1

[Department of Recording Industry]

Thanks again for your reply, Olof. It appears that I’m the victim of listening to “experts” instead of properly reading the manual regarding the renaming/renumbering of the Midi folder contents. The faculty wanted the packs ordered a certain way (primarily with Superior Drummer at the bottom since they routinely use EZ Drummer with their students) and assured me that the customization method was vendor-approved. So my fault for assuming, and sorry for even hassling you with this issue.

Regarding the Cocktail kit, however, I am unfortunately still dead in the water. I found the Cocktail download easily (thanks!) but I still get the same error after (1) just performing an install and (2) performing an uninstall and install. Please advise when you get a chance.

Many thanks,
Darryl

[Department of Recording Industry]

OK, Olof, I seem to be almost stabilized with the EZD and SD updates on at least 2 computers now. I have one remaining minor issue and an inquiry.

– If it were up to me, I wouldn’t even ask this question, but I’m asking on behalf of the faculty. I am not able to retrieve the Cocktail kit–see attached screenshot specifying that “The ‘Cocktail’ sound library is not working correctly…”. I’d be happy to “install the latest update” but this kit doesn’t show up in Product Manager. If this kit is now obsolete, please advise on complete removal instructions to make sure it’s not only removed from the Libraries drive but also removed from the EZD and SD drop down lists as an available kit.

– Regarding the inquiry, it appears that some renumbering/renaming was done with the MIDI updates for the Add On Packs and Superior Drummer Packs. After I finished all of the updates, I launched EZD2 to perform an ops check and under “Browser”, I found both of these MIDI lists duplicated. The new Superior Drummer Packs were renamed as “0000*” (including the label being called “Superior Libraries”) whereas the previous Superior Packs began with “9999*” and were called “SDX Libraries”. The Add On Packs were simply renumbered from “20*” to numbers beginning with “000088”, but they were duplicated nonetheless. This required me to go into the EZDrummer/Midi folder for additional file maintenance. All of this to say that it appears Product Manager looks for specific naming and numbering schemes to detect the presence of a given MIDI pack and, if this is so, then it also appears that no number/name customizations can be accomplished anymore unless a user chooses to re-accomplish the customization after a given update. Please provide any insight on this issue when you can.

Thanks,
Darryl

[Department of Recording Industry]

OK, this is what finally worked for me:

1. Terminal command sudo defaults write /Users/Shared/Toontrack/Preferences/com.toontrack.superior.auezdrummer.plist SourcePath /Library/Application Support/EZDrummer
– Although not required for the defaults read commands, you have to specify “.plist” as part of the path and file. Additionally, the “/Library/Application Support/EZDrummer” path in quotes didn’t work–I had to specify the path without quotes and add the backslash () to account for the space in Application Support

2. When I applied the Terminal command above, I also noticed that it changed the owner and permissions to root and 600 respectively, so I had to deliberately change the permissions on com.toontrack.superior.auezdrummer.plist to 777.

Now that I’ve got EZDrummer updates working OK, I’m experiencing problems with the Superior Drummer updates, so I’ll start a new topic on that and refer back to this one. Thanks for the assist to date.

[Department of Recording Industry]

Ran defaults commands on both digilab14 and digilab15 with same results–see attached screenshot.

[Department of Recording Industry]

…and here’s the 3rd one.

[Department of Recording Industry]

Not sure why they didn’t post the first time, but here are the first two.

[Department of Recording Industry]

OK, permissions on the /Users/Shared/Toontrack/Preferences folder were in fact specifically set to 755, and the 2.1.1 upgrade ran fine when I changed the permissions recursively to 777 (after removing the EZDrummer alias and launching EZD2 to locate the libraries and establish the plist files). Kind of cumbersome still, but less time-consuming than the full 2.0.2 install. Thanks for the permissions tip, and consider this issue closed.

[Department of Recording Industry]

There was an EZDrummer2 symlink in /Library/Application Support which I suspect was created during the full installation (i.e., I didn’t create the symlink). Anyway, I removed it on 2 workstations, ran EZD in standalone, browsed for the sound libraries when prompted, and witnessed the 3 plist files (com.toontrack.ezdrummerhost.plist being the key file in this instance) being created in ~/Library/Preferences.

However, I still get the same error with the 2.1.1 updater. So at this point, I need to move forward with 13 of the workstations because of student assignments which are coming due soon. If you could continue to investigate the problem for an easier remedy on the other 17 workstations, I would greatly appreciate it.

[Department of Recording Industry]

Yes, I can run the 2.1.1 updater now that I’ve downloaded the full EZdrummer installer (not the updater package), but this isn’t an acceptable answer. EZdrummer 2.0.2 is running fine on all workstations, so it is ridiculous for me to re-run the installer. More so, it is *very” inconvenient and cumbersome to run both 2.0.2 and 2.1.1 installers individually on 30 workstations because Toontrack doesn’t offer an updater.pkg which can be used with Apple Remote Desktop’s Install function. I’m able to copy the .dmg files to the workstations using Apple Remote Desktop, but I nonetheless have to login individually to each workstation to run both. Additionally, the full installer takes considerably more time to run than the 2.0.2 updater (which received the same error as the 2.1.1 updater) so I’m further delayed in my work.

Why can’t we get a 2.1.1 updater that simply works with externally located libraries?

[Department of Recording Industry]

OK, I updated the plist with the SourcePath variable, and verified the entry and proper path name with defaults read and Get Info/ I. I then re-ran the EZD2.0.2 updater package again, and got the same error. I restarted the workstation (which is often necessary with system “defaults” updates) and both EZD2.0.2 and core lib 1.0.2 updater packages ran fine.

Very curious, though, how the SourcePath XML entry disappeared from com.toontrack.superior.auezdrummer.plist. I captured and stored (on my server drive) the entire /Users/Shared/Toontrack/Preferences folder of each workstation (since auth keys are unique) after installing and authorizing EZD2, SD2, kit libraries, MIDI stuff, and Producer Presets. When a user logs in to a workstation, my login script deletes this folder and recreates it from the original captured folder, but I’ve never deliberately modified the contents of these plists. I’ll now have to modify this plist on 29 more workstations and their respective folders on the server drive.

In any case, thanks for the assistance, Olof–have a great evening. Regards, Darryl

[Department of Recording Industry]

Olof, there is no “SourcePath” entry in the XML of my /Users/Shared/Toontrack/Preferences/com.toontrack.superior.auezdrummer.plist nor in the XML of my /Users/Shared/Toontrack/Preferences/com.toontrack.ezdrummer2.plist. In com.toontrack.superior.auezdrummer.plist, I only have tags for all of my sound library serial numbers and authorization codes; e.g. (for Americana only–serial and code #s redacted):

CPKeyExt_EZX_Americana
XXXX-YYYY-ZZZZ-AAAA-BBBB-CCCC-123
SerialNr_EZX_Americana
EXAM-1234-ABCD-5678-EFGH

In com.toontrack.ezdrummer2.plist, there are similar tags for EZD2 and Pop/Rock library serial #s and “TT_AUTH_KEYs”, but again no “SourcePath” (or related) data for /Volumes/Libraries.

There’s a file called app.com.toontrack.ezdrummerhost.playlist residing in 2 subdirectories of my /private/var/db/BootCaches folder, but I can’t figure out how to read them.

Here is an excerpt from my /Users/Shared/Toontrack/Installerlog.log which demonstrates successful execution of previous install packages and proper location of /Volumes/Libraries:

Fri Jun 27 10:09:31 2014: Starting Toontrack Installer, version 1.1.4, build 9268, from /Volumes/TT206_EZdrummer2_Core_Libs_Update/Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/TTInstaller
Fri Jun 27 10:09:31 2014: Reading InstallConfig from Contents/InstallConfig
Fri Jun 27 10:09:31 2014: Adding Name
Fri Jun 27 10:09:31 2014: Adding Description
Fri Jun 27 10:09:31 2014: Adding Option
Fri Jun 27 10:09:42 2014: Updating dir /Volumes/Libraries/EZDrummer
Fri Jun 27 10:09:42 2014: Current version:
Fri Jun 27 10:09:42 2014: Test copy files on path /Volumes/Libraries/EZDrummer
Fri Jun 27 10:09:42 2014: Starting to copy files. Nr Options: 1.
Fri Jun 27 10:09:42 2014: Updating option 0
Fri Jun 27 10:09:42 2014: Nr files in this option: 162
Fri Jun 27 10:09:42 2014: Copy files on path /Volumes/Libraries/EZDrummer
Fri Jun 27 10:09:42 2014: Updating option 0
Fri Jun 27 10:09:42 2014: Nr files in this option: 162
Fri Jun 27 10:10:04 2014:

Fri Jun 27 10:38:14 2014: Starting Toontrack Installer, version 1.1.3, build 9018, from /Volumes/TT112_EZX_Claustrophobic_Update/Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/TTInstaller
Fri Jun 27 10:38:14 2014: Reading InstallConfig from Contents/InstallConfig
Fri Jun 27 10:38:14 2014: Adding Name
Fri Jun 27 10:38:14 2014: Adding Description
Fri Jun 27 10:38:14 2014: Adding Option
Fri Jun 27 10:38:46 2014: Updating dir /Volumes/Libraries/EZDrummer/EZX_Claustrophobic
Fri Jun 27 10:38:46 2014: Current version:
Fri Jun 27 10:38:46 2014: Test copy files on path /Volumes/Libraries/EZDrummer/EZX_Claustrophobic
Fri Jun 27 10:38:46 2014: Starting to copy files. Nr Options: 1.
Fri Jun 27 10:38:46 2014: Updating option 0
Fri Jun 27 10:38:46 2014: Nr files in this option: 11
Fri Jun 27 10:38:46 2014: Copy files on path /Volumes/Libraries/EZDrummer/EZX_Claustrophobic
Fri Jun 27 10:38:46 2014: Updating option 0
Fri Jun 27 10:38:46 2014: Nr files in this option: 11
Fri Jun 27 10:38:49 2014:

Fri Jun 27 10:39:31 2014: Starting Toontrack Installer, version 1.1.3, build 9018, from /Volumes/TT112_EZX_Claustrophobic_MIDI/Installer.app/Contents/MacOS/TTInstaller
Fri Jun 27 10:39:31 2014: Reading InstallConfig from Contents/InstallConfig
Fri Jun 27 10:39:31 2014: Adding Name
Fri Jun 27 10:39:31 2014: Adding Description
Fri Jun 27 10:39:31 2014: Adding Option
Fri Jun 27 10:39:43 2014: Updating dir /Volumes/Libraries/EZDrummer
Fri Jun 27 10:39:43 2014: Current version:
Fri Jun 27 10:39:43 2014: Test copy files on path /Volumes/Libraries/EZDrummer
Fri Jun 27 10:39:43 2014: Starting to copy files. Nr Options: 1.
Fri Jun 27 10:39:43 2014: Updating option 0
Fri Jun 27 10:39:43 2014: Nr files in this option: 616
Fri Jun 27 10:39:43 2014: Copy files on path /Volumes/Libraries/EZDrummer
Fri Jun 27 10:39:43 2014: Removed directory /Volumes/Libraries/EZDrummer/Midi/09@EZX_CLAUSTROPHOBIC
Fri Jun 27 10:39:43 2014: Updating option 0
Fri Jun 27 10:39:43 2014: Nr files in this option: 616
Fri Jun 27 10:39:49 2014:

So in addition to previous installation packages executing properly, EZD2 (as well as SD2) launches and loads all of my available sound libraries fine, and I feel like the main issue–fixing the updater package–is not being properly and timely addressed. Please provide me an EZD2.0.2 updater package that works. Thanks, Darryl

[Department of Recording Industry]

Yes, the soundb0.obw file exists in the /Volumes/Libraries/EXDrummer/EZXP_EZdrummer2_Percussion/Sounds/ folder–I tried to attach a screenshot but the upload function kept giving me “EZDrummer-10282014.png: Error 108 – Could not create user folder” even though the file was a .png and only 1.5 MB.

Anyway, how does the updater program know to search for soundb0.obw in /Volumes/Libraries? The EZDrummer2 app and plugins obviously don’t have a problem finding the sound libraries (see “About” info below), but I don’t see anything in the XML of ~/Library/Preferences/com.toontrack.ezdrummer2.plist or /Users/Shared/Toontrack/Preferences/com.toontrack.ezdrummer2.plist that points to /Volume/Libraries. I didn’t see anything in the application’s package contents either, and I’m unable to read the playlist files contained in /private/var/db/BootCaches.

In any case, the 2.0.2 updater doesn’t allow me to tell it where the EZD sound libraries are, so how can I make that happen? Here are the printed contents from “About EZDrummer”:

EZdrummer plug-in version 2.0.1 (build 9238) [64-bit VST]
Standalone host version 2.0.1 (build 9238)

SOUND LIBRARIES
Americana version 1.0.0
Claustrophobic version 1.5.0
Cocktail version 1.4.0
Drumkit from Hell version 1.5.0
Electronic version 1.5.0
EZdrummer 2 Modern version 1.0.1
EZdrummer 2 Vintage version 1.0.1
Funkmaster Clyde version 1.5.0
Funkmaster Jabo version 1.5.0
Indie Folk version 1.5.1
Indie Folk 4Mic version 1.5.1
Jazz version 1.5.1
Latin Percussion version 1.5.1
Metal Machine version 1.5.1
Metalheads version 1.5.0
Nashville version 1.5.1
Number 1 Hits version 1.5.1
Pop! version 1.5.1
Pop/Rock version 1.5.2
Rock Solid version 1.5.1
Rock! version 1.5.1
The Blues version 1.5.1
The Classic version 1.5.1
The Classic 4Mic version 1.5.1
Twisted Kit version 1.5.1
Vintage Rock version 1.5.1

MIDI LIBRARIES
EZdrummer 1 Demos version 1.0.0
EZdrummer 1 Pop/Rock version 1.5.0
EZdrummer 2 Modern/Vintage version 1.0.0
EZdrummer 2 Percussion version 1.0.0
EZX Americana version 1.0.0
EZX Claustrophobic version 1.5.0
EZX Cocktail version 1.4.0
EZX Drumkit from Hell Guests version 1.5.0
EZX Drumkit from Hell version 1.5.0
EZX Electronic version 1.5.0
EZX Funkmasters version 1.5.0
EZX Indie Folk version 1.5.0
EZX Jazz version 1.5.0
EZX Latin Percussion version 1.5.1
EZX Metal Machine version 1.5.0
EZX Metalheads version 1.5.0
EZX Nashville version 1.5.0
EZX Number 1 Hits version 1.5.0
EZX Pop! version 1.5.0
EZX Rock Solid version 1.5.0
EZX Rock! version 1.5.0
EZX The Blues version 1.5.0
EZX The Classic version 1.5.0
EZX Twisted Kit version 1.5.0
EZX Vintage Rock version 1.5.0

I believe I’ve demonstrated that V 2.0.1 is operating fine on my workstation, so please correct the updater to accommodate external sound library paths. Thanks, Darryl

[Department of Recording Industry]

Yes, EZD2 finds all of our libraries fine. But we are having problems with EZD2 crashing Pro Tools when PT prefs have been reset (which is performed *every* time a student logs in to our lab workstations), and your web site states that V 2.0.2 fixes some “memory leak” problems.

In any case, I try to keep our software and libraries current, and I shouldn’t be having any problems running an update that Toontrack advertises as “available”. Please fix the updater package as soon as possible.

Thanks,
Darryl

[Department of Recording Industry]

Thanks, Damian. I was able to get the second workstation going by reinstalling EZD2 and re-authorizing. From there, Superior Drummer and all of the EZX/SDX libraries authorized fine against the imaged main drive (i.e., “Macintosh HD”) and the sound library drive. So I think I’m going to simply uninstall/reinstall the EZD2 app from my baseline machine without authorizing and re-image the main drive. Thanks for the recommendation and swift reply–I’ll keep you posted. Blessings, Darryl

[Department of Recording Industry]

Damian, thanks again for your replies and continued patience in this matter. I believe one key aspect of this thread has been lost in the discussion: I am installing EZ Drummer 2 on *brand new computers*. My EZ Drummer 1 installation was performed on the “older computers” to which I referred in my previous reply. This is why I’ve been adamant about copying my “Sound” library folder from the old computers’ library drives to the new computers’ library drives, based particularly on your insistence to not discard the legacy Pop/Rock sound library (which is contained within the stated “Sounds” folder).

I tested the claim in your #3 reply above regarding authorization of the new Pop/Rock library with an EZD1 serial number, and it is invalid–see attached screenshot which demonstrates EZ Drummer’s rejection of the “EZ12” serial number. As you recommended, I tested this by performing “a fresh install of EZdrummer 2 and the Pop/Rock EZX” on a completely brand new iMac. Of note, only “EXPR” serial numbers appear in the “Registered to your account” serial drop-down menus even though I have several “EZ12” serial numbers registered.

As previously tested and reported, the only way that I can get the EZD1 serial numbers to be accepted is to copy my “Sounds” folder from an older computer’s sound library drive and authorize the Pop/Rock library *before* installing the new Pop/Rock sound library and its update. However, I am trying to create a library image that I will be copying (actually “restoring”) to 29 other lab iMacs. Given the current situation, I would have to leave the new Pop/Rock sound library uninstalled on the image, and then go through the process of (1) copying the legacy “Sounds” folder containing the legacy Pop/Rock library to the new library hard drive, (2) authorizing the legacy Pop/Rock library with the EZD1 serial number, and (3) installing/updating the new Pop/Rock sound library on all 29 remaining iMacs.

I’ve reconciled the necessity to go through the extensive authorization process for each EZD and Superior Drummer package and sound libraries on these new computers in order for our students to greatly benefit from this massive drum arsenal, but I believe this additional installation and authorization process for the Pop/Rock library is going too far and degrades my ability to have an accurate installation/restoration capability. Is it possible to generate new EXPR serial numbers from my current EZ12 serial numbers? Or can you fix the online authorization app to accept the EZ12 serial numbers for the Pop/Rock library? Either of those approaches seem like reasonable requests and practical resolutions to this scenario. Please advise soonest.

Also, can you please clarify the authorization process for Producer Presets? I registered and installed several of these yesterday and was able to access them in Superior Drummer without authorization. There also doesn’t appear to be a means to authorize them using the My Products page.

Many thanks,
Darryl

[Author]

Replies