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I finally bit the bullet and bought one of those packages that has real drum samples - FXpansion BFD (www.fxpansion.com) - I found a few samples online of Drums From Hell, and frankly they sound like crap; I can hear hardware rattle. I've recorded a massive 25 piece kit in a bedroom (13 drums, 12 cymbals) with mics on everything and never picked up the hardware, so to hear "pooka-pook" coming from the tom mounts in a high-dollar software package is inexcuseable.
I didn't hear any of that in BFD, so that's what I went with, though I must say it does leave me wanting.
For one thing, I'm spoiled by my ex-drummer's kit
This thing was massive and had the perfect natural tone. The lowest floor tom had a rumble that would literally make you have to go take a dump. It wasn't flabby, and yet it wasn't bright, either. The whole kit had depth, resonance, and was very musical-sounding, even when a non-drummer like myself sat behind it.
Anyway, back to this BFD thing.
First off, it's not a standalone drum program like I was really hoping it would be (and the demo videos on the site lead me to believe), but rather it's a ReWire app for Cubase, Sonor, ProTools, Logic, etc etc. You definitely need an external sequencer for it to create the actual drum patterns you want it to play.
It does have a Standalone player thing where you can sort through all the features like picking kit pieces (from a stockpile of vintage and modern pieces like 1930's Slingerland stuff up to modern-day DW stuff, Lucite kits, Pearl, Zildjian, etc etc). As well, you can audition the preset Grooves and Fills of various styles, and you can manually load in up to 12 Grooves (base patterns) and 12 Fills and let it play them either in the order you loaded them in or using a Random/Shuffle feature.
That takes a bit of getting used to, as some of the Grooves and Fills are only 2 or 3 bars long, yet others range from 4 to 8 bars long.
Anyway, I've spent a few days in and out of this program/thing and have been comparing what it CAN do to what I WANT it to do and what it CANNOT do.
The big thing, as I said before, is that you can't lay out custom drum patterns. There's no MIDI or other editor built into it, so I've had to make custom patterns in GuitarPro and save those as MIDI files to open in BFD. The only problem is, not all BFD's kit pieces are assigned to the correct MIDI note number (this can be changed internally, but the menus run like a Java app - slow in, slow out). On one Kit Preset the Bass Drum is linked correctly, on others, it's not. Same for HiHats. While you can build Custom Kits in BFD itself and save them and assign them to any MIDI note number, there is such a thing as the MIDI Standard. It hasn't changed since 1979. I would expect this to be done on the presets at the factory.
Another issue I have with this $200 piece of software is again related directly to the lack of self-containment: no MIDI Input. It has two boxes marked "MIDI In" and "MIDI Out" and you can set the MIDI Channel, but apparently that's only so you can use it with certain apps like ProTools or Cubase by specifying it as a MIDI Output target rather than an external hardware synth/drum unit; program your drum patterns in those and send them to BFD as a MIDI synth option.
I was hoping to use my Alesis SR16 as the trigger unit and let BFD provide the sound via USB MIDI device, but it's not set up that way.
Years ago (like 1997) I found a program called TheDrumsPro that allowed you to do this. You hit Record, start playing a pattern on the SR16, and it records the MIDI notes into the program. Save it, play it back either into the SR16 or a software synth (Yamaha XG was good) and it's the same pattern. It was great. I've still got it. It cost $15. It still works, though it is limited to 4-bar patterns (or I'm not digging deep enough for the option to expand it), but a $200 app can't do it?
Sonor 4 Producer can record MIDI data, but have I ever mentioned how much I dislike Cakewalk's products?
Guitar Pro 5 has the ability to record incoming MIDI note data, but guess what? Not to the Drum Track, only to the Instrument track, which means it assigns each note to a keyboard note instead of a drum/percussion range note.
As fate would have it, the MIDI note mapping for BFD is based on keyboard notes, not the MIDI Drum Standards, but apparently their note ranges are decidedly different than everyone else's note ranges:
I put a Custom Note Mapping into the SR16, matching BFD's note mapping piece-for-piece, then recorded the MIDI pattern into GP5. Next I exported the pattern as a MIDI file and loaded it into BFD's Groove Library, using the kit that I copied the note map from into the SR16.
Know what I got?
Garbage.
A few HiHats, the Bass drum, and one tom. That's it. This was a full-blown pattern/fill set with a 2:30 run time, and all I got was 2:30 on a 3-piece kit.
Then I tried it in Sonor. Guess what? It works. Kinda.
But did I mention I dislike Cakewalk products?
My brand new Audigy2 card is being reported by Sonor as not being able to do Stereo, so Sonor defaults to Mono. The card has one 1/8" stereo Mic/Line input and three 1/8" stereo outputs, and handles panning in every other app just fine.
So I set Sonor to record a MIDI data track - the SR16's preset patterns, then save that as a MIDI file and bring it into BFD. Guess what? I get a completely different drum track. The notes are all in the same place, but many are in the wrong place. Again, I had already set up the SR16's Note Mapping to match BFD's note mapping - I even double-checked it - so BFD should be reading the same note for snare in the MIDI file as it does inside itself. It doesn't.
I've used CoolEdit for years, and switched to Audition when Adobe bought it. Audition can barely interface with BFD - I can set it to take up 32 tracks - one from each mic of each piece of the drimkit in BFD - but Audition will not record on those tracks (mixer only, apparently).
The more time I spend trying to get this thing to do what I want, the more I dislike it.
Looks like I'll stick with my SR16 and QSR for drums and just EQ them to sound realistic. That's easy compared to this crap.
Oh yeah, almost forgot: BFD's patterns are in MIDI format, but after trying 6 different apps, the only one that will open them for editing is Sonor, but since I don't use Sonor's MIDI editor (what's this paintbrush in the checkerboard crap?), I have to export them as MIDI again so I can open them in GP.
I didn't hear any of that in BFD, so that's what I went with, though I must say it does leave me wanting.
For one thing, I'm spoiled by my ex-drummer's kit
This thing was massive and had the perfect natural tone. The lowest floor tom had a rumble that would literally make you have to go take a dump. It wasn't flabby, and yet it wasn't bright, either. The whole kit had depth, resonance, and was very musical-sounding, even when a non-drummer like myself sat behind it.
Anyway, back to this BFD thing.
First off, it's not a standalone drum program like I was really hoping it would be (and the demo videos on the site lead me to believe), but rather it's a ReWire app for Cubase, Sonor, ProTools, Logic, etc etc. You definitely need an external sequencer for it to create the actual drum patterns you want it to play.
It does have a Standalone player thing where you can sort through all the features like picking kit pieces (from a stockpile of vintage and modern pieces like 1930's Slingerland stuff up to modern-day DW stuff, Lucite kits, Pearl, Zildjian, etc etc). As well, you can audition the preset Grooves and Fills of various styles, and you can manually load in up to 12 Grooves (base patterns) and 12 Fills and let it play them either in the order you loaded them in or using a Random/Shuffle feature.
That takes a bit of getting used to, as some of the Grooves and Fills are only 2 or 3 bars long, yet others range from 4 to 8 bars long.
Anyway, I've spent a few days in and out of this program/thing and have been comparing what it CAN do to what I WANT it to do and what it CANNOT do.
The big thing, as I said before, is that you can't lay out custom drum patterns. There's no MIDI or other editor built into it, so I've had to make custom patterns in GuitarPro and save those as MIDI files to open in BFD. The only problem is, not all BFD's kit pieces are assigned to the correct MIDI note number (this can be changed internally, but the menus run like a Java app - slow in, slow out). On one Kit Preset the Bass Drum is linked correctly, on others, it's not. Same for HiHats. While you can build Custom Kits in BFD itself and save them and assign them to any MIDI note number, there is such a thing as the MIDI Standard. It hasn't changed since 1979. I would expect this to be done on the presets at the factory.
Another issue I have with this $200 piece of software is again related directly to the lack of self-containment: no MIDI Input. It has two boxes marked "MIDI In" and "MIDI Out" and you can set the MIDI Channel, but apparently that's only so you can use it with certain apps like ProTools or Cubase by specifying it as a MIDI Output target rather than an external hardware synth/drum unit; program your drum patterns in those and send them to BFD as a MIDI synth option.
I was hoping to use my Alesis SR16 as the trigger unit and let BFD provide the sound via USB MIDI device, but it's not set up that way.
Years ago (like 1997) I found a program called TheDrumsPro that allowed you to do this. You hit Record, start playing a pattern on the SR16, and it records the MIDI notes into the program. Save it, play it back either into the SR16 or a software synth (Yamaha XG was good) and it's the same pattern. It was great. I've still got it. It cost $15. It still works, though it is limited to 4-bar patterns (or I'm not digging deep enough for the option to expand it), but a $200 app can't do it?
Sonor 4 Producer can record MIDI data, but have I ever mentioned how much I dislike Cakewalk's products?
Guitar Pro 5 has the ability to record incoming MIDI note data, but guess what? Not to the Drum Track, only to the Instrument track, which means it assigns each note to a keyboard note instead of a drum/percussion range note.
As fate would have it, the MIDI note mapping for BFD is based on keyboard notes, not the MIDI Drum Standards, but apparently their note ranges are decidedly different than everyone else's note ranges:
I put a Custom Note Mapping into the SR16, matching BFD's note mapping piece-for-piece, then recorded the MIDI pattern into GP5. Next I exported the pattern as a MIDI file and loaded it into BFD's Groove Library, using the kit that I copied the note map from into the SR16.
Know what I got?
Garbage.
A few HiHats, the Bass drum, and one tom. That's it. This was a full-blown pattern/fill set with a 2:30 run time, and all I got was 2:30 on a 3-piece kit.
Then I tried it in Sonor. Guess what? It works. Kinda.
But did I mention I dislike Cakewalk products?
My brand new Audigy2 card is being reported by Sonor as not being able to do Stereo, so Sonor defaults to Mono. The card has one 1/8" stereo Mic/Line input and three 1/8" stereo outputs, and handles panning in every other app just fine.
So I set Sonor to record a MIDI data track - the SR16's preset patterns, then save that as a MIDI file and bring it into BFD. Guess what? I get a completely different drum track. The notes are all in the same place, but many are in the wrong place. Again, I had already set up the SR16's Note Mapping to match BFD's note mapping - I even double-checked it - so BFD should be reading the same note for snare in the MIDI file as it does inside itself. It doesn't.
I've used CoolEdit for years, and switched to Audition when Adobe bought it. Audition can barely interface with BFD - I can set it to take up 32 tracks - one from each mic of each piece of the drimkit in BFD - but Audition will not record on those tracks (mixer only, apparently).
The more time I spend trying to get this thing to do what I want, the more I dislike it.
Looks like I'll stick with my SR16 and QSR for drums and just EQ them to sound realistic. That's easy compared to this crap.
Oh yeah, almost forgot: BFD's patterns are in MIDI format, but after trying 6 different apps, the only one that will open them for editing is Sonor, but since I don't use Sonor's MIDI editor (what's this paintbrush in the checkerboard crap?), I have to export them as MIDI again so I can open them in GP.