A seamless dissolve between fiction and reality, classic and modern, organic and electronic. Welcome to a bottomless well of sound.
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A seamless dissolve between fiction and reality, classic and modern, organic and electronic. Welcome to a bottomless well of sound.
| ADD TO CARTThe Action EZX presents a fusion of orchestral percussion, sound effects, custom foley and classic drum machine sounds, designed for use in any creative context where beat, groove and tone are allowed to transcend the traditional confines. In addition to classic orchestral instruments like timpani, tamtam and timbale, it also captures one-of-a-kind foley, risers, claps, snaps, drops and layered textures of sound never before heard – all intuitively blended, mixed, matched and saturated with various effects in creative hybrid kits. All in all, in excess of 450 individual percussive sounds are presented and used in the more than 21 mix-ready kit configurations included.
This is the perfect percussive montage for ambient soundscapes, creative sound design and any cutting-edge music production – an open landscape of sound, putting you in the director’s chair with a seemingly endless sonic depth of field, enabling you to create literally any percussive motif you can imagine. Welcome to let loose your creative self in a seamless dissolve between fiction and reality, classic and modern, organic and electronic.
The Action! EZX comes with more than 450 individual sounds, categorized in 15 main sections. Listen to some samples from each category below!
The Action! EZX comes with 21 mix-ready presets, involving complex sound design and a mix of instruments. Listen to each preset in the player at the top of the page and read a short description below.
Deep Holes
It won’t get much deeper than this. Enormous low-pitched toms, dark crashes and strange percussion in the midst of it all. This entire kit sounds like a bottomless well! And the texture pads emit sounds as from a creature dwelling deep in that well.
Collins
A straight-forward kit. The big toms are in this case accompanied by the large mix of classic 808s and interesting textures.
Jungle
This kit is probably what it would sound like if you were chased in the jungle! The toms are really jungle-flavored.
Nails of Glass
A different and lighter kit with a lot of shorter sounds from different types of glass. It’s a good kit for tingling tension and mysterious settings.
Orchestral
Orchestral is just what it sounds like; a kit with huge and ambient orchestral drums. It also has some great non-orchestral sounds on the textures, electronic and percussion pads to mix it up.
Apocalypse
Apocalypse is one of the more sinister-sounding kits. Ominous, raw and somewhat creepy, created with a dystopian post-apocalyptic sci-fi scene in mind.
Big Toms
Big Toms is another more orchestrally oriented kit with more focus on the grand scale on the texture and percussion spots. This kit is huge and sounds massive no matter what you are triggering.
Blacksmith
This kit sounds like it came straight out of the hot forge. Sledgehammers, anvils, scrap metal, gun shells. A sound design-heavy kit with a rough attitude.
Ignite
Ignite is relative to Blacksmith with a similar style and sound palette, but the feel of the kit is quite different. Think fires, flames and lit fuses!
Breakdown
Broken, disturbing, distorted. Breakdown is a mix of field recordings, pitched hiss and scrap-hits.
Iron
Big, hard and heavy! This kit is, maybe not surprisingly, sounding very metallic.
Mixture
This kit is a fine example of a mix between a great variety of sources and sounds – and a proof that if you take the right sounds, you can mix almost anything to create an interesting kit!
Old Skool
This one differs from the very heavy action-packed kits, it’s more of a retro kit. Good old electronic sounds with some fun artifacts in the mix.
Permafrost
Almost all of the sounds here were actually recorded outdoors in very low temperatures. The kit just sounds very, very cold and barren.
Playful Waters
This kit is definitely playful but it also fills an entirely different role than any of the other kits. And it sounds fun!
Rim Play
This was first an all-out side sticks and rimshot type of preset, but it gradually evolved into something with a more varied palette – keeping the vibe with a very short and rim-like sound, though.
Speed
This one has that true intense, action feel and was designed with any beat or audio scene in mind that calls for an energetic percussion pulse.
Strange People
This kit is weird, plain and simple. Super weird, actually – but in a good way! Have you heard the sound those toms make? Try this kit if you want an interesting and different sound to spice things up.
Tone Ritual
This one makes a lot of different notes. It’s interesting, magical and refreshing but very tonal, so you may have to tune some pads if you try adding this kit to a song previously written.
Tribal
A versatile thematic kit with a very tribal sound to all pads.
Wood Hut
Sounds like the inside and outside of a cabin located on a lonesome field or deep in the forest.
What was the aim behind the Action! EZX?
Mattias: We wanted to make a product that could be used by creatives that want to make music not only for movie scores, tv shows or commercial work, but also ambient soundscapes, elaborate sound design and so much more. Our aim was to deliver the broadest possible spectrum of sounds to build anything from action-packed cinematic-type percussion down to eerie-sounding effects, big drops and risers. To me, this is a product that can be used in any context and across the genres, but of course, it has a very cinematic feel to it, which is something we wanted to maintain throughout the entire project.
Andreas: One of the most important goals for me was to create something that to me felt different and new. A mixture of sounds from unexplored sources together with conventional classic big-sounding orchestral drums, digital sources and artifacts. Sounds that together create something big and interesting, but also playful. We wanted to make a kit perfect for movie scoring, but also useful in electronic music – tweaked and pitched sounds from objects you have around you everywhere but also sounds from enormous and hard-to-access places and objects.
The library includes anything from field recordings and foley to orchestral as well as traditional and electronic drums. How did you pick out the individual instruments to capture and what did the creative process look like?
Mattias: Most of the foley work was done in a very reactive way, actually. We didn’t want to apply any restraints or rules and by that we did many sessions where we walked around with field recording equipment and broad set of microphones and captured sounds and ideas that we reacted to. It could be anything from walking on snow and hitting windows with different tools to being in a metal shop with lots of steel and iron, containers etc. Then when it came to the orchestral and more “acoustic” side of it, we used a wide set of all-new and already recorded sounds from the Toontrack vaults to mix, match and ultimately come up with combinations of never-before-heard hybrids to make each sound as unique and fresh as possible. Also, I used my modular synth and my TR-808 to make some of the electronic sounds. Andreas also did electronic design as well as the risers, drops, FX sounds etc. from his Ableton system. We kind of said from the beginning that we wanted steel, ice, snow, stone, glass, wood, metal etc., and then blend that with electronic and organic sounds. The whole project involved sound design from start to finish and was extremely challenging at the same time as it was creative on a completely new level.
Andreas: I found the process to be very interesting and the entire project was a truly creatively stimulating experience. With the goal set earlier, we had different approaches to different fields/areas of the kits. When recording in the factory we looked for sounds from huge containers, small containers, beautiful coils of metal scraps, machinery and sounds that aren’t to accessible through common drum sets. On the field and in the studio, we focused on finding sounds that resembled classical drum components or could be tweaked to add texture to the full audio picture. The orchestral sounds where selected as a backbone.
As one of the founders of the company, you (Mattias) have been involved in recording traditional drums from day one at Toontrack. When recording a drum kit, we’re often referring to the studio, the microphones, the engineer and of course the drums. This project is very, very different from recording a standard drum set. What was the most fun part of being involved in this process?
Mattias: The most fun was, after having been on the field recording for a few days, to sit down and listen back to the sounds, start tweaking and designing them. I was so amazed and impressed with how the field gear and microphones we used performed. Then, of course, once the product started to come together with all the presets, MIDI and graphics, it was extremely gratifying. This is one of the hardest products I have been involved in making, partly because we could basically go on forever. The ideas never end, they just keep coming. The hard part is to know when to stop and how to put it together so it is useful and understandable to the end user. The other part is that when making recordings like this and then putting them together in a library, to make it all fit together as far as levels, mixing, fixing, fading etc. Lots and lots of work involved and I’m really proud about the end result!
If you had to pick one favorite out of the many presets included, which one would you pick – and why?
Mattias: I really like all of them, it is hard to name one…but I am a sucker for the orchestral stuff! These presets are huge beyond what I thought possible.
Andreas: They are all great in different ways and it’s very difficult for me to choose only one. But three that stand out to me are the presets “Deep Holes”, “Blacksmith” and, because I’m a strange person, “Strange People” as well.
The sounds are amazing, but when combined, mixed and matched in the included presets, they truly come alive. What was the thought process behind the selection of presets included? Was there a plan from the start or did you just let your creative selves run free?
Andreas: When building the presets, I combined the sounds gathered from very different sources and organized them to form unity, usefulness and immersion into different scenes and moods. I had to restrain myself from keeping to make presets forever since there is so much more to explore, but I guess we have to leave some exploring for the users too! The presets work incredibly well on their own, but you can often get magical results from combining and layering more than one instance of the Action! EZX. This creates new possibilities for even more dynamic and expressive movements.
Mattias: What I did was to make the mixer options, how the different knobs available in the EZdrummer mixer should react when adjusted. There is a lot more happening than just level when a knob is turned, since a complex network of sends and effects acts in the background. I figured LPF/HPF filters are always good, length of reverb, delay, the envelope, pitch etc. To give the user the possibility to play around with these options further enhances the experience of this product, I believe.
How do you hope songwriters, producers and creatives will find in this collection of sounds – and how do you see yourself using it in tour own creative process?
Mattias: I hope they will be inspired to make music and great soundtracks!
Andreas: I hope people explore the Action! EZX to its full extent to find their own gems in the deepest trenches of each drum position. There are so many great sounds in there and many interactions to explore outside of the included presets! I hope people dare to create both bold and inspired soundtracks, scores and music of any genre with this set of unique sounds.
Mattias Eklund
Mattias, an avid sound designer, songwriter, producer, engineer and aficionado of anything that produces sound, is one of the founders of Toontrack.
Andreas Estensen
Creative sound designer, producer, foley artist, Ableton freak and a naive, playful and (in his own words), a “somewhat insane” songwriter from Umeå, Sweden.
Boot Kick
Broken Kick
Clay Kick
Cold Cage Kick
Cold Kick
Cold Porch Kick
Deep Hole Kick
Deep Kick
Deep Tribal Kick
Deeper Kick
Electronic Kick 1
Electronic Kick 2
Electronic Kick 3
Farkosten TR-808 Kick
Frozen Hall Kick
Glass Kick
Metal Container Kick
Minimal MD Kick
Modular Kick 1
Modular Kick 2
Modular Kick 3
Modular Kick 4
Modular Kick 5
Modular Kick 6
Modular Kick 7
Modular Kick 8
Modular Kick 9
Norway Kick
Orchestral Bass Drum
Orchestral Big Bass Drum
Porch Kick
R-808 Kick
Short Deep Kick
Snappy Kick
Snow Kick
TB-303 Classic Kick
Thump Kick
TR-707 Clean Kick
Tribal Kick 1
Tribal Kick 2
Tribal Kick 3
Tribal Kick Head
Tribal Soft Kick
Tribal Squeak Kick
Warm Kick
Wood Knock
Deep Snare
Farkosten TR-808 Snare
Frozen Apple Snare
Glass Snare
Gravel Snare
Norway Snare
Orchestral Snare
Orchestral Snare Rim
Orchestral Snare Sidestick
R-808 Snare
Scrape Snare
Snare Ruffs
Snow Snare
Snow Step Snare 1
Snow Step Snare 2
SPTR 1208 Snare
White Industrial Snare
White Snare
BTS Tom 3
BTS Tom 4
Elements 1 Tom 3
Elements 1 Tom 4
Elements 2 Tom 3
Elements 2 Tom 4
Norway Tom 3
Norway Tom 4
Orchestral Tom 3
Orchestral Tom 3 Rim
Orchestral Tom 4
Orchestral Tom 4 Rim
R-808 Lo-Tom
Timpani Eb Muted
Timpani Eb Open
TR-808 3
TR-808 4
BTS Tom 1
BTS Tom 2
Elements 1 Tom 1
Elements 1 Tom 2
Elements 2 Tom 1
Elements 2 Tom 2
Norway Tom 1
Norway Tom 2
Orchestral Tom 1
Orchestral Tom 1 Rim
Orchestral Tom 2
Orchestral Tom 2 Rim
R-808 Hi-Tom
Timbale 1
Timbale 2
TR-808 1
TR-808 2
Electronic Hats 1
Electronic Hats 2
Electronic Hats 3
Electronic Hats 4
Electronic Hats 5
R-808 Hats
Norway Crash 1
Norway Crash 2
Orchestral Crash 1
Orchestral Crash 2
Orchestral Tam-Tam
SPTR 1209 Crash
TR-909 Crash
Glass Bell Shot
Snow White Noise
Orchestral Ride
Orchestral Ride Bell
Orchestral Tam-Tam Ride
Bongo 1 Finger
Bongo 1 Open Hit
Bongo 1 Slap
Bongo 1 Thumb
Bongo 2 Finger
Bongo 2 Open
Bongo 2 Slap
Bongo 2 Thumb
Conga 1 Finger
Conga 1 Open
Conga 1 Slap
Conga 2 Finger
Conga 2 Open
Conga 2 Slap
Conga 3 Finger
Conga 3 Open
Conga 3 Slap
Djembe 1 Finger
Djembe 1 Open
Djembe 1 Slap
Djembe 2 Finger
Djembe 2 Open
Djembe 2 Slap
Djembe 2 Thumb
Cajon Bass
Cajon Open Finger
Cajon Pitch Bend
Cajon Slap
Cajon Slide Tone
Broken Clap 1
Broken Clap 2
Cold Clap
Cold Robot Clap
Crisp Snow Clap
Cupped Claps
Dark Clap
Foot Clap
Heavy Gloves Clap
Mutant Clap
Natural Clap
Open Claps
Snow Bass Clap
TR-808 Clap
Typewriter Clap
White Clap
Wood Plank Clap
Bag Snap
Beat Tap
Blue Noise
Candle Cloth Bag
Clay Balls
Cold Hands
Daft Snap
Drag Chains
Electronic Perc
Fat Zipper
First Knock
Foot Stomp
Frozen Dog
Frozen Hi-Hat 1
Frozen Hi-Hat 2
Glass Bag 1
Glass Bag 2
Glass Bag 3
Glass Bag 4
Glass Bag 5
Glass Bell
Glass Breaker
Glass Candle
Glass Flick
Glass Rattle Hit
Glass Triangle
High Heels
Hole Puncher
Ice Candle
Ice Crack
Ice Droplet
Icy Glass
Icy Hat
Perfect Tap
Rainstick
Rattle Hit 1
Rattle Hit 2
Second Knock
Short Zap
Small Ice Tap
Snow Brush
Snow Saw
Snow Scratch
Stepping Flam
Strange Gnarl
Tea Cup
Third Knock
Tiny Drops of Water
Vinyl Perc
Vinyl Snap
Washboard Hit
Washboard Long
Washboard Strike
Water Droplet
Whipped Tap
White Branches
Wood Step 1
Wood Step 2
Wood Tap 1
Wood Tap 2
Wood Tap 3
Wood Tap 4
Wood Tap 5
Wood Tap 6
Wood Tap 7
Wood Tap 8
Cabasa
Grain Shaker 1
Grain Shaker 2
Hard Flame Shake
Ice Shake
Metal Shaker 1
Metal Shaker 2
Shaker
Short Winter Shaker
Snow Shaker
Washboard Shake
Electric Snap
Finger-Snap
Tambourine
Claves
Bells FX
Big Dog Crunch
Bold Crunch
Box of Small Metal
Candles of Glass 1
Candles of Glass 2
Cogwheel
Cold Crunch
Cold Stick
Cold Wind
Copper Scraps
Copper Trash
Creak Crunch
Dark Creak
Dark Glass Clave
Deep Snow Crunch
Double Window Pane
Drag Swoosh
Drop 1
Drop 10
Drop 11
Drop 12
Drop 13
Drop 14
Drop 15
Drop 16
Drop 17
Drop 18
Drop 2
Drop 3
Drop 4
Drop 5
Drop 6
Drop 7
Drop 8
Drop 9
Dropped Screw
Electronic 1
Electronic 10
Electronic 11
Electronic 12
Electronic 13
Electronic 14
Electronic 15
Electronic 16
Electronic 17
Electronic 18
Electronic 19
Electronic 2
Electronic 20
Electronic 21
Electronic 22
Electronic 23
Electronic 24
Electronic 25
Electronic 26
Electronic 27
Electronic 28
Electronic 29
Electronic 3
Electronic 30
Electronic 31
Electronic 32
Electronic 33
Electronic 34
Electronic 35
Electronic 4
Electronic 5
Electronic 6
Electronic 7
Electronic 8
Electronic 9
Felt Stick Window 1
Felt Stick Window 2
Felt Stick Window 3
Fine Glass Single
Fine Open Glass
Flam Rattle Scrape
Glass and Stone 1
Glass and Stone 2
Glass and Stone 3
Glass Clam
Glass Clave
Glass Lid
Glass Lock
Glass Rim 1
Glass Rim 2
Glass Squeak 1
Glass Squeak 2
Glass Squeak 3
Glass Squeak 4
Glass Squeak 5
Glass Squeak 6
Glass Squeak 7
Glass Squeak Heavy
Glass Wobble
Goat Hooves FX
Hammer and Nail
Heavy Bag of Glass
Huge Container 1
Huge Container 2
Huge Container 3
Huge Container 4
Ice Tap
Iron Trash
Knock on Metal
Lantern 1
Lantern 2
Large Container 1
Large Container 2
Large Container 3
Large Container 4
Large Rattle 1
Large Rattle 2
Large Rattle 3
Large Rattle 4
Large Rattle 5
Large Rattle 6
Light Wood Stick
Medium Container
Medium Size Anvil
Medium Window 1
Medium Window 2
Medium Window 3
Metal Anvil Hit 1
Metal Anvil Hit 2
Metal Anvil Hit 3
Metal Beam Hit 1
Metal Beam Hit 2
Metal Container 1
Metal Container 2
Metal Container 3
Metal Different
Metal Gun Shells
Metal High Pitch
Metal Large
Metal Machine
Metal Medium 1
Metal Medium 2
Metal Medium 3
Metal Medium 4
Metal Pipe
Metal Plate Hit
Metal Plates 1
Metal Plates 2
Metal Small Hits
Metal Small Rumble
Metal Splash
Metal Trash
Mid Creak
Oceandrum FX
Odd Gong
Ominous Presence
Orchestral Tam-Tam Bow Scrape
Orchestral Tam-Tam Coin Scrape
Orchestral Tam-Tam FX 1
Orchestral Tam-Tam FX 2
Palladium
Pneumatic Metal
R-808 Rim
Rattle Clank
Rattle Crunch
Reverse Snow Bass
Rise 1
Rise 2
Rise 3
Rise 4
Rise 5
Robot Clap
Rumble and Rise
Scrap Anvil
Scrap Metal
Scrappy Gong
Screwdriver Head
Shaker Stick Lantern
Sledge Hammer
Small Anvil
Small Container
Small Metal Box
Small Metal Pipe
Snow Creak 1
Snow Creak 2
Snow Crunch 1
Snow Crunch 2
Snow Foot Crunch
Splash Glass
SPTR 1207 Rim
Steel Barrel 1
Steel Barrel 2
Steel Barrel 3
Steel Hits
Stick Puncher
Sword Clash
Tingle Glass
Tinkerers Toolbox 1
Tinkerers Toolbox 2
Tiny Drops of Glass
Titanium Scrape
Toolbox
Trash and Scraps
Water Glass Drum
Wet Snow Crunch
Whip Creak
Window Knock
Window Lantern
Window Pane
Wine Glass Hit 1
Wine Glass Hit 10
Wine Glass Hit 11
Wine Glass Hit 2
Wine Glass Hit 3
Wine Glass Hit 4
Wine Glass Hit 5
Wine Glass Hit 6
Wine Glass Hit 7
Wine Glass Hit 8
Wine Glass Hit 9
Wine Glass Long Ring 1
Wine Glass Long Ring 2
Wine Glass Long Ring 3
Wine Glass Long Ring 4
Wine Glass Reso
Wine Glass Short
Wood Creak
Wood Rim
Wood Shelf
Wood Snow Squeak
Wood Stick Slap
Workbench Hit
Workshop
Wrench Hit
*All other manufacturers’ product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or affiliated with Toontrack. See full notice here.
1 GB free disk space, 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended).
A working EZdrummer 2.1.7 or Superior Drummer 3.1.2 (or above) installation.
