The Future of the EZ Line

[skolarr]

The Bandmate Tab is the feature that may have received the most attention. It is a demonstration of the great progress that has been made with AI music making algorithms.

First and foremost, I would like to continue the petition for a release of an EZGuitar VST. Judging from the imperfect science of anecdotal evidence, the next generation of guitar VIs is one of the most requested applications from computer musicians. Over in the IK Multimedia universe, there are many requests from their customers to create a Modo Guitar VI to complement their popular Modo Bass application. The first company to crack the code that advances beyond the current sample playback paradigm is going to be rewarded with a large audience of eager customers.

But whether it’s EZGuitar or the next versions of EZBass and EZKeys, I hope this is a sign of the direction Toontrack is going in.

If there is one issue I could highlight with the current EZ range (with the exception of EZD 3), it’s the static nature of the music files. Even the wide range of expansion products and MIDI files can only take a person so far. What I like about EZD 3 is how simple it is to start with a drum groove and transform that groove into something that fits with the composers personality and/or songwriting goals. One groove can mutate into hundreds by turning a dial, swapping the grooves of kit pieces, changing the power hand, etc. Yes, I understand that programming a drum VI to perform these functions may be relatively easy compared to what would be required to program a keyboard or guitar application. I merely want to illustrate the kind of thought process I would like to see applied.

As an example of what I mean, I would encourage the Toontrack developers to watch the video “RapidComposer 4 Piano Experiment 1” by YouTuber 41 Fingers. In this video, he takes a file from the EZKeys library and imports it into RapidComposer. Using RapidComposer, he is able to make several experimental yet musical modifications to the MIDI file. By the end of the video, he has created a new phrase that maintains some of the feel of the original file, but sounds like something different. Granted, RapidComposer is a powerful music prototyping application designed for just this purpose. I’m not expecting a future version of EZKeys/EZBass/EZGuitar to necessarily have all the features of contemporary music prototyping software. But it would be nice if the Toontrack devs would be able to incorporate features that would make it possible to perform similar kinds of modifications to music files within the respective Toontrack applications.

Another feature I would like to see in future EZ instrument applications is creative quantization. That is to say, I would like to be able to instruct EZKeys/EZBass/EZGuitar to follow the rhythm of a pre-existing MIDI file. Why would I want this? Well, as much as I love Toontracks products I’m sure I speak for most when I say that it’s not the only source I have for MIDI files. So let’s say I have piano MIDI that I got from a Loopmasters pack and I want to add a bass or guitar part. While going through the EZBass/EZGuitar groove library I find a loop that I really like, but it doesn’t neatly fit with my Loopmasters piano file. So I’d like to be able to import this piano file and instruct the Toontrack VI to apply it’s rhythm to the currently selected groove. Just to be clear, I am not asking that the Toontrack VI “create” a new groove a la the Keys&Drums tab in EZBass or Bandmate in EZD 3. I want to use an already existing groove in the Toontrack library and have the notes shifted to fit the rhythm of the imported file.

This is not as esoteric a feature as it may first appear: Stylus RMX has this as well as RapidComposer and Synfire. Stylus RMX and Synfire especially are remarkably adept at shifting and quantizing the notes of target files to fit the rhythms of imported MIDI data. Between having the ability to modify Toontrack grooves within the application AND creative rhythm quantization features, composers would be able to get a lot more mileage out of Toontrack products.

I know I said a lot there, but I feel that when sharing these kinds of requests it’s best to be a specific and detailed as possible. EZD 3 knocked it out of the park, so expectations are high. I really look forward to seeing what comes next from Toontrack.

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