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[Scott]

Do you have Show Webshop MIDI active? If so, this shows all MIDI in every Toontrack library. They may or may not be libraries or MIDI packs you own. If you want to exclude them and only filter the MIDI you own, turn off Show Webshop MIDI.

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

1

Thanked by: Per-Olof Berg

[Scott]

pete woods wrote:

Having bought EZbass last week with its resizable interface and modern look I imagined that any products sold ‘as new’ now would be similar. Having just paid the same price for EZkeys I feel a bit hard done by! Why is a product not changed since 2012 sold for a price that reflects that it is new and up to date? I looked for a refund option but there doesn’t seem to be one. Is this the case?

• This post was modified 4 years, 12 months ago by pete woods.

Once installed, there is no refund option. You can sell it provided you follow the steps in the FAQ below.

https://www.toontrack.com/faq/transfer-of-license-and-multiple-installs-important-information/

BTW, there was a demo for EZkeys (click the Try It button on the product page) so it could be tried before purchased.

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

1

Thanked by: pete woods

[Scott]

pete woods wrote:

Can’t you manage some update where it could be at least resizable overall? Just out of interest – whose brainy idea was it to make it so small in the first place? Wasn’t it questioned from the start? Is that brainbox still working for Toontrack! Otherwise the products are SO good. It’s infuriating! Here’s hoping for good news! W.

Hmmm. Let’s see. EZkeys was originally released in 2012 or 2013. In the time before 3840×2160 resolutions were in every notebook, laptop, and coffee maker screen. Developed using 2012 code that didn’t have a resizable GUI built in that can be just turned on and “bam”…resized.

A resizable GUI would require a rewrite using a different code from the ground up. Probably using the design of the newer Toontrack plugins like S3 and EZbass that use such code.

When will it be released? I have no idea. Toontrack has always kept releases close to the vest and I certainly couldn’t guess when that may happen either.

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

2

Thanked by: KenB123 and pete woods

[Scott]

Tom Martini wrote:

Oh, so the newer version has what was in the one I have? Ok I’ll look into it. Thanks for your help.

That SDX (NY Vol1) isn’t a newer version. It’s a repackage of the original S2 library. Released for those users that never had S2.

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Scott]

S2 contains the NY Volume 1 Avatar SDX sounds and MIDI. Since you can’t purchase an S2 license, if you want the S2 sounds/MIDI you’re best purchasing the NY Vol1 SDX

https://www.toontrack.com/product/new-york-studios-vol-1-sdx/

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Scott]

Not sure what you mean by off beat. Can you post a link to an example of what you are talking about?

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Scott]

Michael Jacob wrote:

Scott wrote:

I’ll add…

Some of this may be expectations for things that are not how EZkeys works. For example, this:

“For example, I want to write in the key of Em (the relative minor of G Major). Em should be the tonic/root. I set the key to Em and drag in Midi from the Library, and all the progressions are in the key of G. Thus, a I-IV-V in Em should be Em-Am-B Major. But I get the chord progressions relative to the G Major scale: G-C-D. The Em is being treated like the vi chord in the key of G, not the I chord (tonic). G is being treated like the root/tonic chord.”

As I stated earlier, if you just drag MIDI from the EZkeys MIDI browser, it will not make a Major chord play minor just because you set the Key Signature to E minor. The MIDI is still unaltered. In your example, the I chord is still the I chord. It doesn’t automatically change to E minor.

Now, that is a basic workflow thing.

Let me explain how I use EZkeys.

I’m a guitar player. I create chord progression on my guitar. I develop them on guitar. When I find something good enough to be a song, I’ll go to EZkeys and go to the Song Track. I’ll click the Add Chord button and manually lay out my song and chord progression. I’ll set the Key to match what I’m doing and my chord progression. I know the feel and groove of the key part I want so now I’ll try using the EZkeys browser. I’ll select, say, the verse chords…click the ‘Use Browser MIDI’ button and start auditioning the MIDI. DOING THIS METHOD WILL MAKE THE EZKEYS BROWSER MIDI FOLLOW MY CHORD PRGRESSION NO MATTER WHAT THE ORIGINAL MIDI WAS. So, if the original MIDI was Major and my chords are minor totality, the EZkeys engine will try to make that happen. It has varying amounts of success. Sometimes is great. Sometimes, because of the way the original MIDI was, it doesn’t work. Then I try something else.

The above is different from the way you are doing it. Selecting your key (Eminor) and the dragging the Browser MIDI to the Song Track. You need to manually add your chords in…click the Use Browser MIDI…and then click through the MIDI.

You may know all of this already but maybe not and it’s a MAJOR (yes, pun intended) workflow application that in my opinion, sets EZkeys apart.

Hey Scott.  THAT is best suggestion I’ve heard yet.  Agreed, it isn’t always perfect, but I was just tinkering with this workflow and it is a bit easier to use than splitting clips and working the chord wheel in some cases.  Thanks for posting this.

Agree. Much easier for me anyway. My songs are mostly pop in genre so I’m not dealing with complex jazz progressions, and I’ve used this workflow on dozens of tracks where hiring a piano player was not in the recording budget and b every client was amazed at the results.

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

1

Thanked by: prafle

[Scott]

I’ll add…

Some of this may be expectations for things that are not how EZkeys works. For example, this:

“For example, I want to write in the key of Em (the relative minor of G Major). Em should be the tonic/root. I set the key to Em and drag in Midi from the Library, and all the progressions are in the key of G. Thus, a I-IV-V in Em should be Em-Am-B Major. But I get the chord progressions relative to the G Major scale: G-C-D. The Em is being treated like the vi chord in the key of G, not the I chord (tonic). G is being treated like the root/tonic chord.”

As I stated earlier, if you just drag MIDI from the EZkeys MIDI browser, it will not make a Major chord play minor just because you set the Key Signature to E minor. The MIDI is still unaltered. In your example, the I chord is still the I chord. It doesn’t automatically change to E minor.

Now, that is a basic workflow thing.

Let me explain how I use EZkeys.

I’m a guitar player. I create chord progression on my guitar. I develop them on guitar. When I find something good enough to be a song, I’ll go to EZkeys and go to the Song Track. I’ll click the Add Chord button and manually lay out my song and chord progression. I’ll set the Key to match what I’m doing and my chord progression. I know the feel and groove of the key part I want so now I’ll try using the EZkeys browser. I’ll select, say, the verse chords…click the ‘Use Browser MIDI’ button and start auditioning the MIDI. DOING THIS METHOD WILL MAKE THE EZKEYS BROWSER MIDI FOLLOW MY CHORD PRGRESSION NO MATTER WHAT THE ORIGINAL MIDI WAS. So, if the original MIDI was Major and my chords are minor totality, the EZkeys engine will try to make that happen. It has varying amounts of success. Sometimes is great. Sometimes, because of the way the original MIDI was, it doesn’t work. Then I try something else.

The above is different from the way you are doing it. Selecting your key (Eminor) and the dragging the Browser MIDI to the Song Track. You need to manually add your chords in…click the Use Browser MIDI…and then click through the MIDI.

You may know all of this already but maybe not and it’s a MAJOR (yes, pun intended) workflow application that in my opinion, sets EZkeys apart.

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

3

Thanked by: prafle, Shootie and Michael Jacob

[Scott]

Billy 86 wrote:

Scott wrote:

In my experience with EZkeys, the thing that I’ve had to understand is that if the original MIDI is say, G major, and you want your song in E minor, simply dragging the MIDI from the Browser to the Song Track will not automatically flat all the 3rds for you and make the original G major progression a minor progression. That would have to be done using the Chord Wheel and manually adjust the chords to your liking.

So, if the original MIDI has a major tonality, it will still have a major tonality when dragged to the Song Track. Personally, I think a new tag should be implemented so you can filter major/minor (or all 7 modes actually) so if I’m writing a sad minor ballad, I won’t have to click through a bunch of Major progressions to find a minor one. Or, adjust a Major progression manually.

Thanks Scott. If not to choose a key for the song, which presupposes a tonal center with accompanying scale architecture based on a transposition, what is the purpose of the Key tool? What should I expect it to do? This what I don’t understand based on what the Operation Manual says about smart transposition. What exactly is that?

Transposition, as far a I understand it, and how I believe the manual understands it, is to change or transpose pitches/chords by a constant interval.

I’ll speak to Major and minor as those are the 2 modes available in EZkeys…

So, from D major to A Major. Or A minor to G minor. However, if the original MIDI is Major tonality and you want it Minor, that isn’t constant interval transposing.

I’m terms of EZkeys, that type of augmentation is accomplished by the Chord Wheel as mentioned before and not done automatically.

That’s just my take on it not being a college music Major in music theory or have studied with learned music theory masters.

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Scott]

Please contact Toontrack directly via the link above and see if they can find a solution for you.

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Scott]

Where did you purchase?

If from the Toontrack Webshop, you’ll need to contact Toontrack Support directly with a copy of the receipt so they can activate. Click the Contact Support button in the FAQ below.

https://www.toontrack.com/faq/how-do-i-contact-support/

If you purchased from a 3rd party retailer, you’ll need to contact them directly

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Scott]

You can sell a Toontrack product (serial number) provided you follow the steps laid out in the FAQ below.

https://www.toontrack.com/faq/transfer-of-license-and-multiple-installs-important-information/

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Scott]

You have created bass MIDI in EZbass standalone? Or created MIDI with EZbass loaded as a VSTi in Studio One?

If the former, I would just select ask the MIDI on the Song Track and drag it to a User MIDI folder in the EZbass  MIDI browser. When you load EZbass as a VSTi in Studio One, the User MIDI will be there.

If the latter, you should be able to drag and drop from the EZbass Song Track to Studio One.

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Scott]

Joseph Teresi wrote:

Ok thank you. By the way, how long does it take for the authorization to drop off?  I’m just curious as I hate to see it being taken up 🙂

 

Joe

Operating system: Windows 10

That I’m not sure of. But if you run out (have used 4 of 4 and need a 5th), let me know and I can manually remove the inactive ones.

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Scott]

In my experience with EZkeys, the thing that I’ve had to understand is that if the original MIDI is say, G major, and you want your song in E minor, simply dragging the MIDI from the Browser to the Song Track will not automatically flat all the 3rds for you and make the original G major progression a minor progression. That would have to be done using the Chord Wheel and manually adjust the chords to your liking.

So, if the original MIDI has a major tonality, it will still have a major tonality when dragged to the Song Track. Personally, I think a new tag should be implemented so you can filter major/minor (or all 7 modes actually) so if I’m writing a sad minor ballad, I won’t have to click through a bunch of Major progressions to find a minor one. Or, adjust a Major progression manually.

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Author]

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