IN CONCLUSION: Toontrack has really outdone themselves this time. Used judiciously, drum sounds from EZD2 are a perfect compliment to live drum tracks from the studio or the stage. I rely on the amazing dynamics of Toontrack’s drums in Superior Drummer 2 and EZD2 to give new life to my drum tracks when I’m mixing. Using a drum to MIDI converter (such as Massey DRT), EZD2 sounds can be used to augment your existing drum tracks making your drums sweeter, crisper and crunchier. This means that you can mix, match and built your own custom kids directly in EZ Drummer 2! This is a really fun feature for users looking for an usual sound or an expanded palette of kick and snare drums.ĮZ Drummer 2 is also a fantastic resource for engineers and mixers. MIX & MATCH: With EZD2, users can now seamlessly audition any instrument previously installed from any EZX Expansion pack they own. Here’s an example of using the Edit Play Style feature in conjunction with a newly created drum track. What you’re actually doing is calling up thousands of different samples of each individual drum struck at many different velocities allowing the final product to sound exactly like the drummer was playing louder or quieter. The Velocity knob is based on the same algorithm as the Amount knob and allows the users to adjust not the volume but the actual velocity of which the drum kit or a single drum was struck. Toontrack explains that this means that changing the amount knob does not arbitrarily add or subtract hits from the groove block, it uses information garnered from several thousand real drum performances. This feature is truly remarkable to experience and is based on an algorithm that calculates the probabilities of where a real drummer would add or remove hits from the groove. The Amount knob controls the amount of hits on a single drum or the whole kit (if selected) live, in real time. The two remaining controls are the Amount and Velocity knobs.

This instantaneously changes the MIDI written to any highlighted sections engaged in Edit Play Style! The Opening Hit tool will allow users to engage or disengage the first hit of the loop, typically a crash cymbal. By selecting the “Power Hand” tool, users can switch from say the ride cymbal to the hi-hat as easily as dragging it over. Inside the Edit Play Style window, your loop plays animated in real time as if a ghost is playing the drum kit. Tip: For editing multiple sections at a time, users can hold the COMMAND key on Mac or ALT? key in Windows to highlight multiple sections of MIDI and then right click or control click and select “Edit Play Style” from the dropdown menu.

To do so, select across the bar numbers and an orange bar will appear indicating a loop has been created. I recommend highlighting a looped section of the MIDI you’re going to be working with in the Edit Play Style Window. Once you have a section or a song’s worth of MIDI loaded onto the EZD2 MIDI timeline, double click any section of MIDI to bring up the “Edit Play Style” window. EDIT PLAY STYLE: Without a doubt, my favorite new feature in EZ Drummer 2 is “Edit Play Style”.

Ez drummer