YargroRunning EZ Bass 1.1.4 in latest version of Logic on Macbook Pro M1 Max, Monterey.
I love EZ Bass features, it’s an amazing product, but it consistently sounds out of tune to me. Depends on the key, and where the note is on the bass. Some keys and bass parts are better than others. I’ve tried all the different tuning options, read the Toontrack explanations about tuning etc. The other tracks in the sequences are stock virtual instruments, no live instruments. The stock basses in Logic don’t have this problem. Maybe it’s the way EZ Bass is sampled, and stretched across the bass? I’ve got a fair amount of experience recording and performing with live as well as sequenced bass parts so I’m aware of the tendencies to perceive pitch one way or the other in relation to bass. But I’ve always found a way to lock it in. I haven’t found that yet with this product. I must be missing something. Like maybe there’s a way to flatten out some of the expressions that affect pitch. Any one else having this issue?
Victor KennedyHello Yargo, I’ve had EZBass for a few months and haven’t had this problem with it being out of tune. I play/record the Bass Guitar as you would normally, onto a track, then I put that into EZB to edit and because I like the sound engine in EZB…sits well in a mix.
The main problem I’ve had is with it not always syncing to the Tempo when there are Tempo Changes within a song. It’s a random thing and I can usually find a work around, although it is a bit of a pain. Maybe the out-of-tune you experience could be because some of the articulations in your track within EZB Audio Tracker/Editor need precise editing…I’ve found that they are usually pretty precise and need close attention…eg; a slide up or down can sound “off” if it’s too long or such. Maybe not. Just an idea.
I notice you’re using MacBook Pro M1 Max on Monterey. How do you find it? I recently bought a new Mac Studio M1 Max and found that many of the plugin/software companies haven’t got up to speed for both the Monterey OS and the M1 MAX…a lot of them are only compatible with the M1, but not the M1 MAX. Because of this I’m still working on my old MacBook Pro and am trying to see which of my many plugin suites will work in the new M1 Max setup. Any info you have regarding this would be good to hear…Cheers
MacBook Air M3 OSX 14.7.2 | Logic Pro | Toontrack EZDrummer 3 | Tootrack EzBass | M-Audio AIR 192-14 | Schecter, Maton, Fender, DBZ & Epiphone Electric and Acoustic Guitars |
YargroHi Victor, thanks for sharing your experiences. Much appreciated! I’ll check into editing the articulations, slides etc. that’s a good tip. BTW, I’m not playing an actual bass guitar into EZB (I do saxes and flutes). I’m either using midi bass tracks I’ve already created (imported into EZB or using EZB as a virtual instrument) or I use the EZB grooves, edit them and incorporate that material as well, either on a different track or export and combine, or create fills.
re tempo: I’ve got a fair amount of tempo changes in my tracks and EZB seems to be following them pretty well, but I’ll pay more attention to that and see if I notice anything.
re Macbook Pro M1 Max, Monterey:
Logic, Finale, Digital Performer, Omnisphere, Melodyne, EZ Drummer, EZ Bass, Final Cut all work well for me using the latest versions. Of course there are occasional glitches and each product has its individual challenges like the ones we’re working through here. But I’m able to get my work done, without ever having to think about maxing out CPU etc. Not using a whole lot of 3rd party plug-ins or Pro Tools yet in this setup. PT has been my main environment for years, so I’ve had to work around that. I’ll probably give PT a shot on the Macbook pretty soon.
Victor KennedyThanks for your comments Yagro. I moved from PT to Studio One last year, and will never go back to PT. I like to “own” my products instead of needing to pay annual subscriptions etc…Avid lost the plot years ago in my opinion. Presonus have Sphere, which is a subscription thing which gives unlimited access to ALL of their plugin/instrument content, but if you don’t keep the payments up, you lose access, meaning you wouldn’t be able to continue on projects that use Sphere content…SO I just stay on my fully purchased S1 Pro and this way I don’t get to a position of not having access to certain content, and instead I use S1 plugins as well as a lot of Waves, Eventide, ToonTrack, Native Instruments, iZotope etc. For the same reason I closed my Slate Everything subscription, because again, without payments monthly or annually you can’t use their gear. I hope your music is working for you…Cheers
MacBook Air M3 OSX 14.7.2 | Logic Pro | Toontrack EZDrummer 3 | Tootrack EzBass | M-Audio AIR 192-14 | Schecter, Maton, Fender, DBZ & Epiphone Electric and Acoustic Guitars |
Richard ThomasYes, it sounds out of tune to me.
Update:
I may have found the cause of the issue on my EB track.
When I created the track, I manually added notes in the grid editor. I added vibrato to some of the notes; I’m thinking that when I added vibrato, there were more notes selected that I did not intend to add vibrato to. So to test, I selected (manually) all notes in the grid, then clicked remove vibrato. This seems to have fixed the issue, although the bass still sounds slightly flat to me.
YargroHi Richard,
I’ll check the vibrato, good tip. I doubt that’s what I’m hearing though. I’ve taken to actually blending the EZ sound with other instruments in order to help with the tuning. It’s still a great tool to come up with bass parts. Let me know if you discover anything else re this. Thanks for the info!
BradHi Richard,
I’ll check the vibrato, good tip. I doubt that’s what I’m hearing though. I’ve taken to actually blending the EZ sound with other instruments in order to help with the tuning. It’s still a great tool to come up with bass parts. Let me know if you discover anything else re this. Thanks for the info!
Hi there,
Could you post a short .mp3 of what you are hearing? You will have to put it in a zip file to upload it here.
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)
ThunderI just started having a problem this morning with stuff sounding out of tune. I thought it was EZbass but it might actually be EZkeys. I muted EZkeys and played NI’s Session guitarist with EZbass and everything sounded in tune. Then I muted EZbass and played Session Guitarist with EZkeys it was out of tune. I am on a iMac Pro OS 11.6.6 running the latest versions of Logic Pro, EZbass, EZkeys, and NI Session guitarist. Could be a Logic issue. Will try later in Studio One to rule out Logic as the problem.
Waiting and hoping for EZkeys 2
BradI just started having a problem this morning with stuff sounding out of tune. I thought it was EZbass but it might actually be EZkeys. I muted EZkeys and played NI’s Session guitarist with EZbass and everything sounded in tune. Then I muted EZbass and played Session Guitarist with EZkeys it was out of tune. I am on a iMac Pro OS 11.6.6 running the latest versions of Logic Pro, EZbass, EZkeys, and NI Session guitarist. Could be a Logic issue. Will try later in Studio One to rule out Logic as the problem.
Waiting and hoping for EZkeys 2
hi there,
Which instrument/presets in EZKeys and EZBass are you using. I can test in Studio One and Pro Tools as well
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)
ThunderI shut down the project I was working in and saved it. Now when I reopen it EZkeys is in tune and everything works fine. I checked it out in Studio One and it is working ok. I had been switching among the various instruments in EZkeys when it first occurred. Maybe that had something to do with it. In EZkbass I was using the Modern Bass Clean DI. At this time I’m unable to repeat the problem.
Thanks,
Bob
ThunderWent to add Session Guitarist to the track I was working on in Logic and it sounded out of tune while EZbass and EZkeys sounded ok. I stopped playback of the track and then started it again and everything was in tune. I’m now thinking this might be an issue in Logic which is what Yargo is using too.
YargroThanks Thunder, yeah it’s worth keeping tabs on all the various combinations of instruments, settings etc. stopping, starting, restarting etc. It’s worth noting that most people don’t seem to have any concerns about the tuning. Wish I could say the same. It could be my system, the other instruments I’m using, etc. It does seem to come and go, certain parts in certain ranges in certain keys are more problematic. But hey, we’ve all got music to create and figuring this out can be quite time-consuming. At this point I have a few workarounds when the problem pops up: choose a different Non-EZ Bass instrument, slap a pitch correction plug-in on the track, double the part with another instrument to stabilize it, or change the arrangement to hide/avoid the problem. None are great options, but I figure over time either I’ll figure out what’s going on and fix it or an update might help. It’s still a great tool to generate ideas for bass parts.
Sound Dunjen StudiosYep. First song in with EZBass and it is awfully out of tune. Some notes pull sharp, and some are flat, which makes using the “cent” tuning useless. All the other instruments on the track are direct in from nords or motifs. Swapping out EZbass for a generic Logic Pro instrument fixes the tuning problem. I’ve tried everything I can think of to get EZbass straightened out, but nothing has worked yet. I have a help request in with toontrack, hoping they can shed some light on what is happening. I like the bass samples a lot and it would be a shame if this cannot be resolved.
YargroHi Sound Dungen,
Sorry to hear you’re having the same issue with intonation on EZ bass. Please let me know if you get any new info on this. Looks like you’re on Big Sur, I’m on Monterey. I’ve noticed that it seems worse when I use EZ bass as an instrument on an existing midi track as opposed to building the track entirely within EZ bass. On many tracks I don’t notice it, but there are some spots where I changed the track or the arrangement to hide the problem, or just gave up and used a different instrument. The problem also seems to shift around, to come and go. Thanks for chiming in.
Juergen UrigHello, all.
Same problem here. EZBass in Cubase 12.
I’ve checked it with the tuner plugin. At a fresh start everything is fine. As soon as I started the song a second time the bass is about 46 cent out of tune. After loading another preset it is in tune again until the next start. I’ve tuned it now permanently down 46 cent. It works but this couldn’t be the final solution. Toontrack?!?
Juergen UrigI think I’ve found the problem. In some parts the tuning was right in others not, so I’ve checked bar for bar and finally got it. It’s the articulations. Every articulation that is not fingered based changes the tuning about 46 cent down. After changing the articulation back to fingered based the tuning is right again.
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