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[Steve McNamara]

Robert Shaplo wrote:

For myself I write mostly Prog Rock (Yes, ELP, Rush, King Crimson, Floyd, ect) and EZKeys can not produce the ideas I have in my mind, and I knew that going in. So why did I purchase it… it is, with it’s Circle of Fifths to me an outstanding learning and writing tool . One can actually hear how chord progressions fit together. (how does that dim7 sound resolving back to the I chord). Or, want to solo over Lydian, Dorian, Phrygian ? ….set your progression and play away. Tritone Chord Substitution ? …No problem. Not to mention most of the sounds are very well done.

That’s a great selection of artists to have as influences as you compose, and one thing I’ve tried in the past is to find online midi of, e.g., a prog rock piano or organ/synth part of a song, bring it into EZKeys, choose a key and then use “randomize chords” to change things all around.  You can get some fantastic prog chord progressions.  Or input a large blocks of the same chord and use “randomize” as well.  Then use midi packs (such as the 70s Prog Midi) to begin fashioning different styles.

If this helps, great.

Steve

[Steve McNamara]

That’s a great idea and I think it’s currently available, though not in a single drag.  Instead, you can drag the EZK clips into a Studio One instrument track, and then drag directly to the Chord track (which I’ve done).  However, I’ve noticed that sometimes the chord from EZK and the Chord track are not the same (e.g., an A minor [something, such as 6th] will be labeled an F [something] — theory isn’t my strong point :-).  But it happens.

[Steve McNamara]

If you ever get a letter from an attorney demanding you cease using a loop from any Toontrack product based on alleged copyright grounds, you can either toss or frame it once you stop laughing.  No right of exclusivity passes to someone purchasing a Toontrack midi loop.

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Thanked by: Raynaldo Martine

[Steve McNamara]

No one gets “dibs” for copyright or other purposes.  Everyone can use it as much as they want for original work.

[Steve McNamara]

Jeff:

Thanks for writing, and sorry to say it’s not available (in fact, none of the three are).  I hadn’t thought to update this thread.  Good luck finding a resale copy.

[Steve McNamara]

What I would most like to see is a button on the main interface for “original key” similar to “original tempo”.  The “key” choice is currently buried under the menu | browser drop-down button, AND selecting that option doesn’t disclose what the original key is (as far as I can tell).  Having that information right on the main screen would be extremely useful, along with the ability to have the major/minor key selector at the bottom automatically change to the original key of the verse, chorus, etc.

Thank you,

[Steve McNamara]

I generally check the app at least once a week when I hook my studio computer to the internet, so I found out about updates that way, but I also say I don’t recall ever getting an email about an update.

Steve

[Steve McNamara]

Phil:

This is great work, and not just the drums. The entire track from composition to arranging to mixing/mastering, sounds first-rate. I then dug a bit and saw your commercial experience and realized it would be absurd to suggest I we collaborate . Best of luck,

Steve

[Steve McNamara]

@Michael Mockley said:
Hello Toontrack,
When I first saw the release of “Arena Rock” I thought of names like Rush, Dream Theater, Queensryche to name a few.
Although so far Arena Rock is a really good pack, the names of Springsteen & Bon Jovi just don’t come to my mind.
It would be awesome to publish some drum midi from the great power/technical drummers like Neil Peart, Mike Mangini and others that are true Legends of Rock Drumming.
I imagine its not condusive to the standard songwriting grooves that many people want but personally, that is the style and groove which I write and play. I have searched the Internet for those types of midi loops and there is nothing close to that style available.

Thank you so much for the awesome products you have created. They fuel my creativity and desire to play music every single day.  

Michael:

I had the same thought when I saw “Arena” in the title — Springsteen is not what came to mind. Neal P., Mangini, Portnoy (!) would all be great, but I think you hit a nail on the head about that type of MIDI track not being in the mainstream that a for-profit company like TT has to keep in mind. Having said that, I’ve found it useful to locate progressive rock MIDI tracks and pull out the drum parts, and then work with them to create prog rock and hard rock tracks. YMMV . Good luck.

Steve

[Steve McNamara]

@onewayout_1 said:
First go to your product manager and uninstall ezx delete from computer…. then contact TT https://www.toontrack.com/faq/transfer-of-license-and-multiple-installs-important-information/

If you have the classics ezx lemme know (-:  

Thanks for the information — I hadn’t dug deep enough into TT’s website to see that. I DO have The Classic EZX but hadn’t given thought to selling it or any specific ones until now — I was just intrigued by the original post. I’ll consider selling it but want to give a listen to it again later today. I have SD3 and find I’m using its drums mostly. Update your response here if you’re still interested or looking for others; I have a lot of EZX’s.

[Steve McNamara]

I was thinking of selling some EZX’s when I updated to SD3, but I don’t get how this can happen with all my products linked to “My Account” by their Serial Number. Does TT allow the transfer of the Serial Number? And does the EZX then just disappear from the seller’s (my) account? Thanks,

Steve

[Steve McNamara]

@Henrik said:

@Steve McNamara said:
Regarding the Song Track, I can understand that an existing blank space should remain if a new block is inserted, but what I’m describing actually creates a new blank space, such that if two four-bar blocks are switched, what results is 12 bars with the new blank space created where one of the blocks used to be.

This is because the blocks doesn’t switch places. The block you drag away will leave an empty space where it use to be, and when you place it on bar 1 (for example), the rest of the blocks (including the newly created blank space) will be pushed right.

@Steve McNamara said:
If anything, could TT at least allow the choice to use Original Key be a “sticky” in the menu — meaning if I click it and then close the program, the default to C Major has returned when I next used EZ Keys — unlike other items in the Menu, which retain their checkmark.

I will have a look at this. I agree that if you always want start EZkeys with Original Key enabled, you should be able to do that!

Thanks for the feedback 🙂  

Henrik:

Thanks for taking the time to continue responding to this thread. As for the first part, about switching blocks, there are times switching is exactly what I want to do, with blocks that are the same size (it can create interesting variations within a verse, e.g.), so there is no reason to create the blank space. I sense this is not an issue at the top of TT’s priority list but hope it will reconsider the default behavior.

As for the “original key”, having discovered that sub-sub-menu item, I have found that Variations I kind of skipped over because they didn’t sound quite right (e.g., way too high in the default key of C) sound somewhat compelling in the original key. Just another feature that would put Toontrack far ahead of the competition!

I hope you have a nice weekend.

Steve

[Steve McNamara]

A quick update to this question:

If adding an Original Key button is not going to happen, how about adding something “(G)” or “Eb)” to the title of each song group within a MIDI pack, next to the tempo information. It’s a small bit of work upfront to update the various packs, but it would be very helpful information to know the original key in which the tracks were written/recorded (since TT has gone to the trouble of not having everything in the key of C major to start with), it seems worthwhile.

Thanks,

Steve

[Steve McNamara]

@Henrik said:
This is to keep the song track working in one way all the time – when you drop a MIDI file somewhere, all the following blocks (including blank spaces) are shuffled right as much as needed to fit the dragged block.
This may not be optimal in all cases, but we let consistency win to keep it simple – always move the blocks in the same way.

Regarding the Original Key button suggestion. We thought of that early in the development stage of EZkeys, but we decided to put in the menu since we figured that this will be a less used feature than the Original Tempo function. Most people can hear the difference between two different tempos, but relatively few can tell the difference between a song in A or C – for example, or atleast think that one sounds better than the other.  

Regarding the Song Track, I can understand that an existing blank space should remain if a new block is inserted, but what I’m describing actually creates a new blank space, such that if two four-bar blocks are switched, what results is 12 bars with the new blank space created where one of the blocks used to be. A true switch would be just 8 bars long. And this default behavior actually changes the length of the Song Track, so it no longer lines up with the rest of the song. I appreciate you taking the time to respond but still do not understand why this is the default.

As for the Original Key button, good to hear it was considered, It might be a less used feature since it’s actually buried pretty deep in the menu. Having discovered it I’ve noticed what an actual sonic difference it makes to hear the MIDI in its original key. If anything, could TT at least allow the choice to use Original Key be a “sticky” in the menu — meaning if I click it and then close the program, the default to C Major has returned when I next used EZ Keys — unlike other items in the Menu, which retain their checkmark. But, first and foremost, I’m still pushing for an Original Key button. It frankly seems it wouldn’t be hard to put it right next to the Original Tempo one (from a coding perspective).

Thanks for your time and consideration.

Steve

[Steve McNamara]

@Henrik said:
1. We noticed a different behaviour when using drum MIDI – small MIDI grooves are often dragged to the track where replace is needed. For example dragging down a 1 bar fill to the end of a verse – overwriting is more useful in those cases. But we have gotten some requests to have an option that it sometimes should move the blocks, like EZkeys (make it optional). We have taken notes of this in our todo-list for the future!

2. You can zoom with the mouse scroll wheel, but you need to press alt + scroll wheel (if you hover the + and – buttons right of the song track), you’ll see this info. The change from EZdrummer and EZkeys is made because SD3 has several areas where just scrolling the wheel without modifier means scroll down – the Grid Editor for example. The modifier key is necessary to keep consistency within the software itself.

3. This is the same reason, and behaviour, as point nr 1.

I know that it’s always better to be consistent between programs, and that is what we try to accomplish. However – sometimes we must do changes, because the new software has new features, the old way turned out to have a better way of doing it, or similar.

Thanks for the feedback!   

Henrik, thanks for taking the time to write.

1 and 3. I agree that in cases where the new block is shorter (e.g., a fill) then overwriting is a good default. If, however, one wants to insert a verse or chorus and the new block is the same length or longer, perhaps the default should be to move the existing blocks to the right so nothing is overwritten. Just a suggestion.

2. Thanks for the Alt+Scroll Wheel info.

Steve

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