Johnbee1
Participant
Topics Started: 33
Replies Created: 40
Has Thanked: 4
Been Thanked: 6
Johnbee1
- Hi. I think that if you drag your file directly to the chords section of the song track the chords will show up.
I don’t know why it didn’t work the first time I tried it but it did now. The first time all I got was the MIDI.
Thanks, Marco!
John B.
Johnbee1BEST ANSWER
Hey John,
The easiest way to do that would be to save the standalone project via the File menu > Save Project. Then load that .ezk2p project via the file menu in the EZkeys 2 plug-in that you have loaded in Cakewalk.
Hey John,
The easiest way to do that would be to save the standalone project via the File menu > Save Project. Then load that .ezk2p project via the file menu in the EZkeys 2 plug-in that you have loaded in Cakewalk.
Yes. That works. Thanks so much, Petter.
John B
Johnbee1Hey!! So glad to finally see this is happening! I’ve been waiting YEARS!!
Question: Will EZ Keys 2 take over EZ Keys 1 or will we be able to still access EZ Keys 1 when we upgrade? Reason I ask is there are so many new features in this and I like the idea of MIGRATING to a new version instead of getting a whole new learning curve thrown at me at once in order to even use the older features.
Thanks
John B
Johnbee1Hi!
Just wondering if anything has been worked out yet.
John B
1
Thanked by: peter freiJohnbee1Hi,
could you please specify which grooves you are using? Do you have Time Signature changes on the Song Track? The Song Track is set to 12/8 where you are trying to drop the fill, right?
BR,
John
Hi John.
The pattern in question is in MIDI Pack-Blues/12/8 (Songs)/Slow Blues 92 BPM/Cymbals/Variation #2 (but I think 1,3 &4 are also off). I DO have the time signature grid set for 12/8 not only in the EZD sequencer but also in my Cakewalk sequencer. I use 1 open bar before starting, so I start the clip at bar 2. The pattern starts playing about a half beat late. I can correct it by manually zooming in very close and using the scissor tool, but even this I have to do twice. This is the same in either EZ Drummer 3 or 2. It seems wrong and counterproductive to have to do this much editing in a program that implies being EZ, because if I want to use fills it becomes more complicated in laying them in too. It seems like a bug to me or perhaps a misplaced/timed sample. There is another 12/8 pattern in the Eighties Pop Grooves pack and it falls easily onto the beat there. I’ve used that as an alternative but I thought maybe I should bring this error to your attention so you can fix it for those who choose to use the Blues patterns.
John B
Johnbee1Zoom in more in EZ’s Song Track before placing it may work.
Thanks for the suggestion. I can make it work but it’s so much more extra work that it’s not worth it. It’s almost impossible to lay in fills this way. Why can’t they just make it so it lines up the way it’s supposed to? Editing this much is not conducive to the “EZ” name. Perhaps I should contact their tech support and point out that there’s a defect or bug in these patterns. I tried 12/8 patterns from other MIDI pack genres and they line up fine.
John B
1
Thanked by: peter freiJohnbee1I figured it out!!
The problem is in the MAPPING!! I wanted to use crash cymbal 2 and in the EZD2 interface the note is named as D2 for the choked crash, but on my system (Cakewalk) it is actually D4. When I moved the MIDI note to D4 it choked the crash cymbal 2. So, now that I got this project squared away on how I want it, I can go back to some of the past projects and do the same.
Thanks all so much for your help.
John B
Johnbee1Shootie & Jon-Thanks. Yes, if I audition the sound in the Details/Articulation I hear the sound I want, but when I draw those notes into the editor or move from the sustained crash note to the choked crash note, it doesn’t.
I’m going to try Shooties suggestion about the Edit Play Style in the EZD2 track.
Toontrack, if you’re looking in, this should be a lot easier than it is. For some people (like me) it’s disgustingly difficult. It should just be a matter of the right note on the right grid on the MIDI editor. Maybe that’s how easy it really is, but for some reason, it’s not working for me.
John B
Johnbee1I usually write the chords first and then write the melody on top of that progression, so it’s hard for me to imagine having a melody without chords. If I were in your predicament I guess I would chart out the melody you have as best I could and try to figure out what key it’s in, then experiment with different chord structures and articulations. You might come up with some interesting combinations. Leave your mind open to anything and don’t tie yourself down to one particular style. Your melody might adapt to several different styles.
John B.
1
Thanked by: James FordJohnbee1can you not uninstall them via Product Manager?
I don’t see anything to do that on the Product Manager
Johnbee1I really wonder how much and what kind of “Forensic analysis” was used in determining that either the above mentioned Robin Thicke song or the Ed Sheeran song constituted copyright infringement in either Marvin Gaye song they were associated with. Yeah, the Thicke song has a similar beat and the Sheeran song has, for the most part, a very similar chord movement, but to imply that Thicke or Sheeran violated copyright is ludicrous. Beato knows music theory and in the video does a great job of “surgically” examining each song in question down to the beat. Too bad they didn’t use him as a “professional” witness for the defendants.
If we go by that kind of similarity alone, then indeed every song has been written and every songwriter who makes any substantial income off of a song had better be prepared to get nailed by the likes of organizations similar to the Marvin Gaye estate. This could effectively destroy the potential for any kind of further growth and creativity in the music industry. It’s sad.
John B
Johnbee1Too many Johns around here. You’ve taken notice to that too! LOL.
Thank you John R for pointing out in your last sentence about users not being able to litigate against each other for using Toontrack loops. I’ve always trusted Toontrack on this. It’s the other users I had some doubt about. But I’m glad you made that clear. My concerns are not so much the loop issue, but what is going down and what is setting precedent in copyright laws, especially with the Marvin Gaye/Robin Thicke/Ed Sheeran lawsuits. I encourage anybody who makes music, whether they use Toontrack products or not to check out Beato’s video mentioned above “Has Every Song Been Written?” Rick raises some good questions about these issues that should concern every songwriter, amateur or pro. As I said, I hope Thicke and Sheeran appeal these judgements against them for not only their sake, but the sake of every music maker on the planet. What would be nice is to have judges that are more educated in music as it applies to copyright laws and being able to know what they should be looking for when presiding over a copyright infringement case. A lot of them are probably tone deaf and can’t distinguish one note from another, or don’t know the difference between a beat and a melody.
Where the heck are the emodicons?
JB
Johnbee1You know, I remember right before I bought EZ Drummer 1.0 about 9 or 10 years ago, I saw a commercial for it on YouTube by a professional. That commercial no longer exists but he said that (paraphraising) “These loops are completely royalty free and you are free to use them for anything. Even professional songwriters are using this product IN THEIR PRODUCTIONS”. I took that to mean that people were making records and selling them with the loops and they didn’t have to pay Toontrack any royalties or cut them in on any deal. Now, as I said, this particular commercial is no longer up on YT but there are are others by Rikk Currence on Toontrack products. I don’t remember off hand whether he went too much into this issue but I kind of remember him saying something about they are royalty free and the users can use whatever, whenever just so long as we don’t try to sell the RAW LOOPS in the form of a library, which is understandable.
This didn’t become an issue until Marvin Gaye’s co writer started taking Thicke and Sheehan to court. I remember when all you could copyright was lyrics and melody. Chord progressions were not covered, neither was arrangement. If we think hard enough I’m sure any one of us can think of at least one or two songs that have the same chord progression. Rick Beato, on YouTube recently published a video he called “Has Every Song Been Written”? and it addresses these particular lawsuits. If this is the case, then perhaps we hobbyists had better find an new one and even the pros might want to change their profession. It’s getting scary.
I sincerely hope that Thicke and Sheeran appeal these judgements against them.
John B
Johnbee1John
I’m so glad you responded this way. I almost forgot that I started this thread. I try not to use the patterns as is. I try to come up with my own chord progressions. I recently bought a product called Scaler by Plugin Boutique and there are some very sexy voicings in there. So I’ll use Scaler for the progressions and feed them into EZ Keys and play around with the articulations. Frequently I have to go in and edit the patterns to make them fit the elements of the chords I’m using. Then I do a little “shopping around” the patterns and chop up the articulations measure by measure and do a “mix and match” on them from different varieties of the EZ Keys patterns I have. I’ve come up with some very interesting combinations. This is how I try to assure it becomes my own creation. I admit I’ve done a handful of songs using the EZ Keys and EZ Drummer patterns “as is”, and I managed to make some fairly good tunes out of them, but when I listen to them I don’t get as much satisfaction from them because it feels more like I’ve co-written them in that the backgrounds have been pre written and all I did was contribute the lyrics and melodies. Some of these pre sets are so great that it’s hard to resist the temptation to just use them as is, but I’m afraid that someday I might hear a song playing somewhere with the same background one of mine has. It’s great though, that Toontrack programmed these patterns with the ability to edit them in such a way as one can customize the patterns. These are great products and I can’t help but think that possibly even some of the Masters might have used these tool if they were alive and composing today.
John B
Johnbee1Yeah, I know people on our level of music (income?) have no real reason to worry. It’s just a question of artistic integrity.
JB
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