BFD Converter

A utility for converting Toontrack sounds into BFD format

Programming: Paul Chana

Graphics: Alex Volmer
Manual: Paul Chana / Mayur Maha

With special thanks to Toontrack Music

www.toontrack.com

© 2006 FXpansion Audio UK Ltd

www.fxpansion.com
 Installation
Installation of the converter is identical on both Mac and Windows systems.
Simply extract the downloaded .zip file to the desktop or any other temporary
location. This process will result in a folder named BFD Converter.
Copy this folder to any location you choose: for example /Applications on Mac
or C:\Program Files on Windows.

Using BFD Converter

The converter allows you to convert Toontrack’s Drumkit From Hell Superior
(DFHS) and Custom & Vintage (C&V) sound libraries to use within
FXpansion’s BFD software.
Currently supported are all three kit types from DFHS (Drummer, Percussionist
and Cocktail) as well as all the kits within C&V.
To launch the converter on Windows, navigate to the installation folder you
created earlier and double-click the BFD Converter Win application.
On Mac, navigate to the installation folder and double-click the BFD Converter
Mac application.
Important: When you launch the application, enter your serial number as
shown in the screenshot below. You will not be able to run the
conversion process before you do so.

DFHS Path: click to navigate to Toontrack sounds (step 1)

BFD Path: click to navigate to BFD path (step 2)
Do It!: click to start the conversion process (step 5)
Progress indicator bar
Disk usage indicator: required / available disk-space

Conversion Type: click to choose the conversion type from a

drop-down menu (step 4)

Convert from: click to specify the Toontrack library type from

a drop-down menu (step 3)

Log window: continuously updated during the conversion

process

Serial Number: click here to enter your serial.

• You cannot run the conversion process before doing this!


 • A guide to the conversion process

1. Choose the DFHS Path: this is the folder which contains the Toontrack
library you want to convert. For instance, if you want to convert DFHS
Drummer, choose “C:\Superior\Drummer” (this is just an example - the
location of the Drummer folder can vary).

2. By default, the BFD Path is set to the Data path specified in the BFD
Options panel. However, if you wish to write to another folder (if you don’t
have enough space on your existing BFD drive, for example), you can
browse for another folder.
• To use the sounds from this other folder in BFD, you will need to set up
a second Data path to this location in the BFD Options panel, using the
‘Data Path 2’ setting. Please see the BFD documentation for further details
on how to do this.

 pecify the library to convert using the Convert from setting. This must
3. S
match the library contained within the DFHS Path you selected in step 1.
• If this does not match the library contained within the specified DFHS
Path, the sounds will not be converted properly!

4. Choose the Conversion Type. This tells BFD Converter whether to convert
all the contained sounds, or only individual Kit-Piece types, like the kick
drums or the hihats.
• Please note that this option is not applicable when converting the
Percussionist sounds. These must be converted in their entirety.

5. Click the Do It! button and put the kettle on! The conversion process can
take a very long time (a full C&V conversion on a G5 Mac takes around 1
hour or more).

6. Once the progress bar has reached 100% and the log window displays the
message “< -- Job Complete -- >”, the process has finished. You can now
use the converted sounds within BFD!


 Kit-Piece and Hit type translation
There are several significant differences between the drum mapping system
used in BFD and that in the Toontrack products. This means that an exact
translation is not possible. However, we have tried to ensure that converted
Kit-Pieces are logically mapped.
In most cases, the Toontrack sounds are mapped to the corresponding Kit-
Piece type in BFD (such as snare snare). However, in certain cases (most
notably in the DFHS Percussionist library), some sounds are mapped to Kit-
Pieces which contain the maximum number of Hit types (articulations), even
though this mapping may seem illogical. A good example of this is the conga,
which is mapped to the snare Kit-Piece type.
In some cases, the Toontrack sounds provide more articulations than the
BFD system can support. When BFD Converter encounters this, these extra
articulations are placed in sub-folders with the same name as the Toontrack
articulation (for example, ‘Crescendo’).
To use these sounds, you need to rename their folders to names recognised
by BFD, such as Hit, Flam, Drag etc. A full list of all DFHS Percussionist
remappings is provided below.
Unsupported articulation folders that require renaming to use within BFD are
shown in red:

• DFHS Percussionist remapping

• Shaker Percussion
o ShakerOnBeat Hit
o ShakerOffBeat Alt
o Beat Hit2
o Shakings Shakings

• Tambourine Percussion
o OpenHit Hit
o MutedHit Alt
o Crescendo Crescendo
o OnBeat OnBeat
o OffBeat OffBeat


• Wood Blocks Percussion
o Block1 Hit
o Block2 Alt
o Block3 Alt2

• Triangle Percussion
o OpenHit Hit
o MutedHit Alt

• Cricket Percussion
o Strokes Hit
o Crescendo Alt

• Bell Percussion
o Strokes Hit
o Crescendo Alt

• SoftShell Percussion
o Strokes Hit
o Crescendo Alt

• Guiro Percussion
o GuiroR Hit
o GuiroLong Alt

• Cymbals Cymbal
o Hit Hit
o Crescendo Alt


• Udu Snare
o Open Tone High Hit
o Open Tone Low Rim
o Mute Slap Drag
o Flam Flam
o Ghost Note L SS
o Crescendo Open Crescendo Open
o Crescendo Slap Crescendo Slap
o Ghost Note R Ghost Note R
o Open Slap Open Slap

• Bongo Snare
o Left Open Hit
o Right Open Drag
o Left Heel Rim
o Right Heel SS
o Flam Flam
o Crescendo Crescendo

• Cajon Snare
o Slap Mid L Hit
o Slap Norm L Rim
o BasTone L Drag
o SideStick L SS
o BrushHit L Hit
o Brushed R Hit
o Flam Flam
o Ghost Stroke L Ghost Stroke L
o Ghost Stroke R Ghost Stroke R
o BasTone R DragAlt
o Slap Norm R RimAlt
o Slap Mid R HitAlt
o SideStick R SSAlt
o BrushHit R HitAlt
o Brushed L RimAlt
o Crescendo Crescendo


• Timbale Snare
o Open Tone R Hit
o RimShot Rim
o Flam Flam
o SideStroke SS
o Rough Drag
o Open Tone L HitAlt

• Conga Snare
o Left Open Hit
o BasTone Left Rim
o Left Close Slap SS
o Flam Slap Flam
o Flam open Drag
o Right Open HitAlt
o Left Mute LeftMute
o Right Mute RightMute
o BasTone Right Rim Alt
o Left Open Slap Left Open Slap
o Right Open Slap Right Open Slap
o Right Close Slap SSAlt
o Left Heel Left Heel
o Right Heel Right Heel
o Open Crescendo Open Crescendo
o Slap Crescendo Slap Crescendo
o Bend FX Bend FX


 Mic channel translation
As well as with Hit types (articulations), there are also differences in the
mic channel structures between Toontrack’s sounds and those of BFD. This
is because the Toontrack format does not share all the mic channel types
possessed by BFD libraries. We have tried to maintain a logical structure to
the channel conversion: the methods used are described below.
When there is no directly corresponding channel, but a suitable substitute
exists, the substitute is remapped. Remapped channels are shown in green.
When there is no directly corresponding channel, and no suitable substitute
exists, it is left empty in the converted sounds. These cases are shown in red.

• DFHS Cocktail

This library contains a mono direct channel, with the other channels
implemented as below:
Toontrack Name BFD Name
Overhead Overhead
N/A PZM
N/A Room

• DFHS Drummer

This library contains a mono direct channel, with the other channels
implemented as below:
Toontrack Name BFD Name
Overhead Overhead
N/A PZM
Ambience Room

• Custom & Vintage

This library contains a mono direct channel, with the other channels
implemented as below:
Toontrack Name BFD Name
Overhead Overhead
MonoRoom PZM
Ambience Room


 • DFHS Percussionist

Pieces mapped to snares

These contain two microphones mapped to Snare Bottom and Snare Top, with
the other channels implemented as below:

Toontrack Name BFD Name

N/A Overhead
N/A PZM
Ambience Room

Note that congas have a third microphone and this is mapped to the Kick In
bleed channel.

Pieces mapped to percussion

These all have a mono direct channel, with the other channels implemented as
below:

Toontrack Name BFD Name

N/A Overhead
N/A PZM
Ambience Room

Pieces mapped to cymbals

Note that the original Percussionist cymbal sounds do not contain any direct
channel information: only overhead microphones were used. We have retained
this mapping because it is stereo (direct channels in BFD are mono only), and
thus the converted sounds only have a single stereo channel of audio data
coming through the overhead channel for any cymbal.

Toontrack Name BFD Name

Overhead Overhead
N/A PZM
N/A Room