Fxpansion BFD2 Manual User Manual

2.0.1Dec 2007www.fxpansion.com

10Microphone busesAs well as mic channels, when using BFD you need to be aware of the four microphone buses, which are ‘virtual groups’ of the mic cha

100A single lane is always shown for each articulation, regardless of whether you have mapped the articulation to a MIDI key or not.If an articulation

101Velocity laneThe velocity lane underneath the Ruler shows event velocities as vertical stalks, with higher stalks denoting high velocity events, wh

102Zoom and scroll controlsZoom in/outThe zoom in/out buttons at the bottom-right of the Editor grid control the horizontal zoom level.ScrollbarsIf th

1036:3 Grooves toolbar To the left of the Editor grid is the Grooves toolbar, containing a number of tools with which to ma

104Erase toolClick an event or selection of events with the Erase tool to erase it. If you hold down the mouse button in an empty area and drag, a sel

1056:4 Other Editor functionsA number of additional editing functions are available in the Editor area.Editor display settingsFollow If you’

106Edit menu The Edit menu allows you to perform several selection and editing operations. You can also perform these operations

1076:5 Combining elements of other GroovesYou can combine elements of any Groove in the Palette with the currently selected Groove. Firstly, select th

1086:6 Recording Grooves via MIDIBFD2 provides the ability to record a new Groove, or add events to an existing Groove, using MIDI input in real time.

1096:7 Groove FX panelThe Groove FX section is a set of effects that allow you to manipulate the velocity and timing of the contents of the Groove en-

111:3 Recording notes BFD2’s sounds were recorded in studio 1 at AIR Studios at Lyndhurst Hall, Hampstead, London.AIR Studios was

110Quantize effect The Quantize effect allows you to apply a variable amount of non-destructive quantize to playing Groove events. You can quantize

111Swing effect The Swing effect applies a variable amount of non-destructive swing to playing Groove events. A number of timing grids are availab

112chapter 07 GROOVES PAGE part 3 auto-play, drum track and other ways of using grooves7:1 Auto-Play modeAuto-Play vs. MIDI triggeringMIDI Triggering

113CurrentWhen playback is started the currently selected Groove in the Palette is played, following the behaviour defined by Groove Ac-tions.Since the

1147:2 Drum Track IntroductionThe Drum Track allows you to put together a sequence of Grooves to form an entire track of drums. Enabling the Drum Trac

1157:3 Drum Track displayTrack rulerThe ruler represents the Drum Track’s timeline in bars and beats.Track laneGrooves are added as Parts into the Tra

1167:4 Working with the Drum TrackAdding parts to the Drum TrackTo add a Groove as a Part on the Drum Track, drag and drop any groove from the palette

117Moving selected Parts To move Parts on the Track lane select one or more parts and then drag them along the Track lane. The posi-tion at which

1187:5 Loading, saving and exporting the Drum TrackSaving and loading Drum Track contents You cannot load and save only the contents of the Drum T

1197:7 Using BFD2’s MIDI OutIn compatible hosts, you can use the output of the BFD2 plugin’s Groove engine as a MIDI input stream to trigger other ins

12MicrophonesSeveral microphones were set up for many mic positions, with the most appropriate sets being used for each kit. Some snares were mic’d us

120chapter 08 MAPPING PAGE key and automation mapping8:1 Overview The Mapping page allows you to map MIDI control devices and host automation paramet

1218:2 Loading in the Mapping page Loading key mapsTo load a key map, click the Load button in the BFD2 Control bar and use the Load Key Map... func-t

122Current Key Map indicator The key map currently loaded into BFD2 is shown here. If no map has been loaded, the factory default BFD 2.0 key map is i

123Loading Automation maps To load an automation map, click the Load button in the Control bar and use the Load Automation Map... function on the Lo

1248:3 Saving in the Mapping page The Mapping page allows you to save a number of different types of files. The save functions are accessed from the L

1258:4 Key mapping viewBFD2’s keymapping mapping process involves dragging and dropping a kit-piece from the kit-piece listing to a MIDI key in the ke

126Key labelling Keys containing a single articulation mapping are shown in the following format:[Slot name] : [Artic index] [Kit-piece] [Articula

127Single-articulation previewsIf a key contains a single articulation, click the key while holding down the ALT key to hear a preview of the articula

1288:5 Working with the key mapperMapping an articulation to a MIDI key1. Using the keyrange selector, select the desired part of the keyboard2. Drag

129Layering multiple articulations on a single keyYou can place as many articulations as you like, from any kit-pieces, on a single key. This offers a

131:4 Introduction to the BFD2 interface Control conventions Faders Faders are controlled by clicking and dragging vertically. Faders are oriented ve

1308:6 Mapping inspectorWhen any MIDI key is selected by clicking on it or playing the note via MIDI (as long as the Select keys with MIDI notes prefe

1318:7 Introduction to BFD2 automationOverviewBFD2 allows you to change most of its controls over time by using hardware controllers or messages from

132Automation view interfaceKey and Auto buttonsIf the Mapping page is currently in key mapping view, click the Auto button to show the automation map

133Clear All AutoClick this button to clear all assignments for the current automation type. The labelling of this button changes to reflect the curren

1348:8 Mapping MIDI CCs to BFD2 controlsTo map MIDI continuous controllers (CCs) to BFD2 controls, select ‘MIDI CC’ as the automation type.Automation

1358:9 Mapping MIDI notes to BFD2 controlsTo map MIDI notes to BFD2 controls, select ‘MIDI note’ as the automation type.Automation parameters table in

1368:10 Mapping host automation to BFD2 controlsTo map host automation to BFD2 controls, select ‘MIDI note’ as the automation type.Automation paramete

137chapter 09 ELECTRONIC DRUMS AND BFD29:1 Intoduction to using electronic drumkits with BFD2BFD2 supports the use of electronic drumkits for trigger

138Bus traffic problemsYou may find it particulatly difficult to achieve low latencies on laptops and smaller machines with limited expansion potential –

1399:3 Variable hihat controlOverviewAs discussed in the last section, variable hihat MIDI recordings can be tedious to edit or quantize. Therefore, i

14Interface overview1:5 Control barPage buttonsClicking these large buttons switches to one of the five Pages, each covering a different aspect of BFD2

140Assigning the hihat height pedal MIDI CCThe hihat pedals of most electronic kits transmit a MIDI continuous controller in order to represent the po

141Possible problemsApart from a problem in getting the MIDI to BFD2 (check your host MIDI filter settings), it is possible that your pedal may not be

1429:4 Other settings related to hihat controlPreferencesHihat reopen thresholdMost drum brains constantly send out hihat pedal movement MIDI CC messa

143Hihat choke fade settingsThe hihat has more choke fade settings than other kit-pieces, because of its more complex nature. The default Hihat choke

1449:5 Positional snare control The BFD2 soundset features a ‘half-edge’ snare articulation, which is the head of the snare struck halfway between the

145chapter 10 BFD2 PREFERENCES customizing BFD210:1 Preferences page overview Click the Preferences button in the BFD2 Control bar in order to show

14610:2 Data preferencesPreference OptionsRESET ALL PREFERENCESClicking this button, and agreeing to the subsequent confirmation dialog, results in all

14710:3 Groove preferencesShow Groove Session preferencesThere are a number of session-based preferences concerning the behaviour of the Groove engine

148Editor PreferencesMIDI export ModeThis setting specifies the track structure of exported MIDI files in BFD2. You can choose between 3 settings:• One

149High-accuracy song position displayThis setting is enabled by default and results in a highly accurate position marker in the Groove Editor grid. T

15Load menu Clicking the Load button shows a menu allowing you to load various elements into BFD2. The Load menu is partly context-dependent, varying

15010:4 Session preferences Session preferences are settings that are not needed often enough to merit a place on the main interface, but which are us

151Session Playback preferencesRevert to factory defaultsClicking this button reverts to the factory defaults for MIDI session preferences.Auto-fill pe

15210:5 MIDI preferencesMIDI ChannelsShow Session MIDIThere are a number of song-based preferences concerning the behaviour of the Groove engine. Clic

153Key Mapping preferencesThese settings concern the behaviour of the MIDI page. Prompt for Choke note overwriteWith this setting enabled, attempting

15410:6 Engine preferencesStreaming EngineLoad all to RAMWith the Load all to RAM setting enabled, BFD2 loads the entire kit to RAM, and no data is st

155RAM bufferThis value, in sample frames, is the size of the portion of each sound held in RAM to enable low latency operation within BFD2 (to circum

156Anti-machinegun modeWith this setting enabled, BFD2 never plays the same velocity layer twice in sucession for an articulation. This effectively re

157Special concerns for hihatsHihats have a few extra fade parameters, as in many ways the hihat has the most complex choking behaviour within a drumk

15810:7 GUI preferencesControl behaviourCircular knob motionWhen this setting is enabled, circular mouse movement is required to control knobs in BFD2

159Mixer GUI OptionsShow mixer signal routing Show Utility panel Show ambience channels Show aux channels Show direct channels Regular channel viewThe

161:6 Status BarMIDI Log Clicking this button opens an external MIDI log window, making it easy to view and troubleshoot incoming MIDI events. The con

160Chapter 11 PROGRAMMING TIPS11:1 Building the kitChoose the right kit-piecesChoosing the right Kit-pieces is paramount to getting the right sound.

16111:3 Using articulations effectivelyThe various articulations are a very important aspect of BFD2, and making intelligent use of them can contribut

16211:4 LayeringIntroduction to layeringThis technique is widely used in modern production, whereby a sampled snare and kick are layered over the orig

16311:5 Programming patternsA guide to drum pattern programming is beyond the scope of this manual - like good melody and harmony parts, there are no

164chapter 12 MIXING AND EFFECTS USAGEOverviewThe aim of this chapter is to help you approach mixing with BFD2, covering everything from use of mic c

16512:1 Mixing basicsMic channel usageUsing ambienceIt’s important to remember you do NOT need all mic channels at maximum levels in the mix. In most

166Approaching EQ and compressionEQ (equalization) and compression can be used in a variety of ways. The traditional approach is to use these processo

16712:2 EQ and filtering EQ BFD2’s EQ is based on a well-known classic console design. It offers 4 bands of EQ, includ-ing two parametric mid ba

168Filter Mod This is a state-variable self-oscillating multimode filter with a response of 12 db per octave. It has a built-in envelope follower to mo

169SCEnabling the SC button results in the FilterMod effect using the channel’s sidechain input as the source for the enveloper follower and audio-rat

17Controller learn The controller learn function gives you a quick method of assigning BFD2 controls to MIDI continuous controllers (MIDI CCs) and eve

170Comp Chan The CompChan (channel compressor) is derived from a classic ‘feedback-based FET limit-ing amplifier’ design.It is also what

171Noise Gate A noise gate is a type of dynamics processor that mutes or attenuates the input signal until its amplitude exceeds an adju

17212:4 Distortion Drive BFD2’s Drive effect offers 4 distortion circuit models, useful for adding colour, grit or more extreme distorti

173Dirty & CleanThe Dirty control sets the amount of post-distortion signal that is heard at the output.The Clean control sets the amount of the c

17412:5 Other effects Gain The Gain effect is a simple tool for increasing or decreasing a channel’s gain.GainThis is the only control on t

175Flanger The Flanger effect is a short modulated delay line with feedback to the input. It is used for a sense of movement and for

176RingMod A ring modulator multiplies two signals together, giving you the sum and the difference between them and the output.The Rin

17712:6 Mixing each part of the kitKicksEQThe ‘low end thump’ of a kick lies in the 40-80 Hz range - many engineers refer to this as the ‘chest’ regio

178DynamicsWhile compression can tame hats and balance the levels of different hihat articulations, remember that it’s always nice to retain a good am

17912:7 Routing scenariosCreating sub-mixes for processing mic channels togetherYou may want to process a number of mic channels together through the

18Rude Solo light The Rude Solo indicator is always lit whenever one or more channels are soloed in the BFD2 mixer.You can ALT-click this light in ord

18012:8 External processingThe following techniques involve knowledge of routing and other functions in your host, and familiarity with other software

191:7 Loading BFD2 Presets BFD2 Presets store the entire state of a BFD2 session.To load a Preset, click the Load button in the Control bar and click

2Contents6 chapter 01: INTRODUCING BFD2 6 1:1 An introduction to BFD26 • Welcome to BFD26 • Credits7 1:2 BFD2 Architecture7 •

20you click ‘Yes’, the preset file and its associated photo are deleted from the <user location>/BFD2/Presets folder. If you click ‘No’, the pres

21Photo & Rating The large photo of the Preset, showing a representation of the included kit-pieces, is espe-cially useful when using ‘List’ or ‘D

221:9 BFD2 Help functionsBFD2 offers a number of different help methods to make learning the software as painless as possible.Context info displayThe

23When moving a control I like to drag... [up and down / around (circular)]Setting this item to ‘up and down’ requires vertical mouse movement to adju

24chapter 02 KIT PAGE building and adjusting your kit2:1 Kit page overview 1. Loading and saving kits – 2:3, 2:4Use the Load and Save menus in order

252:2 Kit SizeYou can choose between 3 kit sizes using the selector buttons on the toolbar.All slots have an intended purpose – when the kit-piece cho

2632-piece kit1 Kick 12 Snare 13 Hihat4 Floor Tom5 Mid Tom6 High Tom7 Crash 18 Cymbal 19 Ride 110 Kick 211 Snare 212 Perc13

272:3 Loading and saving in the Kit page Loading in the Kit pageYou can load and save a number of different elements in the Kit page:Kits (section 2:4

282:4 Loading and saving kits Loading kits – overviewTo load a kit, click the Load button in the BFD Control bar and click on Load Kit... from the Loa

29Sorting With this drop-down menu you can sort kits either by name or by star rating. Rating your favourite kits and sorting chooser contents by St

355 3:4 Mixer toolbar and utility panel 55 • Reset Mixer55 • Add Aux55 • Remove Aux55 • FX Power55 • Mixer view switch

30• Invalid kit-pieces are shown in red – this usually means that the kit-pieces have not been authorized or are somehow corrupt. If you suspect they

312:5 Kit display and kit-piece slot windowsKit displayThe kit display serves a number of purposes in the Kit page.Visual representation of the curren

32Kit-Piece Slot windowsEach available kit-piece slot window in the display shares some common features.Kit Display highlightWhen the mouse cursor is

332:6 Loading Kit-Pieces OverviewTo load a kit-piece into a slot, click the Load button on the slot to open the kit-piece chooser panel.You can also d

34Sorting Using this drop-down menu you can sort kit-pieces in the listing by the following criteria:• Manufacturer• Star rating• Articulation count

35Import Clicking this button opens the sample import panel. BFD2 allows you to create single-articulation mono or stereo kit-pieces with multiple vel

36Possible problems when loading If a problem is encountered when loading a kit-piece, an error icon is displayed in the slot. If you experience any o

372:7 Importing your own sounds into BFD2BFD2 allows you to import mono or stereo WAV files to make your own single-articulation kit-pieces, which can

38Photo settingsYou can specify any JPEG, PNG or TGA image file as a photo to associate with the kit-piece. If no image is specified, a default image is

392:8 Kit page toolbar The toolbar on the left of the interface provides a number of functions in the Kit Display.SelectThe Select tool is the defau

4108 6:6 Recording Grooves via MIDI108 • MIDI Mappings108 • Initiating recording 108 • Recording modes108 • Metronome but

402:9 Kit-piece inspectorThe kit-piece inspector on the right hand side of the Kit panel allows you to tweak each part of the kit just like you would

41Next/Previous buttons Clicking these buttons steps through to the next or previous available preset. They offer a quick way of cycling through prese

42Ambience sends By adjusting the OH Send, Room Send and Amb3 Send controls, you can control the level of the currently selected kit-piece’s ambience

43Kit-piece bleed controls In BFD2, bleed is the sound of other kit-pieces picked up by the kick 1 and snare 1 direct mics. In real-world situatio

44Vel to Amp default During the BFD2 setup wizard which runs when you first launch BFD2, you are asked if you want an amplitude-scaled response. Your c

452:10 Mini-mixer The mini-mixer allows you to blend between the ambience channels and the direct master bus, as well as offering global control ove

462:11 MIDI Note Learn wizardThe MIDI Learn Wizard is provided so that you can quickly assign MIDI mappings by playing the notes for each articulation

47Next slot mode If this mode is enabled, the wizard continues to the next occupied kit-piece slot after a kit-piece is mapped. This is repeated eithe

48chapter 03 MIXER PAGE engineering your drum sound3:1 Mixer page overview To access the Mixer page, click the Mixer page button in the BFD2 control

493:2 Loading and Saving in the Mixer page Loading mixer presetsTo load mixer presets (also known as mixers in BFD2), click the Load button in the BFD

5144 9:5 Positional snare control 144 • Variable snare controls144 9:6 Controlling cymbals145 chapter 10: BFD2 PREFERENCES customizing BFD2

50Search The search facility allows you to narrow down the amount of presets shown in the chooser panels.Delete mixer preset from database Clicking th

51Saving Mixer presets Using the Save Mixer... function on the Control bar Save menu shows a system Save dialog allowing you to save the current m

523:3 Introduction to BFD2 mixer channels Channel views BFD2 features two distinct channel strip views.Regular viewThis is the default channel strip v

53Unused direct channelsA kit-piece’s direct channel can be in an unused state if:• no kit-pieces are loaded into the slot and no other kit-pieces’ bl

54Aux channels Aux channels exist in order to allow the creation of sub-mixes for parallel bus compression and other rout-ing and processing needs,

553:4 Mixer toolbar and utility panel Reset MixerClicking the Reset mixer button resets all channel settings to their defaults, as well as removing

56Utility Panel The Utility panel is a multi-page panel providing a number of functions while mixing. It hosts 5 panels, accessed by clicking the 5

573:5 Mixer channel controls and indicatorsControls/indicators in Regular and FX/Sends views Label strip and coloured tabThe label strip allows you

58Mute & SoloAll channels have a mute and solo button.Mute and Solo behaviour: Implied and Hard Mute/SoloBFD2’s mixer features very flexible mute a

59Controls/indicators available in Regular view onlyChannel ImageThe channel image serves several purposes. Firstly, it makes it easier to visualize t

6chapter 01 INTRODUCING BFD2 1:1 An introduction to BFD2Welcome to BFD2Thank you for purchasing BFD2! Welcome to the most advanced acoustic drum p

60SendsYou can set up 4 sends per channel, which are used for parallel processing and sidechaining. They can be routed to any available aux channel as

613:6 Using the mixerSelecting channels Click anywhere on a channel in order to select it.When a channel is selected, its settings are shown in the fo

62Keyboard shortcuts for mixer operationBFD2 provides a number of keyboard shortcuts for mixer operation. If you’re using BFD2 as a plugin in a host,

63Signal Routing indicatorsIn order to make it easier to visualize output, send and sidechain routings, BFD2 features routing overlay indicators to gr

643:7 Using FXThe FX rackFX, or effects, are BFD2’s built-in audio processors. The FX rack shows the contents of the 4 FX slots on the selected channe

65FX Preset browser The preset browser provides a drop-down menu showing all available presets for an effect, as well as buttons to step to the

663:8 Using Sends and Sidechains Sends panelThe Sends inspector panel is located in the Utility panel. In order to display it, the Utility panel need

67Using sends for parallel processingParallel processing for multiple channels is the main reason for using sends.There are a variety of situations wh

683:9 Mic tools panel Click the Mic Tools button at the top of the Utility panel to dis-play the Mic Tools panel.This panel offers some additional way

693:10 Mixer preset panel The Mixer preset panel allows you to rate and view information about the current Mixer preset. You can also enter your o

71:2 BFD2 ArchitectureHow BFD2 worksDisk-streaming multi-channel sample playback engineAt the heart of BFD2 is a sample playback engine that streams m

703:11 Audio Export panel The audio export panel panel is located in the Utility panel. In order to display it, the Utility panel needs to be visibl

71Export Sync modeFreeThe Free Export Sync mode lets you manually start and stop the export by clicking the Export button. Audio is written in real ti

72chapter 04 GROOVES PAGE - overview an introduction to BFD2’s groove engine4:1 Introduction BFD2’s Grooves page is an advanced rhythm production en

734:2 Grooves page interface1. Palette (chapter 5)You can have up to 128 Grooves loaded in memory at any one time. Each of these must be assigned to a

744:3 Loading and saving in the Groove pageThere are several different elements that can be loaded and saved in the Groove page. All of these load and

754:4 Undo function Every operation performed in the Groove page can be reversed by clicking the Undo button. This multiple-level Undo function is v

76Beat lightThis indicator flashes on every beat when BFD2’s Groove engine is playing.TempoThis indicator displays the current tempo. If BFD2 is runnin

77chapter 05 GROOVES PAGE part 1 palettes, grooves and fills5:1 An Introduction to the Palette The Palette is central to the Groove engine. It consis

785:2 Loading Palettes To load a Palette, bring up the Palette chooser using one of the following methods:1. Click the Load button on the BFD2 Contro

79Audition Preview buttons When a Palette in the listing is expanded to show its constituent Grooves by clicking the expand/collapse button to its

8ArticulationsHere is a summary of possible articulations in BFD2. Please note that some kit-pieces do not contain all possible articulations.KicksSna

80Category filters 3 category filters are available to narrow down the Groove listing, in order to make it easier to find what you need. Each filter can b

815:3 Loading Grooves Using the Groove chooser panel to load GroovesTo load a Groove into a Palette slot in, firstly bring up the Groove Chooser in one

82Show Palettes buttonBy default, the Groove Chooser shows a listing of all Grooves in the database. By clicking the Show Palettes button, you can sho

835:4 Playing Grooves in the PaletteTriggering Grooves with MIDI notesOnce a Groove is loaded into a slot, you can trigger the slot’s MIDI key in orde

84Triggering Grooves with Preview buttons The playback indicators on the right of each slot in the Palette double as preview but-tons. Clicking a slot

855:5 Working with Grooves in the PaletteSelecting GroovesClick a Groove slot in the Palette in order to select it. If the slot contains a Groove, it

86Blending elements of other Grooves in the editorAs mentioned in the previous section, each Groove can be ‘expanded’ to show its constituent kit-piec

875:6 Groove Actions The Palette area contains 2 sets of controls above and below the list of slots, which let you define Groove Actions, or playback c

88Summary of available Groove ActionsBelow is a summary of the available Default Start and End Groove Actions, as well as the available Slot Start and

89End Actions for Grooves Random Groove/FillWhen the Groove ends, any available Groove or Fill in the Palette is played.Random GrooveWhen the Groove o

9Direct mic channels (mono)Kick InKick OutSnare BottomSnare TopSnare Top2MultiThe signal from the mic inside the kick drum.The signal from the mic out

905:7 Importing BFD 1.x Grooves and MIDI filesImporting BFD 1.x Grooves and BundlesGroove formatsBFD2 Groove files are stored in a proprietary format wh

91Importing MIDI files into the PaletteBFD2 allows you to import a MIDI file into a slot in the Palette, and optionally split the file into smaller Groov

925:8 Groove and Palette Info InspectorsThe Groove and Palette Info Inspectors displays and allows you to edit additional information for loaded Groov

93Palette Info inspector The following information is available, and can be edited, for the currently loaded Palette if one has been loaded. If you

945:9 Saving and exporting GroovesSaving Grooves If you create a new Groove or modify an existing Groove, it is likely that you will want to save your

95Using drag & drop to export GroovesYou can also drag and drop to export a single or multiple Groove selection either to a MIDI file or to a MIDI

965:10 Saving PalettesTo save the current Palette, use the Save Palette function on the BFD2 control bar Save menu.A system file save dialog is display

97chapter 06 GROOVES PAGE part 2 editing, recording and groove FX6:1 Introduction to the EditorThe BFD2 Groove Editor provides a complete integrated

98Creating a new Groove in a slotIf the currently selected Groove slot is empty, a shortcut to the New Groove function is shown in the Editor area. Cl

996:2 Editor GridKit-piece and Articulation lanesKit-Piece LaneIf a Kit-Piece is loaded, its name is shown on the kit-piece lane. If no kit-piece is l