EZ Keys Review

After spending a few hours with this new piano creation software it's pretty impressive. I would say it's the ultimate learning tool for piano with a lot of really nice midi data to play with. No doubt it will help you quickly build a piano track but it's also a bit strange. I feel like I'm stealing the creative processes of another musician because some of the chord progressions are really close to some music already out in the marketplace. Adele's "Someone Like You" progression is in there and I caught a few other well known melodies or patterns but there are some more generic style things which I think form a better basis for trying something a bit more original.
 
You could experiment for days and still have things to explore which is always the downside of midi libraries. The tone of the piano is really good if you stay away from the effects and also the pedal noise is realistic. It is really easy to drag and drop the libraries and quickly build the track then pull up the chord wheel and try some variations. You may want some other piano sounds however to provide a greater range of matching tones for various styles of music. The midi files however can be dropped into Sonar and you can accomplish this with little trouble if you have some other VST instrument you want to try.
 
I give it a B+ and with some more piano tones it could move into the A category. For those keyboard challenged and even for songwriters that want to get something up on the page, it's nice but as a songwriter it feels like the ultimate creative cheat. Maybe that's a good thing, time will tell.  

I agree.  I have played with the demo for about a week now, off and on.  I like how it can play common rhythms by style.  Boogie woogie is cool.  Also, it shows you straight up what the typical chord progressions are in the various styles.
 
I am also Grateful that someone finally created a program like this that will play simple 4/4 quarter note patterns straight off the midi menu.  I can do that myself in Kontakt or create a MIDI groove in X1 but this is quicker when you just want to hear a simple patterned banged out in robo-style.  Good for repetitive looping / practice with another instrument.
 
Some of the chord inversions leave me wanting.  As a learning tool I wish it had a switchable feature that would allow you to choose straight up chord structures (e.g. Cmaj  as  C-E-G;  Cmaj7 as C-E-G-B  rather than inversions like G-C-E or B-C-E-G)  I guess the fancy inversions mesh better when you drag and drop a lot of patterns, but still....
 
All in all a nice tool.  It's a nice simplified take on the Band in a Box trick.  BIAB has way too many menu options for me to get my head around.  Wish it had a "simple" and "advanced" menu choice in it's preferences.
 
I might just buy this when it comes around on sale towards the end of the year.

Does anyone remember "twiddly bits" from like the 90s. This was just midi keyboard licks. Didn't seem to get much traction. But, to me, the concept is great. I haven't tried the EZkeys but, it seems just a bunch of midi files. But, I guess they are more easily chopped up and used than say BIAB and/or twiddly bits.

It's actually kind of amazing that "music" has evolved to selling minut fractions of a performance. I keep waiting for the Beatles vocals VST to come to fruition.

Man I bought it installed it and it went to the back of the line.

I gotta get into this thing.

strikinglyhandsome1


I wanna hold your walrus yeah yeah yeah.

strikinglyhandsome1


I wanna hold your walrus yeah yeah yeah.

See - it's possible to recycle even the biggest classics and get a positive reaction.

EZ Vocal....I like it. I want the Steve Perry or maybe Vince Gill pack. That would save a lot of time.

bapu


If they had EZBass The CHB would certainly change.

The bass would be in tune on time and play more than the Am.

No worries Bapu, I'm sure a lot of people will still be using Dimension Pro for bass in the future so there'll still be plenty of out of tune bass. ;)

I wonder how ez keys stacks up against BIAB 2012?

I downloaded the demo.....I think the piano sounds pretty good actually....it would be awesome to get Bruce Hornsby involved in this....get great "signature players" down the road

       

He's just a man of few words. Possibly none.

That sounds like a great price, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to jump. 

I'd like to pair EZ Keys w/a phenomenal piano like 8dio's Steinway Grand.

I wish their next product would be EZ money so I could buy more software.