[prafle]

+100 for an EZ Keys update to match EZDrummer3 — I know a full overhaul is a major project, but *PLEASE* move EZK2.0 up the priority list!  For the record, I own EZD2, EZD3, EZK, multiple expansions for Drums and Keys, and at least a dozen MIDI packs. I use them all them time – EZD is central to my creative process. EZK is becoming just as important to my songwriting. So I’m (literally) invested in Toontrack.

If I’m being honest, I would be really happy just to have a re-sizeable interface that I can read on a hi-rez screen without using a magnifying glass. Deliver that, and I’ll get off your back for a while! But as long as you’re under the hood, ideally, I’d be ecstatic to have the equivalent of these features from EZD3:

• The equivalent of EZD3’s “Bandmate” feature — I’d love to drop in a guitar track and have EZK ID the chords and suggest styles/patterns to match.
• The in-app MIDI editor — I use this all the time in Drummer now, and it’s so nice to be able to make those edits without leaving the plug-in, and to save them with the EZD project file!
• Some way to import/mirror song arrangements I’ve created in Drummer (and vice-versa) so we can keep the verse-chorus-bridge song structures aligned without having to click back and forth, write down bar #s, etc.

But again — update the interface so I don’t have to squint, and I would be willing to wait for those other things… at least for a little while!  Until then, though, I’m having a hard time mustering any enthusiasm for any more TT purchases if TT’s not willing to at least acknowledge the chorus of similar requests on this forum. I know it won’t be easy to build, but an updated EZKeys would be an absolute game changer. I hope you sieze that opportunity!!

PR

[prafle]

If you’re trying to find the “matching” keys parts for the specific drum grooves you’ve chosen, there are some EZKeys midi packs that correspond to ESDrummer Midi packs — that is, both midi packs have the same song parts and structures. For example, the “AOR Grooves” EZKeys midi and the “AOR Grooves” EZDrummer midi have the same songs built in, so in theory, if you pair “Verse 1” drums and “Verse 1” keys from the same AOR “song”, they should work well together.

Of course, this only helps if you’ve bought both matching midi packs, and unfortunately, the great new grooves included with EZDrummer 3 aren’t associated with any particular keys packs, so you’re back to trial and error. But here’s one way to streamline that process: if my chosen drum groove is in, say a swung 6/8 rhythm, I would start by filtering my Keys grooves to show only the swung 6/8 options. That will narrow things considerably and you’ll be reasonably sure that anything you select will line up rhythmically.

There are some good YouTube tutorials that helped me a lot. I recommend checking out this series of videos from Groove3: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGhDPxpNTpsofp03yscDfsBUs9f-Re30z  He goes through his songwriting and arranging process step by step, using EZDrummer 2 (not 3) and EZKeys. It really helped me understand how to use the two tools together.

Best of luck!
PR

Reply To: Best way to add keys with EZ Keys after using EZ Drummer bandmate? version: 1.3.3
Operating system: Windows 10

• This post was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by prafle.

[prafle]

Yes, please! Add me to the list of EZKeys fans — I just upgraded my EZDrums from 2 to 3 and it’s night and day! Just the ability to resize the window made a huge difference, but all the other useability improvements (standard keyboard shortcuts for cut and paste! In-app midi editing! Listening to a wav file and picking grooves that match!) are just as revolutionary!

What would make EZKeys 2 (3?) a home run for me?

1. The same level of modern graphical upgrade that came with EZD3 — let me resize the window, for starters! and the basic interface points listed above.
2. Some way to connect EZD and EZK so that when I build a song structure in one plugin (intro,verse, prechorus, etc.) I can follow it in the other without having to note bar numbers and toggle back and forth.
3. An option to export just the chord chart from EZKeys as a text or pdf file so I can share it with other musicians, or refer to it easily when I am overdubbing bass or guitar.
4. Display the chord currently being played by EZKeys in the GUI — right now, EZK only shows the chords visually if you are feeding the plugin with external midi via a keyboard or an exported midi file. Again, this is hugely useful when overdubbing.
5. Not really EZK per se, but I would LOVE to have MIDI packs for a) Horn Arrangements and b) B3-type organ parts. Once I have a song built up in EZKeys, being able to turn those chord changes into MIDI I can send to other samplers/plugins without having to manually play/arrange those parts would be fantastic. A lot of the current MIDI packs work OK as organ parts, with a little tweaking, so horn arrangements would be a great plus.

Thanks again for all the amazing work on EZD3 — can’t wait to be the first to pre-order the matching EZKeys upgrade!!

Pete Rafle

Reply To: EZKeys 2 version: 1.3.3
Operating system: Windows 10

[prafle]

+100 for this! I am loving the upgrade to EZD3 and it would be a dream come true if an EZKeys update were to come out next! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!

Reply To: EZ keys 2 please version: 1.3.3
Operating system: Windows 10

3

Thanked by: Karsten P., Laroidx and John Vaughan

[prafle]

Understood — thanks for the reply, John.
PR

1

Thanked by: John

[prafle]

+1 on this one.

[prafle]

Obviously they are all there in the song track, John — but:

a) In the Song Track, the chords are hard to see on the screen, because the GUI for the plugin is a fixed size, so even zoomed in, they are pretty small (especially for aging eyes like mine). Also, if there are multiple changes in a bar, they overlap unless you’re zoomed in all the way, and you can’t always see the whole chord symbol.

b) I’m not sure I understand the point of having the “Real Time Chords” option if it only works *after* you export the song track? For my workflow, I prefer to keep the track in the Song Track as long as possible so I can make edits and tweaks to the chords and arrangements quickly and access all the features of EZK. Ideally, I wouldn’t have to export the MIDI at all — As soon as I export the arrangement as a MIDI file, I have to edit it in a separate midi editor, which is cumbersome, and hard for a non-keyboardist like me. I bought EZK so I wouldn’t have to mess with that so much.

Can you share any insights about Toontrack’s rationale for designing this feature to work this way? It’s a sincere question: I often find that I learn about better ways to use tools by listening to how other people use  them and by understanding the assumptions the designers used when building the app. That’s why I was so disappointed and a little surprised to find it’s not even mentioned in the manual.

More broadly, I also would love to know whether there are any plans for substantive updates to EZKeys in the future. Is there a list of features, fixes, or enhancements that is being worked on at Toontrack? If so, my #1 request would be a “song creator” feature like the one in EZDrummer that would create a quick “ABCABC” arrangement pulling from the variations within a given song and style. Obviously, I can do it manually pretty quickly, but I use the “Song Creator” in EZD all the time and I would love to have a parallel feature in EZK.  Another nice-to-have would be the ability to export a text or pdf file with a Chord Chart for the full song that I could share with other musicians.

Thanks for all your great work,

Pete

[prafle]

@laudmusic — A “Randy Newman MIDI Pack” would be something I’d certainly buy, too. You might take a look at the Gospel, Blues, and Boogie packs to see if there are pieces in there that might work for your purposes. I just bought the “Roots Music” bundle that includes all three (plus Jazz, Funk, and Latin midi) and there’s a lot of good stuff there.

Good luck!

[prafle]

UPDATE: Just in case it’s useful to someone out there, I found a workaround:

It appears that EZKeys only displays the real-time chords when it is receiving *external* midi programming —  not when it’s playing material from within the song arranger in the plugin itself.

So if you export your song project as a midi file, then play that midi file using EZ Keys, you *will* see the chords displayed as expected.

This requires that you finish arranging your verses, choruses, applying styles, etc. in the EZ Keys interface, then *export* the MIDI and drop it into the track in your DAW.

If you need to make edits to the exported midi, you’d have to do that in your external midi editor. Of course, if you’ve saved the project in EZKeys, you can always reload it to make tweaks and changes, then export it again.

In my situation, that works OK for my purposes, since I’m most interested in seeing the real-time chords when I’ve moved on to recording other parts over the keyboard changes, but it is a little bit of a hassle. It would be better if I could take advantage of this feature without having to go through these extra steps.

Looking forward to any insights the Toontrack team might have on this, and I hope it helps someone else out there.

Rock on,
Pete

[prafle]

Just chiming in with a similar issue –

In my case:

I can’t get the chords in the project to display on the “music stand” *at all*

The behavior is the same whether using EZK in my DAW (Reaper) or in the Standalone app.

It doesn’t matter whether I have the menu open or not.

If I *play* chords or single notes on my midi keyboard, those chords and notes *do* show up on the interface in real time, but that’s not what I am expecting: I want to see what chord EZK is playing as we go, so I can solo or play bass over the changes.

I looked in the “operation manual” for clues, but strangely, there appears to be no mention of this feature in the manual at all. I found that surprising.

To be clear — I really like almost everything about EZK (I’m also an EZDrummer fan) but this is a frustrating glitch. THanks in advance for your help!
Pete

My system specs are as follows:

EZKeys:

EZkeys plug-in version 1.3.2 (build 28912) [64-bit VST]
Core MIDI Library version 1.3.0

SOUND LIBRARIES
DREAM MACHINE version 1.0.1
VINTAGE UPRIGHT version 1.0.0

ADD-ON MIDI PACKS
BLUES version 1.0.1
BOOGIE version 1.1.0
FUNK version 1.0.1
GOSPEL version 1.0.1
JAZZ version 1.0.0
LATIN version 1.0.1
SYNTH POP version 1.1.0

PC:

Windows 10 PC 64bit

AMD FX(tm)-8350 Eight-Core Processor 4.00 GHz

32gb RAM

GPU: AMD Radeon R7 200 series, Single monitor.

DAW: Reaper  v6.46 (latest version)

AUDIO INTERFACE: Tascam Model 12 (ASIO and MIDI in)

Reply To: problem with real-time chord display version: 1.3.2
Operating system: Windows 10

[prafle]

I’m pretty new to EZ keys, myself, and it took me a little while to figure out how to access all the chord options.

If you pull up the wheel, then click “Details” at the top of the wheel — it makes a bunch of additional options available to customize each chord.

To make a chord “augmented”: an augmented triad has a major third and a sharp fifth (“+5” in EZ keys), so for your “Baug” chord, start with a B major, then open “Details” and specify “+5”.  It’s weird because they have a dedicated button there for “dim” (diminished) chords (which have a minor third and a flat 5th). It would be obvious to also have an “aug” button.

For those “flat 6th” chords — if it’s a major chord, the “flat 6th” is the same note as a “sharp 5” (often written as “#5” or “+5”).  So open up the “Details” options, then click and hold the “5” and select “+5” from the drop-down menu.

For the “no3” chords, you follow the same procedure (Wheel -> Details…). If you’ve selected a major chord, you’ll see the “3” and “5” lit up. Just uncheck the “3” and you’ll get the “no 3” version.

On that Am9flat6:  first, that’s a really unusual chord. As a result, I think whatever chord converter you’re using is making things more confusing than they need to be.  In a minor chord, the flat 6 is the same as the natural 5th, which is already in an Am9 chord (which should have the notes A, C, E, and B in it). But if it’s the chord I think you mean (X03413 in standard tuning) the notes (low to high) are A, F, B, C, G.  So it’s not really an Am9 chord in my book. It has an F major triad in it (FAC) plus the G, which is the 9th in F major. So it’s an F9. The B is a flat 5 relative to the F, so you end up with an F9b5 chord. The bass note is an A, though, so you’d write it “F9b5/A” — which is easy enough to dial up in EZKeys using the Details menu I mentioned above.  (you could also call it a G7sus4no5

I hope that helps — I guess the short version is that a little music theory does help when you’re trying to match guitar chords on a keyboard. Especially some of those odd guitar chords that can be called by multiple names.

Good luck!

 

Hope this helps!

Good luck!

• This post was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by prafle.

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