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[Ames Alch]

FWIW, I installed and tried Mavericks, but found it to be such a bogged down OS, I reinstalled my drive with ML on it and am going to wait for Yosemite. Too many issues with mavericks for my taste.

Gpod luck!

[Ames Alch]

Thanks so much for all the help! After some experimentation and few gaffs, I got it working! YES!!! I then saved my work as a template for future use. What a relief.

Every day I’m loving EZD2 more and more. One of the best drummers I’ve ever worked with!

[Ames Alch]

gseshleman,
THANK YOU! You’ve been of great help. I do have a few questions for you…

I did as you said and used the Nashville set as my test, as it has a large number of mixer channels and it has become my favorite sounding kit.
When I clicked the plus button in Logic to get my aux channels, it stopped at 15, while there are 16 channels in the EZD mixer. I’m guessing this might have to do with which channels are coming out as stereo pairs vs. mono.
In Logic, every aux channel came out as stereo, and I’m wondering if some of these should be mono – i.e. things like kick, snare-top,. snare-bottom, etc, should be mono, while the overheads should be stereo. IF this is correct, how do I set up the Logic channels so they can be either mono or stereo?

Forgive me if these questions are so beginner-like, but I just switched from Garageband to Logic and am eager to push the limits.

Also, is it possible to create a “channel stack” for the drums or must theh remain truly separate tracks or channels?

Thanks again for your help!

[Ames Alch]

Ooh… also, is there an updated Multi channel Template for LPX that I can download? If so, please include the link.

Thanks!

[Ames Alch]

Nice! Didn’t even think of that, even though I’ve actually done it before! Go figure.

As for the question of whether or not to leave my EZD patterns in EZD or drag them into DAW track(s), is there a preferred way? Is it okay to just leave things in EZD and have it follow the host DAW?

[Ames Alch]

I know this isn’t an exact fix, but couldn’t this also be (nearly) achieved by adding some compression in the mix? I suggest this as I tend to leave my EZD tracks in EZD rather than drag the tracks to Logic so I can always go in and quickly change/add things.
Does anyone else do this or does everyone eventually drag their EZD patterns into their DAW?

[Ames Alch]

Thanks for the quick help!

[Ames Alch]

@Scott said:

@Mr.Ames said:

The only other big feature I’d LOVE to see in an update is a fast and easy way to program flams and rolls. As it stands now, I have to find what I need in an existing groove and splice it into a groove I’ve made. Any chance this might make into an update?

Thanks!

Only if they were recorded at the time of the initial recordings. I don’t know if they did.

But flams are easy to program in the DAW and I use the various rolls in the EZD 2 MIDI.

Scott,
could you explain how you get your flams (and rolls, if possible) in your DAW? I’m currently using either GarageBand or Logic Pro X (just getting the hang of it).

Thanks a lot!

Darin

[Ames Alch]

@Scott said:

I use my DAW if I’m doing complex arrangements. I will set up a drum track with EZD or S2 and then another for percussion. Because I’m in the DAW, if I want to grab my guitar and lay down a part I just record enable a track and throw down. Or grab my bass. Or drop an EZkeys track in if the mood strikes me. Or even grab a real shaker or tambourine if I don’t want to program in EZD. I always have a few mics up ready to track whatever I need. I couldn’t do that in standalone mode.

If Toontrack were to add the ability to add multiple Song Tracks, they might as well make a DAW as it would almost be the same thing. I, personally don’t need it. I use my DAW I already have for that.

That’s a very good point, Scott. You’re right… adding more track space would basically make it a mini-DAW.

The way I did it worked out nicely. The one thing that proved interesting was not finding a conga pattern that fit, so I used Tap2Find to create the conga pattern but there’s no way to get a conga “pop” and I didn’t want to use a bongo for that sound, so I grabbed a conga pattern with the pop, spliced it and joined it into my pattern to accomplish the groove. It would be cool if you could get a conga pop by clicking on the rim of the congas similar to the way you can get a side-stick sound by clicking on the snare rim.

The only other big feature I’d LOVE to see in an update is a fast and easy way to program flams and rolls. As it stands now, I have to find what I need in an existing groove and splice it into a groove I’ve made. Any chance this might make into an update?

Thanks!

[Ames Alch]

Well, I did the only thing I could think that would work and that was to work from within my DAW and construct a percussion track using a second track of EZD2.

If there’s a better way to do this, I’m all ears. I’d love to see the ability to add a second track of instruments in stand alone mode in a future update or some way to add in lots of percussion.

Any thoughts or ideas?

[Ames Alch]

Another method that might work is to enter the Tap2Find feature and start adding your hits. Each time you get things to a certain point you know you like, drag the pattern to the midi drop zone (essentially saving it), then keep adding parts until you have something you like.

Unless I’m not getting what you’re looking for, I think this should work for you.

Going into EZD2, I tally thought I would only use grooves I constructed entirely myself. I quickly found, however, that many of the suggested grooves that EZD2 suggested for me had lots of aspects that I wanted to use, so I just copied a given groove and pasted only the parts that I liked into a pattern I started from scratch. This has proven to be a great time saver and has even given me some cool results I might not have come up with in my own.

[Ames Alch]

@Barksy said:

I have Metal Amps. Amps and Classic Amps to soothe my GAS for guitar tone. They are very good, plenty of options.

I have Vocal & Lead Vocal for much the same reasons. Don’t always use them but sometimes they do fit the song and/or work well alongside other plugs. I really haven’t explored these in great depth yet.

I also have Metal Guitar Gods, mainly for Devin Townsend sounds. I am probably a little disappointed in these, there isn’t many Devin presets compared to others, but still, they may all get their use sometime down the track.

Sounds very cool, Barksy. Are you using EZDrummer 2, as well? On the chance you’re not, download the demo and prepare to fall in love.

I’m interested in trying some of the amp models that came with the packs I got and comparing them to the Amplitube software I use. Certainly no intention of talking anything away from TT (I wouldn’t be at all surprised if TT is working in something similar as we speak), but AT3 is incredible for realistic guitar and bass sims.

[Ames Alch]

@Barksy said:

It’s always some fun when acquiring new packs. I don;t have any of the Packs you have bought, so keen to know your thoughts, especially the vocals in the producer packs.

Thanks, Man. Which packs did you choose and why? What are your favorite aspects of them?

[Ames Alch]

I finally chose! I went with these six packs:

Mark Needham EZMix Pack
Peter Henderson EZMix Pack
Chuck Ainlay EZMix Pack
Mastering EZMix Pack
Randy Staub EZMix Pack
Songwriters Tools EZMix Pack

The last choice was neck and neck between the Songwriters Tools EZMix Pack and the Lead Vocals EZMix Pack, but looking at the presets on the other packs I chose, I realized I had a very good amount of vocal presets, and the Songwriters Tools EZMix Pack had a lot of good versatility. Plus, at only $49, I can always grab another pack or two if I find myself in a pinch. That being said, between what I have now (and lots of cool outboard gear thanks to IKM’s T-Racks Deluxe mastering bundle), I think I should be good to go for quite a while!

[Ames Alch]

Thanks for the input, Michael! I’m going to spend some more time combing over the pages and presets tonight to try and narrow down my choices. I suppose the bright side is that no matter what I end up choosing, I’ll be sitting on A LOT of great fx!

BTW, concerning the first five I chose, do you agree with those?

Thanks!

[Author]

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