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Toontrack EZdrummer 2
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Toontrack EZdrummer 2

Virtual Drum/Percussion from Toontrack belonging to the EZ Drummer series

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Thread Separating EZdrummer drum set to mix individual parts

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1 Separating EZdrummer drum set to mix individual parts
This might be a dumb question, so sorry, but I was wondering how I can separate each element of a drum set sound from EZdrummer so I can individually mix the kick, snare, hi hats, etc.

I'm a guitarist so I'm not good at programing my own crazy drum loops for verse, chorus, prechorus, fills, bridges etc so I use EZdrummer (particularly it's 'tap2find' function) to get an idea of what drum sound I'd like.

So if it's possible to separate each part of a drum set into separate MIDI tracks, or if there's something else I should be doing, please let me know :)
2
Yes, you can separate the tracks, although you're probably going to have to convert them to audio. The easiest way is to solo one drum element at a time using the solo buttons in EZDrummer's mixer, and bounce each soloed drum or cymbal to disk. You'll end up with audio tracks for each of the separate elements that way, that you can import back into your session (make sure you bounce starting from the very beginning of the sequence so that they'll all line up).

If you want to keep the drums in the MIDI domain, it means duplicating the track once for each separate element you want to mix, and then going into the MIDI editor and cutting the other drums notes away, so that you leave just one drum or cymbal per track. For example, for the snare you'd go in, select every note other than the snare hits, and cut them. The problem is that you'll need to have to have a separate instance of EZ Drummer for each track, which can use up a lot of CPU. So if you're going to do this, maybe only split it up into kick, snare, toms, and cymbals. I would also recommend making a safety copy of the original track in case you cut too much accidentally and mess up a track. Good luck!
3
Thanks for the advice Mike, I'll look into bouncing to audio.

Do you and others in the industry always use a live drummer? If not, what do you do in similar situations? Does bouncing to audio instead of using the tracks as midi have any positive or adverse effects from a mixing standpoint?
4
Quote:
Do you and others in the industry always use a live drummer?

It's very hard to make a generalization about that. I certainly like to when I can, but for me, it's usually not possible due to budget and deadline reasons. I usually end up using audio drum loops or a MIDI drum instrument such as BFD Eco or EZDrummer. I spend a lot of time trying to make the drum tracks sound realistic. Check out this article for some tips: https://en.audiofanzine.com/computer-music/editorial/articles/working-with-drum-loops-part-1.html
Quote:
Does bouncing to audio instead of using the tracks as midi have any positive or adverse effects from a mixing standpoint?

To me it's not a huge difference. You do lose some flexibility for changing sounds and for certain types of editing once you've committed MIDI tracks to audio. Therefore, you have to make sure you have the sounds you like before you go through the bouncing process. Otherwise, if you want to change it, you'll have to re-bounce at least some of the drums or cymbals.

The only way gauge how it will work for you is to try doing it. Bounce your drum tracks to audio and see how it affects your editing and your mixing. Multitrack drum mixing is definitely trickier than just using a stereo mix from a MIDI drum kit, so if you find it difficult initially, keep trying. Best of luck!