BFD3 Acoustic Drum Studio for 49- Lowest price ever

[satya]

https://www.pluginboutique.com/manufacturers/296-BFD

For 49$

Edited October 25, 2023 by satya

[GoncaloL]

It seems that no one cares about this one, is it that bad for the price?

[PavlovsCat]

5 minutes ago, GoncaloL said:

It seems that no one cares about this one, is it that bad for the price?

Is it bad for the price? Absolutely not. But if you have more to spend, you may prefer other options. 

I own BFD Eco and they've priced the upgrade for that at $49 USD for at least a few years at this point -- they've been on version 3 for -- I would guess --  at least a decade. The plugin has been plagued with a ton of technical issues and that is why I've never upgraded. BFD3, even by the acknowledgment of one of the developers who works on the team on this forum, is dated. It's not competitive with SD3, but then, it's also a small fraction of the price. 

I'd boil it down to this.  If budget is a significant factor and ezDrummer and AD2 are out of reach, I would say it's worth picking up for $49 USD from what I know -- and again, I don't own it. You might want to first download and install BFD Player. It's not the same library and it's much newer, but you'll at least get a feel for the developer's work.   

[GoncaloL]

Thanks your reply PavlovsCat

As you said SD3 for what i understand is in a league of its own, that would be undoubtly my choice if it wasnt for the steep price. 
 

As for the other suggestions are ezDrummer and AD2 really better than BF3? I remember back in the day trying BF2 in a friends studio and thinking it was great🤷🏻‍♂️

[Kirean]

This was 49 about a year ago during BF. There was also a glitch where you could get a handful of expansions for free (instead of just one) with the included coupon they gave.

Biggest problem for me is that the interface is kinda janky.

[Richard Penny]

I wouldn’t touch it, even for $29. There’s a reason I uninstalled it and invested in SD3, mainly the terrible re-validation that erased all settings from BFD3 tracks on old projects. The interface is also tiny. Great sounds though. 

[Marc Cormier]

I love it.  I usually build the song with SD3 and transpose MIDI with MIDI Remap.  It sounds excellent but yes, the UI can be a challenge.  And the authentication issues have burned some but they’ve largely been overcome. It includes 7 kits that I still prefer, sonically, to what is in SD3.  Comparatively speaking, I don’t think AD2 or EZD3 are “better” than BFD3 (I think the samples in BFD3 are much better) but Toontrack changed everything by focusing on supporting workflow and an amazing user experience.  I can’t live without SD3 for that reason.  

For the money (free) I find the SSD5 free kit and presets to be an excellent option if you don’t want/can’t sink money into a platform like Toontrack.

November is Metal Month at Toontrack—If you’re leaning toward Toontrack, I would wait to see if there’s any incentive to pick up EZD3.  Otherwise,  BFD3 at $49 is a great deal, but I’m well entrenched in that ecosystem already.  

 

[dumbquestions]

Good but inmusic makes you reauthorize your license every 90 days. That part Gives me the heeby jeebies. If you don’t like the sounds you could always add trigger2 to the stems, that’s what i do usually. The core library is generous in the shell/cymbal options made available, though sound quality and tweaking as stated is not the simplest venture. Only bought the jazz noir expansion and wasn’t blown away.. to me it didn’t seem like there were enough velocity variations in the samples, only noticed this when i plugged it up to my ekit. Triggering loud notes with quiet hits for example. so in terms of replicating a real kit, compared to other libraries like the AR series, i didn’t say “wow” but if i spent the time tweaking maybe I would

[bluzdog]

I have BFD3, the Horsepower pack and Zildjian cymbals 1 & 2. I haven't been able to get everything working together. It's definitely not an elegant solution like EZ Drummer, Session Drummer or Addictive Drums. Too much brain damage to make it work, so it sits. 😁

[GoncaloL]

Well thanks everyone! I will skip it then

[Royal Yaksman]

If the BFD license app is giving you greif and saying the server cannot be reached/request not processed. The trick is to log out and then log back in and it authorises everything for use immediately. 

[PavlovsCat]

I spent today trying to bring developers together with a site owner who's been spreading very toxic misinformation about a developer on another forum -- that frankly is concerning in the developer community (I've consulted to around 3 dozen developers over the years), and the sad part is that it's ruined that forum, IMO. But this forum, and the way you came together and helped @GoncaloL, in his research that's awesome. We don't have a giant community here, but it's a great helpful community. 

If Bandlab ever shuts this subforum down, I'm game to start and run a forum of my own and everyone is invited. The beer's on me. I'm dead serious. Not about the beer, but I would actually create a forum to replace this one if Bandlab's plans result in this closing this subforum down with their transition from free to paid products. 

Edited October 26, 2023 by PavlovsCat

[GoncaloL]

4 hours ago, PavlovsCat said:

I spent today trying to bring developers together with a site owner who's been spreading very toxic misinformation about a developer on another forum -- that frankly is concerning in the developer community (I've consulted to around 3 dozen developers over the years), and the sad part is that it's ruined that forum, IMO. But this forum, and the way you came together and helped @GoncaloL, in his research that's awesome. We don't have a giant community here, but it's a great helpful community. 

If Bandlab ever shuts this subforum down, I'm game to start and run a forum of my own and everyone is invited. The beer's on me. I'm dead serious. Not about the beer, but I would actually create a forum to replace this one if Bandlab's plans result in this closing this subforum down with their transition from free to paid products. 

You are absolutely right, im a newcomer here and im amazed by such a positive and friendly forum. Really awesome 
Thank you guys

[X-53mph]

19 hours ago, GoncaloL said:

It seems that no one cares about this one, is it that bad for the price?

When I bought BFD 1 back in the 2000s, it was by far the best program out there doing what it did (making very realistic sounding studio drums). The interface was super easy to use and infinitely tweakable. I stuck with that program right up until Windows 10 or 11 stopped playing nicely with it, so I got BFD3 for 50 bucks along with 3 or 4 kits about a year ago.

I would echo what people have said here. The new interface is not so user friendly now, but if you like tweaking your sound, it gives you tons of options. The authentication issue seems to have been resolved, and there have even been some updates to BFD3 since the InMusic acquisition. 

How is the sound?

This is really subjective. Do you like your drums to sound ready to drop into a mix straight out the box? If so, you'll prefer XLN or some other manufacturer. If you want a 'natural' sounding drum set that you can tweak, mold or bend to your will, BFD3 may be for you. 

I personally make 'wonky' acoustic songs, and I want a drum sound more like Elliott Smith (not perfect) - BFD can do that (in conjunction with some other programs). The drums can be made to sound 'human', which is preferable to me. But, as I said, it really depends on what you need it for.