Is the core library the same for BFD3.5 and BFD3.4.5.28?

[jancivil]

FAQs for BFD3.5 require re-downloading all content

Thanks for your response. You are correct. BFD3 FAQ states:

Note, if upgrading to BFD 3.5, you must download/install the latest expansion updates for compatibility with BFD 3.5 - Content from 3.4 or earlier builds is incompatible.

that is a correct reading of the FAQ, but that's some bullshit.

I'll prove it. Here is 1) a kit piece, Craviotto snare from Wooden Snares

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Screenshot 2025-07-02 at 12.03.30 PM.png

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and 2) in Preferences the path for Wooden Snares showing 'Image not found"

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Screenshot 2025-07-02 at 12.03.15 PM.png

which means I did not download that one since two years ago. The preset has a number of things I didn't download. all of it just works. I went thru the vast majority of expansions, I have no reason to believe anything is affected at all except for the tiny graphic.

[jancivil]

Just for laughs, here is a depiction of the difference:

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Screenshot 2025-07-02 at 12.17.10 PM.png

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Imperial Drums I bought after the update to 3.5, Jazz and Funk I didn't bother to download, like most else it's been there for 2 yrs +.

the notion that because it's inMusic authorized today means new downloads is just nonsense, there is no connection between the two things. For me, after all the dust settled all of my expansions automatically were authorized. At first very few appeared in it, it was just buggy. But like three or four or them automatically authorized copied over from the old regime way back in the latter days of the beta.

[Genetic_Junk]

FAQs for BFD3.5 require re-downloading all content

Thanks for your response. You are correct. BFD3 FAQ states:

Note, if upgrading to BFD 3.5, you must download/install the latest expansion updates for compatibility with BFD 3.5 - Content from 3.4 or earlier builds is incompatible.

that is a correct reading of the FAQ, but that's some bullshit.

I'll prove it. Here is 1) a kit piece, Craviotto snare from Wooden Snares

---

Screenshot 2025-07-02 at 12.03.30 PM.png

---

and 2) in Preferences the path for Wooden Snares showing 'Image not found"

---

Screenshot 2025-07-02 at 12.03.15 PM.png
which means I did not download that one since two years ago. The preset has a number of things I didn't download. all of it just works. I went thru the vast majority of expansions, I have no reason to believe anything is affected at all except for the tiny graphic.

Thank you for the additional information. That is very helpful.

[jancivil]

right. no worries. it could save hours of tedium for those of us with many expansions, the way that inMusic app works here anyway

[Anton Ditrikhs]

I didn't have any problems with libraries when upgrading to version 3.5. Yes, maybe I didn't find a couple of pictures, but otherwise everything worked as far as libraries were concerned.
But the tool itself failed and disappointed. The presets saved in the DAW did not open, Studio One perceived the new version as a completely different plugin. And I was also waiting for a scalable interface, but alas. And a couple more problems forced me to switch back to the previous version 3.4.

[Harry_HH]

It's a shame what a great product BFD has been in for sale and drifting since fxpansion betraeyd their loyal customers for 20 silver dollars.

[jancivil]

My [BFD] presets from 3.4.528 all load perfectly. But the Cubase sort of templates are gone forever, if that's what "saved in the DAW" means. I knew a year ago when I signed up for 3.5 beta testing installing 3.5 overwrites 3.4. "perceived the new version as a completely different plugin" that's the reality. This is not a secret. It's not a failed tool, the two were not meant to be compatible a year ago when beta testing began. It's a drag for me, the preset I wanted as a launch point varies wildly in levels outside of the Cubase template and it took way too long to level set & get it usable.

Once done I'll venture to say it performs a bit better than 3.4 in Cubase. AFAIK there's [3.5 has] a fatal GUI bug in VE Pro, I reported it around the time of the first post in this thread. Unless it got fixed. 3.4 was unusable in VE Pro here as AU for years. I was already juggling Cubase native AS vs Rosetta 2 and didn't care to add VE Pro in both versions but to isolate its VST2 in a separate project and render its results to a native running project.

BFD hasn't been fxpansion for a long time. ROLI acquired it before VE Pro 7 was released. Its Host Automation was broken if the pure default order of channels was exceeded at all, every learned parameter deleted the assignment to its left.
So I got ROLI support to fix it, they were quite unaware. Then that didn't work in VEP, as they had rewritten its handling of host automation, so I had to get their software chief to get it to work. They didn't even have a copy of it. Drew/Amberience didn't have a copy of VEP...

So I have too much invested in this thing to doomsay and be a quitter.

[Harry_HH]

My [BFD] presets from 3.4.528 all load perfectly. But the Cubase sort of templates are gone forever, if that's what "saved in the DAW" means. I knew a year ago when I signed up for 3.5 beta testing installing 3.5 overwrites 3.4. "perceived the new version as a completely different plugin" that's the reality. This is not a secret. It's not a failed tool, the two were not meant to be compatible a year ago when beta testing began. It's a drag for me, the preset I wanted as a launch point varies wildly in levels outside of the Cubase template and it took way too long to level set & get it usable.

Once done I'll venture to say it performs a bit better than 3.4 in Cubase. AFAIK there's [3.5 has] a fatal GUI bug in VE Pro, I reported it around the time of the first post in this thread. Unless it got fixed. 3.4 was unusable in VE Pro here as AU for years. I was already juggling Cubase native AS vs Rosetta 2 and didn't care to add VE Pro in both versions but to isolate its VST2 in a separate project and render its results to a native running project.

BFD hasn't been fxpansion for a long time. ROLI acquired it before VE Pro 7 was released. Its Host Automation was broken if the pure default order of channels was exceeded at all, every learned parameter deleted the assignment to its left.
So I got ROLI support to fix it, they were quite unaware. Then that didn't work in VEP, as they had rewritten its handling of host automation, so I had to get their software chief to get it to work. They didn't even have a copy of it. Drew/Amberience didn't have a copy of VEP...

So I have too much invested in this thing to doomsay and be a quitter.

” My [BFD] presets from 3.4.528 all load perfectly…”

Except the new expansions.
If this is not an issue for you, stay in the 3.4…

I own most of the 3.4 expansions, and e,g. all the Platinium sample expansions. 3.4… plays all those, but not the latest 3.5 expansions.
I haven’t updated the 3.5 because don’t want to risk the working 3.4… setup -
although just purchased half dozen 3.5 expansions in the sale. Lets see if I will test test the 3.5 in my old spare laptop in the near future.

[tq]

Drew leaving the sinking ship is really bad news. Now that he is not with them anymore, most likely nobody has a clue about the software anymore, and inMusic will milk it as long as they can before it's too broken to work... Such a shame, I have been with BFD from the very start, was in the beta group, and pretty much own every expansion, so this really hurts. Will use it as long as I can, though, as the drums themselves are amazing.

[Scotty Ellis]

Drew sold the users out long ago. his leaving means literally nothing.

[jancivil]

w. Drew gone the situation is bleak. There is no future that I can see. inMusic are kind of just grifters. Shortly before I learned of the acquisition I had an experience with their support behind a device I'd bought (an older Akai controller), the price had depreciated, etc so I did my due diligence to more or less affirm it will work). The support person ignored the major point [the assignments are hard wired and saving a new cfg in its software did not take) and told me the thing not working as it's advertised was down to me not checking to see if it was compatible with Mac OS 14. The pertinent page listed it as compatible. The guy posed like he was doing something but he was just dodging. He said that since I can't prove a hardware fault (irrelevant, I hadn't claimed there was) I was SOL as to a return for a refund. Rather Kafkaesque really.

I had my bank take the money back finally. I had my facts, they had no case.

Recently I was so disgusted with all of it I wrote to support probably the harshest thing I've ever written in a communication.

[jancivil]

So what it is at this point is the end of the line. Fortunately it works as it's supposed to here. I'd say this can be credited largely to Drew.

[jancivil]

I didn't have any problems with libraries when upgrading to version 3.5. Yes, maybe I didn't find a couple of pictures, but otherwise everything worked as far as libraries were concerned.
But the tool itself failed and disappointed. The presets saved in the DAW did not open, Studio One perceived the new version as a completely different plugin.

I save presets in BFD. I have some pretty involved ones. So far they load incredibly quickly. I'm sorry you got caught out unawares, but this was clear to me. IDK why this decision was made, but I knew from experience updating or reinstalling 3.4 ran a delete everything program so this wasn't shocking.

I'm glad I don't need to go back in to Cubase projects with 3.4, that's gone unless I revert.

[Scotty Ellis]

So what it is at this point is the end of the line. Fortunately it works as it's supposed to here. I'd say this can be credited largely to Drew.

Yes, thank Drew for the home calling and all the other idiotic bugs on his watch. Thank you so much Drew!!

[sellyoursoul]

Has the issue with needing to authorize at every launch been addressed in 3.5? I'm also seeing a lot of mentions of BFD bugginess, and I wonder if that is the same in 3.5. BFD looks like it could be fun and useful, if it doesn't still have these issues.