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DSND Files from BFD

Started by Slap the drummer, March 08, 2012, 11:06:24 AM

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Slap the drummer

Here is how I do it.  Its not necessarily the best way, its just the first things that worked for me.
Feel free to comment, suggest improvements, etc.
Cheers
Slap



EXPORTING FROM BFD

1.  Open BFD as standalone

2.  Load kit of choice

3.  Go to "Mixer" page -
Find "Utility" toggle switch on lower left-hand command strip.
Display Utility panel (it appears to right of mixer), and select the "Export" page.
Set export folder path.
Type in chosen "file prefix" - I use name of instrument to be exported, eg "Snare".
Set bit depth.
The Enable/disable buttons can be ignored.
Set "Export Mode" to "Free".
Lastly, a mixer channel must be "armed" (ie turned on) for recording.
I just use the Master channel.  Click the small "R" button (so that it turns red) underneath
the volume slider.

4.  Now go to the "Grooves" page -
Depending on the active pre-sets, this page may or may not be empty.
You want to see a large panel in the centre of the page called "Grooves: no grooves selected".
If the midi keyboard on the right does not look empty, right click it and select "Clear Palette".
Now you should see the "Grooves: no grooves selected" panel.
Follow the instruction in the panel "To load a single groove click here" by clicking.
Then click "Load From File" on the screen which appears.
The idea is to load a midi file (eg from Louis's DSoundTool) as a groove.
So browse to your chosen midi file.  You will need to alter the setting on the browsing dialog
so that it is displaying files of type=midi, not BFD groove files -- with the drop-down, bottom
right-hand corner of the displayed browsing dialog.
Before I finally click "Import", I use the option to give the groove a "New Name" (look closely
at the final import screen).  Your export folder will end up having the name of the groove,
whatever that name is.

5.  Now assign the midi groove to the kit piece for export -
This is how I do it.
The main focus of the 'Grooves' page is a midi map with a line for each possible kit piece.
Make sure this is scrolled all the way to the left.
Find the line which your midi file is currently assigned to [each hit is represented by a red
diamond].
Locate the small "Edit" button along the top of the central mapping panel - when you hover
over this button the tool tip reads "Display Edit Menu".
Click it and choose "Select All Events".
Now you can move the whole line by dragging that first red diamond to whichever kit piece
you want to export.
N.B. some drag moves -- eg from 'Cymbal choke' to 'Snare hit' -- cannot be made directly in
one go.  If this is the case go (for instance) from 'Choke' to 'Snare Choke' to 'Snare Hit'.
It will depend on which midi note you originally picked.  Also, depending on which note was
originally chosen for the midi file, the midi file might not map to anything at all in the loaded kit.
So you might need to experiment.  All my midi exports from Louis's DSoundTool happened to have
been made using note=C5 and this works fine for me.

6.  Export audio -
Locate your midi file (blue highlight) on the midi keyboard diagram.
Right click it and select "Export Audio".

END

Jman

#1
Thanks Slap .... as always you are a great asset for us 2Boxers on the custom dsnd adventure. I added 2TB of external storage to my PC yesterday and should get my copy of BFD 2 later today .... So, maybe I'll see how all this works soon ... J
I could tell you where to stick that piezo! :D ;)
http://stealthdrums.com/

Jman

#2
OK ... so here's what I have as far as Xtra tips that worked for me.

I know we've discussed how the volume the WAVS are recorded at is important. So, just to stress that.... I found that I needed to adjust the volumes down quite a bit (I just lowered the Master on the instruments I did). I think that keeping the volume down at a level that it barely touches red on the Master peak levels, or in my case I kept everything in the GREEN ..... Before adjusting those volumes I was getting some WAVS and DSNDs that had whacky velocities, high in the middle velocities especially.

I also was having a hard time getting any WAVS or DSNDs that were very dynamic ... IE ... very few low velocity hits and nothing at all going below the 0db area and in most cases nothing below the hundreds in dbs.

After experimenting quite a bit .... I find this has worked very well for me on the Kick, Toms, and Snare I have built so far. On the kit page I Lower Vel-Rnd all the way. Raise Vel-Amp and Vel-Damp all the way. I leave Vel-Pitch and Artic-Trim at default Center.

With those adjustments ..... so far my DSNDs have turned out nice with good velocity dynamics .... velocities spread nicely between 360 and -47db

I am still experimenting though, definitely keeping your volumes from clipping is important .....
I could tell you where to stick that piezo! :D ;)
http://stealthdrums.com/

eyerichards

Does this apply to SD2 as well as BFD ?
Quote from: Jman on March 10, 2012, 09:14:59 PM
OK ... so here's what I have as far as Xtra tips that worked for me.

I know we've discussed how the volume the WAVS are recorded at is important. So, just to stress that.... I found that I needed to adjust the volumes down quite a bit (I just lowered the Master on the instruments I did). I think that keeping the volume down at a level that it barely touches red on the Master peak levels, or in my case I kept everything in the GREEN ..... Before adjusting those volumes I was getting some WAVS and DSNDs that had whacky velocities, high in the middle velocities especially.

I also was having a hard time getting any WAVS or DSNDs that were very dynamic ... IE ... very few low velocity hits and nothing at all going below the 0db area and in most cases nothing below the hundreds in dbs.

After experimenting quite a bit .... I find this has worked very well for me on the Kick, Toms, and Snare I have built so far. On the kit page I Lower Vel-Rnd all the way. Raise Vel-Amp and Vel-Damp all the way. I leave Vel-Pitch and Artic-Trim at default Center.

With those adjustments ..... so far my DSNDs have turned out nice with good velocity dynamics .... velocities spread nicely between 360 and -47db

I am still experimenting though, definitely keeping your volumes from clipping is important .....

Jman

Quote from: eyerichards on March 11, 2012, 11:32:30 PM
Does this apply to SD2 as well as BFD ?

SD2 is quite different .... Volumes are automatically adjusted even if you clip, not a problem. This is only BFD 2.
I could tell you where to stick that piezo! :D ;)
http://stealthdrums.com/

Jman

#5
OK ... so after going back and doing more WAVs and Dsnds today .... I find the setting that helps the most with getting a good spread on the velocities is the Vel to Amp setting .... when that is raised to max 100% I get the good spread dipping down to the lower velocities much better...

I made a bunch of toms today without raising the Vel to Amp setting .... and they really suffered in dynamics .... gonna go back and redo every one... even if you leave the rest of the settings alone, raising that one setting will help a lot...
I could tell you where to stick that piezo! :D ;)
http://stealthdrums.com/

Slap the drummer

Nice tip, thanks.

When is the new video demo coming out ?

Jman

#7
Quote from: Slap the drummer on March 12, 2012, 09:59:33 PM
When is the new video demo coming out ?

;D ;) Got the first batch of default preset toms out of the basic pkg tom sets with 3 or more (I built 5 tom sets, up and down tuning a couple)....and the corresponding kicks...  and a couple snares and a HH (not very wide Open articulations though  :'( ), a couple crashes (nice there are some with Bow, Bell and edge!)..... I'll prolly go through and glean a bit more out of the basic pack for now ... just making sure I can get a half way decent dsnd out of BFD ..... now the question will be .... when and what expansion first ;D
I could tell you where to stick that piezo! :D ;)
http://stealthdrums.com/

fishmonkey

the Vel to Amp (velocity to amplitude) setting controls how much velocity scaling is used. velocity scaling gives you more layers by interpolating between the actual recorded layers.

there is no reason why you can't get very good results with BFD2, however it requires a bit more knowledge and work.

Slap the drummer

Quote from: fishmonkey on March 13, 2012, 08:54:27 AM
the Vel to Amp (velocity to amplitude) setting controls how much velocity scaling is used. velocity scaling gives you more layers by interpolating between the actual recorded layers.

Since the midi file from DSoundTool will have an even spread of hits in the range 127 down to 1,
then I guess this suggests that BFD does not have as many genuine strikes at the lower velocity
levels.  Is that right?

fishmonkey

i haven't checked the actual WAV files, but it makes sense that they would provide the most velocity layers in the range where most hits are played for a given kit piece and striker...

Jman

Quote from: Slap the drummer on March 13, 2012, 09:53:36 AM
Since the midi file from DSoundTool will have an even spread of hits in the range 127 down to 1,
then I guess this suggests that BFD does not have as many genuine strikes at the lower velocity
levels.  Is that right?
I think so.
In the description of BFD2 (basic pack) it mentions that there are "up to" 96 velocity layers. Looking at the BFD2 Deluxe expansion it mentions "up to" 127 velocity layers .... so it seems the velocities recorded differ from instrument to instrument and pack to pack... at least that's my guess.

The dsnds I built without adjusting Vel to Amp setting still played pretty good .... I just think you jump pretty quickly from low .... all the way up to max velocities when playing them, and prefer the more even spread ... I could be imagining the dif in the way they play though :)
I could tell you where to stick that piezo! :D ;)
http://stealthdrums.com/

Haggis-man

Hi guys,

I got BFD2 in the sale that's on and after looking at advice here and reading Louis guide to SD2 I've managed to make  three really good snares that sound excellent - a black beauty, a black oyster and a black mirra.

I will do a doc with images on how I did one as a step by step guide for others. Some info will be repeated with some tips converted from louis SD2 guide, but I think it will be helpful to have everything in one place.

All the best.

SHwoKing

#13
Thank you in advance for the detailed walkthrough.

If everything is documented to import Dsnd from various VST, 2Box will defintely become the ultimate sound system.

I wonder if Zildjan Gen16 Digital Vault works the same as BFD2 for importing.

Fxpension recommend a 7200 rpm hard drive for BFD2, does it apply for creating Dsnd too or is it just if you want to use it with a module plugged via midi ?

edtc

Quote from: SHwoKing on March 17, 2012, 06:57:22 PM

Fxpension recommend a 7200 rpm hard drive for BFD2, does it apply for creating Dsnd too or is it just if you want to use it with a module plugged via midi ?

i guess it s for realtime playing with low latency... for rendering no matter ....