Hidden Symmetry Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 Thought I might try a few. I can get midi packs for $10.00 each. Is this a decent value or too much? How limited are they & how many tunes can you get out of one pack before you start repeating ideas? I could imagine hearing the same basic style tune being released by different artists. How do you use these so you don't wind up sounding like a cookie cutter band using the all same keyboard parts? thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cclarry Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 That's a good deal....a discounted 6 pack is usually about $70... so 6 for $60 is a good deal... They are useful, but, as always, that's dependent on you and your needs 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mesh Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 18 minutes ago, Hidden Symmetry said: Thought I might try a few. I can get midi packs for $10.00 each. Is this a decent value or too much? How limited are they & how many tunes can you get out of one pack before you start repeating ideas? I could imagine hearing the same basic style tune being released by different artists. How do you use these so you don't wind up sounding like a cookie cutter band using the all same keyboard parts? thanks The EZKeys midi is actually very useful and you don't have to use the style they come with. There's a lot of variations/styles/genres that can be generated from a midi pack (don't let the title fool you). There should be a lot of useful stuff on YTube and also Groove 3 has good videos: https://www.groove3.com/tutorials/Songwriting-with-EZKeys 1 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassDaddy Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 That is a very good price for those. Thay are not limited at all. Most of the packs (the good ones at least) are not genre specific enough to cause a problem. Latin and Boogie would be, but most of the others, no. My favorite is still Gospel and you can use it anywhere. You dont have to only use 1 pack with any one song you're doing. Being a guitar player I am a "one hand wonder" and I use EZ Keys to build the song. Often take out the right hand with midi editing in the DAW and play some right hand into it. You can copy the left hand onto another track and use it for bass guitar. There are some very good tutorials at Groove3 with Luke Oswald building songs with EZ Keys and EZ Drummer. It would be worth 1 months subscription to study those. You can use change the voicing for chords, change notes in the chords. I would not be afraid it would sound like someone else's song. The jazz are pretty much jazz but most the others could be used for anything no matter what genre you are in. Most are just rock and pop. Listen to the demos see what sounds usable to you. 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arnoldoo Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 Excellent price! Go for it. I am waiting to catch some of them as toontrack is doing their sales 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hidden Symmetry Posted December 17, 2019 Author Share Posted December 17, 2019 Great help & info. Sounds like they might useful & fun to work with too. Might come in handy, especially when the creativity well runs dry! Many thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vernon Barnes Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 While the "patterns" have chord progressions you can create any chord progressions you wish so you can make things sound a lot different to the out of the box. They are a lot more versatile than audio loops. You are not limited to the Toontrack sounds, you can drag the MIDI out to use with any VSTi. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Walton Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 Good deal on the packs. The usefulness/re-usablity will depend on your approach and the packs. If you just use them "as is" without tweaks and using them in the pre-defined intro, verse, chorus, bridge then it becomes quite obvious when some of the packs are used. That being said, I've made some tracks I'm happy with after putting my own parts on top of them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleer Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 I like to check who the “guy behind the pack” is. They don’t always say, but if it’s Martin Hall, go for it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hidden Symmetry Posted December 17, 2019 Author Share Posted December 17, 2019 Thanks guys, appreciate the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grem Posted December 19, 2019 Share Posted December 19, 2019 Great price. I started using them about a year and a half ago. At first it seems it would just get redundant and sound like everyone else that uses it. But don't fall into that mindset. As others have pointed out, they did their homework over at ToonTrack on this one. Example. Just drag some stuff you like into the timeline. Then change the key. Then go through it and change some of the chords to something else. As you listen you will feel your wanting it to go a certain way. Use the chord chart to change that section. and you can also use that chord chart to make inversions,7ths, add 9ths, and just keep going till it goes in a direction you like. Now bring that into your DAW and start to really make it your own. Change some of the melody notes to something more to your liking. Change some of the left hand stuff to give variety. Me not being a piano player, after I finish adjusting the midi like I want/need in my DAW, I bring it back into EZ Keys and that's when it really comes alive. It's like having an accomplished player at your disposal. EZ Keys is much much more than just a sample player. If the new EZ Bass is anything like EZ Keys, I'm gonna be in heaven!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassDaddy Posted December 19, 2019 Share Posted December 19, 2019 My hope for EZ Keys 2, whenever that might happen, is full control over left hand and right hand. I would like to have a whole library of left hand only. Insert only left hand, or right. It should be very easy to mix left hand from one pack and right from another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grem Posted December 19, 2019 Share Posted December 19, 2019 (edited) Great ideas BD!! I was also thinking of an option to have in EZK2 like in EZD2 where you can add more or less notes for a given clip. Edited December 19, 2019 by Grem Clarity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassDaddy Posted December 19, 2019 Share Posted December 19, 2019 Good ideal, I like that in EZ Drummer. That would let clips morph into another feel or even genre. I hope they really hit it out of the park when they do it. SD3 still amazes me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grem Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 14 hours ago, BassDaddy said: SD3 still amazes me. I have resisted the upgrade path for this one. My reasoning is that I play with EZD settings enough (not including the added fx I place on the bus!) that if I were presented with more options, I'd never get a drum trk done!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Derbidge Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 (edited) On 12/17/2019 at 8:38 AM, Hidden Symmetry said: I could imagine hearing the same basic style tune being released by different artists. This won't be a problem if you use this library for more of a playing style reference than a piano melody reference, although that can work too. I'm pretty decent at banging out chord progressions but what I don't have is that playing style that a real pianist/keyboardist has. There are many times that I looked for that playing style I needed in EZ keys where the chords sounded nothing like what I needed but was able to take the style and mold it tho the chord progression I already had in mind thanks to EZ keys flexibility . There are piano arrangements EZkeys helped me with that if you were to A/B the end result you would have no idea that B started out as A. Edited December 20, 2019 by Patrick Derbidge 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassDaddy Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 When I hear people talk about EZ Keys being limited, most the time it sounds like they really don't know what it can do. You're not limited by your own imagination just getting to know it. Take a 8 bar clip, hit random and see if you like any of it. If you do save that part and go random again. There are really good tutorials at Groove3 with Eli Kranzberg. These will give you a good basic knowledge of what you can do. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassDaddy Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 3 hours ago, Grem said: I have resisted the upgrade path for this one. My reasoning is that I play with EZD settings enough (not including the added fx I place on the bus!) that if I were presented with more options, I'd never get a drum trk done!! Here is how I do SD3: pick a preset, tweak it a bit, put Manic Depressor on it, fart with it a bit until I get a big crap eating grin on my face and then move on to the accordion solo. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Maar Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 19 hours ago, BassDaddy said: My hope for EZ Keys 2, whenever that might happen, is full control over left hand and right hand. I would like to have a whole library of left hand only. Insert only left hand, or right. It should be very easy to mix left hand from one pack and right from another. Man, this would be perfect for that half-tack piano! Tack every hammer from middle C and up. Play boogie woogie rain piano with the left hand and honky-tonk tack piano with the right. Can do that now with two VIs and a keyboard split, but would be very cool to be able to do it within EZKeys! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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