What “ships” inside the new Toontrack songwriters drum pack, and songwriters fills pack, played by Ricard "Huxflux" Nettermalm?
The short answer is “lots”. The long answer is “lots and lots”.
Video part 1
Video part 2
To begin, the Song Writers drum pack, and the Song writers fill pack can be found and purchased at the Toontrack website, and for a mere 19 dollars (USD) each. That is all I needed to know in order to get my own copies downloaded. Speaking of downloading, they both were installed on my hard drive, and running in Pro Tools LE8 in moments flat, and they run flawlessly.
Songwriters drum pack
The Song Writers drum pack is midi information that is arranged as a songwriter might browse for it. I opened up Toontracks EZ Drummer, looked under the grooves section, and there was my new purchases.
The Song Writers drum pack is organized rather neatly, and laid out for quick usage. The midi headings are labeled as “Ballad, Halftime, Mid tempo, Uptempo, and shuffle”. Under each of these headings are sub headings, which are as follows: under “Ballad” you will find “Straight 4/4, Straight 6/8, and Swing 6/8”. Under the heading of “Halftime” is “Straight 4/4 and Swing 4/4”. Under the heading of “Mid tempo” is Swing 3/4, Straight 4/4, and Swing 4/4”. Under the heading of “Uptempo”, you will find “Straight 4/4, and Swing 4/4”. Lastly, “Shuffle” has “Swing 4/4” time midi information inside of it.
After choosing you time, you next choose the part of the song that you need some midi for. The midi in the Song Writers drum pack is laid out as “intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, and fills”, and different variations of midi files are found inside each of these sub headings. This is a lot of midi for 19 bucks! My experience thus far has been that you should have no problem either finding a perfect fit for what you are writing, or you will find a very close midi file that may need some minor changing.
Both the midi information found here, and the way that this midi information is laid out, will shave precious time off of your drum writing approach.
Song Writers Fill Pack
I just loves to write my own fills. Not! I do, however, find myself customizing fills quite often, just to make them sit in my songs a little bit better. One problem that I have is that it has become tougher and tougher to find unique fills to alter. Well, I wont be having that issue any longer, as I purchased the Song writers fill pack , and I now have tons of unique fills to select from.
The Song writers fill pack is laid out just like the Song Writers drum pack . To save time, I have included a snap shot of the EZ Drummer midi selection browser, with the Song writers fill pack selected. Let me just add that the fills are awesome. Check out the video that I have posted to hear just a smattering.
All in all, as a songwriter, I have long awaited for products such as these. My work flow will become a bit faster and the final product will be that much more unique sounding. If you are on the fence about purchasing these Songwriters drum and/or fill packs, Then listen to me: “go ahead and do it”, you will not be sorry!
Lastly, as just a reminder, the Home Recording Weekly song writing contest is quickly coming to a close! If you are still putting the finishing touches on your song, dont fret, get it done and sent in. This is your chance to win Groovemaker and Amplitube 3, both from IK Multimedia, and I dont want any one of you to miss your chance of winning these smokin' prizes!
If you have already sent in your song entry, then a big “thanks” goes out to you! After the winner is declared keep an ear close to the groung for the next Home Recording Weekly song writing contest. The prizes are getting better.............
Hmmm. I'm interested. I got ezmix from toontrack pretty much on the back of your review and Tony's on HMHS. I agreed with everything both of you said and took Tony's point that, really, all of the fx were on Mixcraft already. I didn't need it - but it has made mixing easier for me. Because I'm too careless and short of time to get it right. I reckon there's a balance between songwriter and homerecorder; I fall way, way on the songwriter side. Consequently I tend to mess up even when I do know how it should be done. For example, I only learnt this week, from the HMHS, that my songs were sounding mono. That's after 7 years of learning homerecording! That is one dumb, basic mistake. It's why ezmix is worth it for people like me. I'll watch these Youtube vids when I get chance. I'm not sucked in yet, I use betamonkey, but these are so cheap at $20, I'm tempted...
ReplyDeleteYes, you get a lot for the 20 bucks! Heck, start with the songwriters drum pack, and see if you even need the fills pack. Thanks for your comment! Oh, and no such thing as dumb mistakes, as long as you learn from them!
ReplyDeleteCurious if you are using the Songwriter packfor the tunes. By the way these are VERY good.
ReplyDeleteNot quite sure what you mean. I use them often, in fact very often in my music writing.
ReplyDeleteI was talking about the ones on this page by Kern R. I use toontrack stuff too and was interested in other peoples projects. Was considering the songwriter pack, guess I could spend $20 to try it. Thanx!
ReplyDeleteOh, sorry for the confusion. Um, yep, I use Toontrack exsclusively, and songwriters midi sprinkled about. Thanks for the comments and questions!
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