Toontrack EZ Drummer

25+ years as a musician, 10+ years using computers to make and record my music. EZD w/ almost all the expansion packs. Use it for rock, funk, experimental, latin, metal, lots of styles. Mac OS 10.5. Digital Performer, Reason, Kontakt, lots of plug-ins.

Pretty easy to use, for what it is. I like starting with a Groove, and modifying it from there. Often I will use a Groove from a different style altogether, and change the tempo or the instrumentation. Get the expansion packs for all the Grooves. Easy to get something useable quickly.

The sound is good. The humanizing control helps keep it from sounding too machine-like. You have control over the mix of each drum, plus a room mic.

Definitely worth the low cost. One thing I wish I could do with it is combine drums/instruments from different sets. Different expansion packs use different amounts of RAM.

I don't understand the low ratings from some reviewers. I've never seen a product with so many 10's as well as 1's! I've never had one single problem with the software itself. Never crashes. I notice most of the bad reviews are using a PC. Could explain it.

I've been a songwriter for close to 20 years
I'm a professional guitarist with professional recording experience
I double on bass and drums and have performed professionally on both
I produce records on a regular basis
I have a good amount of experience in arranging
I run Logic 8 on my MacBookPro and Mac Pro
I have used the EZ drummer software on everything from rock to jazz to latin records at this point....very stable (yes, i've programmed jazz in this.)
I usually arrange in a small room with Alesis M1 Active monitors (cheapies) and mix in a big room with Genelecs. (not-so-cheapies) :)

The interface is super-easy. i like it very much. It's super-intuitive.

I do wish that it were easier to be able to control the mixer through Logic8's mixer, but it's really a pain in the neck...and i still haven't made it work to 100% level yet.

One thing i'm not feeling is that i do a LOT of my own programming (in fact, i NEVEr use the grooves - i always use original beats based on my drumming knowledge) and i wish there were a clear midi map of the instruments acc to the piano roll in the software manual. There ARE a decent amount of hi-hat sounds there, but i really wish i could know which was which; like the INTENDED sounds...i use my ear pretty well, but it would make things easier.

The sound quality is superb. i don't know if you were paying attention up there, but i AM a drummer and i am more than capable of playing the beats i program with EZ. Only thing is: i don't have a room at my disposal that SOUNDS as good as the EZ room.

I was sold on EZ drummer when I was recording my record and had JUST finished the drum tracks in a FANTASTIC room with top-quality mics when my friend showed me his demo made in EZ and the raw sounds were comparable! i decided to go and buy it right then and there.

I've found now that you get the BEST tracks with a real snare overlay. In other words, program your beats, but leave out the snare and then get in the studio and record your own snare. it takes some mixing finesse, but it really sounds fantastic when done correctly.

I put a bit of compression on it and create a room in silverVERB and that's IT....it's a great-sounding piece of software for every application i've faced yet.

I like it very much. period. i have produced records with it instead of live drums for clients who didn't have the budget to hire a studio player...and they sound big-budget.

NOTE: i've heard CRAP recordings with EZ drummer....you STILL have to know what you're doing and what you want to sound like. you ALSO need to know how to program drums like a drummer would play them. To this day, i have NEVER used a beat or a fill without tweaking it. You can totally tell the guys who DO use them. Good drum programming TAKES LONGER THAN DRUM RECORDING.

I'll gladly answer any other questions anyone has from this review. just hit my email up.

using EZ Drummer with Cakewalk Sonar PE 8
HP pc dual core running Vista 4gb ram 2 hard drives 7200rpm
I've also used it on XP 2gb ram - laptop - single core -
one drive 7200 rpm - tweaked operating systems for audio

I've used it with Sonar versions 5,6,7pe and Guitar Tracks Pro 3 too

used with Presonus Firepod (F10)
or with a Pod XT Live or a Pod x3

and I use a Edirol PCR 300 to play the beats
or one of the tools in Sonar or I drag and drop the midi

easy to use
installation can be tricky - because I have 2 hard drives 7200rpm Sata
one for Operating System / all other programs
one for audio recording
had to direct Sonar to find it but all is well

go to the Toontrack forum or the Cakewalk forum if you need help

I have Battery 3 and Session Drummer also
but EZ Drummer is my go to for programming drums
I have the DKFH expansion pack and the Nashville pack also
and Vintage drums expansion on the way

add some compression / reverb / maybe a little eq
season to taste - you can make templates to help save time in Sonar

worth the money
I'd buy it again
not a resource hog
I'd like to have more than 4 authorizations though

Have been using EZDrummer for 2 years & recording for over 10. My primary instruments are guitar and piano. I use the EZDrummer with REAPER and SONAR on Windows Vista x86. I record pop/rock.

The interface is very straightforward, with three main views (kit, grooves, mixer covering all the bases.

The copy protection system works OK, but occasionally requires you to re-register for the same computer, which can in turn mean a request to Toontrack to increase your authorization count (which they have done without complaint for me).

Another slight criticism is the long load-time. About 30s to 1 minute to fully load a kit.

The built-in mixer is great with the exception that not every single drum can be independently controlled as the controls are per microphone, not per kit-piece. This means for example that sometimes trying to tame a too loud hi-hat can be difficult. It would be nice if you could adjust the volume for each kit piece from the kit view.

The groove browser is well thought out.

The sound quality is excellent. Obviously you can buy even larger sample libraries, but for the target market, EZD gets it spot on, with the drums pretty much ready to go in a mix. There is just enough tweakability for most uses, and the availability of EZX expansion packs.

The grooves are all good quality and well organized, making it easy to find something that will fit your song.

Overall I would say it is the ideal drum module for the hobbyist/beginner. Before using EZD, I would spend ages trying to work out how best to EQ and compress each drum to get my drums to sit right in the mix with very limited success.

Those producing commercial albums or with lots of experience at mixing may want to opt for some of the more "pro" competitiors.

It's good value for money, particularly with the free EZX deals going around at the moment. The ability to add on EZXs gives it some longevity.

Its CPU usage is very reasonable, and it is completely stable on my PC.

Its main competitor is probably Addictive Drums, which seems to have better customisation of drum sound options, but priced slightly higher. It would be nice to see Toontrack make a few more enhancements to the core plugin rather than just releasing expansion packs.

Sonar 7.02
COBRA 3000 Computer( 3,2 Duo Core2, 2TB HD, 3GB 1066 MHz RAM, XP PRO)
Soundscape/Solid State Logic Mixtreme 192. Soundcraft 16 I/O Digital
+ + +

If you cannot get this thing working then you must be stu..! Maby a bad computer...DAW???

The sound quality is great!!! Buy the DFH pack, add som Rev, Comp and
you are rocking!

Worth twice what I paid. The best drum software i have used. 10+

Digidesign Solo, Mac Mini w/500gb external firewire storage, Garageband (Sequencer), Guitar and Cord

No need for a manual. If you cannot get this thing working then you must still be on the bottle. The only thing that is a bit of a pain is authorizing it (but if you cannot figure it out then you should sell your computer). I am only comparing this to other plug ins like Amplitube which is a breeze to authorize.

WOW... put some compression on the track and master with a limiter and presto. fire the drummer. I cannot wait for the expansions to arrive.

Efficient (CPU and TIME), Tone, Easy. Time that I am not fiddling with a drum machine is time I am creating and that is gold. Once in a while a piece of equipment comes along that helps you to play MORE. This is it... BIG THANK YOU TO WHOEVER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS!!!

5 plus years. Yamaha MO-6, Korg SP-200, Alesis Micron, etc. I run windows XP and use EZ Drummer with ProTools.

Here is the deal as I see it. When this thing is authorized and working it is great. Keeping it that way is a chore!!!! If you are like me you go back in forth between web-connected and non-web connected. If you accidently launch your DAW in a mode other than what EZ Drummer expects, it immediately unauthorizes you on your computer. And you only get 4 total authorizations. So when this occurs and you are quickly trying to get a magic idea down, instead you have to screw around with reauthrozing EZ Drummer. You can't reauthorizing using your last "good" computer ID and authorization code, it generates a unique computer ID each time. There is no phone for support, which makes matters worse....they take there time answering e-mails trust me. Bottom Line...I bought EZ drummer to make my song writting more productive and effective and it has actually made me less productive. I'm going back to my trusty drum machine for demos. The manual is not very good either.

Do yourself a favor, look at another product.

Sounds are great, but again, not much use if you are always having to fight with authorizing the thing.

Worst authoriztion scheme I have ever used in 20 years of computing. Frankly I'd rather deal with Microsoft, and that is really sad. Are musicians really stealling that much software? Does the Industry think it has to be so difficult? I wish I could have my money back and put it toward something useful. Worst music investment I have ever made.

Equipment:
??? Sonar 6 Producers Edition on a DuoCore PC
??? Behringer Mixer
??? M-audio & Motu interfaces
??? Fender guitars
??? DeArmond Pilot 5 Bass
??? Yamaha & Roland Synths
??? Alesis, Art, and Korg Efects
??? And many Soft Synths and Efects

I use EzDrummer in my studio and have been very happy with it. I run Sonar 6 Producers Edition and have had no real issues with it. It was very easy to install, use, and work with.

Just a lot of fun writing and producing.

Just by simply running it in multitrack mode and a few eqs, multiband compressors, and a tad bit of reverb on the snare, the drums really do sound good. You do have to do some things to really get it to punch in the mix (just as recording acoustic drums), but once you get it locked in they rock. I play a mix on metal, progressive rock, and fusion and use a lot of tracks with a lot of changes and a lot of different type of sounds. I primarily use Drum Kit From Hell, but use the Nashville, Vintage, Latin, Pop Rock, and even the Twisted Kit. I took off a point due to not being fully customizable, but that was supposed to be changed with Superior 2.0 and will let you all know as soon as it is done loading and tested.

It is well worth the price and sounded good. I chose EzDrummer based on the examples they had on their site. I thought it looked easier to use, setup, and get going. I didn???t want to spend several hours to get something up and running when I have an idea in my head. It can be a bit of a resource hog when you use multiple softsynths and effects, but that is the price you pay for quality sound. I have crashed EzDrummer before doing some really ridiculous stuff before, but I can???t hold that against them. I???ve even run 4 different instances of it without any problems (just be careful of all of the effects running).

I am a professional musician, mainly songwriting but do some tv work as well. I have owned this product for years and own BFD, DFH1, Battery, Addictive and Drumcore. All of the above products are good too, there is not one drum sound that is perfect all the time. As for the negative reviews I read it appears that it is either the same guy writing them or he is not very computer literate (like when he says no .exe - you need to install Toontrack Solo for stand alone version and it is a free download)

how could it be any easier? really, this is a no brainer

the sounds are great and you are up and running very quickly. I will always start with EZ and then if i need a different sound will switch to another program. But, I can tell you this for a fact since I have met some other composers at symposiums, NAMM etc... EZ is on so many TV shows it is ridiculous. Plus with the add ons you can always change sounds. I use the others mentioned above sometimes too, no doubt, but my go to is EZ

I have been playing and writing music for 25 years. I play guitar and bass. My style is alternative/indie rock and pop

Apple iMac Duo Core 2 ghz, Logic 8 and Apogee Duet...

This is easy to use. I do not understand the last guy who gave it a 1?
And you are using Cubase? That is easy to use?? Intuitive?

This is a great product. And when I have had a question, they are above and beyond any music/software company I have dealt with before. Maybe the last person who said they were horrible to deal with was horrible to them. I have also had no problems selling my Nashville EZX to someone else when I did not find it right for me. They do not charge $50, This is crap.

I have used Addictive Drums also, and it was nice but not as easy to use. They were nice to deal with also.

I think the sound quality is great. But the drums are not processed like Addictive Drums. But it is easy to use multiple outputs on your tracks and get it to sound as squashed or dirty as you want. I myself, prefer the Vintage EZX over the stock drum kit or Nashville EZX.

It goes well into a mix if you know how to mix music.

Definitely worth the price. I actually started with EZ Drummer on a PC with Mackie Tracktion, then went with Addictive Drums then came back to EZ Drummer.

I then switched over to Mac and Logic at the beginning of this year. The only difference I noticed is the visual hits are not as accurate(some misses) as it was in VST version. But that is something I can sacrifice. The program is very low on CPU usage.

I just bought their EZ Player Pro software and had some headaches getting it to work (due to my lack of experience with Logic). They were terrific in helping me out and got it working.

I will definitely stick with this product and might look into crossgrading to the new Superior 2.0.

Toontrack is a great company and for someone to just trash them, is not right.