BFD 3

Friends, this one's going to be short, because I just can't find the time to write a long review. I'm sure there will be many more though, as this is one killer instrument. First of all, installation was pretty painless, but only because I read the OS-X-related posts on FXpansion's forum. If you're on OS-X, do take the time to read them. I did have a few minor problems at first in Logic, but Angus, always the consumate pro, replied within... 10 minutes! The manual is clear, the interface as well.

The sound is fantastic. This is THE drum machine to beat, as it has 7 very-multi-layered drums to offer. They all have their particular characteristics (some are dark and woody, others bright and more metallic), and it's easy to load up different ones with the same groove to compare them. Auditioning individual kit parts is very user-friendly, as you can click on different parts of the images of the parts and hear the individual velocity layers. Sophisticated, I tell you. Keep in mind, though, that it does not have any percussion other than the standard drum set. You'll have to add your own tambourine or John Bonham gong!

Speaking of grooves, BFD offers a good variety, from rock to progressive funk to latin, and even throws in some 3/4 for good measure. You can have BFD randomly shuffle through related grooves, and have it add fills from a very useful collection. Of course, quantization is offered, as is a very interesting control over the 'humanization' of the playing. The drums are layed out in General MIDI format, allowing you to use other popular grooves as well. The exciting news is that FXpansion will be offering kit and groove updates in the near future.

My favourite part, however, is playing around with the mix of dry and the miced sound. It's a breeze to add room, overhead, and PZM mics (for extra body), and believe me, once you start playing with this kind of mixing, it's hard to go back to using drum loops and other drum machines. Oh, and these and other parameters are also fully automate-able, at least in Logic.

There are lots of easy-to-get-to controls over things like pitch, trim, panning, etc. The layout of the interface is really well thought out.

I did not experience any streaming problems with the audio, but I'm using a dual G5 with 2 gigs of RAM.

This is one fantastic virtual instrument, that comes with great support. Yes, it's a little pricy, but it comes on 2 dvds; that should tell you all about the amount of wonderfully recorded content. This, IMV, is a perfect complement to Stylus (which is grittier, more street-level) or Groove Agent (which has more of a wide-ranging/period groove set).

... and I said I was going to keep this short...