EZdrummer – swapping kit compenents on the fly

[Harrison Ward]

Does anyone know a way to swap drum kit components during a song? I’m using the Indie Folk EZX on the original EZdrummer and I’m trying to figure out how to switch between mallets and sticks for different parts of the song but so far, the only way I’ve found to do this is to load up a a second EZdrummer plugin on a new track and this is obviously very CPU intensive. Is there an easier way to do this? Is it possible with EZdrummer 2 or Superior Drummer 2?

Thanks

Topic

[Scott Eshleman]

I don’t think there is any MIDI Program Change Code available.
So far as to affecting this change while keeping resources to a minimum,
I’d “print” (commit) one or both of the MIDI track(s) to Audio once you are satisfied with the groove(s).

[Olof Westman]

The recommended way is to run two instances just as you have already
worked out yourself.

In EZ2 you could in principle use MIDI ProgramChange instead
to switch between user presets but that is a hazardous business since
changing sounds involves loading them from disk and that takes
some unknown time and your song track won’t know when the loading
is finished. Most likely you would end up with some part
of your drumming missing right after changing the kit. This
works well if you are playing live. You just don’t launch the
next song until your drums all play.

In Superior2 you could, in principle, use X-drums to create
an extra version of a drum that uses a different tool but that
is in many ways just a more cumbersome way of emulating
running two instances. Well, at least if you need to do it
for all drums. If it’s just for a couple of them it might be
a good idea. Also, if you use the built in effects in the
Superior2 mixer then you will also avoid running a double
set of effects that eat CPU time.

Olof Westman - Toontrack
Coder

[Harrison Ward]

The problem with committing the midi to an audio track is I often edit the drum submix and effects throughout the recording process so if I print the mallets track early on and then mess around with the sounds on the other EZdrummer track afterwards, it’ll sound like two different drum kits rather than the same kit played in two different ways.

Using an X-drum sounds like a viable option but Superior Drummer just seems a bit too fiddly for me. I love the sound of the Indie Folk kit as it is in EZdrummer and I’m not convinced I could get a sound anywhere near as good as that if I had to mix the raw samples myself. Unless you can actually get that same sound via a preset?

Actually the EZdrummer 2 solution might work as well because there is a couple of seconds delay between the mallets part at the beginning of the track and the sticks parts during the second half.

Thanks guys!

[John]

@Harrison Ward said:
I love the sound of the Indie Folk kit as it is in EZdrummer and I’m not convinced I could get a sound anywhere near as good as that if I had to mix the raw samples myself. Unless you can actually get that same sound via a preset?

Hi,

if you load an EZX in Superior 2, the Presets will sound the same as in EZdrummer 2. Plus, you have all the Superior 2 tweaking options, should you want to.

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Author]

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