Review: Toontrack’s Jazz EZX
(mtebaldi | Posted 2010-09-29)
Do MIDI Drum beats and Jazz go together? Behind Toontrack’s expansion pack Jazz EZX for EZdrummer and Superior Drummer, you will not find the work of just one drummer, but the collaboration of 4 minds whose ideas amalgamated together to produce this tool. By tapping in this new territory, Toontrack is able to embrace all those working on music production, providing drum solutions to every single music genre existing.
The drum samples of the Jazz EZX were recorded at Blackbird Studios in Nashville, by inventor, jazz drummer and composer; Roy “Futureman” Wooten. There, by having an almost infinite archive of equipment, Toontrack’s producers were able to capture a beautifully authentic and traditional jazz kit. Coming with two different kit presets (brushes and sticks), the Jazz EZX was carefully built using pieces from five drum manufacturers (Pearl, Ludwig, Slingerland, Grescth and Leedy) and three cymbal companies (Paiste, Zildjian and Masterworks). Besides its small number of samples, its variety gives you the capability to create a very unique sounding jazz drum set. In the Jazz EZX Grooves library you will find three other drum masters that make this pack enjoyable and especially useful. Using the samples tracked at Blackbird Studios, Toontrack recruited David “Fingers” Haynes, the master of finger pads, for the creation of pocket jazz MIDI grooves, Morgan Agren for improvisational grooves, and Per Mikaelsson for MIDI brush performances. The groove library offers two different groove types (straight and swing), time signatures (3/4, 4/4, 5/8), and hundreds of variations. This vast variety of jazz grooves is what makes this EZX shine. The Mixer offers 10 different presets that are surely of great use for many songwriting applications. Besides different mic placements on kick and snare, another great tool you will find in the Mixer is the built-in chamber reverb effect.
Carefully crafted with beautiful drum sounds and offering an impressive array of options to find the jazz drum sound and groove you are looking for, the Jazz EZX is another great tool from Toontrack that will satisfy the Bourbon-drinking, cigar-smoking, suit-wearing type of musician.
For more information, please visit www.toontrack.com
Jazz EZX Samples:
Kickdrums:
• 18" Pearl Reference Series
• 22" Ludwig Maple Psychedelic
Snaredrums:
• 5x14" Pearl 50th anniversary Solid Maple Shell (Brushes)
• 5x14" Pearl 50th anniversary Solid Maple Shell (Sticks)
• 3.5x14" Leedy piccolo (Sticks)
Hats:
• 14" Masterworks Meritamon Series (Brushes)
• 14" Masterworks Meritamon Series (Sticks)
Tom 1:
• 10" Gretsch USA Custom Series (Brushes)
• 10" Gretsch USA Custom Series (Sticks)
Tom2:
• 12" Pearl Reference Series (Brushes)
• 12" Pearl Reference Series (Sticks)
Tom3:
• 14" Pearl Reference Series (Brushes)
• 14" Pearl Reference Series (Sticks)
• 16" Slingerland Radio king (Brushes)
• 16" Slingerland Radio king (Sticks)
Crash:
• 18" Paiste Fast Crash (Sticks)
• 22" K Zildjian Constantinople Medium (Brushes)
Ride:
• 22" K Zildjian Constantinople Light (Brushes)
• 22" K Zildjian Constantinople Light (Sticks)
Check out other Toontrack product reviews:
EZdrummer -http://www.musicgearreview.com/article-display/3423.html
Drum Kit From Hell EZX - http://www.musicgearreview.com/article-display/3457.html
Claustrophobic EZX -http://www.musicgearreview.com/article-display/3503.html
Electronic EZX - http://www.musicgearreview.com/article-display/3545.html
Funkmasters EZX - http://www.musicgearreview.com/article-display/3579.html
Beatstation - http://www.musicgearreview.com/article-display/3553.html
