting.

Please also check our website at
documentation and up-to-date FAQs.

http://www.fxpansion.com for tutorial videos, additional

3

Chapter 1: Introduction

1:4 Technical support and updates

Before contacting our support department, please make sure you have fully read the
manual, and in particular, the supplemental electronic documentation which deals with
troubleshooting.

The fi rst thing you should do after purchasing BFD is register on our website. You’ll then
get access to the latest version of BFD. We are constantly updating our software with new
features and performance enhancements, so this is the fi rst thing you should try if you
encounter a problem.

As a special bonus for registering, you will be able to download extra content, such as
bell samples for two of the BFD rides, and a free hihat with an extra 1/2-open tip position.

It is also very useful to look at the BFD FAQ:

http://www.fxpansion.com/product-bfd-userFAQ.php

If you still cannot resolve your problem, our support department will be only too happy to
help.

For full details on registering, downloading updates and obtaining technical support,
please go to our support page:

http://www.fxpansion.com/support

Many thanks,

The FXpansion team.

4

2 INSTALLATION

2:1 System Requirements

BFD requires a substantial amount of computing power. Here is the minimum rec­ommended specifi cation:

• 1 GHz Pentium III or Athlon (for Windows platform)

• Apple PowerMac G4 733 MHz (for MacOSX platform)

• 512 MB of RAM (preferably 768 MB or more)

• DVD drive (for installation)

• Windows 2000 or XP, or MacOSX 10.2.8

• 9 GB of free hard disk space

• 800x600 resolution with 16-bit colour graphics

On the Mac, it will not work on OS9 or earlier versions.

To get the best out of BFD, we recommend a similar or better system to the following:

• 1.5 GHz Pentium 4, Pentium M, or Athlon (for Windows platform)

• Apple PowerMac G5 (for MacOSX platform)

• 1 GB of RAM (the more the better)

• DVD drive (for installation)

• Windows 2000 or XP, or MacOSX 10.3.x or 10.4.x

• 9 GB of free hard disk space on a fast dedicated hard drive

• 1024x768 resolution with 16-bit colour graphics

Much of the enhanced functionality in BFD 1.5 really comes into its own when used with
the BFD expansion packs, such as BFD XFL and 8 Bit Kit. The hihat control and 18 Kit­Piece slots, in particular, benefi t from the enhanced detail and variety of an expanded
BFD system.

BFD works by streaming all its samples from the hard disk, so in order to prevent glitches
during playback, please follow these guidelines.

• Try to install the BFD audio data on a clean, defragmented hard disk.

• If possible, install BFD on a dedicated drive, separate from those used for the
computer’s operating system and any audio data used with the sequencer.

• If you use a notebook or laptop, try and use an external FireWire or USB2.0
drive for the audio data. Laptop drives (often as slow as 4200 RPM) can be
quite slow for BFD’s disk-streaming technology.

5

Chapter 2: Installation

2:2 Installation

BFD comes on two DVD’s. The fi rst DVD contains the stand alone program, plugins,
presets and several drum kits. The second DVD con tains only drum kits.

Before installing from the DVD, always check to see if there is a newer version available
on our website. Please see the following webpage for full details on obtaining updates, or
if you are encountering problems during installation:

http://www.fxpansion.com/support

• Please note that the BFD data needs to be installed on a hard disk with around 9 GB of
free space. Ideally, you should not be using this drive for your operating system, or for
streaming other audio data.

If you intend to use a host which does not support multiple outputs from a plugin, you
should install the ReWire version, See ‘ReWire installation’ below for help on setting your
ReWire options.

Windows installation

1. Insert the fi rst DVD (or extract the archive if installing from an update), examine the

contents and run the BFD Windows Setup.exe program. After you click through the
Welcome screen, you will need to select the components you wish to install – each
plugin version, the kit data and Auxiliary data such as presets can be selected or
deselected in the ‘Select Components’ stage of the installation.

• Please note that the VST version must be

installed regardless of which formats you intend to
use.

• You do not need to install the kit data again if it

already exists on your hard drive from a previous
install. If this is the case, de-select the checkboxes

for the Kits (and Extras).

• Even if you already have the data installed, it is

recommended to keep Auxiliary data checked,
although you may want to back up your own Kits,
Programs and other presets before you do this.

2. After you click Next, depending on your choices in the Select Components stage, you

will be prompted for folders for each of the following:

• BFD Data (It is recommended to install the data to a fast, dedicated hard drive).

• VST plugin fi les

• DXi plugin fi les

• Standalone application fi les

• RTAS plugin fi les

• ReWire fi les

3. Once you’ve fi nished specifying folders, you will see the

Start Installation message – Click Next to install. Please
be patient when installing kit data, as it can take a long
time!

6

Chapter 2: Installation

MacOSX installation

Software installation (standalone CoreAudio and all plugin versions)

Insert BFD DVD1, or mount the disk image if you are installing from an update
downloaded from the website. Examine the contents in the Finder.

1. Double-click on BFD Setup.mpkg in order to
begin installing BFD standalone (CoreAudio)
and plugin fi les. BFD DVD1 Data Setup.
mpkg and BFD DVD2 Data Setup.mpkg are
for installing the BFD data (more on this later).

2. After accepting the License Agreement,
select the OS drive for the destination. BFD
standalone and plugin software must be
installed to the OS drive.

3. At this point you can choose either the Easy
install (all components) by clicking Install,
or the Custom install option by clicking
Customize, if you want to install selected
components. Ignore the next step if you
choose the Easy install.

4. If you choose the Custom install, it is a good
idea to leave the Arial font installer checked
unless you are sure you already have it
installed. The VST and AU versions must be
installed. Click Install when ready to proceed.

Data installation

You need not install the data if it already exists on your hard drive as a result of a
previous installation.

1. When you’ve installed the standalone and plugin software, run the BFD DVD1 Data
Setup.mkpg fi le in order to install the kit data and various other required fi les, such

as Grooves, presets etc. The installation procedure is very similar to that above,
except you can install the data to any hard drive destination on your system. It is
recommended to install the data to a fast, dedicated hard drive.

2. After this, insert DVD2 and run the BFD DVD2 Data Setup.mkpg program in order
to install the kit data from DVD2. Follow the on-screen instructions for the rest of the
installation.

Please be patient during this stage, as the data installation can take a long time!

7

Chapter 2: Installation

ReWire installation

If you choose to install the BFD ReWire version, during the installation process you
may be prompted to set your ReWire options. The main reason to use ReWire is to
support BFD’s multiple outputs so you will probably want to choose ‘All out puts’ or ‘Group
outputs’. ReWire functionality is disabled by default when installed, so enable this with
the checkbox in the dialog which appears, or by using the BFD ReWire Applet in order
to set the options at any time. You need not install the ReWire version if you only intend

to use hosts which support multiple outputs from plugins.

2:3 Authorization

When you fi rst launch BFD, you will need to authorize it with your serial number (also
known as the license number). Enter the serial/license exactly as it appears, starting
with the FXBFD- and including all hyphens. It’s a good idea to authorize BFD using the
standalone version (BFD (CoreAudio) on Mac).

2:4 Installation and Authorization problems

If you encounter a problem, please consult the supplemental electronic PDF
documentation installed with BFD. It is also very useful to look at the BFD FAQ:

http://www.fxpansion.com/product-bfd-userFAQ.php

Also, register and download the latest version of BFD. If you still cannot resolve your
problem, our support department will be only too happy to help.

2:5 Registration and support

For support on a BFD problem, or to get the latest version, please visit our support page:

http://www.fxpansion.com/support

You will need to register in order to receive support and updates. We are constantly
updating our software with new features and performance enhancements, so this is the
fi rst thing you should try if you encounter a problem.

As a special bonus for registering, you will be able to download extra content, such as
bell samples for two of the BFD rides, and a free hihat with an extra 1/2-open tip position,
plus other downloads which are made available periodically.

2:6 Getting started

It’s useful to have a look at the supplemental electronic PDF documentation when getting
started with BFD. It includes a tutorial and various other information on getting up and
running.

Please also check our website for tutorial videos and other documentation and support
information.

8

3 OVERVIEW OF THE BFD INTERFACE

Help buttons

Click one of the (main interface) or (panels) help buttons in various parts of the BFD
interface in order to launch an HTML help fi le documenting that area of the plugin.

Context info display

The Context info display shows helpful information, labels and parameter values,
depending on the control underneath or being edited by the mouse.

Control conventions

Controls are adjusted by clicking and dragging them vertically up and down.
Controls can also be adjusted by moving the mouse over them and scrolling the
mousewheel.

Text-boxes are edited by double-clicking them and entering a new value
(press [ENTER] when you’re done).

Numerical and MIDI note text-boxes can usually be clicked and dragged up and down.
They can also also be adjusted by moving the mouse over them and scrolling the
mousewheel.

Please be aware of scrollbars in many panels – for example in the Hit Options Advanced
and MIDI CCs tab editors, and in the Kit and Kit-Piece selector panels. Where a scrollbar
exists, you can also use the mousewheel to scroll through the list.

There are a number of drop-down menus in the BFD interface. Wherever
the list of items exceeds the size of the menu, the ability to scroll through
the list, by clicking and dragging up or down at the menu boundaries, is
indicated by small red arrows.

Any specifi c control techniques and additional shortcuts, including those involving key­board modifi ers, are explained where necessary for the relevant controls and parameters
discussed throughout the course of this manual.

When note names (such as C3, D4 etc.) are mentioned in this manual, the -2 octave
numbering system is used (see section 9:1).

9

Chapter 3: Overview of the BFD Interface

1. Kit Selector

2. Load/Save/Reset Kit

3. Kit name

7. Context info display

6. Mixer MIDI Learn

9. Mixer area

4. Kit-Piece Selectors

5. CPU & disk load meters

12. Groove Librarian title bar: click to open

13. Drum Room display: click
for Kit-Piece Inspector

14. Program name

15. Save/Load Program

16. Auto Repeat Groove
buttons

17. Panic button: MIDI reset

18. Options panel

19. Play Options panel

20. Hit Options panel

21. Output Options panel

22. Quantization panel

23. Humanize Velocity panel

24. Humanize Timing panel

25. Tempo controls

11. Mixer Help

10. Mixer reset

8. Bounce button

1, 2, 3, 4, 14, 15: Kit and Kit-Piece management – see chapter 4

9, 10, 11: Mixer controls – see chapter 5

13: The Drum Room display contains graphical indicators for Hihat pedal position,

ambient mic Distance and Width, and Kick In/Out and Snare Bottom/Top (see
chapters 7 and 5). Click on it to bring up the Kit-Piece Inspector (see chapter 6)

20: The Hit Options panel lets you confi gure controllers and keymapping – see

chapter 7

12, 16, 22, 24: Groove Librarian controls – see chapter 8

24: Humanize velocity panel – see section 8:10

18, 19: Options with which to customize BFD – see chapter 9

21: The Output Options panel lets you freely route audio channels to plugin outputs

– see chapter 10

5, 6, 7, 8, 17, 26: Other interface functions – see chapter 11

10

4 LOADING KITS AND KIT-PIECES

The Kit Selector and Kit-Piece Selectors are used to load sounds into BFD. When you
launch BFD, you’ll see the fi rst Mixer Page: this is used for the ‘basic’ drumkit, and
provides slots for kick, snare, hihat, tom set and three cymbals.

If you click the
kick and snare, a percussion Kit-Piece, a second tom set, and another three cymbals.
Click

to return to Mixer Page 1.

Selector panels

The Kit-Piece Selectors load sounds into slots according to the currently viewed Mixer
Page. The Kit Selector, however, will always load Kit-Pieces into the slots in which they
were saved.

Exit the panels by clicking their buttons again, or by clicking the
corner. Alternatively, bring up a new panel instead by clicking another panel button.

Sticky Button

If you click the
or Kit-Pieces into BFD without exiting the Selector Panel. This can be useful for listening
to a number of Kit-Pieces in context while MIDI sequences or Grooves are playing
through BFD.

4:1 Loading Kits

button, the second Mixer Page will appear. This is used for a second

button in their top-right

Sticky button on the Kit or Kit-Piece Selector panels, you can load Kits

The Kit Selector panel

scrollbar

Kit Selector panel button

View options

Sorting options
Sticky button

exit panel

HTML Help

available Kits

Kit information

currently highlighted Kit

11

Chapter 4: Loading Kits and Kit-Pieces

Clicking on the Kit Selector button brings up the Kit Selector panel. Here, you can load
one of the supplied full drumkits. Moving the mouse over each Kit brings up information
about the Kit on the right of the panel. You can navigate around the Kits with the arrow
keys and the [PageUp] and [PageDn] keys. and use the scrollbar or mousewheel to scroll
through longer kit listings. See section 4:2 for more details on the View and Sort options.

Click on any Kit in order to load it and exit the Panel (the panel will continue to be
displayed if the

Sticky button is engaged). This will load all Kit-Pieces of the chosen
drumkit to the slots in which they were when the Kit was saved, removing anything
already loaded into any slots.

Load & Save Kit buttons

You can also load Kits, and save the current Kit, by using the Load
and Save Kit buttons to the top-left of the BFD Mixer area. Kits are
saved to the BFD/Kits/User folder.

Reset Kit button

Clicking this button results in all Kit-Piece slots being cleared.

Reset

Kit

Save

Kit

Load

Kit

Saving & Loading Programs

A Program fi le is a complete BFD setup: the current Kit, and Mixer, Kit-Piece Inspector,
Hit Options, Play Options and Groove Librarian settings. A Program is the only type of
preset fi le within BFD which stores the state of the Hit trim and Unload settings in the Hit
Options panel. It is the same information which is saved with a song when using BFD as
a plugin inside a host.

The buttons at the top-right of the BFD interface allow
you to Load and Save Programs. Programs are saved to
the BFD/Programs folder.

To summarize:

• A Kit is a collection of Kit-Pieces: no other information is stored
with it. Therefore, a Kit will not contain any key assignments,

Save

Program

Load

Program

Mixer settings, damping settings etc.

• A Program stores all settings within BFD : the Kit, the Mixer and Kit-Piece inspector
settings, note, MIDI CC and output assignments, Play Options, Hit trim and Unload
settings and the state of the Groove Librarian.

Kit name and Program name

These text fi elds are located at the top of the Drum Room display. Double-click on either
name in order to edit it.

Kit name

Program name

12

Chapter 4: Loading Kits and Kit-Pieces

Loading a default Kit when BFD is initialized

If you would like to load one of the supplied factory Kits, or any Kit you compile yourself,
when BFD is initialized, it is very simple to do so. Use the BFD Options panel to specify a
Kit fi le and enable the Load default kit when BFD starts option. See section 9:1 for more
details on this option.

4:2 Loading Kit-Pieces

Kit-Piece Selector panels

The Kit-Piece Selector buttons in the left­hand column bring up individual Selector
panels. These allow you to load Kit-Pieces into
individual slots in a similar way to that in which
you would load a Kit.

BFD features two Mixer Pages. The fi rst
Page (the default) shows the basic Kit-Piece
slots, while the second Page shows the extra
slots. The Kit-Piece Selector buttons change
depending on which Mixer Page is currently
being viewed.

It is important to remember that each Kit­Piece Selector button corresponds

to one of the Kit-Piece slots within the Mixer.
Each Kit-Piece Selector can be made to load
any type of Kit-Piece into that slot, using the
Type drop-down menu (see ‘Loading Options’,
below).

It is a good idea to read this chapter fully,
especially section 4:3, as well as section 5:1,
in order to gain a good understanding of the
fl exibility of BFD’s Kit compilation features.

Kick 1 Selector

Snare 1 Selector

Hihat Selector

Tom set Selector

Cymbal 1 Selector

Cymbal 2 Selector

Cymbal 3 Selector

• Mixer Page 1 Kit-Piece Selector buttons

Kick 2 Selector

Snare 2 Selector

Percussion Selector

Tom set 2 Selector

Cymbal 4 Selector

Cymbal 5 Selector

Cymbal 6 Selector

• Mixer Page 2 Kit-Piece Selector buttons

13

Chapter 4: Loading Kits and Kit-Pieces

scrollbar

Auditioning Kit-Pieces

You can audition each available Hit in each Kit-Piece
at different velocities by holding down the [SHIFT]
key and clicking on its icon. Different Hit types are
auditioned by varying the click ing position vertically,
while varying it horizontally varies the velocity.

View options

Sorting options

Sticky button

exit panel

HTML Help

currently highlighted
Kit-Piece

available Kit-Pieces

Kit-Piece information

Hit type

velocity

The readout in the context info display shows
exactly which Hit type and velocity layer is
currently being auditioned.

View and Sort Options

You can change the size of the browsable Kit-Piece
icons in the Selector Panels by using the View drop-
down menu. You can choose a variety of icon sizes, or
even text-only (this is faster, as images do not need to
be recalled).

You can sort Kit-Pieces in the

browsable list by folder,
manufacturer, date, type and
size (both ascending and
descending). This is achieved
via the Sort drop-down menu.

These settings are also available in the Kit Selector
panel. View and Sort settings are global for all panels.

14

Loading Options

BFD allows you to switch each Kit-Piece
Selector panel to view and load any type
of Kit-Piece, with the use of the Type
drop-down menu. This allows complete
fl exibility when building your Kit. You can,
for example, load a fl oor tom into a kick
slot, by bringing up the Kick Selector
panel and using the Type menu to
acces toms.

The Tom set and Tom set 2 Selector
panels feature an extra drop-down menu
in order to load a different Kit-Piece into
each tom slot (fl oor, mid and high). When
you use the Type drop-down menu to
specify anything except a tom set, an
extra drop-down menu appears, labelled
Slot. This allows you to specify the tom
slot to which the selected Kit-Piece
will be loaded.

Chapter 4: Loading Kits and Kit-Pieces

• In the above screenshot, notice the individual listings of
toms, rather than the default representation of tom sets.

4:3 Hit types and Kit-Piece slots

When loading Kit-Pieces, it is important to understand BFD’s approach to articulations,
or ‘Hit types’ (sometimes referred to within BFD as ‘Hits’). A snare drum, for example, has
several Hit types: the regular hit, sidestick, rim hit (rim and skin hit simultaneously), fl am
and drag. Hihats, meanwhile, can have even more: pedal, closed, 1/2-open and fully-open
for tip and shank. Additionally, 1/4-open and 3/4-open positions also exist in the BFD XFL
and 8 Bit Kit expansion packs.

As a registration bonus for all BFD users, a free Zildjian hihat is available for download
containing an additional 1/4-open tip position. There are also ride bell Hit samples for two
of the BFD rides for free download after registration.

It is useful to note that the word ‘hit’ is also used to describe the primary Hit type of kicks,
snares, toms and cymbals.

Because each type of Kit-Piece has a different range of Hit types, the Kit-Piece slots
are specialized. BFD’s two Mixer Pages allow you a substantial amount of freedom to
create a pretty extravagant Kit: you can load two kicks and snares, both with the full array
of Hits, and create six-tom and six-cymbal Kits (with a cowbell for good measure!) with
ease.

15

Chapter 4: Loading Kits and Kit-Pieces

You can, using the Type drop-down menu in the Kit-Piece Selector panels, load any Kit­Piece into any slot. However, please be aware that you are limited to the capabilities of
each slot. You won’t be able to achieve the full functionality of a Kit-Piece by loading it into
a slot for which it was not designed.

In practice this is only potentially a problem if you want a second hihat or third snare.
These types of Kit-Pieces simply use too much RAM and too many MIDI notes for it to be
viable to have more than the existing number of dedicated slots.

If you load a hihat into a slot capable of using only two Hit types, only the closed tip and
1/2-open tip Hits will be used. Similarly, for a snare, only the hit and sidestick Hit types
will be made available.

When using BFD, please refer to the Hit Options panel (the Page 1 and Page 2 tabs) in
order to remind yourself quickly of the capacity of each Kit-Piece slot within BFD.

Not all Kit-Pieces feature the full range of possible Hit types. This is because with some
drums, certain Hit types just did not sound interesting or unique enough to justify the
RAM and diskspace required.

Kit-Piece slots in BFD

Here is a list of the Kit-Piece slots within BFD, together with a summary of the Hit types
they can contain as well as the default MIDI notes assigned to each Hit.

The note names given below, and all other references to notes in this manual, are given
in the most commonly used -2 octave numbering system, which can be set in the Options
panel (see Section 9:1 for more details).

The Kick 2, Snare 2, Percussion, Tom set 2, and Cymbals 4-6 slots are located on Mixer
Page 2.

Kick 1

hit C1
no snare B0

Snare 1

hit D1
drag D#1
fl am F1
rim E1
sidestick C#1

16

Chapter 4: Loading Kits and Kit-Pieces

Hihat

The 1/4-open and 3/4-open positions are only available when using the BFD XFL and
8 Bit Kit expansion packs. There is, however, a free hihat for download upon registering
which has an additional 1/4-open position.

open tip A#1
3

/4-open tip A0

3

/4-open shank G#0

1

/2-open tip D2

1

/2-open shank E2

1

/4-open tip G0

1

/4-open shank F#0

closed tip F#1
closed shank C2
pedal G#1

Tom set (Floor Tom, Mid Tom, High Tom)

Tom slots are slightly different to the others, as one Selector panel is used for three Kit­Plece slots. You can load individual toms (or any other type of Kit-Piece) into each tom
slot by using the Type and Slot drop-down menus in the Tom Selector.

Floor Tom (hit) G1
Mid Tom (hit) A1
High Tom (hit) B1

Cymbals 1,2,3

BFD does not come with ride bell samples on the installation disks. Bell samples for
two of the included rides (PearlB and Slingerland) are provided for free download after
registering on our website.

The choke hit does not represent a sound. Instead, it offers a means of stopping a
ringing cymbal before it completes its natural decay. Choking can also be controlled using
polyphonic pressure (aftertouch) messages: see section 7:2 for details).

Cymbal 1 (hit) C#2
Cymbal 1 (bell) F#2
Cymbal 1 (choke) A2

Cymbal 2 (hit) G2
Cymbal 2 (bell) G#2
Cymbal 2 (choke) A#2

Cymbal 3 (hit) D#2
Cymbal 3 (bell) F2
Cymbal 3 (choke) B2

17

Chapter 4: Loading Kits and Kit-Pieces

Kick 2

hit B-1
no snare C0

Snare 2

hit D0
drag D#0
fl am F0
rim E0
sidestick C#0

Percussion

This is effectively a multi-purpose slot which can hold two Hit types. There are no
percussion Kit-Pieces in BFD, only in the expansion packs.

hit C-2
alt C#-2

Tom Set 2 (Toms 4,5, and 6)

Unlike the set of tom slots on Mixer Page 1, Tom Set 2 possess an additional hit for each
slot. This is to facilitate loading other types of Kit-Pieces, such as more cymbals or some
of the more varied Kit-Pieces on the expansion packs.

Tom 4 (hit) D-2
Tom 4 (alt) D#-2

Tom 5 (hit) E-2
Tom 5 (alt) F-2

Tom 6 (hit) F#-2
Tom 6 (alt) G-2

Cymbals 4,5,6

These slots operate in exactly the same way as Cymbals 1,2,3 on Mixer Page 1.

Cymbal 4 (hit) G#-2
Cymbal 4 (bell) A-2
Cymbal 4 (choke) D-1

Cymbal 5 (hit) A#-2
Cymbal 5 (bell) B-2
Cymbal 5 (choke) D#-1

Cymbal 6 (hit) E-1
Cymbal 6 (bell) C#-1
Cymbal 6 (choke) B2

18

5 MIXING IN BFD

Page 1 & 2 buttons

Kit-Piece Mixer

Mixer preset controls

Bus Mixer

Mixer MIDI Learn Direct Mixer

HTML Help

Mixer Reset

5:1 Mixer Pages

BFD’s Mixer has two Pages, accessed using the and buttons at the top-left of the
Mixer area.

Page 1 is the ‘basic kit’. It has ‘slots’ for loading a kick, snare, hihat, three toms and three
cymbals.

Page 2 contains nine extra slots: secondary kick and snare, percussion, three extra toms
and three extra cymbals. The secondary kick and snare slots (kick 2 and snare 2) behave
in exactly the same way as Page I’s kick and snare slots. The other seven slots, despite
their names, can be used to load any Kit-Piece, although only two Hit types can be used.

Please see section 4:3 in the previous chapter for more details about Hit types and Kit­Piece slots.

• Mixer Page 2

Note that the Bus Mixer is the same

on both Pages. Only the Kit-Piece
and Direct Mixer areas are changed
(as well as the Kit-Piece Selector
panel buttons – see section 4:2).

19