BFD Audio releases BFD Player, a free drum VST plugin featuring 5GB of acoustic drum sounds.
BFD Player delivers the performance of the multi-award-winning Big Fat Drums software in a free and easy-to-use package.
The plugin comes with a pretty impressive 5GB library with various expansion packs available for purchase. The Core Library features an eclectic selection of drum kits, including 80s Lover (Classic 80s gated reverb drums) and Ramen Breaks (dry, dark, and thuddy drums).
The thing that’s more impressive than the number and selection of drum kits available is that the Core Library isn’t restricted to fewer velocity layers or channels available than paid expansion packs.
MODO Drum by IK Multimedia is the virtual drum software I have the most experience with, and it’s outstanding but not cheap. MODO Drum CS is available as a free download but features just one kit, so BFD Player’s wide range of kits is a welcome addition to the freebie market.
The sound quality is epic by any standard, free or paid.
Virtual instruments are often the difference between finishing a project and putting it back on the shelf because the cost or logistics of using real instruments or bringing in other musicians is beyond the scope of the project.
It’s especially true with instruments like drums because the average bedroom studio doesn’t have space for a full-size kit.
If you have an electronic kit, you can use it to trigger BFD Player, adding a more authentic sound. And if you don’t play drums, you can use keys, pads, or any of the 340 ready-to-go drum patterns included with the free player.
BFD Player has a built-in mixer that makes it easy to get the balance of your drums just right manually or via a collection of production-ready presets. The mixer also allows you to route the drum outputs separately for processing.
BFD Player uses a 3D kit view, like some alternative players/plugins. The 3D view allows you to switch out specific drums in a more musical and tactile way.
Few things let a track down more than terrible drums because there’s no place to hide. I think a lot of people will benefit from this freebie; it’s awesome.
Don’t forget to check out October’s free gift from Plugin Boutique: Sonible’s Pure:Limit.
BFD Player is available in AU, VST2, VST3, and AAX formats for macOS (10.13 – 13) and Windows (10 version 1909 upwards).
Download: BFD Player (FREE)
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26 Comments
Jan Wachsmann
onreally nice ₊·*◟(˶╹̆ꇴ╹̆˵)◜‧*･
my personal favorite: Confidence Issues :
https://soundcloud.com/bfddrums/bfdp-core-confidence-issues
that i already hook up to a UJAM Carbon clip to have a nice Post Hardcore vibe
Martin
onLooks and sound great. Thanks James
Ants
onJeez that is SUCH good news ! Particularly when I was disappointed with UJAM VICE that I bought, because of its velocity issues (imagine a very thumpy kick even at a velocity of just 1, unusable.
Thanks BPB
Tomislav Zlatic
onGlad to hear that this one solved the issue! There are more excellent options in our free drum VSTs article: https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2022/01/22/drum-vst-plugins/
Garby
onThe download button on their website doesn’t work. 403 Forbidden 🚫 is displayed when you try to download it. Tried different browsers still the same.
Lawrence Phaw
onTry from a different location.
Klaus
onafter open the BFD Player , it ask for login . after login at in music , nothing happens , the player still not activated , any idea how to fix this ?
Dave
onThe Player doesn’t need to be activated. You aren’t required to login with an inMusic account. That’s only if you want to buy and add expansions later on .
confu
onBut it doesn’t open without continuing to profile, after which nothing happens?
John
onSame here
Klaus
onI can’t access the player, I’m asked to log in to music. After I have successfully logged in there, a window appears with the message: login successful, you can now close the window. but the player continues to show the log in prompt,
where the light blue log in button is now gray and it now says: cancel. after clicking on cancel, log in appears again… I’m desperate!!!!
alex
onHoRNeT Graffio, a three band distortion plugin, is free for 24 hours:
hornetplugins.com/plugins/hornet-graffio/
Tomislav Zlatic
onThank you, Alex!
Arthur
onThank you, both James and BFD team! It’s not Modo CS or Free Slate but is a good tool alongside the free ML Drums)
Dave
onJust to clarify… The core library only includes one actual drum kit. The different “presets” are what change that kit’s character and vibe. I’ve been a BFD user for years now. This is a huge step for them moving forward.
MRG
onIn a very different style, I was after some DR-220a (not the 220e, for reasons) samples and found this website: drumcollector dot com
A few sample packs of vintage drumboxes, perhaps more to come:
Ace Tone Rhythm Ace FR-1
Boss DR-220a &DR-220e
Maestro Rhythm King MRK-1, MRK-2 & MRK-4
Roland TR-808
Enjoy. (and stockpile the Boss and Roland stuff before it gets taken down by the forces of evil °_°)
Michal Ochedowski
onVery nice share. Thanks.
Brian B
onAny help with installing , i get
“Unable to automatically locate the InstallScript.
This file should normally be located in
CWD/Installer/InstallScript.bfdis
Please find the file required.”
when i find the file and click it nothing happens?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Brian
ritz
onsame here, any update of a fix?
MRG
onJust a thought, run the installer as Admin.
Shift+Right-Click (sometimes the shift key isn’t needed) and click “Run as administrator”.
Wiley
onThe BFD site say mac osx 13 which is High Sierra so I downloaded but my mac is telling me I need osx 14.
Wiley
onGot it to work with my Logic. Thanks!
Marco
onThe following disk images could not be opened: BFD Player image….Reason: Resource busy.
What do I do?
rob
onI had to disable the adblock plugin in my browser in order for the plugin to activate properly. FYI, in case anyone else is having issues with activation.
Wing Yee
onGreat sounding samples but crashed after a few clicks with both standalone & vst (Windows 10/Reaper)
Alex
onI might just be dumb but I can’t seem to figure out how to install it properly. Seems like a cool one too, so it’s unfortunate that setting it up is so convoluted