Guide to using with BFD2?

neilwilkes · Post by **neilwilkes** » Fri May 30, 2008 5:44 am

Can anyone point a humble sound engineer with noi musical ability whatsoever to a step-by-step guide to using Drumagog with BFD2 (Beta release)

All I can see are instructions telling me Drumagog must be inserted before BFD2.
Where?
I am using Nuendo 4.x, and assume I need to create a Virtual Instrument track. Does drumagog go in this, or in the instrument channel?
So - to summarize.
1 - Where do I insert Drumagog?
2 - When I load the VSTi of BFD2, how do I get it to trigger via drumagog?
DO I use Drumagog in the Audio track of, say, the bass drum I want to trigger from BFD2?
3 - Can I trigger multiple audio channels to a single instance of BFD2?

Finally - is there a manual explaining all this please?

Post by **Rim** » Fri May 30, 2008 9:18 am

Neil,

The instructions for using Drumagog with BFD2 are still the same as with BFD 1.5. There's a good section in the Drumagog user's guide: http://www.drumagog.com/drumagogmanual.pdf expaining how to do it. Here are the basic steps involved:

Note: You must own Drumagog Platinum, or Drumagog BFD to make use of this new way of working with BFD.

1. Insert All the Drumagogs you plan on using in your project first (for example, kick and snare). Make sure BFD is NOT already inserted.
2. Insert BFD as a VSTi (or instrument if you're not using Nuendo).
3. Open BFD, and load a kit.
4. On each of your Drumagogs, choose "<BFD>" from the sample collection pull-down (this is where you normally select the sample folder you'll be using in Drumagog, for example "Snare Drums", "Demo Collection", etc.). The <BFD> selection is at the bottom of the list, after "External Audio File".
5. All your BFD kit pieces should show up in Drumagog's sample list below. Pick a sample.
6. You'll hear the audio coming from BFD, not Drumagog.

Note: Drumagog only works withe the plug-in version of BFD, the BFD "standalone version" won't work with Drumagog.

I hope this helps,
Rim

neilwilkes · Post by **neilwilkes** » Fri May 30, 2008 9:46 am

Thanks Rim!
I never had version 1.5, so cannot compare.
I have the 2.0.4 beta build of BFD2, and just this morning upgraded to DG Platinum specifically for this purpose.

I'll keep you posted with how it all goes.
One thing you may want to pass back to development.
This will never work with Adobe's Audition.
Apparently BFD2 will not work in this host because of non-standard VST implementation (according to the FXpansion Website, anyway)

neilwilkes · Post by **neilwilkes** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 12:24 pm

Still not getting this one.
I must have some sort of "Stupid Sickness" or something, as I cannot get this happening.
All that happens is BFD2 triggers it's internal groove pattern instead of recieving trigger from Nuendo.

What am I doing wrong??

EDIT.
Some form of triggering is happening.
But it is way, way out of time with the track.
Latency problems are appalling, making it unusable for the main part.
I am convinced I have settings wrong. But no idea what.

EDIT 2
Cannot work this out at all.
The sample names are utterly unhelpful - gems like
(hit)
(hit)
appears in the list, and the latency is horrible - PDC is fully on, it's as if something is not reporting the latency properly.

omegaarts · Post by **omegaarts** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 12:57 am

Neil,
I'm very interested in what happens here with BFD2. I saw your post in N4 and I'm thinking of trying this same setup.
Rim can you guide us through this please.
Neil can you post the outcome on the Nuendo forum?

By the way I'm using Platinum version and N4 also.
Thanks,
Larry

neilwilkes · Post by **neilwilkes** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 2:52 am

Larry.

Will definitely do this.
What is confusing me is the detailed settings required, and I suspect I am getting something wrong.
Okay - the bad sample names are looking like an FXpansion bug (still no reply from that area yet) but I still need to know what I am supposed to set up in BFD2 (there is no "Drumagog Mode" option visible - is it automatically applied?) and if *not* creating & assigning MIDI tracks to BFD2 is correct or not.

ASIO buffers are at 1024.
BFD buffers are at 512 - should they be the same?

Teri · Post by **Teri** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 1:01 pm

There is not a "Drumagog Mode" box in the preference page in BFD2, this is in v1.5 only. As long as a user opens the two plug-ins in order, BFD2 detects Drumagog.

Drumagog must always be inserted first, before opening BFD2. Otherwise, you will probably experience latency issues. If you need to add or remove Drumagogs from your project, make sure to remove BFD2, then insert it again after you’re finished. Drumagog must be opened first for BFD2 to detect it, so you may experience other issues if they are not opened in the right order. Rim went over the steps in the post above.

I am not sure of BFD2 suggested buffer size, perhaps there is information on their forum.

Teri · Post by **Teri** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:17 pm

Just an update -

After speaking with the FXpansion team, the loaded kit pieces are skipping adding their kit piece name. Apparently it's "cosmetic", and shouldn't affect functionality of BFD2 or Drumagog. It's public beta, so bear with us and FXpansion, as it will be correct in the near future.

Teri · Post by **Teri** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 5:58 pm

Updating this thread again - FXpansion released the v2.0.5 update which resolves the kit piece naming issue mentioned here. Visit www.fxpansion.com to login and download the update.

neilwilkes · Post by **neilwilkes** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 3:06 am

Teri.

Thanks very much to both you & FXpansion for the help & support.
All is now exactly as it should be.
Additionally, I have now found other little goodies:
1 - I can control the whole drumkit from the stereo master fader in BFD2.
2 - I can also set up to 8 stereo & 16 mono tracks, giving me complete & separate kit control in the Nuendo mixer as well.

There is a small "gotcha" for users that might expect things to run differently to how they actually do:
The trigger channels in the Cubendo mixers do not output audio any more when this trigger is set up. What I am saying is that if you have, for example, Kick/Snare/Tom/Tom2/Floor/Overhaeds all triggering from the same BFD2 kit, the channels with drumagogs on them do not output audio to the Nuendo mixer any longer. All output is either from the BFD2 master fader, or the BFD2 individual faders.
Further, to get individual access then all additional channel must be enabled in N4/Cubase 4, as default mode is one stereo output from a VSTi.
There is an almost hidden button in the F11 VSTi rack that gives full access.

All now working just great!!