JayI have a couple general questions here i am hoping to get some feedback on. The two main things i am wondering is…
1.) how long did it take until you started created drum tracks that sounded really good with your song?
2.)Is Superior Drummer really that “Superior” sounding to EZDrummer 3?
The reason i ask both of these questions is I am struggling to create drum parts that actually sound good. So far it has been sounding mediocre at best. Granted I am very new to using EZDrummer (only a few days using it), not used to using any kind of drum software, nor am i drummer. But still, i am questioning whether or not I am going to ever feel comfortable releasing songs with these drums. I won’t go as far as saying I am disappointed with it. Its a great program and i will be using it regardless, especially as a way to assist in the songwriting process. Still i wonder if this is a suitable replacement to real drums. Are you guys using this as a replacement to real drums and do you feel comfortable releasing songs with this or not so much? Also wondering if Superior drummer is that much better and possibly worth it?
When its all said and done it may be that i need to spend a lot more time with it and work harder at finding better beats or find tuning things, or if simply need to lower my expectations and/or mainly use this as a way to inspire songwriting vs. actually using it on songs i release. Not sure, but hoping to get some feedback and other peoples thoughts on this.
Mick AvoidantYou’ll be OK with them, once you find beats that work for your songs or make your own. My band has released an album with ezdrummer on every song. Our drummer laid the beats down with our electric kit in a Digital Audio Workstation and I put an EZ kit to it. Have a listen at soundcloud.com/avoidantnorwich/sets/shred-it. My songwriting buddy put me onto EZ. He uses it a lot, with ready-made beats.
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Thanked by: Jay
dokrok5150Mr. Jay, I have been a professional musician since 1979. I have toured extensively, played multiple genres and written music for commercials. I witnessed the birth of MIDI and the creation of every DAW (and worked with most of them from Cakewalk to Pro Tools).
I no longer tour as I once did. I perform locally on the Gulf Coast of Alabama and Florida and continue to write.
I have witnessed the creation of and used the first drum machines. When you are not a drummer, trying to create a convincing drum part is very, very difficult, especially with the tools I had back then. I would listen to a drum part, listen to where the kick was, the snare, the cymbals, etc. and then try to recreate it. I became (am) extremely good at it. BUT… it was extremely time consuming and difficult. I learned about the levels of kick and snare and hi-hat, how I needed to adjust the velocity of each hit to avoid it sounding like a machine, how I needed to push or pull the hits forward or back in time to make it sound life like. It was a wonderful self learning period but painful, frustrating and quite often exhausting, not to mention how many times I lost my creative ideas chasing the beat I heard in my head.
Now… to your question “DO YOU FIND EZDRUMMER 3 TO BE A SUITABLE REPLACEMENT FOR REAL DRUMS?” I no longer (well, rarely) use a live drummer. Because drummers suck? NO!!! but where I live good drummers who can play well, have great dynamics, are willing to play what I need for my piece and are real musicians are rare. I have performed with drummers who were/are wonderful musicians and human beings with heart and soul and immence creative talent. Since I rarely have access to these friends of mine I need to do it myself. Do the drums sound fake? When I playback a tune for my drummer friends I’ve never had them ask “are those fake drums?” Why? Because Toontrack has recorded the sounds with the finest equipment in the finest studios with the finest drummers. I’ve had my drummer friends listen to my tunes and then asked me “who’s on drums?” I smile and say “me”. It only sounds fake if it doesn’t play back the way a live drummer would play it.
I wish I had EZdrummer way back in the day. My creative life would have been so much easier.
My advice to you, young Skywalker, is to take your time. Learn the program. Watch tutorials. Start with a basic kick and snare for your song. Tap it into “Tap to find”. EZdrummer will filter your beat and present multiple choices. Pick one and drag it into your track. I use Studio One Pro as my DAW. Once you have the pattern in your track look at it closely in your track editor. You will see how the drummer who played it pushed or pulled the beat, what velocities they played each kit piece, etc. You have a professional drummer playing for you. A professional that you would not be able to afford to hire. Recorded in a studio that you also would not be able to afford. Also, once you’ve chosen a beat that ‘works’ you can go in and make changes until it is exactly what you hear in your head. Get rid of the ride, change the snare, add a tom…
As for Superior Drummer? I own it. Think of it as a drum creation tool. Build your own snare/kick/tom etc. sounds. It is extremely deep. My advice concerning Superior is to leave it for now. Learn to use EZdrummer well then come to it when you have built up your “drum chops”. It is a beast. I use EZ 90% of the time. I use Superior when I have a drum sound in my head that I can’t find.
I wish you well on your creative journey and remember – where you are now is where we all were once. Good luck.
Dr. Rock
1
Thanked by: Jay
BradMr. Jay, I have been a professional musician since 1979. I have toured extensively, played multiple genres and written music for commercials. I witnessed the birth of MIDI and the creation of every DAW (and worked with most of them from Cakewalk to Pro Tools).
I no longer tour as I once did. I perform locally on the Gulf Coast of Alabama and Florida and continue to write.I have witnessed the creation of and used the first drum machines. When you are not a drummer, trying to create a convincing drum part is very, very difficult, especially with the tools I had back then. I would listen to a drum part, listen to where the kick was, the snare, the cymbals, etc. and then try to recreate it. I became (am) extremely good at it. BUT… it was extremely time consuming and difficult. I learned about the levels of kick and snare and hi-hat, how I needed to adjust the velocity of each hit to avoid it sounding like a machine, how I needed to push or pull the hits forward or back in time to make it sound life like. It was a wonderful self learning period but painful, frustrating and quite often exhausting, not to mention how many times I lost my creative ideas chasing the beat I heard in my head.
Now… to your question “DO YOU FIND EZDRUMMER 3 TO BE A SUITABLE REPLACEMENT FOR REAL DRUMS?” I no longer (well, rarely) use a live drummer. Because drummers suck? NO!!! but where I live good drummers who can play well, have great dynamics, are willing to play what I need for my piece and are real musicians are rare. I have performed with drummers who were/are wonderful musicians and human beings with heart and soul and immence creative talent. Since I rarely have access to these friends of mine I need to do it myself. Do the drums sound fake? When I playback a tune for my drummer friends I’ve never had them ask “are those fake drums?” Why? Because Toontrack has recorded the sounds with the finest equipment in the finest studios with the finest drummers. I’ve had my drummer friends listen to my tunes and then asked me “who’s on drums?” I smile and say “me”. It only sounds fake if it doesn’t play back the way a live drummer would play it.
I wish I had EZdrummer way back in the day. My creative life would have been so much easier.
My advice to you, young Skywalker, is to take your time. Learn the program. Watch tutorials. Start with a basic kick and snare for your song. Tap it into “Tap to find”. EZdrummer will filter your beat and present multiple choices. Pick one and drag it into your track. I use Studio One Pro as my DAW. Once you have the pattern in your track look at it closely in your track editor. You will see how the drummer who played it pushed or pulled the beat, what velocities they played each kit piece, etc. You have a professional drummer playing for you. A professional that you would not be able to afford to hire. Recorded in a studio that you also would not be able to afford. Also, once you’ve chosen a beat that ‘works’ you can go in and make changes until it is exactly what you hear in your head. Get rid of the ride, change the snare, add a tom…
As for Superior Drummer? I own it. Think of it as a drum creation tool. Build your own snare/kick/tom etc. sounds. It is extremely deep. My advice concerning Superior is to leave it for now. Learn to use EZdrummer well then come to it when you have built up your “drum chops”. It is a beast. I use EZ 90% of the time. I use Superior when I have a drum sound in my head that I can’t find.
I wish you well on your creative journey and remember – where you are now is where we all were once. Good luck.
Dr. Rock
EZdrummer version: 3.0.3
Operating system: Windows 10
I literally couldn’t add a thing here…. well said.
Mac Studio M1 Max, RAM 64 GB, 1TB Drive, OSX 12.x/13.x and Windows 10 (VM)
DAW: Studio One Pro (always up to date)
DTX Express III (Extreme triggers), Nektar LX88
OWC Thunderbay Mini (4 X 1TB Sata SSD), Express 4M2 (4 X 2TB M.2 SSD), Envoy Express (1TB M.2 SSD)
Presonus Quantum, Faderport & Faderport 8
Black Lion Sparrow Mk2 A/D, FMR-RNP-RNC, MIDI Xpress 128, BM5A, KRK VXT4, Equator D5
2020 Macbook Pro 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD Audio(mobile rig)
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Thanked by: JayJayThanks for the thorough response. Happy to hear it is more a matter of getting better at using it as opposed to it not being comparable to live drums. I can agree that getting a live drummer can be a hassle and expensive. All my previous albums were done in a commercial studios. Actually the last album i did, only the rhythm section was done in a commercial studio and rest was done on home recording equipment, but either way it has always been a lot of time and money to do it this way. That being said, I’ve had high hopes that I can get these drums sounding good enough to replace going into a studio. Glad to hear you have been able to do it successfully. Its encouraging. Thanks again for the feedback.
dokrok5150You will get there. I had hoped that these programs would magically suck the groove out of my head and paste it into my drum track. No. Crap. As much as I was in a rush I had to slow down and put in the time. I would set aside time in my day to JUST work with the software and not be chasing the beat in my head. Learn the in’s and out’s. The more I became comfortable learning to get the software to do what I wanted the faster my creative process became. Real musicians never stop learning. We can get impatient but damn it, Jim, WE SHALL OVERCOME! Back in the beginning of DAWs there were very few resources for help. Now here is the forums, YouTube, tutorials… Can’t figure out how to do something? Dollars to doughnuts (as my granddaddy used to say) someone has had the same issue and figured it out.
I could feel your doubt and circling disappointment about whether you had made the right choice with your hard earned dollars. I have flown that plane multiple times. You have.
Rock on, my Young Brother…
PS: If it makes you feel any better I’ve just updated EZBass. Very cool but… guess who is setting time aside again?
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