Toontrack EZdrummer (Download) Reviews

Chris Horton
from Savannah, GA
April 17, 2013Music Background:
Pro musician

Awesome program!

This thing is amazing. It loaded into my DAW easily, and I programmed a professional sounding song the next week. It takes some time to program a fully custom pattern/song, but once you get the hang of it, its really easy.

The drum kit that comes as the default can be used for rock, metal or anything else. It has a really neutral sound. Theres plenty of options to change the sound, as well. It has its on mixer, mic bleed control, EVERYTHING!

If you are looking for an easy to use virtual drum machine, then this is it.

Teejay Riedl
from Washington DC
April 9, 2013Music Background:
Pro Musician, Multi-instrumentalist

Yikes! THIS is Aptly-Named!

100% fantastic!!

I play a lot of instruments, but not drums. Over the years, I've tried many - far too many - ways to get drums into my songs. That includes Battery, Guru, many drumbos (Roland, Yamaha, Alesis, etc.), Ableton, and Sonar's Session Drummer... and with the sole exception of my old TR-707 with its grid programming, nothing worked for me. The drumbo boxes were too time-rigid, took a long time to program, and weren't terribly inspiring. The software was too fussy and clinical, and sucked up even more of my life - hours and hours squinting at a frigging Piano Roll. My Kronos has great sounds, but no easy way to program them (I've configured BGP in Cisco routers that were easier to navigate!).

I spoke with my SE, Delvin Wolf, who suggested EZdrummer, and for a hundred backs, I figured it was worth a try.

All I can say is "Wow!". :)

Of course it sounds great, and all the good stuff every reviewer says is true... but to me, the greatest thing this software does, is that IT GIVES ME MY LIFE BACK. In less than 3 hours (including the time spent to load the software!) I had fully-realized drum tracks for two songs, of such Quality and humanity that my musician friends thought I had contracted a drummer.

I could go on, but why bother? EZdrummer is GREAT. It reduces the time spent getting credible drum tracks from cira 20-40 hours per-song to ABOUT AN HOUR. A product that does what it is advertised to do, with expandability, flexibility, killer sound, superb ease-of-use, and a very reasonable price. I love it - I just LOVE it!

Chris K
from Denver, CO
March 25, 2013Music Background:
pro musician

awesome

Easy to use, sounds great. It's exactly what I was looking for - i can work on making music, not screwing around with the software.

Scott Law
from NILES, MI
March 15, 2013Music Background:
Pro Musician, Recording Engineer, Song Writer

Excellent

I have used "drum machines" before and they are hard to program and cheesy fake sounding. However EZ Drummer is as real as I have ever heard. On a recent recording I had a seasoned musician friend ask me who the drummer was, he is really good! I said they guys name is EZ D. LOL Then told him it was a "drum machine". He couldn't believe it.

Super easy to use and edit. I have bought expansion packs that give me a plethora of beats and sounds for all kinds of music. I am impressed.

Jeff Perry
from Birmingham, Al
March 7, 2013Music Background:
Producer, Pro musician ( DRUMMER$), Writer, Owner of a inde label

My new EZ Drummer

Man I absolutely love EZ Drummer the fact that I could download it was the best for me, the customer service was super, and I got a call back from one of the Reps. Overall I'm very satisfied with everything, and I will be doing more business with Sweetwater.

from
March 2, 2013

Nice one

Perfect tool and perfect support

JS
from
February 12, 2013Music Background:
Singer and songwriter

Easy is right!

I started using this right away. Here's what I think is grand:
1. It's downloadable, so I didn't have to wait for it to come in the mail.
2. It hooked right up with my host music software and I was on my way. I'm so glad because that last thing I want to do is to be bogged down with just trying to learn how to use a new plug-in when I really need to be getting the actual work done.
3. What I appreciate about it is that I have the freedom to tweak the drum sounds and add or subtract the intensity.
4. Finding groove is not a shot in the dark; there's a pattern to it.
5. I like the idea that I can start with the generalized EZ Drummer plug-in and already have plenty of choices of grooves, and then on top of that I can order inexpensive expansion packs later on as I feel I will need them.
6. Using my drum machine is a hit-or-miss trying to start with my click track and I usually have to try several times, but with EZ Drummer, I drag and drop to the measure(s) and it will line up with my click track..
7. EZ Drummer will ask me if I want the drum file to adjust to the tempo I'm using in my host music software and automatically align itself with the tempo I'm using if I say 'yes'.
8. It solves the problem of adding drums to the accompaniment in my songs. The humanizer button is the icing on the cake.

Here's what could be improved:
I can't think of anything. For me it was money very well spent.

Greg
from Pasadena CA
January 11, 2013Music Background:
Hobbyist, Student

Stellar

Great Stuff guys keep it up! I have used other virtual drum software and yours is the best by far. I really like that you show fills, verse chorus etc. Makes using the drums quick and easy.

Sound quality Excellent!

chris davies
from
January 7, 2013Music Background:
Hobbyist

ezdrummer

very impressed with this purchase. easy to use,and has many possibilities for me. Also very happy with the service i got . it was second to none :)

steve berwick
from bellmawr nj usa
December 7, 2012Music Background:
ringing bells and blowing horns. lost in midi-land.

a keyboard players delight

it was a quick and easy install.the sounds are stellar and there are many rock solid grooves to work with.unlike others ,this is inspiration right out of the gate. i quickly added some expansion paks and never cease to be amazed. its easy to drag and drop patterns . if your looking for a quick and easy way to be inspired... then go with ez drummer !!!

Sam
from United States
December 4, 2012Music Background:
Singer/Songwriter & musician

EZDrummer is easy

EZDrummer is super easy to use and sounds realistic. It's a matter of dragging the "grooves" into your track. Now, it will take some adjusting of velocities to get an even more dynamic, realistic sound. If you're looking for an easy way to add drums for demo recordings, EZDrummer has my vote. And buy it from Sweetwater. Personal, top-notch customer service! They're the best as far as I'm concerned.

mike carter
from iowa falls
September 25, 2012Music Background:
worship leader, song writer, hobbyist, dad, husband, hard worker, etc etc etc

EZ drummer toontrack works great for me!

EZ drummer has made song creation a breeze! I researched the different drum softwared on line for weeks and was scared as heck about which one to buy. After all there is no sample web sites to try products out at. You-tube has great videos tho....and after looking on youtube at all of the support videos for Toontrack EZdrummer I went with it.......I really like it! It works great with PROTOOLS 9MP. I can create a drum track in minutes, and the tracks sound great without having to tweak them. BUT if you want to do some tweaking its so simple that an old man like me (49) can get it done! I am sure the other brands work great too. But NO REGRETS WITH EZDRUMMER!

Pawel
from Europe, Poland
August 4, 2012

Great, affordable, low RAM/CPU usage

Great sounding, affordable piece of software. I tried other drums plugins and this one is the best.

Elvis Almeida
from Lagoa da Prata, Brazil
May 22, 2012Music Background:
Guitarrist

Perfect

Perfect for songwriters an entusiast. Easy to use too.

Eric
from Olympia, Wa
May 11, 2012Music Background:
Musician/Guitar/ Beginning Recording

Sounds amazing and so easy

Being new to recording, I was very intimidated by all those pro recording setups. This program seemed simple so I took a chance. As soon as I got it installed i was able to record right away. You can do basic drum beats with one click, or you can edit the patterns yourself. This program is defInitely worth every dollar.

Billy Hell
from United States
May 3, 2012Music Background:
Guitar for 40 years, played in bands from CA to SC, tore stuff up!

This is it!

I have been trying to get a drum track on a song for a while. I had a drummer that never laid down the tracks and I was about to give up. I found ezdrummer and then a buddy with a studio suggested it as well. I purchased ezdrummer and the Americana add on. By 6 PM the next day i had a totally realistic drum track!! I'm excited about what this will allow me to do with future songs. Great price, lots of options and it sounds real. I couldn't ask for more!

Vinni
from Clinton Township, MI
April 12, 2012Music Background:
Guitarist

Great Product

This is a great product! Very crisp drums and awesome tracks! Thanks for the great product!

Stevie D
from Sanford, FL
April 11, 2012Music Background:
Guitarist and Song Writer.

EZdrummer - Great Drums

Very realistic and easy to use. Also, the VST allows it to run on just about any good software. I'm using ACID Pro 7 since I find it the easier of the loop programs and this version allows track recording and other way cool stuff.

Brian
from Monroe, LA
April 7, 2012Music Background:
Home Studio Hobbyist

Great sounding drums without all of the fuss!

This is a great product at a great price. I'm not a professional musician or engineer. I love playing and recording music in my little one room studio. Although I'm only a hobbyist it is still all about producing great sounding recordings. I'm primarily a guitar player so most of my energy is usually focused on capturing that perfect guitar tone. I have a decent acoustic drum kit that isn't bad for practicing or just playing around but isn't good enough for recording drum tracks. So I've never really had the drums, mics, space or experience needed to capture great sounding drum tracks.

A while back I picked up a Yamaha DTXplorer electronic drum set at a yard sale. Tried recording it straight in but wasn't happy with that either. Decided to scrap the drum module and instead pair the kit with an Alesis Trigger IO and Toontrack EZdrummer. I should have done this a long time ago. I'm finally getting an acceptable drum sound. I'll be purchasing some of the expansion packs in the near future.

Blake Simpson
from Bozeman, MT, USA
April 6, 2012Music Background:
Producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music instructor

Outrageous Realism for Chump Change

I bought this plugin primarily in order to be able to sequence drums from my great-sounding but highly limited Roland TD-4 kit (no MIDI In or USB, hence its internal sounds are not sequence-able.) It maps instantly to your electronic drum kit, and is highly responsive. Soloing individual tracks reveals EXACTLY the sort of sound you'd get from tracking acoustic drums in a real studio, and yet you can edit your performance in piano-roll mode (Try THAT on Ampex 456!). I can finally use my V-kit to program/record drums that can be edited note-by-note if I wish, but not sound sterile like some of the software that comes with many DAWs these days. My only quibble is that the open hi hat sound mapped to the main kit doesn't sustain as long as some of the other ones that aren't mapped to it (and which I haven't figured out how to re-map.) The loops provided are fine, but being a drummer myself I don't anticipate needing them. Oh, and now that I know how epic-sounding this software is, I'll have to spend more money on the Expansion Libraries! Suffice it to say that my envy toward an old friend who was able to afford Roland's' flagship V-drum kit is now well under control.

Dave Percell
from Corona, CA
March 9, 2012Music Background:
Recording Engineer, Pro Musician

This is It

This is an absolutely great solution to an excellent drum program. Easy to use, great samples, clean and adjustable. Next best thing to a real drummer. Only one way to explain " In The Pocket "
Dave Percell

Dave Chumchal
from Holland. OH
February 29, 2012Music Background:
Publisher songwriter, worship leader, former Sweetwater employee :)

OH YEAH!!!

Finally finally finally, Amazing and wonderful! I've been using WAV's for drum parts for years one good one (Drum Tools) and several others that ended up in the trash! NOW there's this! "I don't ever have to hire a drummer again" (sung to the tune of the famous children's song na na na na na) or figure out how to record them with inexpensive miss. Thanks Toontrack and Sweetwater, RECORDING IS FUN AGAIN!!!!!!

Mike B
from New England
January 12, 2012Music Background:
Guitarist/songwriter/home recordist

Can't beat this virtual drummer for the price!

I've just started using this on a couple of songs - a definite step up from a programmableBoss rhythm machine!
As a songwriter/home recordist, I needed some variety in my rhythm tracks that I could not get by playing the drum parts on my sampling keyboard.
You do need recording software that allows MIDI recording to use this software. I've been using it with Reaper (only $60, free to try out), and it works easily - just drag and drop the 'grooves' from EZD into place. For those who want more, MIDI editing is pretty easy, once you get the hang of it, so you can modify the existing grooves to your own taste and 'feel', even create new ones. There's a variety of drum and cymbal sounds with the standard package, and many expansion packs available with more drum sets and sounds, too.
Thanks to a holiday sale, I got the download-only software from Sweetwater for a sweet deal, too!

Michael
from Portland, OR
January 2, 2012Music Background:
Hobbyist

Toontrack EZdrummer Review

Very good sounds and easy to use. I use it in combonation with Studio One software and it works great.

Perry
from Boston, MA
December 29, 2011Music Background:
Hobbyist

Amazing tool for songwriters!

EZ drummer is perfect if you want to spend less time triggering midi and more time making music! You can use the built in midi patterns, which sound great, and of course you can tweak and refine things as you go to get your own unique sound. It's very easy to use and understand.

Doug Sisemore
from TN
December 23, 2011Music Background:
Pro musician

Toontrack EZ drummer

Really easy to use and sounds great. A nice change from RMX.

shane
from sacramento, ca usa
December 15, 2011Music Background:
recording engineer, hobbyist, musician

must have!

Get this product now! I cant find one negative thing to say. Easy to use, great sounds, the loops are great, you wont be dissapointed.

-SiP-
from Finland
October 15, 2011Music Background:
Hobbyist guitarist

EZdrummer

As a Scandinavian techno-engineer-geek-wannabe-ex-teen I was trying to get the EZdrummer to work with my Cubase 6 Artist. I had some trouble to get the drummer to record. The sounds were amazing and I could play the clips. At least here in Finland, mostly among males, we have this thing called you-can´t-read-the-manual-dummy thing going on here so I could not get the "glue" between the VSTdrummer and the track. It was already late at night and I was tired and I had tried already almost anything I could imagine. Nothing worked. Just before i was giving up I thought that I try the easiest (and dummiest) way just to drag and drop the clip on the track.
: )
WOW!

Jon Borgen
from Grand Forks,ND
September 30, 2011Music Background:
Producer/Musician

EZ drummer

Amazing drum program... I use it everyday with Artists. Great sounding samples that most times make it to the final recording.

Love this product..jb

Taylor Holtzheimer
from Bellingham, WA
September 8, 2011Music Background:
Hobbyist, Home Recordist, Producer, Gigging Musician

EZDrummer is perfect!

This did everything I needed and more. I wanted to trigger some quality sounds using my Roland TD-4 drum kit and this program exceeded every possible expectation. First off, the hi-hats are amazing....really, really amazing, you can roll on them open, closed, on the edge, whatever and they still ring out very realistically.

You can break the drums into separate tracks in your daw and have at it, just like they were real drums. The samples, though beautifully recorded, are still very raw and can be molded to any liking. Also, I was surprised just how many different combinations you could get with each piece right out of the box. Each drum/cymbal has a few different versions from brand to whether or not they're dampened, etc.

I'll be getting the Vintage Rock kit expansion next for sure.

Oh and the grooves are great too, just no designated intros or endings which is kind of a pain.

Anthony Adams
from Lexington,KY
January 26, 2011Music Background:
Artist, Producer

Just buy it, goofball !

incredible sounding- super flexible programming- completely realitic drum kit (with a killer drummer) sound. Cheap, too. I wish I'd bought it sooner !

Mike
from Stow, Ohio
June 6, 2010Music Background:
Guitar player for 25+ years.

No Brainer

I use EZDrummer with CuBase LE4 on my Mac OS 10.6.3. My interface to my Roland V-Drums is a Lexicon u42s. I am simply blown away by the quality of the sounds. Also, this product is VERY easy to use.

Mijail Ramirez
from Maryland
May 12, 2013Music Background:
Recording Musician

Super Duper Awesome Cool

It's a very helpful tool for songwriting and mixing samples with daws

Greg
from United States
February 18, 2013Music Background:
Musician and home studio recorder

Good deal

The best part of this program is that the drum sounds are already mixed. That means less time having to gate, compress, EQ, etc. Personally, I bounce the sounds to Pro Tools and do any additional tweaks there. The interface and MIDI editing is simple. The groove editor is so much easier than other more expensive products (like BFD2...which is insanely difficult). Overall, this program is worth the money especially if you write and record your own music.

Dave
from Oswego, IL
January 6, 2013Music Background:
Long time part/time musician, songwriter

EZDrummer is great

So far I'm finding EZDrummer very easy to use and the sounds are much better than what comes with ProTools XPand. Granted it only comes with 2 kits, but it is a good start.

I've found it very easy to get a basic beat in place when writing/recording, then I can go back later and add details.

Arild Ingve Eide
from Sandnes,westcoast of norway
October 21, 2012Music Background:
hobbiest

ez drummer,very good stuff.

Hello over there!
I am an 58 years old hobbymusician,who played in an rockn roll band for some years in the late sixties and beginning of the seventies.
I am grown up i Stavanger,a town in the westcoast of Norway,where i
started a band called Evil Sect(!),and i was happy that my parents didnt understood English very well...Now my 19 year old son play drums in a band called Deathbed Reunion.The last 20 years,i have had much interest in building up my own amateur studio at home.
Last summer we bought the Alesis drumkit Dm 10X.
The internal sound in this kit was kind of disapointing,but together with Toontrack Ez drummer it works very well.
Myself i am some kind of allround musician,and like to alternate between guitar,keyboard and bass(got my first bass guitar in 1965)
The kind of music that i like to play,is inspired from the period that i myself was active with my band, like Santana,The Who,Eric Burdon and the Animals.
I have already expanded the EZ,with the Classic,Latin Perc,and Vintage Rock,and they are as good as they can be for my taste in music.

from
April 16, 2012

Great Drum Program

This is a great drum program that has a huge library of very well recorded drum samples. It is easy to use and fun to play with. Not only can you change the individual drums, you can change where the drum is struck (rim or center) and the velocity of the drummer's hits. If somehow you cant find a sound you like there are plenty of expansions you can buy that have all different drum kits. I considered buying from another website that I usually purchase from but i'm glad I didn't because Sweetwater has a exceptional customer service department and i'll be sticking with them from now on.

Tony Duykers
from Adelaide, Australia
April 10, 2012Music Background:
Musician and Home Recording

Very easy to use and great for getting convincing drum tracks

I recently started using EZdrummer in Pro Tools and I've been impressed with the great sounding drum parts you can quickly put together for a song. To my ears they sound great and generally don't need much tweaking. I also use some of the expansion packs and I love the Ludwig kit in the Americana XP which suits some of the stuff I've been doing lately. My only gripe would be the way in which the mixer output channels are configured but that's really only a minor thing. I have other drum-programming software as well but this is now my "go to" virtual drummer.

Dan
from Siloam Springs, AR
April 1, 2012Music Background:
Home Recording Studio. Written many songs and 1 CD released. Hobbyist

EZ Drummer

The sound quality of all of the drumming is awesome. They are very easy to use and to add into a track. It cannot get any easier. With the electronic download you are up and running in a matter of minutes and it went flawlessly. The only reason that I gave it a 4.5 is that I had hoped the the beginning package would have had even more selections of styles. But they are easily added at a decent cost later on. I could find no fault with EZ Drummer and I'm very glad that chose this program. I write my own music and play all of my own instruments in the songs that I write, but I don't have a drum set and this program is a perfect fit.

Chris Nunn
from NC USA
February 4, 2012Music Background:
Production, music lover

Great tool

I love the use-ability right out the box/download. Good for sparking a new idea or getting a frame for a mode of music to kick a new production off.

Rick
from Spokane, Wa.
January 8, 2012Music Background:
DJ

Fun fun fun

Easy to instal.. Easy to use.. Great stuff

Kimberley Harris
from Dayton, OH
December 10, 2011Music Background:
Songwriter, Producer, Singer, Spoken Word Artist

The Drummer for the Non-Drummer

As a songwriter/producer who does not play drums, I found EZDrummer to be an easy solution for creating great-sounding demos of the songs I write in my home studio. The pre-built MIDI files are fast and easy to use, yet they are also quite customizable for when you want to add your own special flare. Lot of turns and fills allow you to build a drum track that is natural and non-robotic. I was comfortably using EZDrummer within an hour of buying it. I fully expect that I will be able to not only use EZDrummer for demos, but also for Master-quality, radio-ready material as well! Happy Drumming!

Glenn Wickert
from London ON
December 7, 2011Music Background:
synth, 80's rock SuperFalcon.ca, song writing

Great sounding

This is a great tool for recording musicioans. i am a keyboard guy, so I was looking for something that I could use with my Cubae LE4, and this does th etrick.
The package comes electronically and initially I had trouble getting it to read the sounds. No real help was available on line, but noticed a lot of people had the same issue.

After downloading, go through the folders till you find the actual Icon that shows EZ Drummer. Click on on it and follow the prompts. Same for the cocktail set. This releases the sounds into the folders so the error "cannot find sounds" problem is solved.

Yogz
from Minneapolis, MN
September 29, 2011Music Background:
Musician, Hobbyist - Prophet of the Dawn

More bang for ur buck

Didn't give it a 5 Star rating just because nothing is perfect in this world, haha! But for any songwriter, EZ Drummer is as close as it gets. It has everything to help you in the writing process. Simple to use and it works with pretty much every DAW out there. The Internal Mixer is great and really brings out the studio sound in the recordings. Easily worth twice as much!

Funknbluezer
from Jax, FL
December 23, 2010Music Background:
Semi-Pro Musician

Internet connectivity is a must

Internet connectivity is a must. Unless you are a computer geek (and I use that phrase with the utmost respect and admiration) you have to be hooked up to the internet. In spite of the super after the sale support from Sweetwater and Toontrack .

Once online the autorization process is pretty straightforward as long as you take everything one step at a time. I've only scratched the surface but I'm totally impressed with the sounds and ease of use.

If you are looking for an affordable virtual drummer this will fill your needs quite nicely.

Cody J.
from Twin Lakes, WI
November 17, 2010Music Background:
Musician

Geat Product

This is an amazing product. I have been looking for a long time for drum software that could give me excellent sound and custom drum beats. there are lots of loopers out there but they are just a loop. you cant add any style to it or nothing. EZdrummer, on the other hand, is basically a drummer thats locked up inside your computer and has no limit to what he can do, and he does every command of yours. It sounds like i went to a professional recording studio and recorded a drum track. And when they say it is easy to use.....dont be fooled......it is UNBELIEVABLY easy to use. all you do is click and drag. and you can edit the beats to so it is totally customized to your liking. ***KEEP IN MIND***that you cant just buy this and play it. You need a sequencer/recording software like Sony ACID or Cubase or Pro Tools or something like that. This is a virtual instrument. you can play it in stand alone mode but you cant click and drag and combine rythms. If you have a sequencer/recording software but you dont know if it is compatible with EZdrummer, you can check at www.toontrack.com to see if it is.

Of course there has to be something bad about it. A lot of people complain about it being a pain to install and authorize. Ok it is a bit complicated to install, but just follow the directions and you should be fine. You do need internet access to be able to authorize this software though. I got it installed in 15 minutes tops. Also it does take a minute or two to load this software. Another thing is that it only comes with one kit. you have to buy the rest. But either way the quality is totally worth it. If you want professional sounding drum tracks without having to go to a studio, then this is the ticket.

Matt
from USA
December 7, 2009Music Background:
Professional musician for over 15 years.

The best choice - economically, sonically, and for ease of use.

Quite simply put, this software is the answer for anyone looking to create drum tracks for their project or professional studio. The quality of the samples is truly awesome. The drag and drop function allows you to easily create tracks for your project, and the fact that you can edit these drag and drop samples in your DAW is another huge plus. For example, in Protools you can use grid mode, and cut things off of a fill or beat you've dropped into your session in order to tailor it to your liking. You can edit out individual notes, add notes in-pretty much whatever you want. I would also highly recommend purchasing the vintage kit refill for this software, as well as the Nashville kit, if you can afford to. Both kits sound significantly different than the rock kit which comes with the program (it sounds great too though, and they have different beats and fills). The snare samples on the vintage kit are just amazing to my ears, and the brush beats on the Nashville kit are great! The ease of use is probably the best feature of this software, but the samples are awesome, and the possibilities for beat manipulation and individuality make this software great for those of you who can't have a drummer in your apartment project studio! I also purchased the monster midi pack the other day, for a very small price from Toontrack(you can get it from Sweetwater too, of course), and it expanded the possibilities even further. You can't really go wrong with this software!

Ryan Johansen
from Auckland, New Zealand
October 7, 2009Music Background:
Weekend Warrior

Awesome!

It has great sounds and comes with a bunch of midi files so you can start constructing drum parts for songs straight out of the box.
It's so easy to use, even guitarists can handle it (I know because I am one!). Seriously, the ability to just drag and drop the midi from EZ drummer to your recorder couldn't be easier. It doesn't take long to get your head around it.
You can get expansion packs with more sounds and more midi files. It's not a one trick pony.
Best of all, is the price. EZ Drummer and the expansion packs won't break the bank and they sound great.

I opted for the downloaded version and had no trouble downloading, installing and running the program.

Joe Aponte
from New Jersey
May 1, 2013Music Background:
Song Writer, Musician

Sounds Very Real

I have purchased this product in hope to finding a solution of finding a drummer. Well, it surely does sound like a live drummer.. I was totally impressed. Draw backs are that you really can't record live unto a track without a delayed response (this drives me crazy!).. It forces you to use either the pre-recorded patterns or you would have to create your own patterns and place them on your track. The other downer is the process for the install.. it was insane! However, I did recv help from Sweetwater!

Allan Laird
from Marion, OH, USA
April 27, 2013Music Background:
Practicing musician of 25+ years.

Pretty decent.

Sounds good and it's fairly easy to use. I only wish the expansion packs were cheaper.

SM
from NZ/IND
April 8, 2013Music Background:
Learner/Recording engineer and Musician

Very Good

Toontrack's EZ drummer is a very good sounding drum software with some important, great and easy features.
Thank you.

Randy
from Columbus OH USA
December 26, 2012Music Background:
Advanced Hobbyist

Great, once downloaded

The download instructions required some guessing, but finally worked. Once downloaded, the tracks are amazing and VERY easy to use. So, the tracks are a "WOW! 5 star!", minus a point for the download process. Still highly recommended.

Noel Hernandez
from Colorado
December 21, 2012Music Background:
Guitar teacher

Ez drummer

Ez drummer is super easy to use. The kits that come with it are descent but need a little tweaking out of the box. Getting midi packs such as the pop, or songwriter midi packs helped to ad some punch. The mixer is limited but for the price it gets the job done.

omar smith
from United States
September 26, 2012Music Background:
just starting out

EZdrummer

it is great i love it thank you

john haynie
from florida
July 27, 2012Music Background:
decades of writing, performing, recording

Tedious set up but worth it

Really like the flexibility and sound choices, but the download was tedious and not simple to find the program once it's in Logic. Of course, like everything, it's easy once you know how to do it.

from Poland, OH
May 29, 2012Music Background:
Recording and Live Sound engineer - hobbyist musician

EZ Drummer Rocks

Recommended by Dan Van and glad I listened. The program provides an easy to use well thought-out virtual drummer. With the extra packs of Nashville Drummer it has all the styles a guy like me needs (experienced recording engineer but not great composer).
Installed clean and works as advertised. Using the mixer allows you to ad more room and overheads which almost makes up for not being able to reposition mikes as with more expensive programs. Great value for the price.

STLSteve
from Saint Louis, MO
May 7, 2012Music Background:
Recording Engineer, Broadcast Engineer

Very Good (in 32-Bit mode)

I really like EZdrummer. The kit sounds great. To have a feel for just what a step up this is, just compare it to the built-in kit in Sonar. There's really no comparison. The add-on packs make the program even more attractive. I've had no problems with sync, etc. -- it's worked very well.

BUT, that was after reloading the 32-Bit version of Sonar. Initially, I was running the 64-Bit version and it didn't work at all. I went to Toontrack's Website and they mention that you have to download the 64-Bit version of their stuff to work with 64-Bit Sonar. However, try as I could, I never did find any 64-Bit software on Toontrack's site. So, being in a hurry, I just reloaded Sonar 32-Bit and all was well. At some point, when I have more time to waste, I may try again to make the 64-Bit versions work.

Mark
from Grimesland, NC
May 4, 2012Music Background:
Worship leader, song writer

EZ Drummer

Easy to use and effective. You'll likely want purchase additional midi packs. I recommend this product.

Slava
from Moldova, Kishinev
April 11, 2012Music Background:
Pro musician, producer

EZdrummer

easy to use, good results.

Justin
from Bloomingrose wv
January 24, 2012Music Background:
Hobbyist/band

Love it

I love it, it's got a great tone and compatible with just about anything. Makes writing at home a lot more fun

Peter Brown
from South Florida
January 24, 2012Music Background:
Multi-media instrumentalist

great drum sounds

Once you get past the gauntlet of registration, (this part is not so "easy")

this program is "easy" to get great drum tracks. Never experienced anything like it in all my years of recording and composing. Drag and drop the clips (if you're so inclined to use them) into your DAW tracks and you're done. Very real and highest professional quality samples. Very versatile. It is now my go-to program for traditional pro drum tracks. Every feel I could imagine is in this box and it takes the pain out of hit-by-hit programming. The ultimate "cheater" drum program. If you're an instrumentalist and produce a variety of genres, styles and projects, You want efficient tools to do the job. (and have fun while you're at it!)

The registration issue is the one big drawback I had with the purchase. I hope I'm the only one that had to rely on Sweetwater's great support staff to straighten things out at the beginning. For my pc, it was impossible to register myself. Just brutal.

Yisroelkis
from Melbourne, AUS
August 30, 2011Music Background:
Recording Engineer, Pro Drummer/Pianist

Decent sounds out of the box!

I also own Addictive Drums, which has more potential in shaping your sound, but they do sound pretty bad straight off. whereas, EZdrummer is really great for just making a song quickly cause it sounds so good to begin with. Plus, there are some great add on kits that will 99% of the time make up for a replacement of the lack of sound shaping options.

NOTE:
The only thing I really dont like is the fact that it comes with 100's of unnecessary loops (that are just too similar to the one next to it), and has such a small range of styles.

Kevin F. Hoffmann
from Shelton, WA...USA
December 28, 2012Music Background:
Studio recording artist..songwriter

great sofware

Plugging in your own live drummer on tracks is a pleasure..no one can tell...you pick your style for the tracks needed..in the studio

Kennium
from Boston, Mass
March 8, 2013Music Background:
Singer/songwriter

Great tool, but too expensive

I love EZdrummer, but come on, ...$79 for an add-on that simply wasn't very impressive. I expected more.

Brian Murphree
from Nashville, TN
January 26, 2012Music Background:
Mixing/Mastering Engineer/Technical Gee-Whiz Computer guy

Good Product, but misses the mark in audio quality

My reviews tend to boast as well as criticize, but I try to be consistent, because I know the developers would like an honest, unbiased review (and so would you).

I've been using EZ Drummer for a few days and have found that overall it's decent. When I say that, I'll define what I like and what I don't

What I like:
The Interface: Awesome! I just love popping this plug-in up on a screen and showing it off. Plus, it's very human in that regard, and in music, as an artist, to make software conform to the non-technical you entice more than just technical studio guys. Well done!
Ease of use: Help files useful, relatively easy install, and easy to understand. Understanding keyboard layouts on a MIDI controller will help you, btw.
Sounds: I do like some of the choices of sounds, as they sound very natural. I won't go further from that here, because I do have some gripes.
Mixer and other controls: I love the Intensity dial, although I find adjusting it a little tricky. The mixer is sweet and quite easy to use.
Integration: Integrated very seamlessly with Drumagog to replace drum sounds of your tracks (see Drumagog's website for how to do this).

What I don't like:
Installation: It's not the easiest software to install, and it's easy to confuse the files you download. The website is easy to navigate, but you can be confused by "updates" vs. "product" if you think in linear terms as I do. Perhaps the less technical will find the site a joy to use. It's pretty slick. I just found that I had had trouble with the installations, and had to install the Nashville kit download 3-4 times before EZ drummer would "find" them.
Sound Quality: Yes, I did rave about the sounds themselves, but the quality is not all that. I can hear artifacts in what I believe to be compression of the sound bytes (not to be confused with audio compressors' compression). For example, EZ drummer's install is less than 700MB, but the website claims "7000 sound files at 16-bit / 44.1kHz equivalent to 5Gb of uncompressed wav files", but yet this is "compressed" into a file size of less than 1Gb. That's better than a 5:1 compression ratio of audio. Any studiophile would tell you that compressing audio (like MP3's) is bad for CD-quality. I would normally agree. ToonTrack told me that this was accomplished by using a proprietary technology developed in-house, called TPC, which allows them to compress the audio without losing the quality.
-- I have two problems with this theory of TPC. First, it's accomplishing better than 5:1 compression ratio. I don't know of another industry algorithm that can do this---not even close! Most can only get you 2:1. So, if TPC accomplishes this, then either the developers who invented the technology don't realize the monumental impact on the audio community they could have, or it doesn't really work as TootTrack claims. Ok, so I give benefit of the doubt, and assume that TPC can absolutely accomplish this feat so that I don't have to keep 5Gb of drum sounds uncompressed on my PC. Great Idea! BUT, I find the quality of the audio does seem to contain "artifacts", or they were poorly recorded/stored. If I run these sounds through an 1176 Black-face compressor, and set the compression ratio to at least 12:1, with the input dial to about 75% (which is heavy to me), I can hear what sounds like bad (or no) dithering--you know how that sounds? As the sound samples roll off in volume, I can hear artifacts as the ambient room noise comes in. I don't particularly like that.
I also think ToonTrack could clarify this issue on their website and in Product Descriptions in catalogs etc. I think you should understand that although TPC expects to expand the audio samples back to full quality, the fact remains that they use the word "uncompressed". This term is mis-used in my opinion, because the correct usage would be "unpackaged" or "expanded". Any time a mathematical algorithm has to re-calculate data to recreate it, even in its original form, this is NOT uncompression. This is expansion or processing. Therefore, the audio has been processed, and what you're getting may or may not be the original audio. ToonTrack says it is. I don't quite buy it, unfortunately, and in my listening tests, I'm more convinced that TPC is not quite "there" yet. But give it a go.

Summary: Barring the sound quality and compression issues I stated earlier, this product is WELL worth the money you pay for it. Don't hesitate to buy it. I didn't. Just don't be fooled by the Product Description "benefits" as if you are getting the absolute purest samples that were originally recorded. I personally don't believe this is what you get, but I will let ToonTrack have their benefit and tell you that TPC was developed to do what no other compression technique can.

John Coutts
from Browns Mills, New Jersey
June 28, 2010Music Background:
Rock and Blues

Good Program

After going through the difficult exhausting task of "authorizing" the software, you will realize later that you must have and incredibly high end DAW program to drag and drop drum patterns. Another sophisticated "Gotcha" money now program.

Will Snyder
from
January 31, 2012Music Background:
Sony Artist, Producer/Audio Engineer, Musician, Songwriter

Neat

It's a program you can get a lot of use out of as far as expansion packs... The first time I heard this program, I was in Nashville at a major producers house listening to a demo he had slapped together, the thing that stood out was the drum track sounded crappy. It was this program lol... However, I still bought this program anyway, Look... out of the box... it's thin sounding, and just very simple and raw... but if you know how to engineer "real" drum samples, you can beef this kit up pretty well with some tricks outside the EZdrummer software, and it will sound pretty great. More than that, I just feel like if you are looking for a kit that already sounds amazing, this wont give you that out of the box... yeah it's got some nice roomy sounds on the room fader... but room alone doesn't give you all you need for fullness, and fat tone... it's a great starting point... Plus, the expansion kits are pretty great as well... but I run into similar problems with most of those kits as well... they all need to doctoring outside of the software, But they are very clean well recorded samples... for that, I give it an A+ but if you want something mind blowing out of the box without wanting to spend much time trying to dial in a butt kicking sound.. well you wont find it here.

Mattsynth
from PA
January 11, 2011Music Background:
Professional musician (keyboard & guitar)

No longer works for me

I started out using EZ Drummer when it first came out but lost interest in it because there was no way to alter the tone of the drums. Now it just sits on my shelf collecting dust. Additive Drums is now my go to drum software.

from
March 7, 2012

Decent sounds but only 20 of them?

Even with decent drum sounds its hard for me to justify spending $100 on something that comes with 20 drum sounds. I suppose it was my misunderstanding because the description states of 7,000 sounds. I get it now...after buying and authorizing. No where in the description could I find a list of sounds that were included...they emailed me that after buying it and wondering where the rest of the drums were. And now less than a month later its $20 cheeper...just adds to the sting.

Ed Feeley
from Chicago, Illnois
February 22, 2012Music Background:
Hobbyist

Very little content for the money.

I bought this software to use in Garageband and with it's advertised "8,000 MIDI Files" thought it would surely contain almost any beat I might need in my Classic Rock style compositions, but I was very disappointed. I can think of ten or twenty basic, essential Pop/Rock beats that should be the foundation of any product like this and EZdrummert is lucky to contain two of them. Most of it's beats or "grooves" sound like drummers running through variations on drumming rudiments and I found very few of them usable for most applications. Also, EZdrummer surprisingly doesn't contain a single Reggae beat. Is that possible? Toontrack offers a variety of expansion packs, but I wouldn't want to take the chance on spending additional $$$ to wind up with another library of mostly unusable drum beats. Lastly, unless your a computer tech. the download and installation procedure is quite complicated compared to other software I've purchased. I've read a lot a rave reviews of EZdrummer, but frankly I'm astounded that such a basic product concept could be so poorly executed. Next version, how about including some great drum beats???