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EZ Drummer \ Superior Drummer (or other Toontrack apps) Discussion Thread

#43
Is this where I'm allowed to confess my spiraling out of control down the ToonTrack rabbit hole? I've put some money into both EZ Keys and EZD2. I also really enjoy EZ Mix 2, but only have the basic bundle. I only have the standard drum kits and the classic electrics for the keys. But I've bought some serious midi. I have the funk, fusion, and disco packs for both and the neo soul pack for the keys. Great for my amateur recordings, and great for songwriting ideas for the band I'm in. Eventual goal is to replace every virtual instrument in my recordings with a real human replacement for every instrument.
 
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#44
GlassToMouth said:
Is this where I'm allowed to confess my spiraling out of control down the ToonTrack rabbit hole? I've put some money into both EZ Keys and EZD2. I also really enjoy EZ Mix 2, but only have the basic bundle. I only have the standard drum kits and the classic electrics for the keys. But I've bought some serious midi. I have the funk, fusion, and disco packs for both and the neo soul pack for the keys. Great for my amateur recordings, and great for songwriting ideas for the band I'm in. Eventual goal is to replace every virtual instrument in my recordings with a real human replacement for every instrument.
Click to expand...
Yes, this is that place.

I haven't started messing with their other products yet. I also started an IK Multimedia thread where I discuss a similar rabbit experience with them. If one is into synths there is no shortage of ways to separate you from your money.
 
#46
GlassToMouth said:
Is this where I'm allowed to confess my spiraling out of control down the ToonTrack rabbit hole? I've put some money into both EZ Keys and EZD2. I also really enjoy EZ Mix 2, but only have the basic bundle. I only have the standard drum kits and the classic electrics for the keys. But I've bought some serious midi. I have the funk, fusion, and disco packs for both and the neo soul pack for the keys. Great for my amateur recordings, and great for songwriting ideas for the band I'm in. Eventual goal is to replace every virtual instrument in my recordings with a real human replacement for every instrument.
Click to expand...
My introduction years ago to home recording included Band In A Box. SD3 or EZD2 and EZKeys is SO much better. BIAB had a pretty decent method for making chord sheets, but I still uninstalled all of it.
 
#48
silky smoove said:
Indeed, but in SD you can easily customize a map to reflect the MIDI if need be. You can get some interesting results by intentionally mismapping something (i.e. turn a ride cymbal bow into a floor tom to change the feel of a beat).


I used to use Twiddly Bits, but have gotten more from Loop Loft recently. These days, being a drummer, I don't bother with purchasing MIDI very frequently. I usually just perform or program what I need myself.

Here's some stuff that I triggered live from SD2.0 using a Roland TD-25KV:
(6-song playlist)



Here's some stuff that was live triggered by another drummer on an Alesis kit (Alesis I/O acting as the brain) and then cleaned-up and supplementally programmed by me using SD2.0.


All of those examples use the stock SD2.0 Avatar kit.
Click to expand...


Nicely done!
 
#49
DirtDog said:
I've got the Americana expansion pack now...along with whatever comes stock. Have yet to really give the Americana a good run.
Click to expand...
The default kit is obviously the most generic sounding of all od them. Also maybe the most lo fi sounding. I want to find one that has a lot of solid kits. Maybe one of the Rock ones. The metal expansions are often too clicky, especially the kick. I have the Prog one and it is pretty good. I like the Jazz kit too.
 
#50
I know this thread is meant for Toontrack products, but I remembered today that I'm also using Addictive Drums (specifically for the Fairfax Vol 1, Indie and Studio Percussion packs). I'm pretty happy with the sounds in AD, but I do like the workflow in EZD way better. So, sometimes, I create the drum track midi in EZD then bring in the AD patch that I like.
 
#51
They are doing another sale; this time on the EZX expansions.
They also introduced a new one and said this was "metal month." They have more "metal" EZX and Midi packs than anything else. I wonder if it is because there is a big DYI metal scene demanding it, or they think they are a market they can easily separate from their money?

I picked up the "classic rock" midi pack last week and love the Bill Ward-ish grooves. Jamming some bass lines to it reminded me of the many reasons I fell in love with Black Sabbath. Bill's drumming was wild yet controlled at the same time. So much going on. I think one of the flavors of groove are taken from Bonham. Heavy hitting and authoritative. Good stuff. Fun to write with.
 
#55
GlassToMouth said:
Just an FYI, Sweetwater has EZ Mix 2 running for $39.99 right now. That's $110 off their usual price. I'm a big fan of this software. It helped my mixes a lot and has saved me hours of time in addition to really improving some of my recordings.
Click to expand...
All of the EZX packs are on sale as well. The Metal! and Pop packs are $20!
They are killing me right now.
 
#56
Toontrack just dropped another MIDI pack for their "metal month" promotion. I listened to some demos of the Progressive Metal MIDI on their website. I'm not hearing much that isn't already covered in other Progressive or Fusion packs. To my hears it seems that "progressive" to them means busy snare\kick\high hat ghost notes.

What I would really like is a MIDI pack that really focuses on adding flash to the 2s and 4s of a measure. Almost all of their tracks are a little dull and only have a fill at the end of whatever length measure they have made. When I listen to music with really inspiring drummers I hear more dynamics. I know TT includes fills in their packs, but most are too long and not snappy enough. I'd also like to see them let a drummer play with a power hand that isn't so static. Again, many drummers move their power hand or add crash hits.
If I had the ability to write or play that stuff on my own, I wouldn't need MIDI packs.
 
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#57
I have both ezdummer and superior 2. You can do remarkable recordings with ezdrummer although I primarily use superior 2. I feel updating to 3 is almost a must but I feel it may be an over kill in some ways. I still believe the daws eq's and many of the 3rd party plugins can equal and even surpassed what 2 or 3 has to offer.
 
#58
Bassist30 said:
I have both ezdummer and superior 2. You can do remarkable recordings with ezdrummer although I primarily use superior 2. I feel updating to 3 is almost a must but I feel it may be an over kill in some ways. I still believe the daws eq's and many of the 3rd party plugins can equal and even surpassed what 2 or 3 has to offer.
Click to expand...
I wonder how big the tone difference between SD and EZD is. I think a lot of the recording options of SD might be over my head, but I want real sounding drums. On the other hand 200gb install size is nuts.
 
#59
socialleper said:
I wonder how big the tone difference between SD and EZD is. I think a lot of the recording options of SD might be over my head, but I want real sounding drums. On the other hand 200gb install size is nuts.
Click to expand...

SD 3 will be standard in many studio's. It will have more sounds and I take it more beats than SD2 or EZD. But I wish they had a lighter version of SD3. I believe for most applications over 200 GB is nuts as you said. But I think EZD has a wealth of beats and you can add so much to it. Many third party plugins can do amazing sounds to your drums. Also I feel to many do not use the plugins in your DAW enough. You can literally make a great recording with just using the DAWS plugins. Unless you want to go to the max with SD3 there is no fault in it. But you can't say EZD isn't a quality drum program.
 
#60
HOLY COW! I just had an epiphany.
The idea of mixing two kits on two tracks, or even two totally different brands of instruments (layer SSD on top of EZD) never occurred to me. I was watching a video about SSD5 and the review complained about the "cold" or "plastic" sound of them. He said that he used it often as something to layer into other drums. That NEVER would have crossed my mind.
So I opened up Ableton, put EZD in one track and the free SSD5 I downloaded a month ago in another. When I had them play the same MIDI track it sounded really good. What one kit was lacking, the other kit made up for. Crazy.
 
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