EZDrummer 2 AND Slate Drums ...

[JerEvil]

Can you use both together? The EZDrummer Song Creator seems frakkin' awesome! I would love to use it for writing songs but use sounds from Slate Platinum.

I believe the mapping is a little different though ...

[TurboPablo]

Can you use both together? The EZDrummer Song Creator seems frakkin' awesome! I would love to use it for writing songs but use sounds from Slate Platinum.

I believe the mapping is a little different though ...

I could be wrong here, but a MIDI map is a MIDI map. If you can import and export them all the same, why not?

As far as sounds go, I have no idea.

The songwriter is blowing my mind. All the beats I hear in my head are right there. I still have to mess with the "Humanize" function so it's hopefully not completely machine like. But, if that doesn't work out, I don't care. More than worth the monies to me.

Broslinga needs to get with the program

[JerEvil]

Can you use both together? The EZDrummer Song Creator seems frakkin' awesome! I would love to use it for writing songs but use sounds from Slate Platinum.

I believe the mapping is a little different though ...

I could be wrong here, but a MIDI map is a MIDI map. If you can import and export them all the same, why not?

As far as sounds go, I have no idea.

The songwriter is blowing my mind. All the beats I hear in my head are right there. I still have to mess with the "Humanize" function so it's hopefully not completely machine like. But, if that doesn't work out, I don't care. More than worth the monies to me.

Broslinga needs to get with the program

Not all midi maps are the same. Some of the Toontrack hi hats, for example don't line up with Steven Slate. There will be glaring holes in some patterns that you manually have to fix. Still could be cool though to get songs laid out.

[Markdude]

I use Superior and the MIDI maps are indeed a bit different. I think it's the cymbals and hats though because I've used Slate to make kick/snare/tom close-miked tracks to blend with Superior as a base sound, and I don't think I had to do any remapping for those. But I do recall figuring out that the cymbals and hats were at least a little bit different way back in the day.

Definitely possible though, since MIDI is MIDI. If it comes down to it, you could just tweak the kits and change which notes trigger which hits on which drums so that they match. But I have to say...I've heard clips of EZDrummer/EZDrummer 2 kits that absolutely SLAY anything I've heard (or produced myself) from Steven Slate Drums. And personally I hate pre-processed drums (which is why I work with Superior), but just based on EZ vs. Steven Slate, some of the EZ expansion kits mop the floor with the ridiculously fake, one-dimensional sounding Steven Slate stuff. Ok, rant over. I just think SSD are way overrated.

[JerEvil]

I use Superior and the MIDI maps are indeed a bit different. I think it's the cymbals and hats though because I've used Slate to make kick/snare/tom close-miked tracks to blend with Superior as a base sound, and I don't think I had to do any remapping for those. But I do recall figuring out that the cymbals and hats were at least a little bit different way back in the day.

Definitely possible though, since MIDI is MIDI. If it comes down to it, you could just tweak the kits and change which notes trigger which hits on which drums so that they match. But I have to say...I've heard clips of EZDrummer/EZDrummer 2 kits that absolutely SLAY anything I've heard (or produced myself) from Steven Slate Drums. And personally I hate pre-processed drums (which is why I work with Superior), but just based on EZ vs. Steven Slate, some of the EZ expansion kits mop the floor with the ridiculously fake, one-dimensional sounding Steven Slate stuff. Ok, rant over. I just think SSD are way overrated.

Cool man ...





























But how do you really feel??? I have used Slate for the last 6 years or so, so my experience is limited.

[TurboPablo]

Apparently EZDrummer2 is better.


According to Mark anyway.

[Markdude]

I've been using 3.5 since early 2009 and 4 since whenever it was that they came out so I have a ton of experience with 'em too. They're the McDonalds of drum sounds to me. I do like using the shells as low-level samples for blending with Superior though, but I've gravitated away from that lately. To be fair, a ton of the Superior stuff doesn't do it for me either. But nothing tops the Rock Warehouse and Joe Barresi Evil Drums SDX expansions for me.

Anyway all I'm sayin' is that if you spend the money on EZDrummer 2, you might end up switching over for good and not touching SSD at all. So if you need to justify your SSD investment, stay away from EZDrummer.

[JerEvil]

I've been using 3.5 since early 2009 and 4 since whenever it was that they came out so I have a ton of experience with 'em too. They're the McDonalds of drum sounds to me. I do like using the shells as low-level samples for blending with Superior though, but I've gravitated away from that lately. To be fair, a ton of the Superior stuff doesn't do it for me either. But nothing tops the Rock Warehouse and Joe Barresi Evil Drums SDX expansions for me.

Anyway all I'm sayin' is that if you spend the money on EZDrummer 2, you might end up switching over for good and not touching SSD at all. So if you need to justify your SSD investment, stay away from EZDrummer.

LOL! I want the best sounding drums I can get with EASY implementation! Does Superior Drummer have the Song Creator as well? Are there more than 5 kits cuz that's all EZ2 has, no?

I am legit interested.

[TurboPablo]

Thing with EZ that has me so jazzed is the Tap2Find function. That's where I can lay down my own stuff. The songwriter and library is great. But the selection doesn't always fit what I want. Being able to click the mouse to lay down a rhythm in time is awesome.

Also, and I don't know if SS does this, but you can clip/cut any section and then splice it all back together how you want it. For example, if there is a fill that you like maybe the second half of, just cut it at the time marker and then copy and paste it or whatever. So even though things are laid out by style/genre, you can choip anything up almost any way you want.

Wicked fun.

[JerEvil]

Thing with EZ that has me so jazzed is the Tap2Find function. That's where I can lay down my own stuff. The songwriter and library is great. But the selection doesn't always fit what I want. Being able to click the mouse to lay down a rhythm in time is awesome.

Also, and I don't know if SS does this, but you can clip/cut any section and then splice it all back together how you want it. For example, if there is a fill that you like maybe the second half of, just cut it at the time marker and then copy and paste it or whatever. So even though things are laid out by style/genre, you can choip anything up almost any way you want.

Wicked fun.

Sick dude! LOL!

Slate does NOT have anything like that. I have drum loops I've bought that I manipulate myself or just create beats from scratch. I make pretty believable beats if I do say so myself but I would like to make that a bit easier so it doesn't take me a WEEK to program a full song that is "humanized" well. How does EZ handle making shit not sound like a machine gun?

[Markdude]

I've been using 3.5 since early 2009 and 4 since whenever it was that they came out so I have a ton of experience with 'em too. They're the McDonalds of drum sounds to me. I do like using the shells as low-level samples for blending with Superior though, but I've gravitated away from that lately. To be fair, a ton of the Superior stuff doesn't do it for me either. But nothing tops the Rock Warehouse and Joe Barresi Evil Drums SDX expansions for me.

Anyway all I'm sayin' is that if you spend the money on EZDrummer 2, you might end up switching over for good and not touching SSD at all. So if you need to justify your SSD investment, stay away from EZDrummer.

LOL! I want the best sounding drums I can get with EASY implementation! Does Superior Drummer have the Song Creator as well? Are there more than 5 kits cuz that's all EZ2 has, no?

I am legit interested.

I'm not trying to sell you on Superior Drummer stuff, I just wanted to semi-troll. Superior Drummer doesn't have any fancy stuff like that (but it does have some included MIDI grooves), and UI-wise it's pretty simple, but the samples are all totally unprocessed so they're designed to be mixed from the ground up like real drums. Since you're looking for 'sound awesome already, I got badass guitar tracks to lay down and don't wanna fuck with drum mixing', they'd probably be frustrating (although it does have its own mixer, like the Slate stuff, and there are 'mix ready' presets for each kit, but I don't think they sound good). That's more my style than pre-processed, but even if I was going for pre-processed stuff, I've heard a lot of EZDrummer 2 clips that I've found really impressive, but I just don't dig the Steven Slate sound at all I guess.

I really don't have a legitimate contribution to this thread other than to say there's no reason using EZDrummer 2's Tap2Find thing shouldn't work fine for creating MIDI files that can trigger Slate Drums, you just might have to change some of the note settings for each drum to make sure they're being triggered by the same notes as with EZDrummer.

[TurboPablo]

Thing with EZ that has me so jazzed is the Tap2Find function. That's where I can lay down my own stuff. The songwriter and library is great. But the selection doesn't always fit what I want. Being able to click the mouse to lay down a rhythm in time is awesome.

Also, and I don't know if SS does this, but you can clip/cut any section and then splice it all back together how you want it. For example, if there is a fill that you like maybe the second half of, just cut it at the time marker and then copy and paste it or whatever. So even though things are laid out by style/genre, you can choip anything up almost any way you want.

Wicked fun.

Sick dude! LOL!

Slate does NOT have anything like that. I have drum loops I've bought that I manipulate myself or just create beats from scratch. I make pretty believable beats if I do say so myself but I would like to make that a bit easier so it doesn't take me a WEEK to program a full song that is "humanized" well. How does EZ handle making shit not sound like a machine gun?

EZ1 has a "Humanize" function that I never messed with. I have seen it in 2, ubut haven't found my way to or through it yet. I have another drumjam just about ready to go. Should be done tomorrow.

[JerEvil]

I've been using 3.5 since early 2009 and 4 since whenever it was that they came out so I have a ton of experience with 'em too. They're the McDonalds of drum sounds to me. I do like using the shells as low-level samples for blending with Superior though, but I've gravitated away from that lately. To be fair, a ton of the Superior stuff doesn't do it for me either. But nothing tops the Rock Warehouse and Joe Barresi Evil Drums SDX expansions for me.

Anyway all I'm sayin' is that if you spend the money on EZDrummer 2, you might end up switching over for good and not touching SSD at all. So if you need to justify your SSD investment, stay away from EZDrummer.

LOL! I want the best sounding drums I can get with EASY implementation! Does Superior Drummer have the Song Creator as well? Are there more than 5 kits cuz that's all EZ2 has, no?

I am legit interested.

I'm not trying to sell you on Superior Drummer stuff, I just wanted to semi-troll. Superior Drummer doesn't have any fancy stuff like that (but it does have some included MIDI grooves), and UI-wise it's pretty simple, but the samples are all totally unprocessed so they're designed to be mixed from the ground up like real drums. Since you're looking for 'sound awesome already, I got badass guitar tracks to lay down and don't wanna fuck with drum mixing', they'd probably be frustrating (although it does have its own mixer, like the Slate stuff, and there are 'mix ready' presets for each kit, but I don't think they sound good). That's more my style than pre-processed, but even if I was going for pre-processed stuff, I've heard a lot of EZDrummer 2 clips that I've found really impressive, but I just don't dig the Steven Slate sound at all I guess.

I really don't have a legitimate contribution to this thread other than to say there's no reason using EZDrummer 2's Tap2Find thing shouldn't work fine for creating MIDI files that can trigger Slate Drums, you just might have to change some of the note settings for each drum to make sure they're being triggered by the same notes as with EZDrummer.

Well, as you said, I'm not looking to mix drums from the ground up so maybe EZ2 and one of the metal packs might be worth checking out. I'm watching some 25 minute overview now ...

The one thing I DO like about the Slate stuff is the amount of kits. I guess I'll just need to take the plunge. What's $150? Not going to break my bank.

Thing with EZ that has me so jazzed is the Tap2Find function. That's where I can lay down my own stuff. The songwriter and library is great. But the selection doesn't always fit what I want. Being able to click the mouse to lay down a rhythm in time is awesome.

Also, and I don't know if SS does this, but you can clip/cut any section and then splice it all back together how you want it. For example, if there is a fill that you like maybe the second half of, just cut it at the time marker and then copy and paste it or whatever. So even though things are laid out by style/genre, you can choip anything up almost any way you want.

Wicked fun.

Sick dude! LOL!

Slate does NOT have anything like that. I have drum loops I've bought that I manipulate myself or just create beats from scratch. I make pretty believable beats if I do say so myself but I would like to make that a bit easier so it doesn't take me a WEEK to program a full song that is "humanized" well. How does EZ handle making shit not sound like a machine gun?

EZ1 has a "Humanize" function that I never messed with. I have seen it in 2, ubut haven't found my way to or through it yet. I have another drumjam just about ready to go. Should be done tomorrow.

Cool. Imma get in on that shizz

[RIFF]

You can try EZ Drummer 2 out for about a month free, so that makes it easier...

Not sure of all the using between both aspects, but I know you can export what youve created to your DAW or to a midi file, & I believe import back to it, so I imagine you might be able to do the same with SS drums..?

I also saw a question about humanizing.. & while I know a lot of midi tracks are actually played by real drummers & have great realism.. I HAVE seen a humanize feature, but havent used it. Its in one of the menus.

[Steinmetzify]

In EZD2 the 'Humanize' feature is always on...there was a button in EZD1, but they removed it for 2.

[RIFF]

In EZD2 the 'Humanize' feature is always on...there was a button in EZD1, but they removed it for 2.

Its still around.. Go to MENU, then SOUND ENGINE.
You can set it ALL OFF, ALL ON, or EZX Optimized.

[JerEvil]

You can try EZ Drummer 2 out for about a month free, so that makes it easier...

Not sure of all the using between both aspects, but I know you can export what youve created to your DAW or to a midi file, & I believe import back to it, so I imagine you might be able to do the same with SS drums..?

I also saw a question about humanizing.. & while I know a lot of midi tracks are actually played by real drummers & have great realism.. I HAVE seen a humanize feature, but havent used it. Its in one of the menus.

Only 10 days now for the trial but I'm going to buy it. Just not sure what "metal" pack to get. The bulk of what I record is metal like Helloween, Primal Fear, Hammerfall or punk like Ramones, Misfits and Offspring. Which packs have the most versatile kits and midis?

[DNW]

I also saw a question about humanizing.. & while I know a lot of midi tracks are actually played by real drummers & have great realism.. I HAVE seen a humanize feature, but havent used it. Its in one of the menus.

"Humanize" in Toontrack's software is just to do with which samples are being played. I dunno what the options were in EZD, and I don't even remember what the options are in S2.0. That said, it's basically just to prevent machine-gunning sounds by using various ways of shuffling through the sample pool. But it does nothing to shift the note timings or velocities around. That has to come from the MIDI sequence, whether it's recorded by a pro on an e-kit or clicked in with a mouse.

[RIFF]

good to know, that does make sense.