Hi,

I love the sounds I get using real drums, but I find the fills too repetitive over the course of a whole song, insofar as it becomes fairly obvious some kind of software is being used.

I was wondering if anyone uses EZDrummer in concert with BIAB and if so, how you use it and what your results have been.

thanks in anticipation for any input.

Fitzy

I have never used EZDrummer, but i love Jamstix, a similar product. One issue with RB, and PT is that they do not work with VSTi programs that have timing request. EZDrummer, and Jamstix will work but only as drum programs that follow midi, they will not "jam" to the music. But you can build drum tracks with patterns, but then again you are back to having the same fills and rolls at breaks.

In the past I have used EZDrummer with BIAB. I would put together my BIAB tracks, both MIDI and RT and RD, and export. In my DAW I would import these tracks and set the correct tempo. Then I would open EZDrummer, mute the BIAB drum track, and audition drum parts. I would construct the drum track using basic groove, variations, fills, intros and endings from EZDrummer. Then I would render the drum track to audio--either a stereo track, or multiple tracks (kick, snare, toms, hi-hats, cymbals, rooom, and overheads) for more controlled mixing.

Once you find a groove that fits the BIAB tracks things should go pretty fast in EZDrummer.

BTW, the new Americana EZDrummer is fantastic.

Hi, same here. i have used EZDrummer in various occasions where I have been happy with the midi version of the song, so I export the drum track as a midi to my daw and use whatever kit suits my needs or my ears. BTW the have now a new Jazz midi drums grooves, fills and what not in a new set that sound pretty good, specially if you have the jazz expansion pack. Even better yet, Toontracks is offering an upgrade to Superior Drummer 2 till the end of the month for $99, which is a lot cheaper that just buying it right out. It offers a lot more choices and control over the drums, mikes and so on, and you can use whatever expansion pack you have for EZDrummer. Hope this help.

Later

Fitzync, notice the last two posts talks about "exporting the song to a DAW". You can't use EZDrummer directly inside Biab because it only has one midi output port. If you pick EZD as your midi synth then all your midi tracks will sound as drums. Technically you can do it using some fairly complex third party software and if you're a bit of a computer nerd we can talk about that but for most people the answer is no.

Having multiple midi output ports inside of Biab has been on the wishlist for years and PG's answer was to create Real Band. RB is a DAW plus a lot of Biab functions. You can set up EZD in RB and still open and work with your Biab songs.

Bob

Thank you all for your replies. I am afraid I'm not much of a 'COMPUTER NERD' and midi seems beyond me, which is why I record everything in real tracks. (I find easy drummer in Sonar very easy as I can just drag and drop the fills I like). Maybe some future upgrades of Biab will use more varied fills and solve my problem. I still think it's an amazing program.

thanks again

Fitzy

If you have a recent version of Biab then you also have Real Band. RB will do the same thing with EZD that Sonar will with the very big added bonus of working with Biab songs and styles. Go over to the RB forum and read all about it.

Bob

It sounds as though you already have the idea of how to use ezdrummer in Sonar. You can basically do the same thing with BIAB and transfer the BIAB tune into Sonar and then copy your ezdrummer part over the real drums you brought in from BIAB. This will give you much more control over your drums and I think you will be much happier with the sound you end up with.

Realize that ANY of your BIAB tracks can be replaced and tweaked in Sonar. When you start using it that way you end up getting a lot more control and a much more polished product in the end.

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You can basically do the same thing with BIAB and transfer the BIAB tune into Sonar and then copy your ezdrummer part over the real drums you brought in from BIAB. This will give you much more control over your drums and I think you will be much happier with the sound you end up with.

Realize that ANY of your BIAB tracks can be replaced and tweaked in Sonar. When you start using it that way you end up getting a lot more control and a much more polished product in the end.

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I think you misspoke here Earl. Real Drums are not midi. If you've created a Real Drums part in Biab then there's no midi drum part for EZD to play. Also, Sonar isn't going to "replace" any Biab parts. You have to do those in Biab first then copy them over. If you like all the Biab tracks except for the piano, you have to go back to Biab, change styles, regenerate the song, isolate just the piano part and then copy that into Sonar. Contrast that with Real Band. RB will allow you to simply click on any empty track and generate a different piano part right there and you can generate many different versions of that track using different styles, no going back and forth to Biab then copying into Sonar. RB will create as many different Biab tracks both midi and Real Tracks as many times as you want up to 48 tracks but even that isn't a limit because you can put multiple Biab parts on different sections of the same track so it's really unlimited. RB is really powerful. The one big weakness with using a drum program like EZD is if you want to use EZD's own drum patterns. That's the one thing RB won't do even though it's been on the wishlist for years but RB will use EZD or any other drum program as a sound module to play any midi drum part including the Biab generated ones.

Just curious Earl, what exactly can you do in Sonar that you can't in RB other than creating third party drum grooves?

Bob