Toontrack EZ Drummer 3

[Guy Rowland]

Out on May 3rd. New feature summary:

NEW INTERFACE.
Fully scalable and resizable graphical user interface.

NEW MIDI LIBRARY
A massive library covering all major music genres (pop, rock, electronic, hip-hop, reggae and much more).

TAP2FIND – DELUXE!
Now includes a step sequencer, the ability to record groove mockups and more.

MIX & MATCH
Single out parts from different grooves and create new ones in an instant.

TALK TO YOUR DRUMMER
Easy control for ghost notes as well as new Power Hand features

PERCUSSIVE PERFECTION
Articulations are automatically varied to increase overall expression.

NEW MIXER.
All-new and more intuitive look.

IMPROVED INTERACTION.
Preview instruments and overhead channels directly in the mixer.

PRESETS
Ready-made mixes for a wide range of styles and sounds.

THE BANDMATE
Feed EZdrummer 3 with an idea and it will provide a custom groove.

IT WORKS WITH MIDI & AUDIO
Works just as well with a MIDI file from EZbass or EZkeys as a single-instrument audio source.

THE ULTIMATE TIME SAVER
Create outlines for complete song parts in no time. Perfect the performances as you go.

THE NEW SOUND LIBRARY
An all-new recording featuring seven (7) drum kits and extras captured by Grammy Award-winning producer/engineer/mixer Michael Ilbert (Coldplay, Adele, The Weeknd) at the world-famous Hansa Studios in Berlin.

THREE ROOMS.
Three different ambiences. Maximum versatility.

NEW PERCUSSION.
The songwriting staples, recorded to perfection.

PRICING

ALREADY AN EZDRUMMER USER?
Pre-order before May 3 and save EUR17!* (reg. upgrade price EUR89)
Download on release day

NEW TO EZDRUMMER?
Buy EZdrummer 2 before May 3 and get the upgrade included. This means that you can get started using the full award-winning EZdrummer 2 product today and move up to EZdrummer 3 on release day – keeping the entire EZdrummer 2 core content!
$179, €165, SEK 1.595.

Looks very nice. I - and I suspect many others - would like a bit more clarification with regard to the inevitable Superior Drummer 3, but I doubt that will be forthcoming. Based on past behaviour, I think the core libraries will be totally different, so it's arguable that just the sound kits might be worth the price of admission (and the midi grooves too). They have confirmed SD2 will read EZD3 kits fine, once updated. Feature-wise, I hope they finally have swing and other time sigs in Tap 2 Find, which will ultimately migrate to SD3. Also interested in the suggestion that more intelligent humanisation and variation might create subtle playing changes across a song.

Some demos of the kits are up on the website, sound very good to me - https://www.toontrack.com/product/ezdrummer-3/

[soundbylaura]

Currently $79USD to upgrade my EXDrummer 2 (directly at Toontrack, resellers may be lower). It's my main drum instrument. Will definitely buy.

Wish they'd make an EZGuitar.

[bbunker]

Is it strange that my main drum tool is Superior Drummer 3, but (having owned EZD2) that I see the $80 for a varied set of MIDI, for 7 kits in 3 or 4 rooms, and think that's enough content to warrant picking it up?

To be fair, I could see using it as the first tool to combine MIDI sections until SD3/4 gets the same functionality, then replacing it with SD3 for the actual sound generation. Am I nuts?

[Guy Rowland]

Is it strange that my main drum tool is Superior Drummer 3, but (having owned EZD2) that I see the $80 for a varied set of MIDI, for 7 kits in 3 or 4 rooms, and think that's enough content to warrant picking it up?

To be fair, I could see using it as the first tool to combine MIDI sections until SD3/4 gets the same functionality, then replacing it with SD3 for the actual sound generation. Am I nuts?

Not entirely nuts! I’m definitely interested in hearing more about the midi features. It would be amazing if it could generate an intelligent 32 bars starting with 2, all based on the same groove but just with enough human variations in timing and strike hits. But if it’s not quite that good and it’s not worth the faff generating in EZ3 and replaying in SD3, 7 kits and all the midi is actually an ok deal anyway. (Can you feel me talking myself into it?)

[Guy Rowland]

There’s an interminable livestream walkthrough here to skip through:



Looking at this myopically (the only way I know how) from an SD3 owner who upgraded from EZD so gets the cheap upgrade offer, I think I’m gonna jump on this. 3 new Hansa EZX kits and 2,500 midi grooves for 72 euros seems more than fair.

As to the new features, the enhancements to Edit Play Style look very nice indeed, and grabbing parts of grooves is equally nice. The demo to Bandmate in the video here is very impressive, but one can’t help but feel they carefully chose some perfect examples. Still, they’re clever buggers so it might be fun to play around with. I wonder if you can drag and drop midi from EZD to SD3? Might try that tomorrow.

Biggest disappointment by far is that they STILL don’t seem to have put alt time sigs and swing control on Tap2Find. That’s really daft, it is surely cut and paste code for them and it really limits the brilliant feature. Nonetheless, I think it’s a BUY from me.

[soundbylaura]

I picked up the pre-sale at its discount even though I very very very rarely pre-buy anything. However, historically Toontrack doesn't put new products on sale for a very long time, and I use EZD on nearly everything, so I went for it. Only a few days to go!

[Muziksculp]

I will surely upgrade EZ Drummer from version 2 to 3.

[Guy Rowland]

I picked up the pre-sale at its discount even though I very very very rarely pre-buy anything. However, historically Toontrack doesn't put new products on sale for a very long time, and I use EZD on nearly everything, so I went for it. Only a few days to go!

I think you're right - it will be a while til we see the discounts.

I wonder at what point will I stop buying expansions. I just looked for fun - in SD3 I have 540 snare drums (250 of which are acoustic). We get used to this luxurious madness, don't we? When I was in a band, the drummer had a couple. It was fine.

[Guy Rowland]

Lots to like in EZD3. But - oh dear lord - they removed the NO QUANTIZE option from Tap2Find. Impossible now to start with any kind of swing. And it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that.