FXpansion BFD2.1

BFD2 is FXpansion’s drum sample player, delivering the sound of drum kits and percussion. What made BFD a world beater (pun intended) in the first place is that it was one of the first plug-ins to present a collection of drum samples as a real drum kit, with scope to mix in overhead, room and ambient mics.

BFD2.1, the latest update, is available as a free download for existing users and concentrates on improving the user interface and handling of samples, with some new effects for good measure. ‘Load On Demand’ limits the number of samples that BFD2.1 loads in by default, thus leaving more RAM available for other tasks. A typical kit is now reduced from 500MB to around 100MB in size.

One possible down side is that with many layers of samples now lost, the jump amoung velocity levels could be painfully obvious. However, BFD gets around that by loading in the lost samples as and when you play them.

This is an excellent facility, helping BFD to better coexist with your other plug-ins. It justifies the upgrade in itself.

Effects

New effects include four reverb algorithms licensed from Overloud, the manufacturer of the Breverb reverb plug-in. These give you plate, hall, room and ‘inverse’ reverb sounds – all are good.

The inclusion of PSP’s Vintage Warmer is a

surprising move – now you can roughen, toughen and saturate your drums in the way that only Vintage Warmer can. The new envelope generator enables you to adjust the overall loudness shape of the drum sound in a similar way to using a compressor. You can add emphasis to the attack portion of the sound, or soften it whether you need to.

The improvements to the user interface are welcome, and faraway overdue. You now have the ability to replace, swap or move around instruments within the slots of a kit. that might not sound like a big deal, but it actually speeds up the creation of new kits no end.

Summary

BFD2.1 is an amazing product – stable, well-priced and featuring some of the best drum samples on the planet. There’s nothing to lose for existing users and lots to attract newcomers – the new effects are really good but it’s the inclusion of ‘Load On Demand’ and the changes to the user interface that justify the download.

Listen to a dry drum track, followed by the warmed up version:

var so = new SWFObject(”/default/flash/AudioSampler.swf”, “AudioSampler”, “190″, “25″, “7.0.14″, “#FFFFFF”);
so.addVariable(”file”,”http://mos.musicradar.com/audio/Future%20Music/Issue%20216/bfd/1%20funky.mp3″);
so.addParam(”scale”, “noscale”);
so.addParam(”salign”, “TL”);
so.write(”flashcontent_Future%20Music/Issue%20216/bfd/1%20funky”);

var so = new SWFObject(”/default/flash/AudioSampler.swf”, “AudioSampler”, “190″, “25″, “7.0.14″, “#FFFFFF”);
so.addVariable(”file”,”http://mos.musicradar.com/audio/Future%20Music/Issue%20216/bfd/4%20funky%20mix%20warmer.mp3″);
so.addParam(”scale”, “noscale”);
so.addParam(”salign”, “TL”);
so.write(”flashcontent_Future%20Music/Issue%20216/bfd/4%20funky%20mix%20warmer”);

[Source] Future Music