Solid entry-Level virtual drums: EZDrummer

[ckbarlow]

EZDrummer, in my opinion, is hard to beat as an entry-level pick for virtual drums.

List price is $179; Sweetwater does it for $149.99; I got mine for half that from Sweetwater during a promotion. I also picked up one of the many cool style/kit expansion kits for half price during a Guitar Center promo. So all in all, a minimal investment.

To be clear, it is a virtual drum set with its own internal mixer and a collection of really well-played, realistically nuanced drum loops that you can audition within the EZPlayer VI interface and then drag right onto a MIDI track in your DAW.

A key feature is that it supports either stereo or multi-output, meaning when you instantiate it as a plug-in, you can simply work with all the drum voices on a single stereo track, or you can split out the kick, snare top, snare bottom, toms, HH, overhead and room mics onto their own tracks in your DAW for individual treatment (e.g. EQ, compression, etc.). IMO this is pretty cool for such an inexpensive product.

There are loads of demo tracks on the Toontrack Web site. I've only started really using it in the last several months, but here are some different styles I've used it for, all on my TAXI page:
- sort of a blues track, Morphine-infused "Watermelon Man" with a side of "Green Onions," I guess -- but it's called Down and Dirty. This uses the Cocktail drum set.
- a Phoenix a la track called Voyage à Phoenix, in which I made the snare sound pretty much like an electronic snare thru a combination of EQ, compression and gating. Note that there are also electronic drums on another track, complementing the virtual acoustic kit. This track has been forwarded.
- a surf tune, Real Cool Head. The intent was to mimic to a fair degree the old production style, so the drums are further back than they would be in say a modern rock production. This track has been forwarded.
- contemp country - Urban Antebellum. I can't say I nailed Urban's drummer's snare sound but tried. I didn't use the Nashville expansion on this; I didn't have it installed at the time. This track has been signed.

Anyway, I think it's a tremendous value for what you get (especially if you can score sale prices like I did!).

[stevecollom]

i have to agree, i love ezdrummer. i wanted something that i could throw on my song asap. they sound great. i bounce them down to audio files and then mix and compress like an real kit. i have fooled many golden ears
steve

[Kolstad]

Absolutely agree! I have it and almost every extension kit you can get. The one I use the most by far has been the Nashville kit, though.

It's a breeze to work with too. Worth 10 times the cost for a non drummer like me, but I've learned a lot just from using EZ Drummer.

Qualifies as one of the best value for money software product for DIY musicians in the last decade, IMO..

[fusilierb]

Easy drummer rules and Superior Drummer rules even more! This company has got it together. I LOVE this library!
B

[musicliner]

I got Lite version with KORG DrumPad.

EZ Drummer is, well, so easy to use, and it sounds good.
The limitation is amount of tweaking allowed.
The value is good, just not as good as Addictive Drums...

[lovesmiley]

HI musicliner, i have addictive drums too, but i need some encouragement with it. i love the huge amounts of tweaking and what not, but how do u go about actually tracking with it? u find a loop then drag and drop? I use Strike mostly because i can actually click little buttons on teh pop up while the song is recording and change the beats on the fly, even adding fills on the fly, can this be done with additive drums? I want to love AD so bad, but i always end back on Strike

[billybob]

Thanks for turning me on to EZDrummer! I have been struggling with getting a professional sounding drum track. I am new to the hole digital recording world. After reading your post on EZDrummer I went to Guitar Center and picked up a copy. I also got the Nashville ad-on and I am amazed at how easy it is to lay down a really nice drum track with these two great pieces of software.

I reworked the drums on my first song/project and ,Wow, what a difference.

Thanks, again,

Billy

[ckbarlow]

Thanks for turning me on to EZDrummer! I have been struggling with getting a professional sounding drum track. I am new to the hole digital recording world. After reading your post on EZDrummer I went to Guitar Center and picked up a copy. I also got the Nashville ad-on and I am amazed at how easy it is to lay down a really nice drum track with these two great pieces of software.

I reworked the drums on my first song/project and ,Wow, what a difference.

Thanks, again,

Billy

glad it's working for you! Based on what you've described here, you might really like their companion app called EZMix. I just got it and it's great for getting good sounds in a hurry.

[mojobone]

HI musicliner, i have addictive drums too, but i need some encouragement with it. i love the huge amounts of tweaking and what not, but how do u go about actually tracking with it? u find a loop then drag and drop? I use Strike mostly because i can actually click little buttons on teh pop up while the song is recording and change the beats on the fly, even adding fills on the fly, can this be done with additive drums? I want to love AD so bad, but i always end back on Strike

Yep, with most hosts you should be able to drag and drop from AD's Beats page directly into your track. (click the triangle for a drop-down menu of related beats and fills, once you're in the ballpark)

[cardell]

This sounds interesting!

Stuart