Sindustry

I’ve been going on a spending spree lately, which I sometimes do during the gray winter months here in Michigan. I got BFD2 the other day. I bought the original BFD 1.0 when it first came out several years ago, and was thoroughly disappointed. My computer met the minimum requirements, but the sounds wouldn’t stream correctly and the program was full of other bugs. I ended up selling it on ebay, then finding a hacked copy of 1.5 last year. With a faster computer and more RAM, I found BFD to be pretty nice and even bought the Joe Berassi Evil Drums expansion pack for it. Still, I didn’t use it much because it was lacking something. When I saw some of the previews of BFD2, I thought it looked like they made some major improvements and decided to give it a second chance. I forked over my $399 and went legit again with Fxpansion.

I’m a “try before I buy” consumer. If I can’t find a demo version and I can find a hacked version, I don’t have a problem trying it. Ninety-nine percent of the time I end up not using the program, but there’s always that 1% that turns out to be a gem. I believe BFD2 to finally be one of those gems. Out of the box, it was an easy install and activation. I got up and running in less than an hour (a full install of 55GB!). It’s pretty intuitive to use and laid out well. I was jamming to the luscious new sounds within minutes (although I strongly suggest reading the extensive manual to learn everything this has to offer). How good does it sound? Unbelievably realistic. You get a whole new library of sounds, and I can still import my expansion pack to use with it. It comes with an extensive array of fx, so you can use it for any genre of music. I’m really pumped about this release and am recommending it to anyone who is wishing to capture that acoustic drum sound without the hassle of mic-ing up a real kit.

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 Taurina [1:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Hey Liverpool: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Nice Trip: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Colors: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Man, I was thinking about the next band that struck a chord with me and it was Foreigner. I was in grade school when their first album came out. I was out with pnuemonia and my grade school girlfriend had her Mom drop me off a get-well soon present. It was Foreigner’s first album. I played that thing til the needle on the record player died. I still love that record today. I couldn’t find a good video of any of the tracks from the first album though…..so that leads me to the next band.

My best friend’s brother from grade school introduced me to The Electric Light Orchestra. I think my first album was their Greatest Hits with Telephone Line on it. I also got Out of the Blue and a couple others. All on albums. Here are a couple great videos of some live performances from ELO.

Besides listening to various artists on an old mono record player, playing my Mom’s old 45’s and 78’s, I was introduced to the Beach Boys in early grade school. I remember really loving the music. They are one of the first bands that really stick in my head that struck a chord with me even at such an early age. This track came out in 1966.

I think this song and video are brilliant…very cool.

Just a few pix of me and my daughter messing around with Apple’s Photobooth.

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