EZ Drummer is not so easy

[vperri]

I just spent over an hour on EZ drummer 2 after reading full manual and am not any closer to understanding this software. It is extremely annoying to listen to drum tracks over and over like listening to a live drummer making too much noise while trying to tune a guitar. I thought I was getting somewhere but I would try new drum grooves out paste them into an empty area at bottom middle or in song creator and just get ideas I listened to earlier. I had to keep closing down EZ drummer 2 and opening it again, On top of it I would drag a great sounding riff into the midi drop zone choose abab long for example paste it into bottom center area with or without another part there and get nothing close to what I just listened to making me somehow find each drum part and paste individually. What is the sense of using the AABA LONG if I cannot paste it to actually use it or know what second parts it chose so I can manually add them myself ? What are my options if I finally give up and want to sell this program ?

Topic

[vperri]

I was able to load song structures by hitting little arrow next to AABA long or by right clicking on mouse a shame you cannot just drag it like it looks by reading manual. I may be on my way after all getting some use out of this program !

[John]

Hi,

I am not sure if I follow you on the procedure but I can’t find any unexpected behavior with the Song Creator or drag-and-drop functions.
Which version number is displayed in the plugin interface (lower right corner)?

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Henrik Ekblom]

If you have a MIDI file in the Drop Zone of the Song Creator, the song structures should be possible to drag and drop onto the track.
If you don’t have anything in the Song Creator’s Drop Zone you can’t drag and drop song structures onto the track, nor won’t the song creator have any suggestions loaded to the verse, pre chorus etc. slots.
Does this help you?

Henrik Ekblom - User Experience Designer
Toontrack

[vperri]

I cannot see a verison number on bottom lower corner even with glasses on however now the drag and drop feature is working for me and do believe I am doing it the same way I was last time I tried. I see that newest version to download is 2.1.1 and I downloaded it but not sure it worked as it still shows I can download it again. Maybe that does not go away in the download area ? I have other issues now one being I manually loaded a intro, verse, bridge, verse and now cannot get back to bar one to hear intro even though I know I did not delete the intro and also believe I can see that it is not going back to bar 1. Why would this be ? I believe it has happened to me every time I have tried to use this program. Also how do you use the AABA songs ? I can now move them to the player but they are not the intro, verse, pre chorus, chorus, verse, chorus I chose as I can only drop one thing into the little box before it gives me other examples of drum parts that work with that part ? Do you chose each part and put in the main huge bottom area and one all parts are chosen use the “AABA” or “ABAB” to put them in a good order to use ? Thanks for your help !

[vperri]

Here is my info. I am getting a little better after watching the tutorial again today.
EZdrummer plug-in version 2.0.2 (build 9590) [64-bit VST]
Standalone host version 2.0.2 (build 9590)

SOUND LIBRARIES
EZdrummer 2 Modern version 1.0.2
EZdrummer 2 Vintage version 1.0.2

MIDI LIBRARIES
–
So it does not look like it is using the newest download I downloaded and extracted files and unzipped.

[John]

Hi,

the 2.1.1 update is found by going into your Toontrack account, clicking the EZdurmmer 2 Product and then on the pop-up product page select the Updates tab.
The Sound libraries are updated.

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[vperri]

Thank you I just had to run the update all is good there now. Thanks

[John]

Cool, good to hear

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[vperri]

Right back to square one. I find a great groove slow it down only for it to go into my studio one producer at the standard tempo. Why can you do cool stuff when in EZ Drummer but as soon as you open EZ Drummer in your studio nothing works ? There is no preview original tempo button even like there is in the stand alone EZ D 2 software. How long will it take to actually be creative with this software ? Does it take most people months ? I know I have not spent hours a day for months but I sure would hope it would have useful by now.

[Scott]

What is ‘standard tempo’? If the ‘Follow Host’ button in EZD2 is ‘on’, EZD2 will follow the tempo set by the host DAW. See page 21 of the EZD2 Operation manual. Do you have ‘Follow Host’ on or off? If it’s on, if you change the tempo in your DAW, does EZD2 follow the tempo like it should?

If you have Follow Host ‘off’, and you have one tempo set in EZD2 and a different tempo set in your DAW, then what you say is true…a slow tempo in EZD2 and a different tempo if you drag it to the DAW.

You say there is no ‘Preview Original Tempo’ button when you use EZD2 in your DAW. Are you sure? When I open EZD2 in any DAW, the ‘Preview Original Tempo’ button is in the exact same place as it is in the standalone version…on the Browser page at the top left.

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[vperri]

Standard tempo I mean the tempo the original drum part is before I slowed it down to go with my guitar groove. I meant the preview original tempo does nothing when in my DAW whether on or off. I have not been able to locate the tempo in Studio One so I will have to do a lot of digging in the huge manual. This seems very silly why should any of that be set in my DAW. I should be able to load a groove and work on it but not that easy. If I have follow host on or off same thing cannot use my slow groove I created only the fast one before I worked on it.

[Scott]

@vperri said:

This seems very silly why should any of that be set in my DAW. I should be able to load a groove and work on it but not that easy.

Because most people write songs in their DAWs and want the tempo of the drums in EZD2 (if using the Song Track in EZD2) to be the same tempo as the tempo of the DAW project. Their project may contain multiple sampler instruments and they all need to be the same tempo.

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[vperri]

I am just hoping I do not have to read the entire Studio One Producer 2 manual to figure out how to adjust tempo. Can I ask what Follow Host does in EZ Drummer since it did nothing for me ? Thanks !!!

[Scott]

The ‘Follow Host’ button in EZD2 syncs the Song Track to the host.

So, say you drag 12, one measure grooves to the EZD2 Song Track bars 1-12. You set your DAW project tempo to 100BPM because that is the tempo of the song you want to make. You hit the ‘play’ button in your DAW. The Song Track in EZD2 starts and syncs to your project in tempo and in your DAW project timeline. You can record parts in your DAW if you want…bass, guitar, keyboard, bagpipes, didgeridoo. The drums in the EZD2 Songtrack will sync with all the audio. If you want to change the 12 grooves in the Song Track to 12 other grooves, everything will sync. If you want to edit those grooves using the Edit Play Style feature in EZD2 you can and everything will sync.

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[vperri]

So I am finally up and running. It is near impossible to learn your DAW with EZ Drummer 2 up as it hides stuff no matter how you try and move it almost off the screen. Once I went into my DAW with EZ Drummer I could find tempo and other important stuff I needed to adjust. I finally see light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks for your help.

[Author]

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