Looks kind of cool. But honestly I'd rather Toontrack concentrate more on what made them what they are. Drums. As opposed to their version of BandintheBox. And god knows we could always need another sampled piano these days.
Looks kind of cool. But honestly I'd rather Toontrack concentrate more on what made them what they are. Drums. As opposed to their version of BandintheBox. And god knows we could always need another sampled piano these days.
I guess it's worth also depends on how good or not so good the actual sampled Piano is. And you obviously can't tweak the sounds, it's a preset driven piece of software (think: EZmix). So to add on to your sound band, you'll no doubt have to shell out more loot.
The one upside, regardless of the internal sounds, is you can construct piano parts inside EZkeys, and then import the MIDI into your DAW and feed it to whatever piano or other instrument you want. That might be worth the price of admission alone.
Looks kind of cool. But honestly I'd rather Toontrack concentrate more on what made them what they are. Drums. As opposed to their version of BandintheBox. And god knows we could always need another sampled piano these days.
I hear you... But every company expands... They have so many great drum libraries but how many of those can you have?????... I have almost all of them but I only ever use roots the classic and metal foundry....
I'm really looking forward to ezkeys though bc Im a terrible piano player.
As a guitar player who plays keys badly, this looks pretty interesting. If they have different midi maps available like EZ, then it seems you would be able to use this to play any of your keyboard vi's. The price is right and even better if they include it in their annual half off sale. It might not make me sound like a great keyboard player but just being able to add some flavor to original songs would be enough at this price.
L.
Clever! Folks who don't play piano, but wish for it in their song demos, will be all over this. It's a smart product for them.
We can always use better piano samples, but this isn't trying to be the latest/greatest piano plugin. It's a MIDI sequencer which, out of necessity, must include some sort of piano sound. After importing MIDI into your sequencer of choice you'd have access to whatever PNO samples you prefer.
Band In A Box was always a good "idea" but was never implemented for professional use. This takes that idea and delivers a tool for professional productions. Piano players will always shun the idea of being replaced by pre-sequenced MIDI, as do drummers, bass players, even guitarists. As a piano player, I'd still use this just to help sketch out a song.
EZkeys will analyze MIDI imported from your current project or from the MIDI browser. Once the MIDI has been analyzed and imported into the 'Song Track' you click on a chord name to bring up a Circle of 5ths style chord wheel. There is a 'Details' tab that can be opened and it will display each chord voice in the chord. For example, on a Cmaj7 chord, it will display the chord voicings of '3', '5', and 'maj' and '7' (along with the root of course). You can remove any of those voicings and immediately hear the results or you can add other voicings of your choice (add a '9' to turn the chord to a Cmaj9).
Pretty powerful.
__________________
Scott Sibley
Technical Advisor - Toontrack Music
Owner•Engineer•Producer
Rainbow Sounds Recording www.rainbowsounds.com
I think the downside to something like this is the temptation to add piano to toooo much of your music, especially if you really aren't a pianist or know much about what tasteful use of piano sounds like. Fun and easy tools make you want to use them.
I gotta say, EZdrummer has made me want to put drums in more of my songs, when back in the pre- drum sampler days I did plenty of songs sans-drums. And they came out really good. And I can't say the quality of songs has increased as a result, just that more have drums in them.
My fear is adding EZkeys would just promote more frivolous addition of piano into everything. lol.
I think the downside to something like this is the temptation to add piano to toooo much of your music, especially if you really aren't a pianist or know much about what tasteful use of piano sounds like. Fun and easy tools make you want to use them.
I gotta say, EZdrummer has made me want to put drums in more of my songs, when back in the pre- drum sampler days I did plenty of songs sans-drums. And they came out really good. And I can't say the quality of songs has increased as a result, just that more have drums in them.
My fear is adding EZkeys would just promote more frivolous addition of piano into everything. lol.
'With great power comes great responsibility.'
With any new tool/sound, you are bound to end up using it too much. That's part of the creative process.
I'm not a piano player by stretch of the imagination. When working on projects I find myself hiring a real player most of the time. Now, when I need piano, I see if there's something in EZkeys that can fit the bill. If not, I still hire someone else.
The first EZkeys library, the grand piano, isn't the best fit for every song though. It's great to be able to work up the part in EZkeys Song Track and then drag and drop the MIDI to the host and use any other piano VSTi I have that fits better. I do have to say, though, the grand in EZkeys isn't as bad as I initially thought it would be and has found it's way into a few current songs I'm producing ATM.
With any new tool/sound, you are bound to end up using it too much. That's part of the creative process.
I'm not a piano player by stretch of the imagination. When working on projects I find myself hiring a real player most of the time. Now, when I need piano, I see if there's something in EZkeys that can fit the bill. If not, I still hire someone else.
The first EZkeys library, the grand piano, isn't the best fit for every song though. It's great to be able to work up the part in EZkeys Song Track and then drag and drop the MIDI to the host and use any other piano VSTi I have that fits better. I do have to say, though, the grand in EZkeys isn't as bad as I initially thought it would be and has found it's way into a few current songs I'm producing ATM.
Thanks for sharing your experience with EZkeys. I'm definitely going to want this. It really does look like a brilliant MIDI composition tool regardless of the included library, like you said (in your own way).
If there is excess piano usage, I certainly will not blame Toontrack for it. It's in the users hands. With great power... indeed. That would be like holding Antares responsible for T Pain. Lol.
I came so close to ordering this plugin today! I really want this one. I'm much too lazy to learn the piano....even though i already use it in lots of songs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by skiltrip
If there is excess piano usage, I certainly will not blame Toontrack for it. It's in the users hands. With great power... indeed. That would be like holding Antares responsible for T Pain. Lol.
Yeah...by that logic, all gun manufacturers, alcoholic beverage companies, drug companies, ...etc. would be sued and out of business. Heck, I could even sue most cities and hold the government responsible for the actions of their employees. imagine.....
I came so close to ordering this plugin today! I really want this one. I'm much to lazy to learn the piano....even though i already use it in lots of songs.
Yeah...by that logic, all gun manufacturers, alchoholic beverage companies, alcoholic beverage companies, drug companies, ...etc. would be sued and out of business. Heck, I could even sue most cities and hold the government responsible for the actions of their employees. imagine.....
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