Thinking about buying EZD and Superior 2.0

[Rowbi]

Hi

I’ve messed around with EZD before (a friend uses it a lot) but I’m thinking about getting more into creating music, and being a guitarist I need something to create drum backing tracks where I don’t need to play them.

So my thought is to get superior drummer 2 because it sounds ‘superior’.  but here’s what I’m confused about:

I know in EZD you get lots of grooves (which I guess are just midi patterns), and I like that.

Q1: if I get Superior Drummer 2.0 will I get the same midi patterns/groves as you get in EZD, or maybe will I get those + more?

Q3: Superior drummer seems more geared towards v-drum users who would play something live, but I wont do that.  should I just stick with EZD, or will Superior give me more functionality that I am likely to use?  I did notice that EXPlayer Pro comes with SD2, and that looks cool, but when you play midi patterns in EZPlayer Pro it looks like you can select to use EZD or SD2 as the source of the drum sounds, but can you also chop and change the drum kits in SD2 just like you can in EZD, and will those modified kits respond to the EZPlayer midi patterns?

sorry for all the questions, but I’m probably going to buy EZD + an SD2.0 upgrade (it’s cheaper than buying SD2.0  at the moment, so I may as well have both). and then I’m thinking of buying the metal foundry and new york studios pack.

Q4: is there any point getting the EZD expansion pack – drumkit from hell, which I assume I can only use in EZD and not SD2?  or is it much the same as SD2 + the metal foundry?

Q5: are the midi packs here: http://www.toontrack.com/product-category/midipacks/ just groves/midi patterns that can be played in EZPlayer Pro to trigger any of the drum kits that I’ve bought in EZD/SD2 or the add on drum packs??

Q6: I assume the crossgrade from EZDrummer to Superior Drummer 2.0 would mean I can install and use both EZD and SD2?

Thanks, and if the answers I get mean I can do all I want, Toontrack are about to make some money outta me as I’ll probably buy most of the expansion packs.

Thanks

Rowbi
http://www.rowbinet.co.uk

Regards Rowbi www.rowbinet.co.uk

Topic

[Martin]

Hi Rowbi,

thank you for your interest in Toontrack products!

A1: You will get MIDI grooves with Superior Drummer 2.0 as well, but not quite as many as in EZdrummer, and they are not the same grooves as well. The MIDI in Superior Drummer is played by the well renowned session drummer Nir Z (Chris Cornell, Joss Stone, John Mayer, Jason Mraz).

A3 (you missed Q2 ): Superior Drummer 2.0 is not more geared towards V-drums than it is for studio use. The main advantage for V-drum users in Superior is the Mapping settings, where you can map your sounds however you like. EZplayer Pro has a built-in map wrap, which basically maps the MIDI groove according to the drum sampler that you wish to use. Supported sampler mappings at the time of writing are: EZdrummer®, Superior Drummer®, legacy dfh Superior and DFH® 1&2, Strike, Battery, Kontakt, BFD 1&2, Addictive Drums, Reason Drum Kits, SampleTank, Ocean Way Drums, SR DrumMasters, Steven Slate Drums, Drumcore, and of course any GM software or hardware sampler.

A4: You can use DFH EZX within Superior Drummer 2.0. The sounds are not the same as in Metal Foundry, so it’s basically up to you to decide what sound you are looking for. I suggest you check the product pages for the both products to compare sounds. The DFH EZX has more MIDI than The Metal Foundry, but has around 1 GB of sounds compared to 35 GB in Metal Foundry.

A5: The MIDI Packs are MIDI grooves designed for EZdrummer / Superior Drummer and also works with all expansions, since all Toontrack products follows GM Extended Mapping. The MIDI packs will after installation appear in both your EZplayer Pro (if you have one, that is) and your Grooves Window in EZdrumer / Superior Drummer, so they are easily accessable at any time. They do not contain any sounds, but only MIDI, played live by well renowned session drummers. If you wish to use Toontrack MIDI packs with any other company’s drum sampler, you might wanna get EZplayer Pro to easily re-map the MIDI to the corresponding mapping in that particular drum sampler.

A6: The Crossgrade from EZdrummer to Superior Drummer 2.0 is for users that have EZdrummer registered, and want to upgrade to Superior Drummer. With the Crossgrade, they get to so at a discounted price. If you don’t have EZdrummer registered, you can’t use the Crossgrade.

If you have any further questions, we will be here to assist you.

Cheers,

Martin Kristoffersson
Sound Designer

[Rowbi]

thanks for your answers.  it sounds like I can do what I want.
 
just to clarify things.
 
you mention: Supported sampler mappings at the time of writing are: EZdrummer®, Superior Drummer®, legacy dfh Superior and DFH® 1&2, Strike, Battery, Kontakt, BFD 1&2, Addictive Drums, Reason Drum Kits, SampleTank, Ocean Way Drums, SR DrumMasters, Steven Slate Drums, Drumcore, and of course any GM software or hardware sampler.
 
are you saying that I can use reason’s sampler to control EZPlayer Pro?  I’m not sure how that would work and what I could do with it.  can you expand a little as I’m new to Reason at the moment, and I’m still getting used to how it works.
 
Also, on the crossgrade option…. it’s cheaper for me to buy EZDrummer and the Crossgrade for SD2.0 than it is to buy just SD2.0 at my store.  so what I’m getting at is, if I buy EZDrummer and the crossgrade, will I just get my EZDrummer license totally removed and then a SD2 license added to my account?  or will I be able to use both if I want to because I did buy the EZDrummer full version as well as the SD2.0 crossgrade?  I know it sounds daft, but I save £20 that way, and I hope to then be able to use EZDrummer on its own sometimes too as that’s what I’m used to.

Regards Rowbi www.rowbinet.co.uk

[Martin]

Hi,

You can use Toontrack MIDI with Reason drum kits. In most drum samplers the mapping differs, sometimes more, sometimes less. Say for instance that if you would play a Toontrack MIDI groove in another companies sampler, you might get the kick where the snare should be, and the floor tom plays where there instead should have been a crash cymbal. You get the picture. Now, what EZplayer does is re-map your Toontrack MIDI so that it will match with the mapping of your preferred drum sampler, Reason for example.

If you have both EZdrummer and the Crossgrade, you can use both products. The EZdrummer license will not be removed from your account when registering the Crossgrade.

Thanks,

Martin Kristoffersson
Sound Designer

[Rowbi]

ok, I understand about the midi grooves now.

and i like the sound of being able to use EZD and SD2.0.

thanks for your help… now I just need pay day to come around and I’ll be drumming away

Regards Rowbi www.rowbinet.co.uk

[Author]

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