Recording into Cubase

[Rod]

Hi anyone, is it possible to just record what EZDrummer is doing straight into Cubase, if you see what I mean?

Topic

[Richard Kitt]

EZplayer is a seperate tool (free) that you can download from the Toontrack website.  It allows you to add different grooves to track (in EZPlayer) to build up a complete song or part of a song that you can the drag and drop into your DAW.  Sorry if that wasn’t explained very well.

1

Thanked by: Rod

[Scott]

EZplayer is free when you purchase Superior Drummer 2. It’s not free if you purchase EZdrummer, it’s a separate purchase.

Anyways, I’m not sure I understand the OP’s question. What do you mean by ‘record what EZDrummer is doing’? Do you mean to ‘record when you mouse click on the drums in the EZD interface’? Or do you mean you want to render your MIDI performance to audio?

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Rod]

Thanks for replies. I am not a drummer and don’t know the theory behing playing them. When I select the type of drum-playing on EZ Drummer it plays. I can then change the sound by clicking on “fills” or whatever as it is going along. I want to records exactly that – as I am hearing throught the PC speakers. I have now invested in EZPlayer only to find that it only appears to play parts of the drums sounds (eg kick etc) and I can’t see how to get it sounding like the EZDrummer which is a pity as it has a recording option. I don’t really want to go through a whole track in Cubase adding, copying, pasting, etc etc bits of drum playing on every bar. There must be an nice easy solution here but I can’t see it.

[Dan Maynard]

Hello,
Just to chime in, I use Superior drummer in Cubase 5. Unless you get one of the songwriter packs and even then, I think you have to build the drum track. Anyway that is what I do. I find a basic beat I can use and drag that beat into the Cubase track. Cubase has a repeat function so I usually tell it to repeat that “groove” 100 times. Then I will add another track right below it and when it comes time for a break or fill, I set the cursor there and add the breaks or fills or beat changes. Once this is all done and I am satisfied I delete the straight beats in the original and slide the fills or breaks up into the original. Have to be careful the blocks are the same size.
This works for me and I think the end results are very good. I think a lot of users have a tendency to over think this software and that is not meant to be an insult. It is a tool and like being a brush and paint artist you have to start with the background and paint forward.

I also use the Superior interface although I have EZ drummer, Latin percussion, Nashville EZX, both songwriter packs and the allen morgan presets. These are all available in the SD interface.

Just my $.02 worth.

Just A Simple Guitar Player

[Rogue]

ORIGINAL: mobwort
I have now invested in EZPlayer only to find that it only appears to play parts of the drums sounds (eg kick etc) and I can’t see how to get it sounding like the EZDrummer which is a pity as it has a recording option.

neither of these statements are correct, although I’m unclear what they mean in the first place:

– you can play full grooves as well as, in addition, part grooves in EZplayer
– the recording facility in EZplayer is there so you may ‘fuse’ several tracks into one

all that is covered in the manual, but to cut a long story short, the Arranger in EZplayer pro was designed to simplify somewhat the process of building a drum track and some things are easier to do with it than they would be in Cubase. Others are on the other hand not possible at all (detailed note level editing), but either way you have a build a drum track.

I am still very confused as to what your desired workflow is however. I guess it would be possible to click around in no organized fashion and ‘capture’ that performance in Cubase but I don’t think that would be particularly rewarding, if that is what you meant in any case.

… so no, I think it’s clear by now at least 3 individual don’t see what you mean, to quote your initial post

Rogue Marechal - Toontrack
Configuration Manager

[Rod]

@ dmaynard1  Many thanks for that – that is exactly what I neded to know.

Also thanks for all other replies.

I think the problem has been an incredible naivety on my part. I find the creation of a drum track in my sequencer an absolute nightmare – and have looked around for options. I have a clavinova digital piano with a superb little drum machine on it. You simply select the drum style (options very limited, it’s true), speed, press one of the intro buttons and you’re off! You can then just press variations and fills and even the ending as it goes along. Child’s play! The beauty of this is that when you know the refrain is coming (as one probably would) you can record a pretty reasonable drum track in about 10 to 20 minutes. With a bit of editing in cubase I can get it to sound fairly good in cubase. The only problem with all this (for me) is the serious limitation of rythyms and options. But the basic idea that Yamaha have used is – in my opinion – superbly simple and very user-friendly, albeit aimed at a perhaps less demanding market.

So, having humbled myself low enough to relate the gist of the above to the reseller, he told me that what I needed was EZDrummer (quote: “you can just drag and drop into Cubase”). Those are the kind of words I like – “drag and drop”.  I guess I was a little frustrated when suddenly what I have on my hands is another piece of siftware (sic) which I have now got to find the time to get to grips with etc (anyone know what I mean?), when I was hoping for something that would simplify my life! dmaynard1’s reply above has really answered my query nicely.

However I am left with a slightly heavy heart, a manual to wade through, and the probable second add-on to EZDrummer I have bought in as many days – so this post is for purely cathartic purposes. Humour me, if you can’t empathise.

[Dan Maynard]

Thank you for your nice comments. I forgot to mention, there are some excellent tutorials on you tube for both the toontrack stuff and cubase that are very helpful as well. Visual aids always work better for me than reading something.
You will get it and be able to knock out a good drum track without too much noodling in a short while.

Just A Simple Guitar Player

1

Thanked by: Rod

[Rod]

Nice one, thanks bro.

[Whitten]

Sounds like you are looking to do things on the fly – in realtime – which is something EZdrummer isn’t designed to do.
Honestly it’s not that hard. You just need to spend some time with the manuals (EZdrummer and Cubase). Once you get going things will click in your mind and you’ll never look back.
EZdrummer is based around real drum sounds, played by real drummers, many of them top industry pros.
Hopefully once you get the hang of it you wont want to compare it to a Clavinova drum machine ever again.

1

Thanked by: Rod

[Rod]

Yes quite right! Thanks for your comment. I know you’re right.

[Author]

Replies