CW on EZkeys

[Whitten]

There seem to be a lot of jumbled up discussions on the subject. So i thought I would start my own to make a couple of simple points.

The clue is in the product moniker ‘EZ’.
You don’t construct your drum arrangement in EZdrummer, you shouldn’t try to construct your song arrangement in ‘EZKeys’.
I think the idea is you grab sections from the library, experiment for a while with alternative chords etc then pretty much straight away drop the clip onto a midi track in your DAW.
Repeat the process however many times until you’ve got enough clips dropped onto your midi track to start building up a keyboard performance or a song structure, then switch completely to editing (via midi editor) in your DAW.
EZKeys is similar to EZdrummer in that you can play the included, nice sounding piano yourself, from your own midi keyboard. You can add pre-made clips, adding to, or replacing your own parts in any DAW.
If you know EZdrummer, you know what to expect from EZkeys.
If EZkeys doesn’t do what you hoped, it doesn’t make it an incomplete or unfinished product, it just means it isn’t what you expected. Feel free to post feature requests and feedback, just don’t call it unfinished, because it’s as finished as EZdrummer.

Disclosure: I have zero to do with EZkeys, no financial involvement, and haven’t spoken to Toontrack on a business level since EZX The Classic was released.

Topic

[Juicy]

Understood.
i Love it when a product jumps at me and i just have to have it,but i don’t quite get this one.
Very niche perhaps best suited for fully Non keyboard players with heaps of time on there hands unlike EZdrummer
which works so well on more levels.

[Whitten]

I understand chords, and I can play chords, but I’m not a proper piano player.
The best thing this product could be for me is chord sequence inspiration. Although the piano sound itself is very usable I think.
I probably need more midi files for chord inspiration though, especially in the jazz category.

On the controversial detuning. I’m sympathetic to that gripe. I’ve timed it at every 20 seconds.
I just auditioned some of the jazz midi and you can barely get through any midi clip without the detuning.
It’s more wasting my time than stopping me from recording a piano part for a song without having bought EZkeys.
I think one needs to strike a fair balance between discouraging people from taking advantage…. and just discouraging them from viewing a product favourably.

[Juicy]

Yes the detuning is just so discouraging ,that combined with not finding much above what my ten year old can play at this point has me too frustrated –
Nice idea but sorry its probably a no from me at this stage.

[Whitten]

Signature midi (from the right people, not ‘metal’ pleeease) = yummy.

Herbie Hancock would be a dream, maybe Lyle Mays.
But I’d settle for fellow Nordic Bugge Wesseltoft

[Nathan]

ORIGINAL: juicy

Understood.
i Love it when a product jumps at me and i just have to have it,but i don’t quite get this one.
Very niche perhaps best suited for fully Non keyboard players with heaps of time on there hands unlike EZdrummer
which works so well on more levels.

But isn’t EZdrummer designed to help non-drummers, surely? That’s part of its appeal, it makes it possible for drummers and non-drummers alike to put realistic beats together (hence the MIDI grooves?) and come out with a drum line for their songs?

>

SD2.3, NYII, C&V, MC, MF, ED, Latin Perc, Twisted, Pop, N1H, Electronic, Classic, Funkmasters, Rock Solid, Blues, Indie-Folk.

[Juicy]

Yes and NO .Here we go —
EZ Drummer works on many levels. Period

EzDrummer came along as a great Drum engine with real velocity response and sounds to make use of the engine,at the time it was better than anything and you just bought it without hesitation forgetting the midi it was ahead of it’s time. Then there was also the canned midi for the masses,sure thats important for some certainly not all.
I do like EZ keys small foot print its a bit pitchy though for some peoples tastes.

Its gonna take MAYBE 1.2.3.4.5.6 x worth of midi add on’s at this rate for EZ keys to become useful for what it could to be.and even then ???
Did you buy EZ yet ?
i am again put on the negative side just to explain myself.I might add i own everything TT has made in the Drum category and Champion them daily.
This how ever has fallen into an odd place for me and im ok with that YMMV.edit

[Whitten]

I slightly agree.
There are a lot of virtual pianos.
On the positive side, the EZkeys piano doesn’t sound at all compromised to my ears.
Yes, the midi is pretty basic so far.
But on the positive side, there will be more midi. I’m glad the midi isn’t unusable ear candy played by Mr Chops.

[Juicy]

Yes it has a great tone coupled with a small footprint that is good !

[Tom]

I have to disagree with the original poster.

It is not a question of what EZKey is and could be. It is so little we are asking for: Make it possible to enter a chord sequence and then have the midi variations automatically adjust to that chord sequence when dragged down into the songtrack.

This small addition would make EZKeys really versatile. At present it can be used for putting pieces together much like audio samples. Fair enough if that inspires your songwriting. But most of us already have written the song with chords and all, an now we just need to add a piano player. And that is where EZKeys doesn’t work well. Yes, you can do it, but everytime you want to audtion another variation you have to enter you chord sequence once again. Very time consuming.

… and if EZKey could also be used as a midi plugin, you could even play organs, synths, strings and whatever through Kontakt or another sampler.

[Whitten]

‘tombur’ yes I agree with you.
It’s great customer feedback. You are suggesting a couple of ways EZkeys could be improved.
Why I started my thread was because an opinion seemed to be gaining credence that EZkeys was flawed, not finished, just because it didn’t perform in a way some users thought it would.
A product can always be improved, especially via user feedback. But as it is, it works just fine right now, being that it provides a very nice sounding piano with a smaller footprint than most piano VI’s, and that if you grab the midi clips and drop them onto a midi track in your DAW, the editing possibilities are only restricted by your knowledge of your DAW and your imagination.

[Martin]

We are gathering feedback from many different sources and this forum is among them, of course. As mentioned in http://www.toontrack.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=125009&mpage=1&key=&#125270, the ‘chord sequence’ is one feature we are looking into, but is not as easy to implement as one might think. It is on the top of our list however with a couple of other things and we are looking into it.

Martin Kristoffersson
Sound Designer

[jerry Jaborek]

This topic is so tired and lame now. None of this would be an issue if the library wasn’t so small, and if some seemingly obvious editing features had been implemented from the get go.

Can you please everyone all of the time? Of course not…but then again, there are people who don’t like pizza.

I fully accept that new programs have some quirky issues upon release. That’s no big deal and a byproduct of the fast moving technological world we live in. What makes this so maddening is that these seemingly simple issues were somehow okay-ed by management and sent out for release.

[Whitten]

Or maybe some of these features don’t appeal to others as much as you?
This product was extensively beta tested by a panel of Toontrack customers.
I totally get the feedback that EZkeys could have additions, I just think it’s wrong to imply the current version is flawed.
It’s a small footprint virtual piano instrument with a midi library – just like EZdrummer.

[Juicy]

The tech support have already acknowledged they are looking into these requests so your just going sideways here.
Beta tested by customers ? really ?? More like a bunch of Drummers . lol

[Tom]

Okay, I get it. EZKeys is just another piano instrument with a midi library. I somehow forgot this because yet another sampled piano just don’t create a lot of interest. What sets it apart from the others is the midi library. And now some claim the library is too small.

Personally I can live with a small midi library. The good thing is that I can extend it myself. That’s the most important thing to me. It has been stated that Toontrack will look into improving chord sequencing, and that is what I am waiting for.

Whatever Toontrack’s initial intentions were, may I just suggest you look into developing this kind of instrument as a sort of BiaB replacement working directly with user recordings in a DAW: Chord sequencing and ability to drive other instruments aside from piano. Then you can sell library add-ons in different styles, just like you do with drum midi and EZMix stuff.

Best of all would, of course, be something working like Jamstix with musician models or the way Jammer Pro/BiaB can compose with an element of probability, transitions etc. But I realize that is a much more demanding task to take on, so I will be happy with just midi libraries as long as I can enter my desired chord sequence.

[Author]

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