If you had to choose ONLY ONE, between Jamstix and EZdrummer, which one would you choose?
Jamstix vs EZdrummer
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 1550 posts since 3 Oct, 2001 from Thailand
Yes, I've searched, and there was one post on this same topic, but not many responses. So I'll ask it again now.
If you had to choose ONLY ONE, between Jamstix and EZdrummer, which one would you choose?
If you had to choose ONLY ONE, between Jamstix and EZdrummer, which one would you choose?
Peace, my friends. I'm not seeking arguments here. 
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- KVRist
- 294 posts since 27 Dec, 2003 from Woodland Hills, UT
Jamstix without a doubt. It is absolutely amazing. And I've tried pretty much every drum vst. They're constantly upgrading it (though I'd be fine even if it never changed from its present state). Anyway, try the demo and see if it's for you.
David
www.davidlinn.com
David
www.davidlinn.com
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- KVRer
- 19 posts since 25 Sep, 2006
EZDrummer's actually not bad if you've got the Vintage Rock expansion. It's hella funky!
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 1550 posts since 3 Oct, 2001 from Thailand
I think I should also mention that I mean EZdrummer without expansion packs. Otherwise the EZdrummer would easily more than doubles the price of the fully expanded Jamstix, and goes well beyond my budget.
Peace, my friends. I'm not seeking arguments here.
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- KVRian
- 649 posts since 18 Dec, 2004
Get Jamstix and here's why (in my opinion):
1. Sounds -- great samples.
2. Price -- buy now thru 12/31/2006 for $79 and get the free upgrade to Jamstix 2.0.
3. Support -- probably the best in the business. The Rayzoon forums have great tips and Ralph (the owner!) answers questions very quickly.
4. Host automation -- almost every Jamstix control can be automated. My favorite in the complexity slider. When set to minimum, Jamstix plays quietly. As your songs builds up in intensity, Jamstix does too.
5. The "brain" -- Jamstix plays like a real drummer. The accents and fills are amazing and can be easily controlled.
1. Sounds -- great samples.
2. Price -- buy now thru 12/31/2006 for $79 and get the free upgrade to Jamstix 2.0.
3. Support -- probably the best in the business. The Rayzoon forums have great tips and Ralph (the owner!) answers questions very quickly.
4. Host automation -- almost every Jamstix control can be automated. My favorite in the complexity slider. When set to minimum, Jamstix plays quietly. As your songs builds up in intensity, Jamstix does too.
5. The "brain" -- Jamstix plays like a real drummer. The accents and fills are amazing and can be easily controlled.
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Hewitt Huntwork Hewitt Huntwork https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=7460
- KVRAF
- 1531 posts since 2 Jun, 2003
I own both, and this is indeed a tough question!
If you need help with creating parts, there's no question that Jamstix is infinitely superior to every drum plug out there. I was one of the people who pre-ordered before the release, and I have had the pleasure of watching it grow - even seeing a few of my suggestions incorporated into later versions. Ralph is amazing.
The two areas where EZDrummer excels over Jamstix (and everything else) are: 1) Pre-precessed sounds - if you want a sound that is ready to place directly into pop/rock tracks with no fiddling, EZDrummer can't be beat; and 2) it is far easier to use. The trade-off is flexibility (Jamstix does FAR more). One thing I like about EZ is the Humanize button. You can program all your snare hits at the same velocity, but with the humanize button it will play back different samples so it doesn't sound static.
If I could only get one, though, it would be Jamstix. And then I would immediately start saving for EZ. For the type of music I make, I would rather be synth-less than go without these two.
Hope that helps.
If you need help with creating parts, there's no question that Jamstix is infinitely superior to every drum plug out there. I was one of the people who pre-ordered before the release, and I have had the pleasure of watching it grow - even seeing a few of my suggestions incorporated into later versions. Ralph is amazing.
The two areas where EZDrummer excels over Jamstix (and everything else) are: 1) Pre-precessed sounds - if you want a sound that is ready to place directly into pop/rock tracks with no fiddling, EZDrummer can't be beat; and 2) it is far easier to use. The trade-off is flexibility (Jamstix does FAR more). One thing I like about EZ is the Humanize button. You can program all your snare hits at the same velocity, but with the humanize button it will play back different samples so it doesn't sound static.
If I could only get one, though, it would be Jamstix. And then I would immediately start saving for EZ. For the type of music I make, I would rather be synth-less than go without these two.
Hope that helps.
If every KVR member wrote one review a year we'd have 1340 reviews each day!
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- KVRAF
- 4205 posts since 21 Oct, 2001 from my bolthole in the south pacific
EZDrummer has great drum sounds and an easy to use interface. As far as grooves, it has some nice midi stuff bundled with it - as do the expansion packs. You build tracks from the basic grooves and fills by dragging and dropping the supplied midi files into your sequencer. It has a set of variations on a basic groove but they are major variations - eg 4, 8 or 16 hats per bar, closed hats or open hats - ie they are quite distinct changes in feel or intensity rather than subtle variations on the one feel. So you can move from one variation to another when building intensity or shifting to another section of the song but you can't really mix them up in a random sort of way like you can mix up the BFD groove variations.
The big thing about Jamstix is that it uses an artificial intelligence system which means (amongst other things) that it will play endless subtle variations on any basic feel that you dictate. It doesn't fatigue the listener with exact repetition like a drum loop or a single piece of midi going round and round. You can set parameters to direct the variation - basically a set of probabilities are adjustable for each variable - eg how likely would Jamstix be to play an extra kick on off 4 or an open hat on a off 1.
The authors of Jamstix have built the limitations of a real drummer (eg two hands and two feet) into the program so that it will never play in an unnatural sounding way - eg if it rolls around the toms to the floor tom it takes just a little time to get back to playing time on the closed hat just like a real drummer does.
You can build your own feels in Jamstix from scratch but there are a wide range of prefab rhythmic grooves/templates (which you can further customize any way you like) and they are labelled according to style and you can zero in on a groove because it is set up a bit like a relational database (if that means anything to you) - the grooves are grouped according to styles/keywords.
Jamstix lets you build complete arrangements including fills, intros and endings so it has the features of a full drum part sequencer built in. I can't wait to see where Jamstix 2 will take all this - it really is the cutting edge of rhythm plugins and it can drive all the monster drum samplers to boot so there is no limit to your sonic palette.
The big thing about Jamstix is that it uses an artificial intelligence system which means (amongst other things) that it will play endless subtle variations on any basic feel that you dictate. It doesn't fatigue the listener with exact repetition like a drum loop or a single piece of midi going round and round. You can set parameters to direct the variation - basically a set of probabilities are adjustable for each variable - eg how likely would Jamstix be to play an extra kick on off 4 or an open hat on a off 1.
The authors of Jamstix have built the limitations of a real drummer (eg two hands and two feet) into the program so that it will never play in an unnatural sounding way - eg if it rolls around the toms to the floor tom it takes just a little time to get back to playing time on the closed hat just like a real drummer does.
You can build your own feels in Jamstix from scratch but there are a wide range of prefab rhythmic grooves/templates (which you can further customize any way you like) and they are labelled according to style and you can zero in on a groove because it is set up a bit like a relational database (if that means anything to you) - the grooves are grouped according to styles/keywords.
Jamstix lets you build complete arrangements including fills, intros and endings so it has the features of a full drum part sequencer built in. I can't wait to see where Jamstix 2 will take all this - it really is the cutting edge of rhythm plugins and it can drive all the monster drum samplers to boot so there is no limit to your sonic palette.
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- KVRAF
- 16153 posts since 2 Dec, 2003 from Nashville, TN
Another vote for Jamstix. And I think that the included sounds in Jamstix are outstanding. Plus, like egarrard said, you can drive any other drum software or sampler using Jamstix. Get SFZ and NSKit Free or any other free drum kit, and expand even more on what you can do without spending extra money.
Brent
Brent
My host is better than your host
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- KVRAF
- 1930 posts since 29 Aug, 2003 from Austin, TX
Jamstix
Asus CM6870 3AB, i7 3770 Ivy, 16GB RAM, 240GB SSD, 7TB Internal, Windows 8 64bit Pro,RME Firface UC, Reaper. Ableton Live 9, Sonar X2, Maschine.
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- KVRist
- 103 posts since 26 Jan, 2006 from No
I haven't tried EZD, but I have Jamstix and it's well worth-it.
At first I was using it to drive kits in DR-008, but I was never satisfied with teh sound. After an age it dawned on me to try the Jamstix sampled kits - they sound fantastic.
At first I was using it to drive kits in DR-008, but I was never satisfied with teh sound. After an age it dawned on me to try the Jamstix sampled kits - they sound fantastic.
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