GIGGING & RECORDING > ON TRACK
GROOVING TO A VIRTUAL DRUMMER BY RICH TOZZOLI
One thing we guitar play- ers realize is that we can’t
always make music alone, as
much as we sometimes might
like to. We need other players—especially drummers—to
help get us in a groove and
express our fretboard skills.
But finding those players,
gelling with them, and paying them is a whole different
animal. With that in mind, I
came across a few cool products recently from a company
called Toontrack that I want to
share with you.
EZdrummer is basically an
inexpensive, easy-to-use virtual
instrument and drum sequencer
for studio production. No
attitudes or loud playing here
(unless you want to turn up the
volume). It runs as a VST, AU,
and RTAS plug-in at both 32-
and 64-bit mode, and it works
on either Macintosh (OS 10. 5
or higher, G5 or Intel with 512
MB of RAM) or PC platforms
(Windows XZP SP3 or newer,
Pentium or Athlon processor
with 512 MB RAM). Tech talk
aside, what makes this program
so cool is that it’s simple to
get good grooves with useable
sounds in just a few minutes.
Here’s how it works: Once
you’ve installed and authorized
With Toontrack’s EZdrummer, you can create virtual kits and select a
variety of grooves that automatically match the BPM of your session.
Just open the program as
an instrument in your DAW
(EZdrummer will also run as a
stand-alone application) and click
on some of the drums and cymbals to hear the sounds. You can
play the samples from your keyboard as well, as they are mapped
out automatically. Great—no
thinking involved. The sounds
are velocity sensitive, which
basically means samples with different volume levels will trigger
depending on how hard or soft
you hit your keys or MIDI controller. This helps add a “human
touch” to the overall feel.
You can change sounds
simply by clicking on the small
Aside from using the loops
in my TV productions, I like
jamming to them. It’s a great
way to practice locking into
a real drummer’s beats.
the Open Grooves button and
you’ll be presented with various
MIDI grooves that automatically lock to the tempo of your
session or sequencer. You can
choose from various types of
grooves (straight, shuffle, 4/4
with 6/8 feel, etc.) and different
parts such as fills, ballad, side
stick, and so on. Clicking the
small play arrow will start the
groove (again, at your session
tempo). If you like what you
hear, simply drag the MIDI file
into your sequencer. Press play
on your DAW and that’s it—
drums are performing.
EZdrummer also features
an intuitive mixer that lets
you control the level and
pan of each drum, as well as
the amount of overhead and
room sound. If you want
more drum sounds, Toontrack
sells inexpensive expansion
packs, including Nashville,
Metal Machine, Funkmasters,
and Latin Percussion. They
also sell MIDI packs like
Songwriter’s Drumpack, Jazz,
Blues, and so on.
Aside from using the loops
in my TV productions, I like
jamming to them. It’s a great
way to practice locking into a
real drummer’s beats. After get-
ting used to a groove and find-
ing the perfect tempo, I often
drag a few MIDI files into my
Pro Tools sequencer and even-
tually write a song from them.
These drums sound damn
good and the MIDI programs
are excellent. EZdrummer is
just $179 and some of the
MIDI packs are only $29.
Can’t go wrong at those prices
for the quality of the product.
the software (which can be
downloaded), you have access
to a ton of expertly performed
MIDI drum programs that
trigger drum samples recorded
by Neil Dorfsman (Kiss, Dire
Straits, Sting) at Avatar studios
in New York.
arrow next to each drum. For
example, with the snare, you
get 14" Rogers, 14" Rogers
Damped, 14" Slingerland, 13"
GMS Piccolo or 13" GMS
Piccolo Damped. If you don’t
like to program drum beats
(I hate doing it), just click on
RICH TOZZOLI is a
Grammy-nominated engineer and mixer who has
worked with a wide range
of artists, including Al Di
Meola, David Bowie, Ace
Frehley, and Hall & Oates.
He composes music for the likes of Fox
NFL, Pawn Stars, and Gene Simmons
Family Jewels, and is the author of Pro
Tools Surround Sound Mixing.
38 PREMIER GUITAR FEBRUARY 2012
premierguitar.com
