EyjolfurG
 Tap 2 find, Song Creator and Edit play style are great tool for song writing.  I have always had problems with finding the right loops from an alian library. This is a big step forward to getting the right drum feel for a song.  I am happy with it.  

Exactly!!! Loaded it - Love it - know I need to really Learn it. Sorry wife and child I might be gone for a couple days

Rain

That looks a lot better to me. I have a real Octapad sitting right here. I don't have this EZX.

mixmkr
the electronic ezx is the hidden gem.   blend it with your regular drums and tell the cowbell player to go home.  I almost don't leave home, without it.

I like it a lot but I didn't like the GUI and I wanted to be able to further tweak those sounds, so I've sampled the whole thing using Logic's sampler. Total sonic mayhem guaranteed. .:P

Guys, the best way to learn this thing is to watch the videos.  I watched a video last week and discovered a feature I missed.  I like using the standalone version to experiment.
 
One feature that SONAR users have that no other software users have (I don't have Cubase so someone would have to check it out) is the ability to Drag and Drop from a SONAR track into EZdrummer2.  That means that if you have a groove in an existing old project and you don't know what Toontrack library it came from, cut a piece of it out and drop it into the Tap to Find window and use the search to find it.  Or you can drop it into the Track creator and search for it through one of the menus.

EyjolfurG
Download and install went fine. It installed on top of version 1.  Found previous ezx's. Everything works fine.  Tap 2 find, Song Creator and Edit play style are great tool for song writing.  I have always had problems with finding the right loops from an alian library. This is a big step forward to getting the right drum feel for a song.  I am happy with it.
You can build a complete song structure from within ESDrummer2 and I will try to work with that but I think the right place to arrange the structure of a song should be in the DAW somehow.  

Agreed.
 
 I've learned to use the Track Creator down on the bottom of the GUI to drop my grooves as a collection spot, more or less.  A lot of times I want the same groove in the second verse as the first verse but I want it a little busier or I want the hihat a little more open or maybe I want my drummer to dig into the drums a little more (velocity).  Using the Play Style editor helps me do that and that is accessed from that Track.  So you can keep a copy of the 1st verse and a modified copy for the 2nd verse.  Plus if you drop a fill in, it automatically trims the groove so the fill fits into the same amount of bars.  Plus you can add or delete opening crashes in a groove there using the Play Style editor.

I would also recommend that you experiment a lot with the Play Style Editor.  For example, find a busy Train Beat style groove and switch the Power Hand to the snare.  The use the Amount knob to back off of the number of snare hits.  You'll run through some goofy sounding grooves but when you have eliminated a lot of the snare hits, (don't forget to tweak the velocity, as well) you'll sometimes come across a tasty little simple groove with a little "thing" about it because of the way it was originally played.

Like I said in my other post, experimentation and learning how to "work" the guts of the program to your advantage will make you like it more and more.  You pretty much have unlimited midi groove libraries at your command.
 

Oh yeah, in the Play Style editor don't forget to try out copying the midi from one instrument to another.  Right click on a drum and choose Copy midi.  Now select another drum, right click and Paste it on another drum.

I just did this with that Train beat I was talking about.  I copied the snare on to the floor tom and got a totally different sounding tribal rock beat.  I am so glad this thing is released so I can talk about it.

awesome!!   I've got a pair of 27" waiting to show it off then.

Mod Bod
One feature that SONAR users have that no other software users have (I don't have Cubase so someone would have to check it out) is the ability to Drag and Drop from a SONAR track into EZdrummer2.  That means that if you have a groove in an existing old project and you don't know what Toontrack library it came from, cut a piece of it out and drop it into the Tap to Find window and use the search to find it.  Or you can drop it into the Track creator and search for it through one of the menus.

Presumably I can drag any groove in, including ones I have created myself and have EZD2 find similar grooves?
 
Will EZD2 also search my third party MIDI such as Groove Monkee and Platinum Samples?
 
If so this feature alone seems worth the upgrade price.

yorolpal
Sorry to ask again but do I need to unzip the files in the install folder as well as the main download zip file...or will the installer take care of that? Which I'm assuming it does.

Hi Yorolpal - I didn't need to do that...I just extracted the main zip and then ran the installer.

Mod Bod
Guys, the best way to learn this thing is to watch the videos.  I watched a video last week and discovered a feature I missed.  I like using the standalone version to experiment.
 
One feature that SONAR users have that no other software users have (I don't have Cubase so someone would have to check it out) is the ability to Drag and Drop from a SONAR track into EZdrummer2.  That means that if you have a groove in an existing old project and you don't know what Toontrack library it came from, cut a piece of it out and drop it into the Tap to Find window and use the search to find it.  Or you can drop it into the Track creator and search for it through one of the menus.

I just tested this with Studio One and Reaper (my other 2 DAWs)...in Studio One I can't get it to work, but in Reaper it works a treat (ctrl+alt drag)

Had a play with it last night and love it, the sound of the kits are great, tap 2 find is a gem and the fact that you can listen to every EZ drummer midi file on Toontracks store is also a big bonus. You can also now drag any midi clip into easy drummer, this a nice feature, tried some BFD midi files from my DAW and worked a treat. User files in the browser is going to be so useful for storing individual clips and songs. Would highly recommend.

jb101

Rain
Up and running - first thing, I can't seem to locate the option to select kits. I can select mixer presets which will load the appropriate kit, but I can't seem to find the menu which allows you to pick, say either the Vistalite or the 60's Ludwig...
 
The manual is of no help thus far - I certainly hope there's something I'm overseeing. I don't care for mixer presets, but some of the kits I own like The Classic offered 4 different kits, and I'd like to be able to easily pick say, the Yamaha or the Craviotto.

This hadn't occurred to me last night when I played with EZdrummer2 for the first time.  It would be a big deal for me, too.  When Mod Bod didn't answer this query I panicked that maybe it couldn't be done.
 
Then I remembered something I saw in one of the webinars.
 
Open the kit you want, click on the arrow on a drum, and choose the "Kit" drop down menu.  You can then load any of the default kits.
 
HTH
 
Love it so far.

Thanks - indeed, this works just fine. :)

Glyn Barnes

3dmus
I tried re-indexing the MIDI, but it only seems to consider the EZX and Superior Groove libraries. 
 

That's a big shame. I wonder if we will see EZD2 format files from Groove Monkee in the future that will be searchable. It may be that some metadata needs to be added to a file. I may even hold off on buying EZD2 until that becomes clear.

Toontrack have tagged all their MIDI files so that this feature works.  That's over eighty thousand files, each tagged by a human being.
 
As one of Toontrack's staff said, they did not have access to every MIDI file in the world, just their own.

My first impression: My biggest gripe with EZD, (and the main reason I have even tried other drum programs), was the load time. And that is now almost gone. It's just as good as any other program. Kudos!! I am a happy camper for that alone : )
 
But it just gets better from here!
 
Sound: Fantastic! The improvements over all the EZX that I have was IMO significant. The chimes now have a much more airy sound to them. In the Claustrophobic and Twisted kits, these really sound so much better. With the Latin kit, everything just stands out more. Just sounds very real. I could go on and on about the other kits (hell the Cocktail kit sounds great and has some real good options now!!) but just say the sound is there, in spades!
 
Midi Search: Until you try it, you will not realize how much you are missing! Drag a clip from X3 to the bar and it returns results with the highest first, like 97%, and goes down from there. And as I was going through the lower results I was finding stuff that was giving me ideas as I was listening!! IOW a little change from the ride cymbal to the hihats, or from the snare to the toms, and these would be useable. I mean it went on and on! I would have never tried these different beats (even if I could have found all of them) in the same context of the beat I just dropped in the search bar! Kind of hard to explain, you just have got to try it!!
 
Looks: Very slick. Very nice GUI for everything. All options are right there. The new interface for changing a kit piece is great. It offers so much more control over what can be used in a kit now.
 
I could go on and on. Just wanted to pass on my findings. I am a very happy camper!