Why this product is not worth your time

[yeahimsteve]

To whoever is thinking about buying this software, DO NOT BUY IT until they have added the most obvious feature ever: Assignable outputs per pad.

Can you even FATHOM a product like this, not having routable outputs????!???? WOW!!!!!!!!

Talk about a waste of a product. I expect more from you, Toontrack.

Topic

[Whitten]

It’s not worth your time maybe.
I quite like it.
I’m happy with a stereo out, and if I need more I can load up separate instances.
I agree, assignable outputs , or any other upgrade would always add value.

[John Baker Baker]

Why condemn a product if it has one feature you are missing? I am finding this product to be incredibly powerful and useful in its flexibiity for setting up custom kits, especially for live performance.

It was sure worth my time and money!

[yeahimsteve]

John Baker, congratulations and I’m happy to hear that it works for you.

This is more of a public service announcement to save a lot of engineers from being extremely disappointed to find out that their drums in their project will have to get made in another program because they have no control over each individual pad in a real world mixing environment.

In other words, Toontrack is saying with BeatStation: “Hey guys, here’s a very powerful program that can do the wildest things for your music production……….just don’t expect us to give you anything more than a stereo file in the end, so you’d BETTER get your entire rhythm sounding absolutely, 100% perfectly mixed inside Beatstation or else.”

“…Oh and P.S.: If you ever wanted to use your own environment like Pro Tools to add your own UA plugins to your tracks, you better forget it, because we never made this product for people like you.”

Sincerely,

Toontrack

Ok all seriousness aside, I just spent $250 on FXpansion Geist when I could have just used BeatStation for a whole lot less if this one silly extra feature (that every other product already has) was included. That SUCKS that I had to buy an FXpansion product, let alone having to buy multiple products because nobody can get it right. Heck, before this, I bought SoniVox Pulse…….and that program was just buggy and would crash my computer. I’ve been looking for something reasonable for quite some time……..got very excited that my fav company Toontrack released this, and then whammo…….slam in the face.

I still love Toontrack and will pimp them over any other drum software company out there. I’m just more disappointed at the lack of foresight, included with warning potential buyers that they will be seriously pissed off if they don’t read the fine print.

[Whitten]

I think the difference in price is the clue.
I don’t think Beatstation was aimed at professional recording engineers.
It’s meant to be an entry level, easy to use, cheap to buy product for people who are freaked out by the cost and complexity of EZdrummer, Superior and other similar products.

I thought this was fairly clear from the product webpage, and associated video tutorials etc….
I’m honestly sorry if it wasn’t, although I’m not connected with the product.

The program would be more useful to me if the samples on each pad were velocity switchable.
But I guess it is what it is (presently).

Did you try opening more than one instance of it?

[John Baker Baker]

OK, nothing wrong with requesting features and constructive critisism. And there is a downloadable demo for those that want to try before they buy.

So we have some requests:
1) assignable outputs for pads
2) velocity switching within pad samples

I’ll add a couple more
3) use the raw unprocessed drum samples from EZX, without any effects (eg in Claustrophobic, Twisted, etc)
4) provide a method/format for loading in custom velocity-sensitive, velocity layered sounds (could be the same as #2, but then it would be useful to have more than 5 samples layered)

One more note. For some uses, this application is more than a low-cost entry-level app. It really is a very flexible tool and powerful tool for certain uses. For those considering, try the demo and see if it meets your needs.

[Whitten]

Yes, I’m finding it an excellent drum replacer tool, specifically when more consistent repetitive drum sound are required.
Also, a neat ideas, composition tool.
Just a word on request 3…..
The processing sort of exists in the transition to the EZdrummer platform. In other words, you can’t really have the EZdrummer sounds without processing unless you go back to the original recordings, or unless they appear in Superior format (un-processed)
Would you settle for sounds from Claustrophobic and Twisted, ported to Beatstation as a Beatstation specific soundpack?

[John Baker Baker]

I guess I don’t understand how the samples are accessed; I just assumed Beatstation could access the unprocessed “upstream” EZX sounds, just as they do for Superior. The website description states “When using an SDX or EZX you will get a fixed mix of the microphones available for an instrument, typically without ambience.” This seems to “typically” be true: when I open a set of drums in Beatstation, for example, the overheads and room mics are off; if I opened the same drums in EZDrummer the default mixer settings might have them turned up. This is perfect, as the user can add in effects that they want to customize their sound and “room”.

I love the drums in Claustrophobic, but when I use them for recording or performance from within EZDrummer or TT Solo, I turn off the effects in the Mixer (distortion, for example is turned up pretty high by default). But when I open the Claustrophobic drums in Beatstation, it seems that MOST of the effects, room, etc are removed, but the distortion remains. Can’t Beatstation simply find and open the original unprocessed drum samples (they must exist on my hard drive), so a user can dial in the distortion they desire?

Yes, having the raw Claustrophobic samples as a soundpack would be an acceptable workaround, but I would hope that registered users (of Claustrophobic and Twisted Kit, for example) not have to pay.

[Whitten]

The fx aren’t in EZdrummer. They are added at mixdown stage.
Yes, you could access room mics etc, but any more extreme fx, like distortion, compression are usually added in a studio before porting to EZdrummer or Superior.
It sounds like some fx are available on a separate channel in EZX CLaustrophobic? In which case yes that could be disabled.
However, if you wanted the majority of samples raw, without fx, it would mean going back to the original recordings and remixing, reformatting them for EZX and Beatstation.

[Author]

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