Guest BentonC Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 I hate EZ Drummer. It's one of the worst plug-ins I ever bought. If you're going to go the ToonTrack route you're far better off buying Superior in the first place if you can afford it or crossgrading to it if you've already got EZD. I've never managed to get EZD to sit in a mix. There are nothing like enough sound shaping options in the mixer and life's too short to make my music fit their drum sounds. If you're short of cash (who isn't) but willing to put in a bit of time learning how it works you're better off with the free Short Circuit sampler and some multi-sample kits from Analogue drums (who I believe hail from your own fair country). The difference between AD's Ludwig kit and EZD's Vintage Rock (Ludwig) kit is that AD's actually sounds like one while EZD's sounds like someone banging a load of cardboard boxes. I guess if you're using EZD exclusively for drum parts I can see where it would lag behind others. I just find it easy to thicken up textures, and breaking out the tracks through the EZD mixer allows for plenty of tone shaping on Aux channels. I can't really say I've ever relied on it exclusively for any drum parts- I can see where it would definitely be a thin drum tone if you're staying in the box for your drums. I guess the real beauty of recording now is that there are a million ways to do one thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cam011235 Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 My setup is based around pro tools and mbox..i havw been using mbox 2 with T 8 but i am upgrading this to pto tools 9 which i am getting next week then getting a new mbox 3...i recently purchased a fast sandy bridge xps17 computer with win 7 64 but have found pt 8 even upgraded has issues with 64 bit os so i am getting updated the new gear avid has put out. i use a line 6 spider valve amp which has a DI that i use to put straight into the mbox for guitar parts using the modelling for tonal types..this works very well i just use a xlr between the amp and interface..just leaving the amp turned on standby i also have an axion 61 midi controller for plugins...i am doing the recording in my room which has noise from the traffic outside so i dont use a condenser at this current point in time.. but a dynamic sure 58 which is ok for me as i prefer to do alot more instrumental guitar based tracks i am trying to upgrade the studio all the time my dream one day is to get a project studio and a dedicated space Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoFrills Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 I hate EZ Drummer. It's one of the worst plug-ins I ever bought. If you're going to go the ToonTrack route you're far better off buying Superior in the first place if you can afford it or crossgrading to it if you've already got EZD. I've never managed to get EZD to sit in a mix. There are nothing like enough sound shaping options in the mixer and life's too short to make my music fit their drum sounds. If you're short of cash (who isn't) but willing to put in a bit of time learning how it works you're better off with the free Short Circuit sampler and some multi-sample kits from Analogue drums (who I believe hail from your own fair country). The difference between AD's Ludwig kit and EZD's Vintage Rock (Ludwig) kit is that AD's actually sounds like one while EZD's sounds like someone banging a load of cardboard boxes. Cardboard boxes..... This is the same impression I have of EZD and the EZX I've tried out. Especially the snare....pok.....pok..... I also believe there is a lack of sound shaping too and because of this I always end up using other effects on top of EZD to create the sound I want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnyg Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 Cardboard boxes..... This is the same impression I have of EZD and the EZX I've tried out. Especially the snare....pok.....pok..... I also believe there is a lack of sound shaping too and because of this I always end up using other effects on top of EZD to create the sound I want. pok.....pok LOL, that's a really good description. To be fair, a guy posted a demo song on another site using EZ with the Nashville EZX and the kit sounded pretty good except it still had "soft" crash cymbals. I wish I'd bought that instead of the Vintage Rock (Ludwig) kit because that's truly awful in every conceivable way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cam011235 Posted September 16, 2011 Share Posted September 16, 2011 i got sick of ezdrummer use addictive drums now ..heaps better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BentonC Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 pok.....pok LOL, that's a really good description. To be fair, a guy posted a demo song on another site using EZ with the Nashville EZX and the kit sounded pretty good except it still had "soft" crash cymbals. I wish I'd bought that instead of the Vintage Rock (Ludwig) kit because that's truly awful in every conceivable way. The Nashville kit has a horrible sounding kick drum. I just did some demos with a local songwriter, and built the drum tracks out with the Nashville EZX. Once I had the loops in (and played around with them quite a bit), I bussed the outputs on the EZD mixer to separate audio tracks and beat-replaced the principle hits. Ended up sounding pretty great actually (after some EQ and Comp). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnyg Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 The Nashville kit has a horrible sounding kick drum. I just did some demos with a local songwriter, and built the drum tracks out with the Nashville EZX. Once I had the loops in (and played around with them quite a bit), I bussed the outputs on the EZD mixer to separate audio tracks and beat-replaced the principle hits. Ended up sounding pretty great actually (after some EQ and Comp). The kick's a bit too "clicky" for my use but it fitted quite well in the context of the song I heard. Here's a link to the song in question. Actually, regardless of the drum sound, the song's worth checking out anyway. > http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_7115875 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey Mattice Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 For my metal/djent band, Yantra ( ), i use a Fractal Audio Axe-FX Ultra into Pro Tools. For guitars, it doesn't get any simpler than that :D For solo stuff and idea capturing I also have a BR-1600 which works great and has a lot of memory. Not to mention, its very user friendly! However, for the more polished material, I've been using Logic Pro lately and micing my Marshall JMP with SM57s, then importing it to the BR-1600 for mastering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey Mattice Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 i got sick of ezdrummer use addictive drums now ..heaps better sick dude! i havent heard of that program until now. how user friendly is it? For my band, Yantra ( ), we use Superior 2.0 drums. BTW im really loving the hypercube! do you listen to TesseracT? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellion102792 Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Was finally able to put together a mostly decent recording setup after my job this past summer. I have an Asus a35x series laptop that I wiped clean of all the bloatware and put Windows 7 Pro onto. Running FL Studio 10 Producers Edition with a ton of plugins, I was using a Numark DJiO as an external sound card as the laptops Realtek drivers we're garbage, but it couldn't record. Just got my hands on a Focusrite Saffire 6 USB however, excellent little unit with awesome sounding preamps. For monitors I was using a cheap pair of M-Audio Studiopro 3's, as well as a Logitech sub from a cheap desk speaker set that I wired into the right channel with a splitter. Nice little cheap unit but I'm looking to upgrade to a set of KRK's or Behringers. For headphones I got a pair of Sennheiser HD201's, had them for a while and they sound pretty good. I don't have a mixer in my chain but I do have my dads old Tascam 6-channel analog for mobile recording/live situations. As far as outboard gear, synths, effects and mics go, I have an ART Industries Tube preamp, various guitar effects, my dads old Multivox MXD-5 analog echo, a Roland TB-303 for techno type applications, a Roland Juno 106 with a voice chip problem, my Peavey Classic VT for guitar recording, a 60's Shure Unidyne III that sounds amazing and a 50's Shure A88A that I have yet to get working, and a few condensers. There's a lot of old analog gear in my family from the various incarnations of my father's studio, probably worth a decent amount but hell if I'd ever want to sell any of it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary J. Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 My studio is pretty simple, I use an iMac with an MBOX mini running Pro Tools LE 8. For my drums I use EZDrummer, I mic the bass and guitar amps with an MXL R144 ribbon mic when I'm playing those parts, for my keys and piano parts I use the software on Pro Tools, and for my vocals it's back to the R144. I use a pair of Sennheiser HD 280 Pro headphones and my stereo system to monitor with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BentonC Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 My studio is pretty simple, I use an iMac with an MBOX mini running Pro Tools LE 8. For my drums I use EZDrummer, I mic the bass and guitar amps with an MXL R144 ribbon mic when I'm playing those parts, for my keys and piano parts I use the software on Pro Tools, and for my vocals it's back to the R144. I use a pair of Sennheiser HD 280 Pro headphones and my stereo system to monitor with. Nice- what preamp do you use for the ribbon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary J. Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 The preamp is built in to the MBOX mini, it's a gain knob on the front of the interface. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZuWa Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 I keep it simple when I'm rehearsing/practicing. I mic my Marshall with a 57, through an impedance matching adapter (about $15) , directly into the mic input of my computer's soundcard. I use an old version of Sound Forge to record but any free sound recording software will do. For multitracking, I use Guitar Rig v4. I also have an old Roland VS840 that got a lot of use back in the day, now gathering dust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david.sg Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 Apogee Ensemble interface, Protools 9, iMac, Dynaudio mkII monitors, Glyph hard drive I mostly use it for songwriting and making scratch tracks. I should probably invest in some good mics... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BentonC Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Apogee Ensemble interface, Protools 9, iMac, Dynaudio mkII monitors, Glyph hard drive I mostly use it for songwriting and making scratch tracks. I should probably invest in some good mics... Sounds like a great setup! I love apogee conversion. Nice monitors too. Have you taken a look at PT10 (I tried it for a bit, and ended up going back to 9...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beat Poet Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Mackie Onyx Blackbird > Macbook Pro > Logic 9. My mics are a mixture of AKG and Shure. Monitors are Tascam VLM3s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thouston Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 Wow, started this topic back in 2008, and forgot about it..well not forgot, but life's been crazy the past two years. Since than I got a BOSS BR-800 and I uploaded a series of video tutorials on Youtube . I've also had time to learn more about PC recording using Reaper, SONAR LE and Ableton Live LE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaysEpiphone Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Mac and MOTU mostly for me. I'm just used to it so it's what works best for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thouston Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 Well, I finally brought a new On Stage Workstation, as you can see I have my BR-800 and BR-1600 on it. I have my PC/DAW on another desk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BentonC Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I'm just used to it so it's what works best for me. Sage advice. Whatever keeps you up and running is what counts ultimately! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BentonC Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Well, I finally brought a new On Stage Workstation, as you can see I have my BR-800 and BR-1600 on it. I have my PC/DAW on another desk. What interface do you use for your DAW workstation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaysEpiphone Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 What interface do you use for your DAW workstation? Looks like he's got a dedicated DAW, the interface, software, etc is all built into the one box. Its a Boss machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Obscure Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Last year my old 20" iMac G5 gave up the ghost (another logic board failure) and rather than fix it again I decided it was to upgrade to a 24" iMac 2.66 GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo. Got a good deal on it through Craigslist, and later added the Dell 24" monitor as well. DAW applications include Garage Band, which I use most frequently because of its ease of use, Logic Express, Reason and Riffworks. Input is primarily provided via USB 2.0 by a Pod HD desktop "bean" which I've found to be very versatile for guitar, bass and mic'ed vocals. I recently got a Fender G-DEC3 Thirty which I've been having fun with, and when I find a tone that I really like, I can plug that into the DAW via USB. It all works well for what I need it to do, the trick is finding enough free time and inspiration to record stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaysEpiphone Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Last year my old 20" iMac G5 gave up the ghost (another logic board failure) and rather than fix it again I decided it was to upgrade to a 24" iMac 2.66 GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo. Got a good deal on it through Craigslist, and later added the Dell 24" monitor as well. DAW applications include Garage Band, which I use most frequently because of its ease of use, Logic Express, Reason and Riffworks. Input is primarily provided via USB 2.0 by a Pod HD desktop "bean" which I've found to be very versatile for guitar, bass and mic'ed vocals. I recently got a Fender G-DEC3 Thirty which I've been having fun with, and when I find a tone that I really like, I can plug that into the DAW via USB. It all works well for what I need it to do, the trick is finding enough free time and inspiration to record stuff! Cool looking set-up and room Charles, I got a great deal on a Quicksilver G4 in 2004 through a web based used Mac place, forget the name of the site but it sure feels great when you find a good deal on cool gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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