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

#61
Love me some Toontrack!!! I have tons of SDXs and EZXs! SD and EZDrummer are great products and you can get great results with both! I mainly use SD 2.0 and i'm having a hard time talking myself into upgrading to 3 because 2 is great already and i am not sure i want to get caught up in all the new features of 3. I also own GGD, Addictive Drums, SSD4, SSD5, Perfect Drums, a bunch of packs from It Might Get Loud Productions. All of them are great and have their place, but Toontrack was the first i ever got...the 1st Superior Drummer actually and i have used Toontracks products more than any other. I did my band's 1st EP with S2.0 Avatar/Metal Foundry

The Icarus Effect, by The Icarus Effect

socialleper said:
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.
Click to expand...

You can get great results doing this!!! I often use the Avatar kit, but slap Slate's Kick 10Z1 as a replacement kick. Instant killer kick sound!

Also you can get some great snare sounds sending the snare track to a bus that has Trigger on it, use several different snare samples and mix it in to a good level with the drums. It's like having the original snare sound and then a mix of other snares = killer snare sound.
 
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#62
bassgiant15 said:
Love me some Toontrack!!! I have tons of SDXs and EZXs! SD and EZDrummer are great products and you can get great results with both! I mainly use SD 2.0 and i'm having a hard time talking myself into upgrading to 3 because 2 is great already and i am not sure i want to get caught up in all the new features of 3. I also own GGD, Addictive Drums, SSD4, SSD5, Perfect Drums, a bunch of packs from It Might Get Loud Productions. All of them are great and have their place, but Toontrack was the first i ever got...the 1st Superior Drummer actually and i have used Toontracks products more than any other. I did my band's 1st EP with S2.0 Avatar/Metal Foundry

The Icarus Effect, by The Icarus Effect



You can get great results doing this!!! I often use the Avatar kit, but slap Slate's Kick 10Z1 as a replacement kick. Instant killer kick sound!

Also you can get some great snare sounds sending the snare track to a bus that has Trigger on it, use several different snare samples and mix it in to a good level with the drums. It's like having the original snare sound and then a mix of other snares = killer snare sound.
Click to expand...
I am tempted to jump on the deal they have for the initial SSD5 package now that I know I can do this. There are some EZX kits that could use just a little extra snap even though I like the "room" sound. Like the Big Rock Drums has a great live feeling, but is just a hair too much. Putting a little of the SSD coldness behind it is nice.
As much as I like the EZD, some times they take the "flavor" of the EZX presets too far. Rock Solid is another one where I like where they were going, but there is just so much of that "flavor" that it is a little overwhelming.
I like the sound of SD, but I know I shouldn't put the money or drive space into it. I'm not a pro producer, or releasing solo work to the public. I'm just using EZD to help me write, to play along to, and to mix things. It is hard not to want the better thing.
 
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#63
bassgiant15 said:
Love me some Toontrack!!! I have tons of SDXs and EZXs! SD and EZDrummer are great products and you can get great results with both! I mainly use SD 2.0 and i'm having a hard time talking myself into upgrading to 3 because 2 is great already and i am not sure i want to get caught up in all the new features of 3. I also own GGD, Addictive Drums, SSD4, SSD5, Perfect Drums, a bunch of packs from It Might Get Loud Productions. All of them are great and have their place, but Toontrack was the first i ever got...the 1st Superior Drummer actually and i have used Toontracks products more than any other. I did my band's 1st EP with S2.0 Avatar/Metal Foundry

The Icarus Effect, by The Icarus Effect



You can get great results doing this!!! I often use the Avatar kit, but slap Slate's Kick 10Z1 as a replacement kick. Instant killer kick sound!

Also you can get some great snare sounds sending the snare track to a bus that has Trigger on it, use several different snare samples and mix it in to a good level with the drums. It's like having the original snare sound and then a mix of other snares = killer snare sound.
Click to expand...
That's some good sounding stuff! Nice work!
 
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#67
In the sharing spirit, here is something I've been working on lately. Here's what I've put together with a modified "Made of Metal" kit and MIDI patterns from "Made Of Metal" library, "Power Metal" library and some of my own programming/modification. I'm up to version 10 now which is at 130bpm, rather than this one at 116bpm. Hopefully this doesn't suck too badly....
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
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#69
socialleper said:
This is my imitation of Brann Dailor doing a drum solo at a stadium gig. Purely self indulgent. All programmed with EZD midi files, using the Drums of Destruction Brann setting (duh.)

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Click to expand...

Sounds good man! I've been tempted to get that EZX!!!! I love LOG!!!
I'm a huge sucker for mega bell rides too!!!

Did you use the mega bell ride in that clip?
 
#70
bassgiant15 said:
Sounds good man! I've been tempted to get that EZX!!!! I love LOG!!!
I'm a huge sucker for mega bell rides too!!!
Did you use the mega bell ride in that clip?
Click to expand...
I didn't tweak any of the pieces that are a part of that preset.
It is a nice EZX. It seems like they are getting better as time goes on and they perfect their methods. The LOG tones don't sound that great to me, but that is personal taste. There is a lot you can do with the Original Mix on these kits. I actually find myself using that a lot.
 
#71
socialleper said:
I didn't tweak any of the pieces that are a part of that preset.
It is a nice EZX. It seems like they are getting better as time goes on and they perfect their methods. The LOG tones don't sound that great to me, but that is personal taste. There is a lot you can do with the Original Mix on these kits. I actually find myself using that a lot.
Click to expand...

Very cool!

I'm tempted to get it, but I've had some pretty good results getting a LOG style drum sound with The Metal Foundry. I can't remember which snare i used, but here is a track i wrote using The Metal Foundry and going for a Lamb of God style drum sound.

 
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#75
Rickter said:
Anyone have any experience with the Randy Staub EZ pack? Really wanting to pick that up. Just curious if anyone already has it and what their opinions of it are.
Click to expand...
Is that the Rock Solid EZX?
If so, I have that one as well. The drums are really scooped. Lots of thundering lows and crisp highs in what sounds like a large room. Like many of the EZXs, it has a very particular flavor that may not work in every situation. If you multitrack the drums in the Original Mix preset you could get some warmth back into them.

It is sort of a weird balancing act. Something like Slate Drums has a good basic drum sound; but almost too basic. They are a little vanilla and you have to really crank the room mics to get any life out of them. On the other side of that, EZX packs often have too much of whatever flavor the pack is going for. SD seems to avoid some of that, but I just don't think I can make that sort of investment on something that is really just a writing tool for me. I'm not a producer, I'm not releasing albums with any of this.
 
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#76
socialleper said:
Is that the Rock Solid EZX?
If so, I have that one as well. The drums are really scooped. Lots of thundering lows and crisp highs in what sounds like a large room. Like many of the EZXs, it has a very particular flavor that may not work in every situation. If you multitrack the drums in the Original Mix preset you could get some warmth back into them.

It is sort of a weird balancing act. Something like Slate Drums has a good basic drum sound; but almost too basic. They are a little vanilla and you have to really crank the room mics to get any life out of them. On the other side of that, EZX packs often have too much of whatever flavor the pack is going for. SD seems to avoid some of that, but I just don't think I can make that sort of investment on something that is really just a writing tool for me. I'm not a producer, I'm not releasing albums with any of this.
Click to expand...
Yeah that's the one. Just seemed like it might be a good pack since I tend to write in a style similar to many of those that he is noted for producing. Thanks for the heads up that the samples seem scooped out. That may be a deal breaker. However, as you said, it seems that the EZX packs each cater to a niche and don't always traverse into other styles that well.
 
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#77
Rickter said:
That's pretty gnarly. I like it! Making me reconsider the Metal Foundry pack.....
Click to expand...

Thanks man! The MF SDX is good! I will say the drums take a good bit of processing though. Some of the snares sound like a wooden block being hit, but some of the presets are really good starting points and help get rid of that wooden block sound.
 
#78
Rickter said:
Anyone have any experience with the Randy Staub EZ pack? Really wanting to pick that up. Just curious if anyone already has it and what their opinions of it are.
Click to expand...

I have the Rock Solid EZX as well. They are....ok i suppose. I never got along with the cymbals in that pack. LOTS of high end in the cymbals. Drums do sound good though in that pack, but the cymbals are really washy and take a bit of eqing to get them right.

My favorite packs from the EZ line are: Metal Machine, Metal!, Made of Metal, Claustrophobic, DFH, and the Twisted Kit is really cool too for some wacky sounds. I haven't tried Drums of Destruction yet, but i would like to.

I also have been using Slate's SSD5 lately and it is pretty cool! Getting some good results with those as well.

Also mixing Slate/Toontrack yields really good results as well!
 
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#79
Here is a slap bass riff i wrote and used the Rock Solid EZX for the drums. Might give you a small taste of the drum tones. I should mention that i blended the Paramore snare sample in with the Rock Solid snare i used for this track.

I'll see if i can find anything else also using these.

Dropbox - Rock Slap Mix.mp3

I got tons of clips if you guys want to hear any certain library just let me know.
 
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