EZ Drummer 3 announced.

[rollasoc]

https://www.toontrack.com/product/ezdrummer-3/

THE NEXT CHAPTER OF DRUM PRODUCTION
FOR SONGWRITERS BEGINS.

Although EZdrummer 3 is new from top to bottom, it’s firmly rooted in what has made its predecessor the world’s number one drum production tool for songwriters: make adding drums to your music effortless, inspirational and intuitive.

Get ready for the songwriter’s ultimate drummer: EZdrummer 3.

[soulata]

Great!

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Are folks using EZDrummer to drive other drum VSTi's like SD3 or BFD3, and if so, how good is it at that task? I've decided programming drums, while something I'm pretty good at, is just tedious and was thinking about picking up something like Jamstix or EZDrummer just to have something quickly spit out MIDI drum parts. While SD3 and BFD3 have groove libraries, it's usually faster to just program something on my own than try to find something that kind of works and modify it. EZDrummer seems like it at least has the potential to improve that portion of the process. Jamstix doesn't seem like it's getting M1 support so it's out of consideration until then.

[soulata]

There are times when I just drag out the midi, change a few things and play it with whatever else.
EZDrummer formatting seems to be widely accepted in other software.

Many of the grooves are really good.

k

[Kevin63101]

Are folks using EZDrummer to drive other drum VSTi's like SD3 or BFD3, and if so, how good is it at that task?

I have both SD3 and EZ2 (been a toontrack customer since original Drumkits from Hell in Kontakt / Battery) as well as BFD3.

To your question, EZ2 is certainly capable for creating MIDI. But since I tend to use SDX mostly, I do all of my midi work in SD3 or Cubase.

There are definite advantages for having SD3, but also costs more and requires a ton of harddrive resources (I have over a TB of their libraries). EZ2 is probably more than enough drum muscle for most home users. I still buy EZX sound libraries as their great.

I'll also say their drum midi is excellent and can be easily edited. They have over 100+ midi libraries available. I have multiple methods of drum midi recording, but in many cases their drum midi is better than what I can achieve. I think of it as a session drummer that I have total control over. I still create my own MIDI too.

I anticipate EZ3 closing some of the wishlist gaps from EZ2. Will I upgrade EZ2 since I own SD3? Maybe but would be a done deal if I only had EZ2.

[noiseboyuk]

I anticipate EZ3 closing some of the wishlist gaps from EZ2. Will I upgrade EZ2 since I own SD3? Maybe but would be a done deal if I only had EZ2.

Wondering the same things. Pretty sure the new EZ3 libraries will be different to SD4 when it appears - EZ2/SD3 were totally different libraries. Maybe the new midi grooves will be different too. So I guess there's a reason to upgrade, but it's not certain.

Looking forward to hearing more about the new features. I hope Tap To Find now has different time sigs and swing.

[cryophonik]

There are times when I just drag out the midi, change a few things and play it with whatever else.
EZDrummer formatting seems to be widely accepted in other software.

Many of the grooves are really good.

k

Yeah, I agree. I've been a EZD2 and SD2 user for many years, but I've found myself preferring EZD over SD, so much so that I've never even bothered to upgrade to SD3. I think EZD3 is going to be a no-brainer upgrade for me. Lots of nice additions there.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Are folks using EZDrummer to drive other drum VSTi's like SD3 or BFD3, and if so, how good is it at that task?

I have both SD3 and EZ2 (been a toontrack customer since original Drumkits from Hell in Kontakt / Battery) as well as BFD3.

To your question, EZ2 is certainly capable for creating MIDI. But since I tend to use SDX mostly, I do all of my midi work in SD3 or Cubase.

There are definite advantages for having SD3, but also costs more and requires a ton of harddrive resources (I have over a TB of their libraries). EZ2 is probably more than enough drum muscle for most home users. I still buy EZX sound libraries as their great.

I'll also say their drum midi is excellent and can be easily edited. They have over 100+ midi libraries available. I have multiple methods of drum midi recording, but in many cases their drum midi is better than what I can achieve. I think of it as a session drummer that I have total control over. I still create my own MIDI too.

I anticipate EZ3 closing some of the wishlist gaps from EZ2. Will I upgrade EZ2 since I own SD3? Maybe but would be a done deal if I only had EZ2.

Thanks for your detailed post!

I've already got SD3 and BFD3 as well. I just find both not great at quickly finding a good starting point groove and using that to quickly build up a song. That's why I was initially looking at Jamstix. I'm really hoping for more "AI type of virtual drummer" than a canned groove library. EZDrummer seems like it's more groove library but one that's curated to be smart enough to find similar patterns and create quick variations. I'm just not sure how much value it would add over using the similar features in SD3.

[noiseboyuk]

I've been a EZD2 and SD2 user for many years, but I've found myself preferring EZD over SD, so much so that I've never even bothered to upgrade to SD3. I think EZD3 is going to be a no-brainer upgrade for me. Lots of nice additions there.

FWIW - I was the same with SD2, horrible. SD3 was another world, and there's no reason to use EZ2 any more. I'd guess SD4 will be about a year away.

[jamcat]

Are folks using EZDrummer to drive other drum VSTi's like SD3 or BFD3, and if so, how good is it at that task? I've decided programming drums, while something I'm pretty good at, is just tedious and was thinking about picking up something like Jamstix or EZDrummer just to have something quickly spit out MIDI drum parts. While SD3 and BFD3 have groove libraries, it's usually faster to just program something on my own than try to find something that kind of works and modify it. EZDrummer seems like it at least has the potential to improve that portion of the process. Jamstix doesn't seem like it's getting M1 support so it's out of consideration until then.

I’ve used EZplayer to do exactly this for a long time, but it was discontinued a few years ago.

In EZplayer, you can choose the target MIDI mapping, and it remaps the MIDI on the fly, including when you drag MIDI out to the arrange window. Without this, the wrong drums will be hit.

The answer to your question (and mine) depends on whether EZDrummer 3 will have this remapping feature. EZDrummer 2 does not.

[seangm]

nvm

[Synth Master Jedi]

I upgraded to EZD 2 in 2014, I guess that I will pay to stay current and get EZD 3, the new sounds, completely re written app and the new re sizable GUI makes it a worthwhile upgrade to me.

I do not use a lot of acoustic or real drums in my tracks, so I don't have SD, but EZD works ok for my needs.

I haven't bought an expansion pack in years for EZD, they used to be better priced before, but I think that $79 is an ok price for everything included in the upgrade, so I'll be preordering before the deadline.

[starflakeprj]

I know EZD3 is not an upgrade from SD3, but what would Toontrack have to loose giving GAS people, like myself, the opportunity to crossgrade from SD3 to EZD3? At the same price as upgrading from EZD2 to EZD3 that is.

[guitarmiester]

I'm interested in the upgrade. The bandmate, updated tap2find and new mixer sound promising. I like the idea of 'the bandmate' feature since my main instrument is guitar. Curious to see how well that really works since I utilize tap2find for starting point groves that I drop into the DAW for editing. Never liked EZD2's sequencer and minimal editing capabilities.

[skipscada]

My experience is that EZD2 is very hit and miss when it comes to providing midi that works with my style (whatever that is, I'm a bit all over the place). Mainly the problem is that the playing is often _too good_, so it takes effort to make it gel with my less sophisticated skills and aesthetic. It feels wrong to always have to simplify patterns (although having said that, there are pretty good built-in tools for that, giving you the possibility to literally dial down the virtuosity). But on the other hand it's nice to have a pool of quality patterns in different genres to be able to churn out typical genre stuff like reggae, jazz, bossa nova or whatever without any effort at all. But for things in a more personal style, which for me tends to mean simple, but idiosyncratic and irregular drum patterns (think indie rock/pop, alternative, post punk), I end up having to play my own patterns then elaborate in a midi editor. It can be fun to run self made patterns through EZD's tap to find feature that finds similar patterns in the library, but it rarely produces worthwhile results. There's still a lot to be said for having a library of quality midi drum patterns, though. Great for manipulating, for instance sending hits to the "wrong" sounds.

As for making it work in the mix, always remember to turn down the reverb in the internal mixer. I can never make it sit unless I remove all the reverb, and to me it seems the reverb's only function is to make patterns sound good on their own.