Solid entry-Level virtual drums: EZDrummer
Posted: Fri May 28, 2010 4:49 am
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!).
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!).
