2023-02-20

EZkeys 1.3.4 is now available to download using the Product Manager or from the ‘My Products’ area in your Toontrack account. Please note that version 1.3.4 is required for the support of EZkeys products released from this point forward (Q1 2023).

CHANGES

General

• The Mac AAX now has native Apple silicon support.

BUG FIXES

Song Track

• Fixed a potential crash when previewing chords.
• The outline of the chord wheel, shown during chord drags, was not aligned with the wheel.
• Closing the chord wheel by clicking on the active chord did not remove the red outline around the chord (and the outline would stay in place if the song block was moved).

2022-03-15

EZkeys 1.3.3 is now available to download using the Product Manager or from the ‘My Products’ area in your Toontrack account. Please note that version 1.3.3 is required for the support of EZkeys products released from this point forward (Q1 2022).

CHANGES

General

• EZkeys can now respond to pitch bend CC on the song track and in the browser. This can be toggled on/off in the main menu.

BUG FIXES

General

• Locating the sound libraries at startup (if needed) did not properly save the new sound path.
• In Ableton Live, EZkeys should now be available in the “MIDI To” dropdown for an External Instrument.
• On macOS Monterey, Reason was not able to load EZkeys.

Dynamics

• The velocity transform preset menu did not mark selected user presets as selected, and “Delete” did not remove the current user preset from the menu, only from disk.

Browser

• Looping back could sometimes become slightly delayed when playing MIDI files with ‘Note Off’ exactly at the end.

Standalone

• In the Mac standalone, menu keyboard shortcuts were not possible to use when the chord wheel was open.
• Starting the metronome by turning off “Only ON when the song track is playing” could cause a loud noise (while playing MIDI in the browser, for example).
• The Windows standalone can now use ASIO devices with a buffer size larger than 2048 samples.

2021-06-29

EZkeys 1.3.2 is now available to download using the Product Manager or from the ‘My Products’ area in your Toontrack account. Please note that version 1.3.2 is required for the support of EZkeys products released from this point forward (Q2 2021).

BUG FIXES

Song Track

• The expression pedal in String Machine was by default changed to 0% when playback started, should have been 100%.

Standalone

• The metronome was not very precise, especially with large buffer sizes.
• Metronome sounds were incorrectly pitched unless the sample rate was 44100 Hz.
• On Mac, if the sample rate of the output device was changed, all would start sounding pitched in EZkeys and the tempo would become wrong.

2021-06-08

EZkeys 1.3.1 is now available to download using the Product Manager or from the ‘My Products’ area in your Toontrack account. Please note that version 1.3.1 is required for the support of EZkeys products released from this point forward (Q2 2021).

CHANGES

General

• Added native Apple silicon support to the VST, AU and standalone. The About dialog says “64-bit ARM” (instead of “64-bit Intel”) when running in native Apple silicon mode.
• New standalone and document icons on Mac, in Big Sur style.
• Bitmap interpolation has been turned off for Mac Retina displays, to make the graphics less blurry and to remove certain artifacts, for example horizontal lines in the Favorites browser.
• “Check for Updates” can now open the Product Manager (if installed) instead of the download web page.

Standalone

• On Windows, two new device types are available: “WASAPI (Exclusive Mode)” and “WASAPI (Low Latency Mode)”.

BUG FIXES

General

• Studio One should no longer crash if you drag MIDI from EZkeys to another plug-in.
• On Windows, it should no longer crash if some unknown object type (not a file) is dragged to EZkeys.
• On Mac, the gray overlay graphics for MIDI-learning a control was sometimes not shown or could have artifacts. It could even cause a crash.

Song Track

• The MIDI file created when you drag from the song track out from EZkeys no longer contains any meta texts, so that it works better to drag to Logic Pro X 10.6+ and GarageBand 10.4+ (an extra track would be created just for the meta texts and the notes were placed on another track).
• Pedal states are now set/reset whenever song track playback starts and when the playhead is moved during playback.
• The play button would sometimes look pressed when playback had been stopped. It was especially likely to happen after recording a new song block.
• The red recording block would sometimes extend to the beginning of the track even if the recording was not started at bar 1.

Browser

• User folders are no longer formatted like Toontrack MIDI folders. That fixes for example this issue: Adding a folder starting with an underscore would make it look like a header and it would not be possible to remove from the browser.
• Shift-clicking on a file in the browser when nothing was selected would cause a crash.

Standalone

• Quitting immediately after startup would show the quit confirmation dialog even though nothing had been changed.

2020-05-20

EZkeys 1.3.0 is now available to download using the Product Manager or from the ‘My Products’ area in your Toontrack account. Please note that version 1.3.0 is required for the support of EZkeys products released from this point forward (Q2 2020).

Changes

• • • MIDI dragged from EZkeys now includes chord information that can be used by EZbass.
    • The RTAS format has been removed.
    • On Mac, EZkeys is now 64-bit only and requires macOS 10.9 or higher.
    • On Windows, the standalone now has support for WASAPI audio devices but no longer supports MME.
    • On Mac in the audio device settings in the standalone, there is no longer a device type menu, since it always only contained “Core Audio.”

Bug Fixes

• • • On Mac, after you had opened a menu in the chord wheel, the chord wheel started flickering when the mouse was moved over it and tooltips stopped working.
    • In Ableton Live, EZkeys should no longer get suspended if it has been silent for a while and its window is closed.
    • The chord analysis of recorded blocks in time signatures other than 4/4 should work better now.
    • When recording from a host track, notes at the very beginning of the track were not always recorded.
    • The Default Project is no longer overwritten if the sound libraries are missing at startup.
    • If a song block had been shortened at beginning and the “hidden/virtual beginning” was before the start of the track, the block would be moved 1/64 note to the right when the project was loaded or when the block was involved in an undo action.
    • If a song block had been placed at a triplet note, loading the project or undoing something involving the block would sometimes incorrectly move the block to the nearest 1/64 note.
    • The Clean button in the Chord Selector is now updated (enabled/disabled) on every chord change.

2018-04-03

EZkeys 1.2.5 is now available to download using the Product Manager or from the ‘My Products’ area in your Toontrack account. Please note that version 1.2.5 is required for the support of EZkeys products released from this point forward (Q2 2018).

Fixed:

• • EZkeys is now compatible with GarageBand on macOS High Sierra.
  • The Windows standalone should no longer have tiny windows on high-DPI screens.
  • In demo mode when loading certain library presets, wrong samples got loaded.
  • Opening a Pro Tools project containing EZkeys would sometimes cause not all sounds to load for certain keys.
  • If the tempo in Pro Tools is specified for a note length other than a quarter note, EZkeys (with Follow Host on) will now show/use the correct tempo (recalculated to quarter notes per minute).
  • It should no longer hang when playing certain MIDI.
  • Fixed a crash and some other bugs in Randomize Chords.
  • In standalone, it was not possible to open projects saved from the plug-in in a DAW, and vice versa.
  • Chord inversion was not recalled when a DAW project was loaded.
  • Loop area wasn’t saved in projects.
  • Wrong tempo was shown if you loaded a project in standalone.
  • The tooltip saying how many megabytes are loaded (over the loading bar and the word “Library”) was sometimes not accessible when loading had finished and sometimes showed a too small number.
  • Fixed a case where keys would stay pressed graphically even though they were no longer playing.
  • The chord display was sometimes not cleared when playback stopped in some hosts.
  • On some macOS versions it was not possible to drag and drop MIDI from certain programs/plug-ins to EZkeys.
  • It is no longer possible (in the 64-bit Mac version) to quit the standalone or to get a quit dialog when a modal dialog is already open.
  • Updated Overloud effect library.
  • Updated network and audio device support.

2018-03-16

– “Add Chord” did not snap, which could lead to problems, for example, when exporting MIDI, blocks could be omitted
– importing MIDI containing bar lengths 0 lead to a crash
– export WAV/MIDI menu entries are now disabled if the song track is empty
– the red translucent block that marks the current recording sometimes became too long when a loop endpoint was reached, and it no longer overlaps itself in a loop
– in the Browser, some headers had a play button
– higher velocities could not be previewed on black keys by clicking on them
– when locating the sounds (if the sound path was not correctly set), it was possible to select an ‘MEZK_*’ folder as the sound path, after which authorization would not work
– the correct path (the parent of the MEZK folder) was in some cases not possible to select
– several functions are now disabled during recording, for example Undo/Redo, Use Browser MIDI, moving the playhead, splitting blocks and other operations that modify the contents of the song track
– with the Chord Notation tool, left click inserted chord where mouse was and not where the snapped cursor was
– when clicking with the Chord Notation tool on a chord to edit, it snapped to the left chord instead of the cursor-marked chord to the right
– if a chord was added at the end of block with the Chord Notation tool, EZkeys crashed
– standalone sample rate is no longer fixed at 44.1k for ASIO – now always uses the default sample rate of the ASIO device
– standalone can now handle an unlimited number of outputs on the sound card – any two can be selected

IMPORTANT: the current version of EZkeys is 1.2.4

Known issues with version 1.2.4

– using “faster than real time” bounce in PT11 may lead to crashes on Windows

Known issues with hosts

– Logic 8/9: key commands may interfere with typing Authorization code

Version History

– version 1.2.4 or above is required for Mac OS 10.12 compatibility
– version 1.2.2 or above is required for Mac OS 10.11 compatibility
– version 1.2.1 or above is required for Mac OS 10.10 and Windows 10 compatibility
– version 1.2.0 or above is required for Mac OS 10.9 and Windows 8.1 compatibility
– version 1.1.2 or above is required for Pro Tools 11 compatibility (AAX support)
– version 1.1.2 was the last version tested with Mac OS 10.5
– version 1.1.0 or above is required for Mac OS 10.8 and Windows 8 compatibility
– version 1.0.2 or above is required for MIDI packs support

2018-03-16

– fix for preset menus involving deleting and replacing presets
– improvements to sustain re-pedalling particularly with EZkeys Studio Grand

2018-03-16

– soft pedal was not functioning correctly and small clicks could be heard when it was pressed or released
– EZkeys could hang when chords were changed in certain MIDI files, for example when “Use Browser MIDI” was used with some of the Classic Soul EZkeys MIDI

2018-03-16

– crashed when importing a MIDI file with zero notes if Humanize MIDI was on
– crashed if library configuration files were missing
– removing all notes from a block could lead to a crash
– undo/redo could crash if the song track was playing at same time
– the track length dialog did not work correctly with time signatures other than 4/4
– notes and pedals could be left in the wrong state at various times, for example when changing position in a playing file in the browser
– several fixes to chord analysis, for example higher chance of finding “m7-5” instead of “m7 no 5”, and less chance of “-5” if the fifth is also playing
– internal MIDI analysis is now done in a separate thread and is faster
– excessive note offs were sent when clicking on the keyboard
– playback of a favorite is now stopped if it is moved to a different favorite folder
– after renaming a favorite folder, selecting anything from a favorite file menu initiated a rename of that favorite file
– playing the track and then starting browser playback no longer resets the track playhead
– the “Import MIDI File” dialog was incorrectly shown when dragging certain files from the browser to the song track
– copying certain files from the browser and pasting to the song track created blocks without chords
– names too long for the preset menu are now properly truncated
– the music theory sign appeared and disappeared at the wrong times
– some graphical fixes in favorites
– improved the preview key system when playing really fast
– improved the recording and playing of notes when clicking on the keys

2018-03-16

– the scissors would sometimes become graphically stuck on the song track
– add9 could not be added to a 13 major chord
– changing a chord that has its third as bass note (for example C/E) from major to minor or from minor to major now also changes the bass note accordingly (C/E becomes Cm/Eb)
– when the song track was exported as MIDI, key signature was not saved
– sympathetic resonance would sometimes not be correctly working after a change of sound library
– after dragging MIDI from EZkeys, the next mouse click in the interface would be ignored
– the displayed chord is no longer reset and pressed keys are no longer graphically released after 5 seconds of inactivity
– song block MIDI is no longer drawn on different vertical positions depending on which sound library is loaded
– MIDI files from folders named “Endings” are now marked as Outro when dragged to the song track
– menus that were opened close to the bottom edge of the screen would open above the window (Mac 64-bit)
– in the standalone, when using external displays on Mac OS X Mavericks or later, the window could sometimes get stuck in the top part of the screen
– Dynamics settings now affect mouse-clicking of the keys
– checkboxes are now possible to toggle by clicking on their texts
– browser entries now have tooltips and long entries are properly truncated
– when playing a file in the browser, it is now possible to change position in the playing file
– the loop area in the time bar should be easier to hit with the mouse now
– improvements to song block snapping
– with a trackpad on Mac, horizontal scrolling of the song track is now much smoother
– new authorization dialogs – already registered serial numbers are automatically retrieved from the server

2018-03-16

– the MIDI player now syncs properly when looping grooves in Cubase 7
– the plug-in would crash at startup on certain Windows computer configurations
– the RTAS on Mac would crash if you closed the frame by selecting a different insert slot from the menu in the plug header in Pro Tools
– the plug-in no longer crashes when right clicking a chord and nothing was selected
– the Chord information should no longer show up on the side control panels when moving the mouse at the same MIDI data is received
– the Chord selector was sometimes left behind when moving to the next chord
– the sync to host preference is now retained when saving in stand alone mode
– right clicking a chord on the track no longer resets the transpose factor
– reading MIDI files containing no note events will be aborted, thus preventing crashes
– the Circular knob mode was the same as Relative Circular
– the default knob mode for the AU and RTAS was Relative Circular while it should have been Linear
– scrolling is now possible even while pressing mouse buttons
– the resize sensitive area on the blocks is now dependent on the zoom level
– snap block to original position is now independent of the zoom level
– dragging the loop area is now possible even if it was created with different snap settings
– reliability when removing blocks from the song track has been improved
– recording when looping the host has been improved

2018-03-16

– Crash when removing and adding new instances of the plug
– Various chord and base notes detection fixes
– Browser crashes and odd behaviour
– Preview click on keys crash
– Some zooming issues while recording
– Noise on keyboard mouse down click
– A Block close button issue and new fixed Y position for the dialog
– Push down Sustain backward check, when browsing or starting playback in the middle of a Song track loop
– Moved notes can now play after each other if separated enough and one starts where the previous ended
– Correcty keep the Humanize treatment after import
– The MIDI metadata is now removed when dragging from the song track to Apple Logic to avoid host inconsistencies
– Loading a new standalone project while having ‘Use Browser MIDI’ active now properly resets the mode
– Clicking a block on song track now correctly deselects any other blocks
– Split marker is no longer showed at block start
– The block properties window updates as it should after switching sound library
– If default project sound library is not present, a new default preset is saved
– Fixed bug when setting the Sound Path to an invalid selection
– Shows message when reading ‘dead’ EZKeys libraries
– Empty EZKeys libraries are ignored
– Added some missing chords and possibilties to add certain notes to certain chords
– Added some chords to the ‘Adjust Chord Analysis’ menu
– Allows for more detailed notation on long chords
– A base note is no longer shown with real-time chord display if the chord is played with one hand
– Improved ‘pedals down’ when starting playback on the song track
– The Song track bpm and time signature are now set on drag and drop from the Finder/Explorer if the track is empty
– Time signature is now also set in the host when dragging from the browser
– An arrow cursor is now visibe when resizing blocks
– The import dialog now has a cancel button
– New authorization dialogs
– Uses first authorized library as default library

2018-03-16

– The metronome did not always sync properly with a looped region in the song track
– Disabling looping when the Song Track is playing back would make the playhead jump forward in the Standalone
– At times a looped area did not play the first notes as intended
– MIDI-learning the Stop button and using it did not make the play button go to “off”
– the chord analysis would estimate the chord changes incorrectly when using the 1/2x and 2x tempo buttons with the included MIDI library

2018-03-16

– various bug fixes since release