EX2 workflow question

[David George]

I’ve only been using EZ Drummer 2 for about a month–starting to get really comfortable with it and really like it a lot. Amazing piece of software and cheaper than buying beverages for a drummer all night .

Previously, drum tracks I created always had each drum/cymbal on a different track and I like that so I can apply specific EQ, comp, etc., to the snare, kick, cymbals, etc.

Right now I have a complex drum track I created using song creator. Based on my “old” way of doing things, I would now make three copies of this MIDI track and delete drums/cymbals track by track so I wind up with separate tracks for snare, kick, cymbals, percussion. Is there any disadvantage to working this way?

I have made changes to the track in my DAW (Pro Tools 11.3) because I needed to lengthen the intro and move a few things around in terms of the arrangement. It’s stable now and the way I want it.

Should I leave well enough alone or proceed to make the dupes and separate the pieces?

Topic

[John]

Hi,

have you tried using EZdrummer 2 with MultiOut? This way you don’t need to have any duplicate tracks.
If you check this video in the FAQ:
http://www.toontrack.com/faq/how-do-i-set-up-ezdrummer-for-multichannel-operation-in-pro-tools/
it shows how you can set up EZdrummer for multiple output operation. Even though it’s old and shows the EZdrummer 1 plugin, the principle is still the same.

Also, you can actually have Instrument Tracks for the separate outputs instead of Aux Tracks, if you feel you still want to split out the MIDI separately but then you mustn’t forget to route the MIDI of each Instrument Track to the EZdrummer 2 plugin.

BR,
John

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[David George]

Thanks, John–I was completely unaware of this and will definitely adopt this workflow moving forward.

Edit:

Wow–I had to come back and edit my post because my follow-up questions were obsolete!

I went into PT and created 12 aux tracks (to match the number of mics in the EXDrummer mixer) and set them up as per the video. I use a lot of busses in general so this wasn’t an issue.

I had to solo each track to determine what’s what as far as the tracks in the EZD mixer and how they correspond to my DAW, but within a minute I had it all figured out.

This is truly amazing! I have sections with shaker and tambourine and I really want those to have separate EQ, etc. This gives me far more control than having everything on a single track and was so much easier than I expected. Thanks!

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