Help understanding browse. search, external midi, maps, kits…

[kmcintyre]

So I’m not new to midi, but I’ve kinda avoided the nuances of drum VSTs, maps etc. by using either GM loops or audio loops. But I can’t avoid it any longer. I need to understand this stuff.

So I bought EZD2, some EZX kits, and a bunch of midi paks. Plus I bought the Groove Monkey Mega Pack. So have a shitload of drum crap and I can’t figure out what it all means. Yes, I’ve used EZD2 to successfully put together drum tracks for a few songs. It’s pretty easy, but I feel like I’m faking it, not really knowing what I’m doing.

So here’s some of the questions I know I have. (I suspect there is a ton of questions I don’t even know to ask…)

1) I use the browser to look into EZX Latin Percussion (for example). In the second column there is a section “congas”, and within that “Bolero”. The next column has section for “straight” and within that a folder “2 Slap Grooves”. Finally a midi clip “Variation 02”. So now, let me try to find that using the Search tab…

On the Search page, I select Library = “EZX Latin Percussion”. (That’s kinda giving EZD2 a big hint…) I see only one genre listed – Latin. Well that’s not very helpful. Under Type there is no category for Bolero. I know from the browser that the midi clip is in a folder called Straight, so I select Type = Straight. (That’s another big clue…) So I click the name header in the search results to order Z to A. Nope, there’s no Variation 02 in the list.

I guess I don’t see how I can use Search to find potential Bolero grooves. Ditto for Samba or Rumba. What am I missing?

2) When I listen to the above mentioned “Variation 02” what I hear is cymbals. But as mentioned, that midi loop was under a section “conga” so my guess is that the loop should sound like a conga. I’m using the EZdrummer 2 Modern kit. Just to prove my hunch, I change to the Latin Percussion Basic kit. Yep, now the loop sounds like it should. So if every loop has to be auditioned with a specific kit to sound right, how do I know which kit to load? Is there no way to have EZD2 audition loops with the right kit? I’m kinda thinking this whole search thing might be less than what I hoped for…

3) So I mentioned I bought the Groove Monkey Mega Pack. I have it install correctly and can browse the user library. I click on “Grrove Monkey Mega Pack” and the next column populates with the names of the 25 component packs. I can drill down to a midi clip and audition it. But it doesn’t sound very good ’cause it’s not designed for the Latin Percussion Kit (or drum map, I’m not sure…). So back to the EZD 2 Modern kit. Much better! But how do I know it sounds the way it’s suppose to? If every kit has a unique drum map, will auditioning midi clips always be a crap shoot?

4) Now I try to use the Search page with the Groove Monkey library. I start by selecting the user library in the Library column. Hum… The Genre column is populated with one keyword – Any, I guess there is not a lot of metadata being extracted from the Groove Monkey library… So how do I find blues loops? Or a bossa loop? And if I find one, how do I know what kit or drum map to use to audition it? (The folks at Groove Monkey assured me that they had a long history of working with ToonTracks and that their midi packs integrated well…) Is this as good as it gets? (Yes, I’m becoming redundant…)

Anyway, I don’t wan’t to concentrate on what doesn’t seem to work. Rather, I’m hoping to gain an understanding of what my expectations should be, as well as ideas on how to best use the tools available to organize the massive amount of midi loops I own so I can quickly find the grooves I need. (I didn’t mention all the OddGrooves libraries I own too…)

All help appreciated. Thanks!

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