Sorry, but for comping I’m really lazy about drum sequencing.
Can you recommend a good source for drum loops and/or midi drum patterns that I can import into my projects?
Also, out of all the VST stuff, I’d really like the drums to sound as realistic as possible and I’d heard EZ Drummer was really good in terms of it sounding realistic. Groove Agent is good, but some of the sounds sound so synthesised and I want almost a sample drum sound if possible (maybe that’s achieved via clever/quality midi maps, I don’t know?)
Sorry, also meant to ask about the Loopmaster Excite loops. I think they were a Steinberg thing! Anyway, I assume in the file title where it says…140_AFRO_LOOP or something that it means it’s 140bpm? When I import them into a 140bpm track though they are out of sync with the Cubase click. That’s the bpm right?
IMO I always liked EZDrummer. Sounds are very realistic and the software has a “humanizer” feature so that the beats do not sound robotic. The midi loops drag right into your Cubase project at the set project tempo. Toontrack just today came out with EZDrummer 2 which I have yet to check out. From what I’ve seen it looks like it will be much easier to find a drum loop that is applicable to your project. For me, that means I am coughing up the $99 for the upgrade.
The only con might be the cost of the EZX drum expansion packs. They are kind of expensive if you don’t purchase them during a special sale.
Not sure but they probably do offer a free trial version so that you can check it out.
Also, for me, the EZDrummer software works well with the latest version of Cubase.
I’ve been checking out EZDrummer2 which looks awesome. I’m not sure how a novice like myself will find it, when it comes to using it, but it certainly seems like a very quick and easy way to put some backing ideas down without having to get into midi programming which, whenever I try it, sounds like a toaster!
It’s more about having some grooves available to get me started - doesn’t Cubase come with anything like that?
Sure it has kits in the Grooveagent, but I can’t see any grooves. If I’ve missed it, please be sure to point it out to me.
Jamstix is excellent for song building, it just does it itself !!takes awhile to get your head round it because it’s a little complicated on first use (was for me anyway)
I’m also lazy with the drum stuff, that’s why I bought jamstix, I would say get the basic Jamstix and use it’s brain to to your drum stuff…Kevin
My scenario…let’s say I have a track that’s 80bpm, I want to drag and drop midi loop drum patters in and assign them to a particular drum kit so that I’ve got some kind of backing for my acoustic instruments. I basically like to play to a drum beat because I struggle with a click as it’s not human sounding enough for me.
Am I just dragging files from a directory on my hard drive and dropping them into the Cubase timeline?
I bought EZDrummer 2 today, because the kits sound so good, but lo and behold when I go to VST Instruments it’s not displayed. How do I hook up EZ Drummer and Cubase?
Really appreciate it. Totally new all this.
Ta.
NJ
The original EZDrummer is a VST 2.4 instrument so I’m not sure if the new EZDrummer 2 is the same but the setup should be similar if you are running Cubase 7.5.20 64 bit on a PC running Win 7 x64:
Find the ezdrummer.dll file and make sure a copy of it is located the proper Cubase vst folder.
I copied the ezdrummer.dll file into my c:\Program Files\Steinberg\Cubase7.5\VST Plugins folder.
If the new EZDrummer is a VST 3 instrument I would copy the exdrummer.dll file into the c:\Program Files\Steinberg\Cubase7.5\VST 3 folder.
Verify the .dll file is shown in Cubase by checking in Cubase under “devices” then “plug in information”. If it does not show up make sure the list has been “updated”.
Make sure the EZDrummer standalone program (named Tunetrack Solo for the old version of EZDrummer) is set to “run as administrator”.
Hopefully that is it. EZDrummer 2 should show up in your list of vst instruments. From a midi track open EZDrummer 2, find the drum groove you want, then just drag it into the midi track. It should import perfectly.
In Devices / Plug-in information I can’t see anything relating to EZ Drummer. The only thing that is listed in there, that isn’t “Steinberg Media Technologies” is “V-Station” from Novation. I noted that it’s dll location was C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST so I went to investigate that folder and there is a “Toontrack” folder in there which contains the EZdrummer.dll file.
Cubase isn’t picking it up though.
Why is this sh*t so difficult? It’s a real put off for newbies - I find all this dragging files here and there, in the hope that it works, to be a really odd way of working. EZDrummer AND Cubase give the impression that this is really very simple to do and it just isn’t.
Would appreciate advice on how I get this working because it’s starting to do my head in now.
Thank you.
NJ
I agree that this is not the most intuitive thing to get going.
I’m not an expert but mine is working well so I will suggest that you try one or both of the following:
The new EZDrummer 2 VSTs are not version 3. It still shows up as a version 2.4. So try copying the .dll file into this folder instead of where you copied it.
Don’t forget to hit the “Update Plug-In Information” button then, to be safe, restart Cubase to see if shows up.
If that doesn’t work try this:
Make note of the folder location where you found the original EZDrummer.dll file. Go into the Cubase “plug-in information” then go into the “VST 2.x Plug-In Paths”. Click “Add” and add that folder location to the list. Again, restart Cubase.
Anyway, I assume in the file title where it says…140_AFRO_LOOP or something that it means it’s 140bpm? When I import them into a 140bpm track though they are out of sync with the Cubase click. That’s the bpm right?
