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Old 02-21-2011, 01:39 PM   #81
s_sibs
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This sounds great and is almost exactly what I am looking for. I checked out the EZPlayer demo on YouTube and it looks interesting, I am leaning towards this instead of Jamstix although the ideal would be a combination of the best features of both.

Along with an "instant jam" function I am also looking for the simplest way to modify existing grooves and create my own. Sometimes I hear a beat in my head and it's easier to just create it instead of clicking through a bunch of grooves that are barely different from each other to find one that matches what I'm hearing in my head. My DR-880 has an "add ghost notes" option which would be cool to have as well.

I am looking for a lot more variation in the available grooves although I want to stay with pop/rock, maybe with some heavier rock styles without going into thrash or death-metal stuff.

Which Toontrack MIDI libraries use longer grooves?

Thanks all for the great feedback!
The Songwriters MIDI packs (vol. 1, 2, and Fills) from Toontrack have the longer grooves. The new Rock MIDI pack also has longer grooves as well.

Keep in mind that EZplayer doesn't allow you to 'pencil in' hits to create your own, totally unique MIDI. You can, however, do that type of work in a DAW. You can, like I posted above, use EZplayer to access the Toontrack MIDI grooves (as well as 3rd party MIDI that you've 'mounted') and separate the kit pieces to create your own grooves from the pre existing MIDI.
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Old 02-21-2011, 02:47 PM   #82
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^^^^ What he said ^^^^

I can account for Songwriter's Drum Packs 1 & 2, Songwriter's Fill Pack, and the Rock Songs pack. These have plenty of useful drum patterns, and are a good place to start as well. You can use the MIDI Editor in Reaper to modify these easily.

Also, if a longer groove is what you're seeking, you can simply click on the right side of an existing groove and start dragging it to whatever length you desire.
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Old 02-21-2011, 03:17 PM   #83
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EZplayer is great for new MIDI creation. It breaks down the MIDI grooves into kit pieces (Kick, Snare, Toms, Hi-Hats, etc.) and you can then take a kick pattern from one groove and mix it with a snare pattern from another groove and then a hat pattern from a third groove and then spit out the new groove result.

I also like EZplayer for jamming to when playing guitar and coming up with ideas. This works great with the newer Toontrack MIDI libraries that use longer grooves. I can drop 5 of these longer groove onto 1 Arranger track onto separate 'layers', set the loop points and then select 'random' playback and the different variations play back randomly like you're playing with a 'real' drummer. Fun.
Wow, I really need to put more time into EZP, used to use it just to preview midi.. and pretty much abandoned that after the Superior update that added the Grooves screen!
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Old 02-21-2011, 09:23 PM   #84
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What is cool too, the superior drummer that has the groove preview in it, was an update I believe, you can just click on "hats" of that beat, drag that up into reaper. Then find another groove that has a good kick, and drag that right no top of the other hats you put up there, then just select all and "glue"..

Now you can mix and match different grooves pieces and parts Kinda like the way that EZPlayer pro does..

Try it out!

~Rob.
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Old 02-21-2011, 09:50 PM   #85
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^^^^ What he said ^^^^

I can account for Songwriter's Drum Packs 1 & 2, Songwriter's Fill Pack, and the Rock Songs pack. These have plenty of useful drum patterns, and are a good place to start as well. You can use the MIDI Editor in Reaper to modify these easily.

Also, if a longer groove is what you're seeking, you can simply click on the right side of an existing groove and start dragging it to whatever length you desire.
yep I know that trick about elongating the groove pattern, very cool feature. I have played around with modifying the MIDI tracks in Reaper, it actually isn't very difficult once you get the knack of it. I tend to prefer a bit more crash cymbals coming out of fills than what I have hears in EZDrummer's stock grooves and that is very simple to accomplish in Reaper, although I wish I could figure out how to label the white/black keys that appear on the left of the screen so I can know which one corresponds to which sound.

Looks like EX Player doesn't have all the functions I was looking for. It may be that all I need is a greater variety of grooves and fills. I think the Drum Packs 1 & 2, Songwriter's Fill Pack, and the Rock Songs pack will be my next purchase, I like how they are relatively cheap and it seems that they will really expand the options available in terms of creating songs and varying the styles of the songs.
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Old 02-21-2011, 09:56 PM   #86
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Originally Posted by s_sibs View Post
The Songwriters MIDI packs (vol. 1, 2, and Fills) from Toontrack have the longer grooves. The new Rock MIDI pack also has longer grooves as well.

Keep in mind that EZplayer doesn't allow you to 'pencil in' hits to create your own, totally unique MIDI. You can, however, do that type of work in a DAW. You can, like I posted above, use EZplayer to access the Toontrack MIDI grooves (as well as 3rd party MIDI that you've 'mounted') and separate the kit pieces to create your own grooves from the pre existing MIDI.
That seems to be a very interesting feature but I'm not sure it's worth the price of the program for my purposes. I may reconsider after I have purchased the other MIDI packs that include a lot of other various grooves.
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Old 02-21-2011, 09:58 PM   #87
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Separate question -- what do you guys use to create your own grooves in EZDrummer? Do you use Reaper or a ToonTrack program (such as something in EZDrummer) or Jamstix or some other program?
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Old 02-21-2011, 10:12 PM   #88
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I use EZ player a little differently I guess. I make the arraingement, and add accents where I need them in EZ player. I then record the what I have come up into Reaper from the player. I working on some Live At Leeds covers so making Keith Moon parts is a bit of a challenge, but fun. For more grooves check out Groove Monkey they have tons for Toontrack.
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Old 02-22-2011, 07:01 AM   #89
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I wish I could figure out how to label the white/black keys that appear on the left of the screen so I can know which one corresponds to which sound.
One of the Toontrack betatesters (godprobe) made up all Toontrack libraries note maps:

http://www.godprobe.com/projects/notemaps/

To load them in Reaper, double click on your MIDI to bring up the MIDI editor. Click File->Load note names from file...and brows to one of the above note maps you downloaded.
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Old 02-22-2011, 07:42 AM   #90
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Separate question -- what do you guys use to create your own grooves in EZDrummer? Do you use Reaper or a ToonTrack program (such as something in EZDrummer) or Jamstix or some other program?
Usually, I find a drum pattern that has the bass and snare groove I like, or a specific high hat pattern I like. Then, I open the drum pattern in Reaper's MIDI editor and start deleting notes and/or moving notes around.

The process is rather simple. To me, the only tedious part is making sure that the velocity on hits or patterns I'm manipulating match the others I'm using. I think that's to be expected, as nothing is just 100% easy. If it was, it wouldn't be worth the challenge.
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Old 02-22-2011, 09:45 AM   #91
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I usually look for a good hat/ride etc selection. Then delete the kick and snare all together, and then re-program them in to match the song, the kick and snare are pretty generic in them, and prob wont create the POCKET your looking for.

~Rob.
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Old 02-22-2011, 03:53 PM   #92
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Originally Posted by s_sibs View Post
One of the Toontrack betatesters (godprobe) made up all Toontrack libraries note maps:

http://www.godprobe.com/projects/notemaps/

To load them in Reaper, double click on your MIDI to bring up the MIDI editor. Click File->Load note names from file...and brows to one of the above note maps you downloaded.
Thanks for this link, very helpfull


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Old 03-07-2011, 04:07 PM   #93
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Originally Posted by loveofjazz View Post
^^^^ What he said ^^^^

I can account for Songwriter's Drum Packs 1 & 2, Songwriter's Fill Pack, and the Rock Songs pack. These have plenty of useful drum patterns, and are a good place to start as well. You can use the MIDI Editor in Reaper to modify these easily.

Also, if a longer groove is what you're seeking, you can simply click on the right side of an existing groove and start dragging it to whatever length you desire.
ok I'm ready to grab these four add-ons.

I find that I need more variety in the sounds of the crash cymbals and ride cymbals, I want louder crashes and a heavier bell sound on the ride. Does TT offer add-on sound samples or do I have to buy a new pack such as DFH?

Another slight glitch I have is adding sounds. For example, I want to add a crash at the front of a verse (say it is coming out of a fill) and the verse is 16 bars, meaning the drum pattern is repeated 16 times by clicking and dragging the midi pattern. When I add a crash cymbal to the beginning of the first pattern, it's added to the other 15 as well. How can I avoid this?

Thanks all...
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Old 03-13-2011, 06:20 AM   #94
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I find that I need more variety in the sounds of the crash cymbals and ride cymbals, I want louder crashes and a heavier bell sound on the ride. Does TT offer add-on sound samples or do I have to buy a new pack such as DFH?
Additional sounds can be found for EZDrummer in the EZX expansion packs. Each EZX offers a specific drum kit that coordinates with certain styles of music. I'm fairly certain that you can find something that works with what you need. While Toontrack's website offers all of their expansion packs for $89.00 (that's with CD ROM -OR- download), you can purchase almost all EZX expansion packs at www.audiomidi.com for $39.99. The two latest EZX releases ("MetalHeads" and "The Classic") can be found for $79.99 on www.audiomidi.com. I've purchased Toontrack software through www.audiomidi.com before with no issues whatsoever, so I can vouch for thier reliability.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Veech View Post
Another slight glitch I have is adding sounds. For example, I want to add a crash at the front of a verse (say it is coming out of a fill) and the verse is 16 bars, meaning the drum pattern is repeated 16 times by clicking and dragging the midi pattern. When I add a crash cymbal to the beginning of the first pattern, it's added to the other 15 as well. How can I avoid this?
If you've modified the drum pattern (with Reaper's MIDI Editor) in the exact spot you want the crash...the only spot modified will be the spot you changed. You shouldn't have any worries.
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Old 03-13-2011, 06:27 AM   #95
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Originally Posted by junioreq View Post
I usually look for a good hat/ride etc selection. Then delete the kick and snare all together, and then re-program them in to match the song, the kick and snare are pretty generic in them, and prob wont create the POCKET your looking for.

~Rob.
Looking back, this statement got overlooked.
This hasn't been a problem for me, but I typically haven't recorded anything incredibly complicated. This is really, really good advice. Thanks for chiming in.
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