BFD or Battery 2?

[DanRoy]

i'm going to get an electronic drum set, and I want some kick ass samples for recording "serious demos".

first of all, if you know anything, what cheap e-drum kit would you recommend? like would the hart kit (mesh heads) for $500 be ok, or would I really be better off with the "dual trigger" rolands (rubber heads) for $900?

and what hardware module would you recommend to run them through?

but mainly, will battery get the job done at half the price, or is BFD that much better? (or is it overkill?) I play rock, with alternative/indie tendencies. I like big meaty drums, and powerful thwacking snares ala zwan. I am also interested in synthy drum sounds like radiohead. will these programs let me load my own samples?

or if there is some other software i should look at besides these, for this purpose, please do tell. like, maybe sfz plus certain sample sets?

I am running a 1.4 ghz athlon with 512 mb ram

I am not a drummer at all, I will be learning on this kit, so I will likely need to quantize and/or clean up what I record

thanks!

[backpage]

I'd go with battery with the studio drums package N.I. sells seperately. I believe BFD is too hefty for 512 MB of ram and the studio drums are the finest sampled dry kits I've heard.

[bduffy]

If you up the RAM to a Gig, I'd say go with BFD. Battery gives you nowhere near the realism of BFD - but it is a great sampler, don't get me wrong. BFD is pricey, but you can move your microphones around the room, flip phases, mix all sorts of ambiences and samples...it's really like having a kit in the studio.

But for price concerns, Battery 2 is good. Ships with a very nice drum collection now.

[DanRoy]

do either of these programs allow you to load your own samples? or are you stuck with what they give you? for example, if I were to get BFD, i might want to load some synth drums, which i don't know if it has

[bduffy]

BFD comes with a fixed library. You can get more kits for it, but it doesn't support custom sample-loading. If you want that, definitely go Battery, or even Kontakt or Kompakt, if you want to get into melodic instruments as well.

[hello1234]

OOOPPPPS (edit)

I am sorry that I didn't read the post correctly

[Angus_FX]

first of all, if you know anything, what cheap e-drum kit would you recommend? like would the hart kit (mesh heads) for $500 be ok, or would I really be better off with the "dual trigger" rolands (rubber heads) for $900?

The HART kit doesn't include a drum brain.. it needs a brain to convert the pad signals to MIDI, they recommend Roland TD-3 or Alesis DM-5 brains, this will add a couple of hundred $$ to the overall price.

The rubber-pad-based Rolands are OK, but make sure you get one that's upgradable to a mesh snare (most of the newer ones are).. mesh pads feel WAY better to play than rubber. Even if you can't afford mesh for the toms, it's worth getting for the snare.

Electronic drums is very much a get-what-you-pay-for deal.. don't, whatever you do, try a Clavia DDrum ($2000ish) or you'll find yourself wanting one

but mainly, will battery get the job done at half the price

Pretty much anything Battery will do, DR-008 will also do at half the price again.

or is BFD that much better? (or is it overkill?) I play rock, with alternative/indie tendencies. I like big meaty drums, and powerful thwacking snares ala zwan.

BFD is great for that sort of thing.

I am also interested in synthy drum sounds like radiohead. will these programs let me load my own samples?

DR-008 or Battery will; BFD will not (at least, not without considerable extra work). DR-008 even has algorithmic drum synthesis (as well as sample playback) which is perfect for the bleepy/spitty "Hail To The Thief" drum sound. OTOH, BFD does have the "8 Bit Kit" expansion pack available, which gives you a good selection of electronic and exotic drum sounds.. but that will add a further $200 to the price.

I believe BFD is too hefty for 512 MB of ram

Not true... standalone on a PC will be fine in 512M. However, if you wanted to run it in Pro Tools on a Mac, that's quite another story.

JAMSTIX!

Seriously, it's just amazing.

Er... Jamstix is very cool, but for triggering from an external e-drum set, is it really the thing??

BFD is a bugfest for many users (don't take my word for it......read the forum right here on KVR)

That would be our TECHNICAL SUPPORT forum.. the 90% of users that don't have problems, don't post there. BFD is used by a *lot* more people than most VSTs, and because of what it is and does, the average computer literacy amongst its users is lower.

but if you get it working it's really flexible. But it won't run on your computer......it needs like at least a gig of ram and a very powerful chip.

Not true... we run the standalone ver. at trade shows on 1.5GHz Pentium-Ms with 512M. However, to run it as part of a project in a host application (Cubase SX, SONAR, Tracktion etc.), 1GB is strongly recommended.

[Samplecraze]

[quote="bduffy"]If you up the RAM to a Gig, I'd say go with BFD. Battery gives you nowhere near the realism of BFD - but it is a great sampler, don't get me wrong. BFD is pricey, but you can move your microphones around the room, flip phases, mix all sorts of ambiences and samples...it's really like having a kit in the studio.
quote]

We are to release a product that does exactly this, for Battery 2.

[Rabid]

I'll second most of what Angus says. The snare is very important and you do want a good mesh drum for it. If you are just learning to play drums I am not sure I would go all out. Playing parts badly and then trying to correct timing problems will not give you a good groove. You might be much better off using a MIDI loop collection and changing things up in an editor. If you do get an electronic drum kit start out with something decent and cheap. Maybe the Roland TD-3 kit plus a PD120 for snare. I started with an SP-11 kit long ago and eventually added a TD-8 for sound and PD-120 for snare. Eventually I will add a few more mesh pads for toms and probably go with single trigger to save money.

Though I have Battery II and DR-008, I have my eye on BFD and plan to get it some day. Not just for the sound, but because Angus seems to be working to make it very compatable with the MIDI stream from Roland electronic kits. At least more than any other drum VSTi. There are a lot of drummers out there that like to play parts from an electric kit and record the MIDI stream. Software developers really need to work to keep up with features like dual zone drums and high-hat foot controllers. Angus is the only developer I ever hear talk about those things. That is a BIG plus to me. It makes me think that the drum VSTi is being developed by a drummer.

Robert

[jasonsantiago]

i would get BFD simply because the battery 2 update was so pathetic compared to what battery 1 was, it seemed like a 1.5 update

[Mikael Adle]

Theres lots of info at www.edrumming.com

[bduffy]

If you up the RAM to a Gig, I'd say go with BFD. Battery gives you nowhere near the realism of BFD - but it is a great sampler, don't get me wrong. BFD is pricey, but you can move your microphones around the room, flip phases, mix all sorts of ambiences and samples...it's really like having a kit in the studio.

We are to release a product that does exactly this, for Battery 2.

Really...so I guess it'll be like Reason Drum Kits? You'll have different microphone layers?

[BrufordRules]

Another amazing library is Larry Seyer Acoustic Drums. I don't know if it works as standalone.

Check it out the video demo:

http://www.larryseyer.com/lsl/

Cheers

[bduffy]

Another amazing library is Larry Seyer Acoustic Drums. I don't know if it works as standalone.

Check it out the video demo:

http://www.larryseyer.com/lsl/

Cheers

WOW...Nice kit...amazing.

that website though...straight outta 1997!

[Jaeson Merrill]

I'd go with battery with the studio drums package N.I. sells seperately. I believe BFD is too hefty for 512 MB of ram and the studio drums are the finest sampled dry kits I've heard.

yuck.. dry is the word.. dead dry