Fxpansion BFD Eco announced

By Paul Dakeyne

January 15, 2010 | Posted in Music Technology

BFD Eco has arrived from software company Fxpansion. Based on the award-winning BFD2 engine, this new Eco version has been optimised for flexibility though is streamlined to be a fun and affordable instrument for acoustic drums. It is provided with a large built-in library of drum sounds and patterns, and is also compatible with the wide range of FXpansion and 3rd-party add-on expansion solutions.

BFD Eco gives instant and easy access to some of the best sounds in the BFD2 library, originally recorded at London’s Air Studios. One of BFD’s main characteristics is the warmth and clarity of the bundled sounds. These feature dramatic levels of detail and presence which the manufacturer’s call “… anything but sterile”. Listed sounds are: “5 kicks, 6 snares, 12 toms and 3 hihats with 11 cymbals and a selection of percussion”

The software features 40 presets that showcase BFD Eco‘s powerful mixing section. The EQ and dynamics/effect processing enables users to forge raw sounds and lush stereo ambiance to meet any percussive requirement. Onboard compression, filtering and drive effects provide hardware-style tone and grit, plus some great sounding reverb adds further to the sound-shaping possibilities.

A unique ‘groove’ section offers up over 1,500 patterns which can be simply dragged into the users DAW or alternatively for sequencing on the built-in ‘drum track’. Whilst the user runs their current DAW song, Eco patterns can be also be previewed alongside in sync and real-time. As this is occurring, random humanisation elements can be added to adjust the ‘feel’ of the groove pattern. Once the user is happy with the result, it is possible to export a stereo mixdown direct from the BFD Eco ‘groove engine’.

Advanced user features which no doubt will be appreciated by future adopters of this software are customizable keymapping, electronic drum support, the ability to combine kit-pieces from different expansion libraries and a perfectly balanced (power to ease of use) user interface. After working with this software, users can easily upgrade to the full BFD2 solution as both are fully preset-compatible enabling a seamless transition.

Fxpansion BFD Eco should arrive in April 2010 and cost around £99.

About Paul Dakeyne

Paul Dakeyne has written 589 post in this blog.

Paul Dakeyne is a DJ/Producer who has dedicated the past two decades of his life to dance music production and DJ'ing. For six years, he toured globally for the world famous Ministry of Sound and has played DJ sets for the likes of U2 and for the legendary, Kraftwerk, Although remixing around 250 records in his career, as an artist in his own right, Paul landed one of dance music's seminal crossover moments with his "18 Strings' monster hit by Tinman - scoring a UK top ten in 1994. He also co-wrote and produced the music for BBC's Watchdog and Crimewatch when they were both revamped in 2001 and '06 respectively. His other career highlights have included an A&R stint for Mercury Records, lecturing in 'DJ culture and music technology' and creating mash-up mixes for Radio 1's, Chris Moyles. Paul joined the DV group in 2003 leading to his role as blog and feature author here at the DV Mag.

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Tags: BFD Nano, BFD2, Drums, Fxpansion, percussion

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