The Everything "EZDrummer" and "Superior Drums" thread.

If I was working with a real drummer....it would be the same kit, over and over...with maybe the occasional Snare change and mostly head tuning adjustments for high/low, tight/loose.
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you know, i try so hard to keep a simple mind set like that, but b/c there's all these options i feel like i might have to use them. i wonder if there's such thing as VST hoarding. lol. i think you've inspired me in fact. i'm going to build an all SD2 kit and just stick with it.

thanks dude :)
 
As I get deeper into SD and set up grooves for new songs, I've also been building a few customized kits off of the EZ/SD kits and add-on packs. I'm taking them and selecting the drums/cymbals I like best from each kit, tweaking some of them with the SD options, and then saving them as my customized versions of those kits.

That way instead of doing the drum sample audition thing every time....I already have 4-5 of my favorite sounding kits, and I can just grab one of them and go, with maybe only minor adjustments with each song if needed.
 
For those of you not using Electronic drums or drag & drop/mouse clicks to build your drum track, what controller do you use? I'm in the market for either SD or AD. I wish I had room for an e drum set, and the time to learn to play drums, but I don't really have either right now, so that's out...and I'd rather have something tactile I can input in rhythmically rather than use a MIDI grid. Any help would be appreciated!
 
jimmys69 said:
I went through a couple really cheap pad controllers before I found one that can hold up to a drummer style beating. And it is also quite cheap.
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That is actually the one I have been looking at, so it's good to hear someone else is able to use it. I also saw that you use AD, which is what I'm heavily leaning towards as well.
 
stjohn1299 said:
For those of you not using Electronic drums or drag & drop/mouse clicks to build your drum track, what controller do you use? I'm in the market for either SD or AD. I wish I had room for an e drum set, and the time to learn to play drums, but I don't really have either right now, so that's out...and I'd rather have something tactile I can input in rhythmically rather than use a MIDI grid. Any help would be appreciated!
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I use a cheap EMU XBoard49. I can't play the piano at all, but I use it for tapping in MIDI drum parts. The velocity-sensitive keys are nice for that, although it has more features than I'll ever know how to use. I've had it for several years and I just figured out last month that I can set the velocity curves on it for different response "feels".

The XBoard is discontinued, but there are a few companies that make some pretty good little MIDI controller keyboards. M-Audio and Roland make a few. Just another option for you while you shop, in case you would consider keyboards as well as pads.

I read all the way through this thread because I bought EZD last month. I can't say that it sounds convincing, and won't fool much of anybody into thinking that they're real drums. But they are miles ahead of anything that I've used before. I'm tempted to go for the SD crossgrade sometime soon. I've bumped into the limitations of EZD a few times already. But with multichannel outputs, some experimentation with VST effects and parallel track processing, I've accomplished some pretty good results...well, good for me at least.

And to all of you mouse-clicking drum pattern programmers: I have to suggest using a MIDI controller of some sort to input your patterns. It'll save you hours and hours. Combine that with the super-easy looping capabilities of Reaper, and you can have a basic drum pattern for a song of any length in a few minutes.
 
Well, I'm back for the moment.

I just finished watching the video of them recording the drums for SD 2.0 and I realize now just how great they are. I am planning to get New York Legacy Part 2 for the Allaire Studios stuff. I can't imagine why a person would NOT use the built in mixer with the various mics that were used to record in the cavernous space.

Even that bit with the mesa boogie / 57 set-up to add distortion to rock drums and the side stick mic on the snare - giving three mics to mix - wow...just wow.

My question is: My D: Drive is getting full. Can I store all my samples on a separate usb drive? I'm no geek but I assume that the few hundred samples being used at any given moment get into memory so it shouldn't affect anything to store the libraries themselves elsewhere?

I also picked up EZ Player Pro, which is an insane editor, I want to build my songs separately from my DAW and then drag them into the session.

 
Telegram Sam said:
Well, I'm back for the moment.

I just finished watching the video of them recording the drums for SD 2.0 and I realize now just how great they are. I am planning to get New York Legacy Part 2 for the Allaire Studios stuff. I can't imagine why a person would NOT use the built in mixer with the various mics that were used to record in the cavernous space.
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I've got a bunch of the Toontrack expansions Sam, & I usually mix/match different pieces from different kits/expansions to make my own kits using the X-Drum feature, but that's just me...

My favorite SDX is Evil Drums, to me, they sound more like a real drum kit through my monitors, but, they were discontinued & are really hard to find, if you can find them at all...I've been using the Toontrack stuff for years now...

I always route my drums into the multi-out thing in my daw too, that way I can add my own fx to the drums, & have total control over everything, but again, that's just me...

Telegram Sam said:
My question is: My D: Drive is getting full. Can I store all my samples on a separate usb drive? I'm no geek but I assume that the few hundred samples being used at any given moment get into memory so it shouldn't affect anything to store the libraries themselves elsewhere?
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I'm sure you could install the expansions on an external drive, you'd just have to "point" SD to where the samples are installed...I don't have that problem, as when I bought this pc, it had a 1tb hdd already, & I installed another 1tb drive for my audio files as soon as I got home with it...On top of the 2tb's of storage I have in my pc, I also have a 1tb external hdd, so I've got 3tb's of storage space total...

Telegram Sam said:
I also picked up EZ Player Pro, which is an insane editor, I want to build my songs separately from my DAW and then drag them into the session.
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There are a few things that EZ Player can do that the built-in version in SD can't, but I can manage/make up for that using my daw Sam...It is cool to be able to re-map the midi from another sampler & have it play back in SD though, but again, it's nothing I can't really do in my daw with a little effort....
 
Yeah, Toontrack's having a Black Friday special on their download versions. They've also got two different bundles - EZD + 6 EZXs for $129. Unfortunately, I already have too many of those particular EZXs to make it cost effective.
 
minerman said:
I always route my drums into the multi-out thing in my daw too, that way I can add my own fx to the drums, & have total control over everything, but again, that's just me...
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Yeah, I think I have to do that too, otherwise there's no changing the mix once the tracks are printed.

minerman said:
I'm sure you could install the expansions on an external drive, you'd just have to "point" SD to where the samples are installed...I don't have that problem, as when I bought this pc, it had a 1tb hdd already, & I installed another 1tb drive for my audio files as soon as I got home with it...On top of the 2tb's of storage I have in my pc, I also have a 1tb external hdd, so I've got 3tb's of storage space total...
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I have 400G filled on my 500G drive, and about to add another 15 with New York 2. But I have a couple of 1T externals, so I think I can expand outwards, you know, like my waste. :laughings:

minerman said:
I There are a few things that EZ Player can do that the built-in version in SD can't, but I can manage/make up for that using my daw Sam...It is cool to be able to re-map the midi from another sampler & have it play back in SD though, but again, it's nothing I can't really do in my daw with a little effort....
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I'm dumb at ALL of this, but this player looks like I might be able to use more of my samples that I otherwise wouldn't even know I had!
 
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Telegram Sam said:
I'm dumb at ALL of this, but this player looks like I might be able to use more of my samples that I otherwise wouldn't even know I had!
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Not quite following you here Sam, the player has nothing to do with the samples/sounds you're using, the player only sends MIDI to whatever you're using for your sounds....

The only way I'd know to use more samples (if I'm following you correctly), is to use more instances of each sampler (like using Superior for snares/kicks, AD for hi-hats/oh's for example)....

Maybe I'm not following you though, lemme know dude....

On the external drive thing, you can install the samples there, but I don't know if your daw will "lag" or not, while trying to play/record in real time....FWIW, I used an external drive with a laptop for a while, & it did ok, but sometimes would "glitch" & have to "catch up" to the project/song....While it only "glitched" for a split-second, this could cause problems if you're in the middle of recording, that's why I just bit the bullet & bought a new desktop pc, & installed a second hard drive especially for the audio in my projects....Only thing I can tell you on the external is to try & see dude.....
 
minerman said:
Not quite following you here Sam, the player has nothing to do with the samples/sounds you're using, the player only sends MIDI to whatever you're using for your sounds....

The only way I'd know to use more samples (if I'm following you correctly), is to use more instances of each sampler (like using Superior for snares/kicks, AD for hi-hats/oh's for example)....

Maybe I'm not following you though, lemme know dude....
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Hi MM, I meant to say midi clips, not samples, it has a browser with a file format converter so you can easily find all of your midi files and audition them from one place.

I mainly like the way that it is laid out and I can see myself using it to better understand certain aspects of drum programming and be able to more easily work on it in a standalone environment.

minerman said:
FWIW, I used an external drive with a laptop for a while, & it did ok, but sometimes would "glitch" & have to "catch up" to the project/song....While it only "glitched" for a split-second, this could cause problems if you're in the middle of recording, that's why I just bit the bullet & bought a new desktop pc, & installed a second hard drive especially for the audio in my projects..
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I'm at the very same place, my laptop is capable, but not ideal. At least it doesn't glitch much yet, but a new desktop PC is in my future.
 
I didn't think that drive speed actually mattered since EZD and SD load all the samples into RAM when the kit is loaded. Am I wrong there? Is it possibly a page file issue?
 
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