So, five years after its release - and given that BFD2 is still one of the best virtual drum instruments available - just what have FXpansion found to improve upon? What's New? I found that it offered the essence of a real drum kit, with the subtleties and nuances of the performance all under easy control, in a convenient software format. I reviewed BFD2 for SOS in the June 2008 issue.
And even if you have the kit, drummer, recording space and microphone collection to compete with what's possible with these virtual instrument tools, efficiency alone might be enough to mean you choose the virtual route. Whatever your take on the matter of virtual instruments vs the real thing, there is no doubting the realism, flexibility and convenience offered by virtual drum instruments such as FXpansion's BFD series, Toontrack's Superior Drummer, Native Instrument's Battery or XLN Audio's Addictive Drums. BFD2 was always going to be a hard one to top, but that hasn't stopped FXpansion from trying.
