EZdrummer 2 ?

[yzf125]

How good does EZdrummer 2 play with Vdrums ? Since everything else new on the market so far seems to be a bust, I was looking into EZdrummer 2 and it seems to look and sound good just wonder how it plays with Vdrums mostly the Hi Hats.

[perceval]

From all the video previews, it seemed that EZ2 is aimed at songwriters who do not have a "drummer friend" and just want to jam along a beat. So, probably nice to construct and play along MIDI files, but for an e-drummer, I have yet to find any news aimed at us.

Just got my hands on a manual for it. I can't find if there is a "Learn MIDI" function. No mention about it. If it's not there, then EZ2 is a bust for me because I have extra triggers added to the regular selling kits.

[perceval]

Scouting the TT forum, I think I found my answer...

But it would be much easier to simply open the MIDI editor in your host > select all of the notes for a single drum that are incorrectly mapped, and then move them to the correct note.

So, no MIDI Learn function. I would have to get into my DAW and change the MIDI notes from within the DAW, not from EZ2. Or I would have to change the MIDI notes from inside my module, and then it would throw off my other VSTs. Not very drummer friendly.

I will stay away from EZ2, thank you!

[perceval]

I'll take a look at the new AD2 instead... hopefully they will have a MIDI Learn function! Should be easy to know, there's a demo!

[allanjohn]

Yes, EZ2 is certainly designed for songwriters, rather than drummers. The sounds are nice, but there is no MIDI map editing. I suspect we'll soon see a new version of Superior Drummer with enhanced sounds, improved groove editing, etc, but with drummer-friendly MIDI learn and editing.

[OpposingMotion]

Agreed with Perceval, the lack of MIDI learn is a major pb for edrummers no matter how good the sounds are but TT is clearly keeping this function for its flagship product S2 (S3?).
I wonder if TT will release a free updated version of the Solo Wrapper though which can load EZdrummer 2 lib..prob not because its standalone already but if that was the case you could used the MIDI learn function of S2.

AD2 is an absolute no go for me in terms of sound quality on the demo and those posted on the site- little progress there over AD1, a shame because the engine is good;

[allanjohn]

Interestingly, EZ2 (and 1) was one of the few VSTs that was correctly mapped for Aerodrums, for what it's worth.

[yzf125]

Looks like all the New drum Vst's out right now are a big letdown at this point................. I had high hopes on the Vi Ellement Core Kit but you have to have an engineering degree to use it and its NOT Vdrum user friendly and it played horribly with Vdrums.. Guess Im stuck with Studio Drummer for now. What a disappointing year for drum Vst's.

[OpposingMotion]

Well I wouldn't really ditch out EZ2 actually as it has most "common" module settings you can assign BUT if you have custom settings you will need to go through a DAW to create custom MIDI maps changing input/output notes. Most pads are likely to work again out of the box with the Roland and Yamy modules i would say.

I tried the new demo that Tom from Vi elements uploaded - i got it to the point where it plays fairly well but still way below a SD2 or NI Studio Drummer (which plays almost perfectly on my setup).It does require a lot of tweaking to make it play well but you cannot fault the concept behind the product - one kit sampled beautifully and (hopefully soon!) unparalleled playability on edrums. I am sure with a bit more work on the scripting, ViElements will get a good product!

[gmontano]

Bummer for me that EZ2 Yamaha map is apparently made for a dtx ii. I posted on the Toontrack site and support didn't seem to want to make a mapping that works for newer Yamaha modules. They responded that Yamaha mapping is all over the place and that there isn't one good mapping. I posted back that bfd, ad 2, ssd drums all have multiple maps that work, but toontrack didn't seem swayed. It's the same issue in SD 2, but at least you can make your maps there. It's not the end of the world as I can create a custom kit on my module, but then I need to make new Cubase maps if I want to use different vstis. Toontrack generally is good at polishing their products, so their posture on Yamaha maps seems odd to me.

[yzf125]

Makes no sense to not have a midi learn function, This just totally baffles me....

[airflamesred]

Good point about the midi learn

[yzf125]

I am still interested in this VST, Does anyone know if it has module presets ? I only have 2 extra pads that are set up different than the typical TD-12 set up. It would also depend on how good the Hats play with my VH-11. I havent played a VST yet that can play good as the module does.. and that I dont understand, If the module can play that well why cant these dam VST's do the same !

[drumlab84]

Ez drummer 2 only has presets for e drum manufacturers and not kit specific. There is only option for "roland" e drums. You would have to either go into module and change midi note assignments to match the software for those that don't match properly or if you have SD2 use that and use midi learn. I'm not 100% that toontrack has updated software yet to open ez drummer 2 library in SD2. I was looking into this as well as this library sounds great, but absolutely no info online about how many samples used, hi hat articulations or e drums support.

[OpposingMotion]

Tried the plug last weekend at a friend's studio to record a couple of tracks on his TD9. There is indeed only a limited choice of parameters for edrums as drumlab84 said - when i used the roland setting all pads but one were correctly assigned (his extra tom from the AUX input) and the dual zone cymbals had the same sound assigned to bow and edge i.e. I had 2 crashes and 1 ride (all 3 zones on the ride worked ok), hats (cy5+FD7) worked ok and were very playable, you can use pedal correction curve like in SD2 but no info on their curve, you have to try them and see.

I used Cubase drum maps to change the MIDI IN/MID OUT to use more cymbals and reassign pads correctly. Worked correctly.

Despite the lack of MIDI learn I must say I was very impressed with the new libs sounds and playability with the kit, i had to alter a few of the pads sensitivy settings in the module to get more dynamics (the kick volume was especially low on a KD85) but it was quite easy to get a very realistic performance out of the plug. Can't share any recording yet unfortunately, I dont have the files.

I did try to open EZ2 in SD2..no go..it's not recognised.

I must say this got me excited for SD3..the samples were much more mainstream than the traditional slappy snares and highly tuned kicks that are more specific to metal. I prob will wait for SD3 personally as there 's way too much fluff directed to songwriters in EZ2 which i don't have the need for but it was a great to see that despite some basic edrummers fonction like MIDI learn, EZ2 can be very usable.