FXpansion BFD Premium Acoustic Drum Module - Manual (Page 64)

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Maximum voices
The maximum number of Hits BFD will play simultaneously. If the voice limit is exceeded,
BFD implements an intelligent voice-stealing system, based on the oldest note which is
still playing.
The number of voices required for a performance can be larger than you think.
For example, decaying and Choke faded cymbals and toms can raise polyphony
requirements quite considerably. 64 is a safe number to use, and voices don’t take too
much RAM.
To adjust the number of voices, double-click the box and enter a new value between 2
and 96.
RAM cache size
This value, in sample frames, is the size of the portion of
each sound held in RAM to enable low latency operation
within BFD (to circumvent the inherent latency involved with
hard disk seek times). This portion plays while BFD cues
up the rest of the data from the hard disk. A larger value gives the hard drive longer to
deliver the data, but is more demanding on RAM.
This value determines the length of each sound played when the Preview RAM audio
only option is enabled.
Settings of 4096, 8192, 16384, 32768 and 65536 samples are possible, selectable via a
drop-down menu. 16384 or 32768 will be fi ne for most systems: you should try to use the
lowest setting possible on your system.
Stream buffer size
The size, in sample frames, of the buffers of data being streamed into RAM from the
hard disk for each voice. Generally, hard drives are more effi cient at reading fewer large
chunks of data than many smaller chunks. However, a larger Stream buffer uses more
RAM, and may be ineffi cient if not all the data is used, such as when a note is choked.
Settings of 4096, 8192, 16384, 32768 and 65536 samples are possible, selectable via a
drop-down menu. 8192, 16384 or 32768 will be fi ne for most systems: you should try to
use the lowest setting possible on your system.
Maximum layers
You can limit the amount of velocity layers used by BFD, thereby reducing the strain on
the hard disk and RAM, at the expense of detail. Smaller values can be useful as an
effi cient preview mode while com posing. Simply increase the value during mixdown for
full quality.
To change the setting, double-click the box and enter a new value between 1 and 256.
If you are using a low number of layers, you may want to increase the V2A setting in the
Hit Options panel Advanced tab. This causes changes in the amplitude of individual Hits,
proportional to incoming velocity.
Chapter 9: Customizing BFD