Toontrack Latin Percussion EZX Expansion Reviews

There are newer percussion packs, but this one was on sale, so I grabbed it. It served me well in my rock song. I just wanted a little something more than the stock percussion options. I'll share a link to my song. Like and subscribe if you dig it!

I was writing a Latin-type piece and needed this kind of percussion. Worked very well. The sounds are quite satisfying.

I got this expansion pack initially for one song I was recording. After playing with it I realized how much it could add to most other songs I"m doing. Percussion is so much a part of classic songs weather out front or buried for good reason. It adds to the groove. This expansion can do that for all your tracks. I"m talking rock tracks by the way. Not necessarily Latin or world music. This pack is a must have for any music maybe short of metal. But I"ll probably try it with metal anyway. If you want to enhance your groove, you should really get this expansion.

I got this for free as part of a Toontrack promotion. Perfect for Santana rhythms or just awesome Cuban beats.

You need this --it's just that simple. Tambourine, shaker, and congas alone add so much to any tune. There are patterns for each of these as well as great ensemble arrangements. I use this along with regular drums from EZ Drummer. Whether Pop, Folk, R&B, Funk or whatever this is a tremendous amount of color.

Not much to add considering we are talking about a Toontrack product. But it is really a cool expansion. Great sound quality, easy to use and enhance songs in production or to add to an existing project. I would totally recommend it to producers and song writers alike. Great product.

I previously gave a review of Toontrack's EZDrummer2, and mentioned also buying the Latin Expansion Pack as well. As I stated, I could not be more pleased with both !
If one is unable to find on your PC, @ Toontrack's web site, (or play by MIDI) the exact drum & percussion tracks you want for your project, then you must be lacking a rhythmic bone or something. You could say, it's like having the best drummers in the world in your band as well as your studio !

I couldn't work without this one. There's hardly a tune that doesn't benefit form tambourine and shaker, and when some funkier congas, etc are called for they're right there on demand. The sounds are great and the patterns are all useful and inspiring. Don't waste your time reading further--just buy it!

I run my own home recording studio and I've been looking for a way to be able to have percussion without having to buy all the little parts and pieces. This is a great alternative for anyone with a small space, small storage, or just for anyone who wants percussion!

A little tricky at first getting audio from both EZ Drummer and my DAW, but now it works like a charm. Some very nice percussion effects in this Latin pack.

love these sound packs ,man just what the doctor ordered ,a tremendous help in completing the perc effects for my songs ,EZ Drummer is the best there is and now with Ez Drummer 2 there is no limit ,great job guys

It add great percussion to all your tracks. All the sounds are great

Finally stopped having to search! Found what I needed and more!

Great sounding pack ! There's no way you could get sound like this from a drum module alone . Definitely worth the money . My cowbells never sounded better !

Great sounding samples which can be used in almost any genre. Well pleased with the quality and quantity of samples.

I have a tendency to use different Latin percussion sounds in a lot of my recordings. This is a great collection of samples to that end. Currently, the EZ Drummer software keeps changing tempo randomly when I try to sync it with my DAW but these samples are great sounding examples of various Latin percussive instruments.

I have a propensity for using unusual instruments and strange sounds in my compositions and few classes of instruments have variety and character as such to rival the percussion class. When I plugged in Toontrack's Latin Percussion expansion pack I was indeed treated to a plethora of amazing sounds and rythms that will suit my style well. The quality and quantity of the samples are excellent and the supplied midi tracks are very interesting and useful. Although they refer to this as Latin, I don't think of it that way; this kit provides a much deeper set of tools than that. No matter what genre of music you are working in, with the possible exception of a barber shop quartet, you will be able to add some nice flavor or fill in some acoustic space with this library. From simply subtle to "subtle as a freight train" this is an excellent choice for enhancing a song with intriguing and appropriate sounds. I think that any composer will find themselves reaching for this time and time again to either build a rhythmic structure for a song or to bolster a weak section of mix. I am very pleased with this tool and would have given it five stars except that it didn't really blow me away although it did exceed my expectations by a small margin.

Adding a bit of Latin percussion to the beat really makes for a nice touch.
First song I set it up for was "I'll Be Around" by The Spinners, My Band is moving to be a 3 piece combo, so we will be programming all the drums and the Latin Percussion adds a really nice grove to go along with the drum pattern. I think it is a valuable tool. I am glad I pick it up as a addition to my EZDrummer

This if the perfect tool for adding percussion flair to any musical project. With samples from different genres, it truly covers the whole percussion spectrum. Very powerful tool for the price!

ToonTrack has come up with some great samples. Very Impressive

The sounds are pretty good, but it just seems like there is not alot of expression possible. I would recommend if you need these type of sounds, just if its on sale.

This is a reluctant review... for the simple reason that this is so good and affordable, it’s become my secret weapon of choice !

Highly recommended for anyone not wanting to rely on either live percussionists (due to the usual cost and personnel issues) or large numbers of loops. The sample recording quality is top notch and the midi pattern allow for detailed groove and note variation, more so now with EZD2 than before.

The purchasing process via Sweetwater? Professional! Pay for the product, receive instructions via email –> download from Toontrack -> register as per instruction -> Miami Sound Machine on your laptop… J

I purchased this Expansion pack because I have to do a great deal of Latin percussion MIDI arrangements. The sound quality is top notch and the articulations are quiet useful. There is a wide variety of instruments and the room sound is adjustable.

The ONLY downside is in a couple of the hand percussion instruments, particularly the guiro. The samples of the guiro are weak and a little cheesy sounding. I would have liked a few more and a metal guiro too. THat particular instrument is vital when working on salsa tunes and the samples they've provided simply don't work.

However, this expansion pack is great! I use it constantly and I am very very pleased with the high quality of the samples.

Love it!

It sounds great, I do love it. Merci les gars; (Thank you guys)

Guy

thought it was pretty complete for what it is. off course, a bunch of midi patterns recorded in non-latin styles might make this versatile for other things, but then they would have to find a new name!

Great addition to the EZ drummer (5 rating)Easy to use and sounds real.

very handy to use,good sound

one click, two clicks, three clicks and… done my whole demo from a latin song. This VST expansion for EZ is really cool and great sounding.

Great for literally any application...these sounds fit well into many genres of music recording !!!

I purchased this pack and I find the conga sounds are good not sure how good the pops are. I don't like the cowbells they sound lame. I was expecting a good Latin percussion cowbell sound which I did not get. I was going to purchase another pack just to get a decent cowbell. Most of the packs have audio samples for the drum sets but no samples for the percussion instruments. It is like they do value them the same. The drum sets seem to be missing side stick sounds also. If they can improve those things they would have a complete product.

Easy to use, quite a bit of variety. Adding conga drums or a tambourine as well as other "splashes of color" fills holes and adds substance to my recordings. "Rolls" of different lengths and dynamic levels for some of the instruments i.e. congas, bongos, etc. would be very a valuable tool and a great addition to the product. Conga fills need to be more exciting and dramatic. They are far too simple and bland.

This takes some getting used to. The sounds for the percussion instruments are great, but I would agree with another review about the midi. Maybe it's me, and I just don't know about precision, or how to get the grooves I want out of it, but I didn't find this pack as simple to use as the other ones in ezdrummer.

It may be that I am new to this EZdrummer and it probably can do more than I aware of but immediately I noticed a lack of Jazz midi files. I went to buy the expansion and Sweetwater has discontinued the Jazz for EZ Drummer as it appears that EZ drummer is being replaced by Surerior Drummer. This kind of hit hard as I just bought EZDrummer about 2 weeks ago for a film project and I didn't notice any thing up about it being superseded by Superior Drummer. Maybe I am misreading all of this. Anywas I found the Jazz expansion on Amazon so currently I am happy though not terribly happy with the stock drum patterns that came with EZDRUMMER. My guess is, if you are more knowledgable about Drums and drumming than I am (which would be just about everybody) then maybe this is super great..for me it is so-so right now and the thought of spending $200+ to upgrade tothe Superior Drummer kind of miffs me.

Toontrack's "Latin Percussion" EZX delivers superb percussion samples, but with some limitations. First, I’ll explain what I feel are its shortcomings.
The library has 13 close miced mixer channels, one for each percussion element, and an ambience channel to capture the ensemble as a whole. The only real sound issue with this library stems from the volume balance between its close miced and room channels; basically, the ambience channel provides most of the overall volume and realism of sound for the library. The individual drum channels are weak and slightly unnatural sounding. This means that, while the default mixer settings sound very good, it’s hard to adjust individual channels to help certain parts cut through the mix, or to cut volume to a loud instrument dominating your arrangement without wrecking the overall sound. This problem also limits processing options, especially reverb and eq settings, due to the global effect on the library as a whole. Routing each mixer channel to its own track inside your DAW helps, but in my experience will not completely resolve the volume and processing issues.
I often purchase Toontrack products as much for the included midi libraries as for the sounds themselves; unfortunately, the midi included with “Latin Percussion” was a disappointment. I was hoping for more dynamic timbale fills and grooves, but the timbale material included focuses on “sidestick” articulations and as such, is nearly inaudible in a mix. Many of the stock fills and grooves included for other instruments are also bland and unexciting. While “Groove Monkee” has produced a midi expansion library (Fusion midi drum loops) partially for use with “Latin Percussion”, Toontrack itself offers no such additional midi material. This means that, unless you’re an ace drum programmer, you have a very limited amount of material to work with.
The strength of this library is its variety of instruments and articulations. The Cajon, for instance, offers 16 articulations. These articulations greatly expand the options for expressive beats and fills to someone who truly understands these instruments. For an expert in Latin percussion, the options for programming would be nearly endless with this tool.
To summarize, “Latin Percussion” is an excellent tool for experienced programmers and engineers, but not an all-in-one solution for novices.

Fairly quality sounds- grooves are a bit thin and could be a bit more contemporary styled

Sound is great, and it is a very good tool, but;
Too few MIDI libraries.
It would be great to include a metallic Güiro, and bachata beats and fills, with these two, I am sure this tool would be used in thousands of latin productions.