neurozeroI am working on a song that starts out Em – D – G – C, each for half a measure. I wrote the chords and my initial bassline in Hookpad and exported them individually as MIDI, hoping EZbass could help me make it a little more interesting. Importing it into EZbass has been a nightmare though.
When I dragged in the file with the full chords, it missed almost every second chord (so it did Em – G, each for a full measure). EZkeys did better, so I then imported the chords and song parts from EZkeys into EZbass, which of course lost some critical information about diminished chords, but at least finally got most of the other chords correct.
And here is where things went really weird. I tried dragging my existing Hookpad bassline in (after transposing it up an octave of course), and EZbass immediately mangled all my chords back to one chord per measure (with one exception in measure 8 for some inextricable reason). So then I started over and dragged my bassline into an unused part of the timeline, and it imported correctly. But then dragged the correct chords over them, and this time the chords remained correct — but it mangled my bassline! It is a pretty simple bassline over these four chords, just root notes, but among the many bizarre and unmusical changes EZbass made, it switched all the Ds over the D chord to Bs, a note that is not even in that chord! I have D notes on the timeline, I drag a D chord over the D notes, and it swaps them out for Bs! What gives?
I’ve tried doing this dozens of times in dozens of different ways trying to make sense of it. I have “Use ‘Auto-Adjust Transitions’ by default” turned off. I’ve tried it in various keys (it is in either G major or E minor, take your pick, but the key is always detected as C major for, again, some inextricable reason). I’m wondering if 2/4 time might trick it into behaving better, but at this point I’m kind of just tired of fighting with it.
Edit: Switching to 2/4 does nothing to improve things. I just don’t get it: I have a series of chords from EZkeys. I have a bassline perfectly matching the roots of those chords. EZbass doesn’t need to do anything — just import them as is. And yet it pukes all over the place.
MarkMacManI am having the same problem- I am VERY old school (1968 analog studio) – I basically agree – give up, rack it up to money lost and move on . .
I also inputed a VERY simply bass line – and it mangled that as well . . very frustrating.
I may have found a human who can play bass for me. . I might be able to trade computer work with him so I am not so down $$ on this project.
Glenn Stantonsame. after several attempts to feed EZB from MIDI and audio (piano only, guitar only, keys and drums, and bass only), really poor results. either simple quarter notes on the root, or some bizarre bass line that seems more random than not. so i’ve gone back to a) using the Hookpad bass lines or b) manually drag in bass clips in EZB and manually edit as needed.
definitely will not be buying anymore EZ products…
Glenn
www.runnel.com
www.reverbnation.com/fossile
neurozeroI was really hoping someone would just tell me I’m doing it wrong. I wasn’t expecting universal agreement and the silent treatment from Toontrack.
Hookpad is buggy too (you’ve seen some of my bug reports, fossile), but at least it does what it says on the tin.
No wonder they’ve been slacking on the EZbass MIDI releases—I bet it bugs out on them too.
JohnHi,
I don’t have Hookpad, so could you please provide some of that MIDI, along with an EZbass Project and a recipe to reproduce what you are experiencing?
BR,
John
John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor
neurozeroHi John, thanks for taking a look at this.
Attached EZbass project:
– Bars 1–2: bassline, E-D-G-C (two beats each)
– Bars 3–4: chords, Em-D-G-C (two beats each)
Drag the chords over the bassline or the bassline over the chords. Either way, it changes the bassline to E-B-G-E.
If you need the original MIDI, I can trim and send minimal files, but this project should reproduce the bug I’m seeing.
Petter AdstenHi,
The underlying issue here is that bar 2 has been analyzed as an E minor and not a D. When you have notes that are not included in a chord, any subsequent transpose action will apply to those notes as if that chord is correct and that the notes should be included in that chord.
The solution we would recommend in this particular instance is to cut the chords in half and then use the Correct Chord feature in the chord wheel and make it a D instead of an Em (and C at bar 2,5-3).
Petter Adsten - Toontrack
Support & Betatesting
1
Thanked by: JohnneurozeroHi Peter, that works, but it’s nearly as tedious as correcting the notes in the piano roll. If I have, separately, all the correct chords and all the correct notes, is there no way to merge the two without having to do a bunch of manual work?
I still don’t understand where those B notes come from. I can see how E going to D in a single bar could be analyzed as an Em7, but when I drag a D chord over those D notes, why would it change them to Bs? If it is trying to transpose what was the 7th factor of Em7 to fit what is now a D chord, why would it choose B, the 6th/13th factor of D? The 7th factor of D in G major is C—still a poor choice, but one I could at least understand.
I don’t understand where those E notes in bar 2 come from either. In this case, I can’t even see how G going to C could be analyzed as a G chord, since C is the 4th/11th factor of G. Then when dragging a C chord over the C notes, it changes them to Es—the 3rd factor of C. Why the 3rd?
Please help me understand the logic here. It looks like it subtracts 1 from the factor of the old chord to choose the factor over the new chord, so the 7th of Em becomes the 6th of D and the 4th of G becomes the 3rd of C. That can’t possibly be what is going on, so I must be misunderstanding something.
2
Thanked by: John and Petter AdstenPetter AdstenI still don’t understand where those B notes come from.
Good question! I will forward your example to our development team so that they can have a look at the logic behind this.
Petter Adsten - Toontrack
Support & Betatesting
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