Can't create bass line from drum and piano midi

[Loz Rabone]

I have the drum and piano midi for an entire song which I have exported. I want to get the bass line to melodically follow the chords (root notes) of the piano, and rhythmically follow the kick from the drums. I have 3 issues:

Firstly: Importing the Piano midi from the drums & Keys Tab. The key of the song is B major but if I set that as the key in EZBass it transposes everything down a semitone. If I leave it at its default (C) it finds the correct notes. This means I can not use the “Add/Edit Chords” effectively as it thinks I am in a different key

Secondly: Importing the Drum Midi. All notes are the same pitch (C) but in the grid editor I can only move each note manually rather than use the “Add/Edit Chords” option, as when I change one note it changes all of the notes for the entire song

Thirdly and most importantly: When using “Export to current song track” from either the piano to the drums or vice versa, it does not work. I have tried this several times using different variations – sometimes the midi is just replaced and sometimes the resulting midi track is incomprehensible – just random data (i.e. sounds nothing like a combination of the rhythm and melody)

I am using OSX Mojave with EZbass version 1.0.2. in standalone

EZbass version: 1.0.2
Operating system: macOS Mojave (10.14)

Topic

[Erik]

Could you contact support and send the MIDI files to us? You can link this thread in your support ticket so they know who to forward to.

Regarding drum MIDI, it is intended as a rhythm capturing tool. After you have added the rhythm to the Song Track, you add/split the chords to your liking and then use the grid editor, transitions and replace MIDI functions to control pitch.

Erik Berglund — Toontrack

1

Thanked by: Loz Rabone

[Loz Rabone]

Hi, thanks for getting back to me. I understand now why all of the notes were changing key (point 2 above) and that the song needs to be divided into sections. However, it is the functionality of the “Drums & Keys” function that I am struggling with. As I understand it I should be able to generate a bass line that locks in with the drums and follows the chord changes of the keys. I can do both of these things individually but I can not generate a bass line that combines the two.  As I understand it this should be possible using the “Export to current song track” function. This is frustrating because it is primarily for this reason that I bought it.

Anyway, I have raised a ticket as requested

EZbass version: 1.0.3
Operating system: macOS Mojave (10.14)

[Erik]

Hey Loz,

You can do it in two steps! Import either track then, on the other track, use the Replace MIDI function together with the “Follow Drums & Chords” or “Adjust Riff to Drums” option in the header bar to only apply pitch or rhythm.

See the bottom of this chapter in the manual: https://www.toontrack.com/manual/ezbass/7

Erik Berglund — Toontrack

1

Thanked by: Loz Rabone

[Loz Rabone]

Hi, thanks for the info. That being the case, what is the “Export to current song track” function for? Is it the same as just dragging the midi down from the drums or keys card?

Also, I’m still wondering about the issue withe the song key – is this a known bug or am I misunderstanding something? The key of the song is B major but if I set that as the key in EZBass it transposes everything down a semitone. If I leave it at its default (C) it finds the correct notes.

Thanks for your help

Loz

EZbass version: 1.0.3
Operating system: macOS Mojave (10.14)

[Henrik Ekblom]

Loz Rabone wrote:

Hi, thanks for the info. That being the case, what is the “Export to current song track” function for? Is it the same as just dragging the midi down from the drums or keys card?

Yes. It’s there to visualize for those who doesn’t discover the drag and drop functionality.

Loz Rabone wrote:

if I set that as the key in EZBass it transposes everything down a semitone.

If you select a new song key, the current MIDI and chords will be transposed to fit that song key.

• This is used if you for example drag down a groove and it plays in C major, but you want to change your entire song to play in G major instead.
  • All chord will be transposed to G major.

If you want to change the song key but without changing the MIDI – select No Transpose in the Song Key menu.

• This is used if your MIDI is playing correct, but you notice that the Song Key isn’t correct and you want to set it right.

Henrik Ekblom - User Experience Designer
Toontrack

[Loz Rabone]

Hi, thanks for getting back to me. Re the song key transposing the midi – this makes perfect sense once you have imported the midi file into EZbass and you want to change the key but that is not my issue. The problem is that I am setting the correct key of the song in EZbass before I import the midi file (a keyboard midi from EZkeys) and EZbass is incorrectly dropping everything down a semitone.

In the original midi from EZKeys, the song is in the key of B Major. I set EZbass to the key of B Major before importing the midi.  The first 4 notes (for example) should be: E, B, Db (minor) B  but as you can see from the screen shot, when I import the midi it drops everything by a semitone. I.e. the first four notes are now D# A# Cm A#

I am assuming this must be a bug?

Many thanks

Loz

EZbass version: 1.0.3
Operating system: macOS Mojave (10.14)

[Henrik Ekblom]

Thanks for the report. It looks like a bug, we’ll look into it!

Henrik Ekblom - User Experience Designer
Toontrack

[Author]

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