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[Jay Coover]

ORIGINAL: jerjabs

Maybe, I need to see first hand what the sample styles are. The one used in the promo video is more of a Bob Segar / George Thorogood, Midwest, American bar rock vibe. I wouldn’t get much use from that. I have done a nice song using the standard EZK, and again for what it does well, it does very well. 🙂

I use Superior Drummer all the time and it still amazes me. There are 12 new songs with variations in the new pack. I need to hear them first before I’ll plunk down any more $$$$$.

I will be filled with sadness if any of the twelve are carbon copies of popular hits everybody knows. Useless for song writers.

I hear The Rolling Stones on that one.

I’m not trying to be an ass, but maybe this type of thing just isn’t for you. I could go into detail, but it would sound like I have something personal against you. I don’t.

SD 2.3 NY vol 2/Metal Foundry/C & V/Roots 1 & 2/Music City Latin Percussion/Funkmasters/The Classic/Jazz/Pop!/#1 Hits/Electronic/Twisted/Claustrophobic EZKeys 1.1 with all the trimmings

[Jay Coover]

EDIT: replacing my original post here as I have done some research on this and checked it with a tuner.

In short, it looks to me to be a perfectly stretch tuned piano by all measurements. Sounds great to my ears.

SD 2.3 NY vol 2/Metal Foundry/C & V/Roots 1 & 2/Music City Latin Percussion/Funkmasters/The Classic/Jazz/Pop!/#1 Hits/Electronic/Twisted/Claustrophobic EZKeys 1.1 with all the trimmings

[Jay Coover]

ORIGINAL: jerjabs
John, EZK is not a bad product, it’s just under par with the rest of TT products.

Some of us disagree. Look at the progression:
1. Drumkit from Hell
2. DFH Superior
3. EZDrummer
4. Superior Drummer 2

Toontrack has utilized much of what they have already learned to create something completely new. There is no precedent for EZKeys from any company. It’s a version 1 product and it has much of the maturity of something on par with EZDrummer, which is essentially a version 3 product for Toontrack, and has the added benefit of having had years for add-ons to be developed.

EZKeys is pretty damned cool.

SD 2.3 NY vol 2/Metal Foundry/C & V/Roots 1 & 2/Music City Latin Percussion/Funkmasters/The Classic/Jazz/Pop!/#1 Hits/Electronic/Twisted/Claustrophobic EZKeys 1.1 with all the trimmings

[Jay Coover]

Here’s a tip. Go to audiodeluxe.com and get EZKeys. Once you get it in your basket it will show as $115 US. Come back to toontrack and get the MIDI add-on for $30 US. You’ve just spent $145.

5 bucks less than you can get EZKeys alone for anywhere else.

Buy yourself a cheap bottle of wine and stop the whining. (I’m cheap too) Mostly those complaining seem to want EZKeys to write complete songs for them without doing any MIDI editing. An exaggeration, but not far off. It will improve, but is a great version 1.0.

Cheers,
me

SD 2.3 NY vol 2/Metal Foundry/C & V/Roots 1 & 2/Music City Latin Percussion/Funkmasters/The Classic/Jazz/Pop!/#1 Hits/Electronic/Twisted/Claustrophobic EZKeys 1.1 with all the trimmings

[Jay Coover]

It sounds like your real problem might be that you don’t have the exact kick patterns that you want.

I would work on finding something close, then editing the kicks in your host. Cut/paste, carry on…

SD 2.3 NY vol 2/Metal Foundry/C & V/Roots 1 & 2/Music City Latin Percussion/Funkmasters/The Classic/Jazz/Pop!/#1 Hits/Electronic/Twisted/Claustrophobic EZKeys 1.1 with all the trimmings

[Jay Coover]

video tut: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-846998225868834934#=

tutorial 2: http://www.gatortraks.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=bc5bf0ec4a19147463ea7dbb275643fb&topic=26.msg1267#msg1267

At the bottom of this page:
https://www.toontrack.com/downloads.asp

Go to EZDrummer>Host Stuff> Sonar>Drum maps

SD 2.3 NY vol 2/Metal Foundry/C & V/Roots 1 & 2/Music City Latin Percussion/Funkmasters/The Classic/Jazz/Pop!/#1 Hits/Electronic/Twisted/Claustrophobic EZKeys 1.1 with all the trimmings

[Jay Coover]

My turn sticking my neck out here so…
After checking,even your big fills never get to 127 in Classic not that its negative at all but if it is rightly reserved for climaxes why are they not really there somewhere ??.

I’m actually OK with this. That’s what the volume knob in Superior is for. If the MIDI drummer plays at 127 you’ve got flat dynamics. If you leave a little room you can have dynamics, plus the ability to max out the velocities with the volume knob if you so wish.

Now that doesn’t mean play like a wimp. For this punk library that Chris has promised us he will have to channel some attitude. It won’t be like playing with Sir Paul.

…which reminds me, back to the concept of very simple rock beats. We have a lot of fairly complex stuff in the MIDI packs with a lot of finesse, but for the majority of pop songwriters out there, the really simple stuff with pure feel is the bread and butter. I feel that Ringo is under-represented, other than the base EZDrummer library. Even that MIDI library includes many kick patterns that I feel I would never find a place for and their inclusions comes at the expense of ignoring variations on the more basic stuff. Think different 8th note hi-hat variations, more than switching up the kick or playing 1/4 note hi-hats. Who uses 1/4 note hi-hats on a rock beat? That’s just wrong.

There are probably less than 10 kick patterns that are completely bread and butter rock and roll. There are infinite variations on the feel of the stuff that happens over the top of those.

SD 2.3 NY vol 2/Metal Foundry/C & V/Roots 1 & 2/Music City Latin Percussion/Funkmasters/The Classic/Jazz/Pop!/#1 Hits/Electronic/Twisted/Claustrophobic EZKeys 1.1 with all the trimmings

[Jay Coover]

ORIGINAL: Whitten
Anyway, I was jesting. I would love to do a punk EZX, and I appreciate you guys would like to see a punk/edgey EZX from some younger than me, well known drummer from that genre. If I could make it so, I would.

Do it! Don’t care what your age is.

You’d think that of all the things that TT releases, the drum MIDI packs would have to be the least labor-intensive for them…not necessarily for you. I mean, you’ve certainly got a MIDI kit set up at home right?

Make it so!

SD 2.3 NY vol 2/Metal Foundry/C & V/Roots 1 & 2/Music City Latin Percussion/Funkmasters/The Classic/Jazz/Pop!/#1 Hits/Electronic/Twisted/Claustrophobic EZKeys 1.1 with all the trimmings

[Jay Coover]

Sorry, getting lost here. I’ll try and not create an argument where none was intended if you’ll do the same. Peace.

Did I pick a poor smiley?

SD 2.3 NY vol 2/Metal Foundry/C & V/Roots 1 & 2/Music City Latin Percussion/Funkmasters/The Classic/Jazz/Pop!/#1 Hits/Electronic/Twisted/Claustrophobic EZKeys 1.1 with all the trimmings

[Jay Coover]

Ah, the velocity knob in Superior goes to 11 though.

SD 2.3 NY vol 2/Metal Foundry/C & V/Roots 1 & 2/Music City Latin Percussion/Funkmasters/The Classic/Jazz/Pop!/#1 Hits/Electronic/Twisted/Claustrophobic EZKeys 1.1 with all the trimmings

[Jay Coover]

ORIGINAL: juicy
Dont say your a hard hitter we have your midi and there are no hits at 127 on all your Classic Midi

And so you are getting silence on velocity 127 for The Classic? W.T.F.?

(you’re joking)

SD 2.3 NY vol 2/Metal Foundry/C & V/Roots 1 & 2/Music City Latin Percussion/Funkmasters/The Classic/Jazz/Pop!/#1 Hits/Electronic/Twisted/Claustrophobic EZKeys 1.1 with all the trimmings

[Jay Coover]

Thanks Chris. I stand corrected.

Make us a Punk MIDI pack damnit. Don’t get fancy either.

Oh, and I want 4, 8, even 16 bar phrases. 2 bar phrases end up a little one dimensional compared to a longer loop.

AND, I want it now.

Got it?

SD 2.3 NY vol 2/Metal Foundry/C & V/Roots 1 & 2/Music City Latin Percussion/Funkmasters/The Classic/Jazz/Pop!/#1 Hits/Electronic/Twisted/Claustrophobic EZKeys 1.1 with all the trimmings

[Jay Coover]

Curious…rock and punk intersect so much especially at the drum level.

What artists would you want to get drums sounds similar to? Seems like between Americana and The Classic (your sig) you should be able to coax some punk. Just because a punk drummer wasn’t sitting behind the kit when it was recorded doesn’t mean there isn’t a full velocity smack of every piece in there.

Beats are usually a little simpler, more uptempo typically. Fills are usually very straight forward. Depends on who you’re talking about.

Would a Punk MIDI pack be adequate or do you need the whole deal?

I would also like some more simple rock beats. I love the stuff on the base EZPlayer install for the most part, but I’d love to have more variations, more interprations, different drummers performaing that basic boom-chick thing and a few simple deviations. For instance, not sure where I’d find your basic 16th note machine gun snare fill in my MIDI collection. That’s kind of wrong.

SD 2.3 NY vol 2/Metal Foundry/C & V/Roots 1 & 2/Music City Latin Percussion/Funkmasters/The Classic/Jazz/Pop!/#1 Hits/Electronic/Twisted/Claustrophobic EZKeys 1.1 with all the trimmings

[Jay Coover]

ORIGINAL: VOLiTiAN
Not entirely sure where you’re getting your opinions from

Ummm…me?

but there are a good few other manufacturers/developers who offer this same functionality

Name one.

and like with all samplers, the library can be read pretty much universally (and *that* is Kontakts strong point, the libraries),

Name one that can read a keyswitched, scripted Kontakt library, *that* is its strength.

however to make the use of the specialist features, scripts etc still have to be written – bespoke – to see any of those benefits, as it would do with any sampler.

Anything that can compete with the features of Kontakt is proprietary. Superior, Play, Spectrasonics, VSL, all fine, but *I* can’t create a sample library for them. Kontakt is open, so the comparisons are moot.

The fact is you could easily replace most NI products (massive equivalents would be U-he Diva, Cakewalk Rapture, Dmitry Sches Diversion, Future Audio Workshop Circle etc etc), and especially in this instance as superior was designed for programming drums etc, whereas Kontakt clearly was never designed for this as it’s sole purpose and anyway who disagree’s clearly hasn’t used Kontakt extensively, in fact I’d have to say “at all” 🙂

I use Kontakt extensively, since v1. I’ve written several Kontakt scripts. Google me. “Jay Coover” “fizbin”. I did the legatos for Westgate Studio. In the pantheon of Kontakt programmers, I am a lightweight, but to suggest that I am somehow confused between the features of Superior and Kontakt would be wrong. I appreciate what both Kontakt and Superior can do, and have never been bothered with comparing them as I’m very happy with both of them. IMO, they don’t compete, though I think Kontakt does a fine job with drums, aside from a few specialized things that Superior is capable of. I’d wager that most of the specialized stuff could be scripted in though.

Also are these pre-processed? It might be explain why you’re hearing the kit pieces sounding “better” than other sample sets….

Was this directed at me? I was quoted above it, but I don’t recall suggesting this.

Would still be nice to *sample* our own custom kit pieces and use them alongside/inside a TT kit to be able to put in the same room etc, but still managed by the SD interface….

That would be cool.

SD 2.3 NY vol 2/Metal Foundry/C & V/Roots 1 & 2/Music City Latin Percussion/Funkmasters/The Classic/Jazz/Pop!/#1 Hits/Electronic/Twisted/Claustrophobic EZKeys 1.1 with all the trimmings

[Jay Coover]

Oye como va
mi ritmo

SD 2.3 NY vol 2/Metal Foundry/C & V/Roots 1 & 2/Music City Latin Percussion/Funkmasters/The Classic/Jazz/Pop!/#1 Hits/Electronic/Twisted/Claustrophobic EZKeys 1.1 with all the trimmings

[Author]

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