EZdrummer 2: time signature changes

[Hazy]

I have made a song in Reaper 64 with various tempo and time signature changes. EZdrummer follows the tempo changes perfectly but stays in 4/4. This means that e.g. measure 21 in Reaper is measure 17 in EZdrummer, bars in EZdrummer don’t start at the first beat etc., which make it very hard to find a fitting groove.

It would be great if EZdrummer would change time signature in sync with Reaper or alternatively if I could enter these changes manually in the Song Track.

2

Thanked by: roliva and Ian Neal

Topic

[dougeedj]

I’m having the same issue. Can’t seem to find anywhere online that has the answer. Love EZD2, but need to be able to change the time signature when I need to. Please help. Thanks in advance. DougeeDJ

[dougeedj]

Hazy-
I just figured out a way to kind of do it.

My song was in 4/4. I have a 3/4 measure to insert several times.

Set the tempo on your track to 3/4.
That will change the grid and let you slip the clips to 1 beat increments (rather than the 2 beat limitation in 4/4).
Then add your clips and shorten them to fit your fills, etc. The 4/4 clips remain and play in 4/4 anyway,
regardless of your time signature.

It’s worked well enough for me until there is a solution.
It should be a setting that can be inserted into the EZD2 timeline, for sure.
Hope that helps!
DougeeDJ

[Digital_Man]

@Hazy said:

I have made a song in Reaper 64 with various tempo and time signature changes. EZdrummer follows the tempo changes perfectly but stays in 4/4. This means that e.g. measure 21 in Reaper is measure 17 in EZdrummer, bars in EZdrummer don’t start at the first beat etc., which make it very hard to find a fitting groove.

It would be great if EZdrummer would change time signature in sync with Reaper or alternatively if I could enter these changes manually in the Song Track.

Add me to this… is there a reason that “Follow Host” can’t also follow the DAW’s time sig changes?

(I’m on Digital Performer, not Reaper…)

[John]

@Digital_Man said:
Add me to this… is there a reason that “Follow Host” can’t also follow the DAW’s time sig changes?

(I’m on Digital Performer, not Reaper…)

Hi, Time Signature is not communicated to the plugin, Tempo is.

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Digital_Man]

@John said:

@Digital_Man said:
Add me to this… is there a reason that “Follow Host” can’t also follow the DAW’s time sig changes?

(I’m on Digital Performer, not Reaper…)

Hi, Time Signature is not communicated to the plugin, Tempo is.

I was wondering if there might be some technical limitation in the plugin architecture itself… thanks for the response!

[Yaron Feinberg]

I don’t understant how Ezdrummer 2 doesn’t allow to change time signature in the middle of the song. (?).
It is so basic and common used in songs, even if the song doesn’t change tempos between chorus and the bridge, sometimes there are small breaks (like in a song of 4/4 suddenly there is a break of 2/4 or 3/4 for 1 bar).
Again very very common and basic thing.
Please enahnce the SW to have this basic feature.
Thanks

[Pook2000]

I am new to EZ Drummer and thought this function would be standard. Dumbfounded that it’s not. I agree completely with the above post re: being able to change to 2/4 or 3/4 or whatever at will whilst keeping everything organized and lined up. It’s an absolute necessity.

And using the workaround as suggested earlier by chopping up the 3/4 beats is a great suggestion as a work around but from the point of view of a drum mapping program it’s a joke. You need to be able to organize your music efficiently and in a way that allows you to see edits and changes at a glance. It’s fundamental.

Loving the program overall but this has proved to be a major stumbling block. Shouldn’t be that difficult to write such an update?

[Joachim Wrba]

since it is not possible to synchronize the time signature automatically,
it would be helpful, if i could change it manually

[Pook2000]

For clarity I think the issue is one of alignment and ease of seeing the structure of the piece. At least for me.

If you’re in a certain time signature and tempo, say 4/4 or 2/4 and you shift to for instance 6/8, this is where things start to get messy. And workflow gets interrupted because as you’re trying to edit your line it becomes difficult to see where the bars are because everything is offset against the reference lines at the top. And once offset it’s pretty much offset for the rest of your piece, and worse if you’ve further time signature changes. It does though only take one bar to screw everything up.

It’s just messy to edit. I found myself in a section that changed time signature and having to try and count the bars by ear because I wanted to put a fill mid way between said new section and also embellish leading up to that. But I had to count along with the new section and Identify where the split was. And with fills being different lengths you can see where this starts to get messy. Even being able to add your own markers to the timeline would help for reference purposes.

If you’re at a consistent tempo you can indeed change time signature by just dropping in the required loops but for editing later and seeing where you are it can be a total pain.

Great program except for this one anomaly. Perhaps it’s too difficult to code? We can hope

[TRGL]

Just to emphasize your valid points, this time signature “issue” has been highlighted all the way from the initial announcement of EZD2 (see link below).

https://www.toontrack.com/forum/ezdrummer-pre-sales/ezdrummer-2-musikmesse-announcement/page-3/

I fully understand the limitations from an inside DAW plugin perspective but since EZD2 adds a ton of value working in standalone mode I would really appreciate support for having both multiple time signature as well as different tempos (BPMs) within the same song track/project.

I really love EZD2 along with all your other products and I am pretty sure you will add/already have planned for adding requested functionality

TRGL

[dassoun]

I just purchased EZDrummer 2 a few hours ago.
The first song I’m working on is a basic 4/4, except for a 2-time bar in the middle of the song.
Relly disapointed to see that that I can’t have any 2-time bar in my song

[Peter]

+1
I’ve just come across this problem and it means you can’t use the song track when there’s signature changes in your host.
It’s essential that Follow Host should also follow signature changes. Is this being considered for implementation please?

[Hazy]

@Joachim said:

since it is not possible to synchronize the time signature automatically,
it would be helpful, if i could change it manually

This really seems to be the answer. Can someone from Toontrack confirm if this solution is being considered/implemented?

[Bob Muso]

Yes, and a bar offset for count-ins eg: 2 bar count-in -1 0 1 2 3 4. .

[aaron pomither]

This is a must have option.

[Author]

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