Carles Páez
Sampler-based virtual drum instruments are among the most sought-after tools in studios, both for how faithfully they approach the real thing and for the savings involved in getting good results without mics, preamps, a physical kit, a drummer, etc. The quality and range of solutions this kind of software provides improves substantially over time, very much so with ToonTrack's tools, which, to my taste, are among the best I have tried in the field of acoustic drums.
Introduction
Recording a drum kit is probably one of the most complex parts of studio work, or the one that requires the most resources. It's a very complex task for a home studio and an arduous one even for an average studio with limited resources. So much so that, at times, the end result is better using good sample libraries. The reason is simple: even if we have hardware that lets us record 8 or 16 tracks at once (needed to capture all the pieces separately), the quality of the mics, the preamps, the kit, the engineer, the way everything is placed, etc. will have a huge impact on the sound.
The samples in a good library, however, already have all these factors taken care of: a good drum kit (even several to choose from), excellent mics, preamps, engineers, etc. I have heard drums recorded on the cheap in a studio, and sequences built with good virtual instruments. The result clearly favors the libraries as far as sound quality is concerned. Performance, liveliness, nuance and so on are another matter.
It is in this respect that development is progressing at a tremendous pace. Until recently, we were moving toward fully realistic drum sequencing programs, with better samples, more kit pieces, nuanced dynamics in multisampled hits, automatic separation of each piece onto its own track, ambience tracks for the whole kit, etc. In short, we came to have fully satisfying tools of the highest quality, as is the case with ToonTrack's DFH Superior.
Sequencing and loops
Once that outstanding quality was achieved, we felt fully equipped to create perfect, flawless, completely realistic drum parts. Honestly, I think even the most experienced listeners would have trouble telling whether a (well-made) production was recorded with a real kit or with samples.
So where is the problem?
Sequencing a basic "boom-chick" drum part, kick/snare with eighth-note hi-hats and a cymbal pattern in quarter notes for the chorus, is easy. So easy that the end result is soporific, dismal and capable (without a doubt) of ruining the whole song, even if the rest of the tracks are recorded by the best musicians available to us. On the other hand, sequencing a drum part properly is truly laborious. Laborious because a real drummer combines four limbs (when they don't add inventions to their kits that bring in even more things) that are perfectly coordinated at once, following a specific sense of expression in phrases full of nuance (I'm talking about a good drummer, of course). In other words, besides programming complex things, flams, varied breaks and a series of real-sounding "drum" tracks that fit the rest of the instruments in terms of arrangement, we come up against the hardest part: bringing together the expression and intention of all the pieces of the kit, which in many cases we will have sequenced separately (hi-hat, toms, cymbals, kick/snare, breaks, etc.).
With the right software, time, motivation and a lot of work, things will move forward without a problem. What's more, we'll get great results and have total flexibility to arrange the drums exactly as we see fit. However, when you're faced with the extra task (which isn't even your job, since you're not a drummer) of programming 12 tracks... when you spend a month programming and suddenly you hear a monster (drummer) who in four minutes has played something that crushes your most exquisite programming... That's when you start thinking about the need to simplify the work or, at the very least, have tools that make it easier and more productive. This is where EZ DRUMMER comes in.
EZ DRUMMER. How it works: quality, flexibility and time savings.
Loops are the remedy for the problem I described above. You have a folder of bars, at different tempos, actually played by an excellent drummer. It couldn't be easier. You drag the loops in and you have quality plus full expression. Problems: it isn't flexible at all, and you have to adapt your song to the drum sample. Not good. Development has led to the ability to edit and modify loops, mapping all the pieces of the kit heard in the loop to your master keyboard, so you can add or tweak things starting from the foundation provided by the real drummer. We already know all this: Groove tools for changing tempos without altering pitch, etc., but the professional touch that truly brought all these advances together was missing.
EZ Drummer manages to deliver the best of DFH Superior in terms of quality and professionalism. All your tracks separately, ambience tracks and a variety of kit pieces, enough to shape your sound exactly. Now add a revolutionary, fully editable loop-based workflow. To give you an idea, it works more or less like this:
1. You select the kit. The one provided with EZ Drummer, or any other you install as an expansion (EZX) made for EZ.
2. You enter loop mode and select the bar you need, or the closest possible match. You choose the kick/snare combination you want as a foundation, hi-hats in half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, closed, half-open, open, with one type of cymbal or another, etc., etc. The variety and possibilities you'll find here are truly flexible, real, nuanced and professional.
3. You place the bars on your drum track (in Cubase, Pro Tools, etc.), so that in a few minutes you'll have a complete, very realistic and fully nuanced groove laid out. It's played by real drummers; it would take you hours and hours to program it the same way.
4. Now you go to the breaks section and select whatever suits you best.
By length: ¼ bar, ½ bar, a full bar, etc.
By pieces used: snare breaks, snare/kick/hi-hat breaks, hi-hat embellishments, toms, etc.
Once you've chosen the parameters, you drag your breaks onto the sequencer track.
5. Now you have everything finished and all you need to do is fit it precisely to your song. The drums adapt to your needs, not you to theirs. You open the track in MIDI edit mode. You'll see everything separated and perfectly sequenced in edit mode. You move the kicks, snares, hi-hats, cymbals, toms... whatever you want, as you please.
6. If you'd rather record something by playing instead of editing, your master keyboard (pad controller, MIDI drum kit or whatever MIDI instrument you use) will have all the pieces of the kit mapped separately, ready to be played however you like.
7. Now you have all the drum tracks, separated by channel as well.
In half an afternoon, or even less, you'll have the entire drum groove ready. What's more, you'll be able to edit and refine it as the song progresses. We haven't (necessarily) had to program, and the result is incredible. It sounds like the drummer was in your studio playing.
The graphical interface
A truly appealing graphic design. Very simple and visual. You see the drum kit you've chosen on screen, and you see how the pieces (heads, cymbals, etc.) move in play mode. It may seem silly, but it's very useful. Sometimes, when playing the song through, you hear something odd, but even after several passes you can't find the strange detail. You start muting tracks to find what sounds off. You focus your ear on the kick/bass: is that it? Was the bass played with a different feel on some pass that doesn't line up with the kick? Well, with EZ Drummer, besides hearing it, you can see where, how and when the beater hits the head. Locating any subtlety becomes much easier.
The software is simple and is basically divided into the following windows:
A) Drum kit view. Here we select the kit and the details (type of beater, snare, cymbals, etc.)
B) Mixer. From here we can mix the drum tracks. Personally, though, I think it's more convenient to use the EZ mixer only for routing each piece, sending each one (kick, snare, hi-hat, toms...) separately to its own track, separately and on to the main mixer of our host software (Pro Tools, Cubase, etc.). That way we'll have all the pieces independent within the overall mix.
C) GROOVES/LOOPS. Here we select the loops, organized by tempo recommendations (that is, designed for tempo x), by style, by kit piece, etc. From here we preview, select and drag them to our main track.
Sound and expansions
Although I've always been somewhat in love with the sound quality of DFH Superior, I admit that EZ's quality and versatility are excellent. We tested both the libraries included with the original EZ Drummer and the EZX expansions "Vintage Rock," "Latin Percussion" and "DFH Drumkit from Hell." I could describe them in detail here, but I think the best way to show them, so you get a perfect idea, is to listen to them. I've prepared some mp3 demos that you can download from the website www.ispmusica.com
Conclusions
A magnificent virtual instrument that refines and develops its tools to meet the needs of the musician or producer who spends hours in the studio. You can tell that the people who develop the software work with their own material, know the problems and the sticking points, and carefully research what would help. EZ Drummer is one more step by TOONTRACK toward perfection in acoustic drum virtual instruments. My sincerest congratulations.
To see the spec sheet and rating table, download the magazine in PDF