EZkeys 2 Explained

Join virtual instrument expert Eli Krantzberg for an in-depth look at EZkeys 2 from Toontrack, a powerful tool for easily adding professional-sounding keyboard tracks to your productions and much more. In this EZkeys 2 video course you'll learn how to choose and customize your keyboard sounds, search for the perfect MIDI groove, build up full arrangements in the Song Track, adjust timing and note data in the premade patterns, record or import your own patterns, and much more! These EZkeys 2 video tutorials are designed for new EZkeys 2 users.

Videos

• Getting Started with EZKeys 2 (05:46) - Take a first look around the new interface, see how to work with the Library, and tweak the main sound-shaping parameters on the Keys tab.

• Groove Tab Basics (06:51) - Get started using this window to browse and audition MIDI files, import your own, and drag them to the song track to build up arrangements.

• Searching in the Grooves Tab (08:38) - Explore various search techniques in the Grooves tab, learn how to sort and modify the results list, and see how to drag the individual components of a groove into the song track and customize its chords.

• Tap2Find (08:25) - Discover another method of searching the MIDI file database within EZKeys 2, which is based on playing or mousing in rhythms or melodies. The results are filtered based on the rhythmic or melodic input.

• Getting Around the Song Track (07:07) - Learn the basics of navigating and working with the Song Track in EZKeys 2.

• Song Track Parts (06:03) - Explore the Song Part Track, the Chord Track, and the MIDI Track areas in more detail.

• Suggest Chords (04:59) - Discover a fantastic and inspiring new feature that will suggest and generate chord variations and ideas to take your song in new directions.

• Edit Chord Workflows (05:32) - Taking a closer look at the edit chord functions, we see how to manually generate custom chord extensions, bass notes, and inversions.

• Edit Play Style (06:59) - Learn how these parameters let you change the complexity, range, note lengths, and velocity of the underlying MIDI groove.

• Key & Time Signature Editors (07:44) - Follow along as time signature and key signature changes are added to the song arrangement in the host DAW and in EZKeys 2.

• Tempo Editor (04:46) - Learn how to save EZKeys 2 projects, how to get started in the standalone EZKeys 2 application, and how to create tempo changes in the tempo track.

• Ex Vivo (06:34) - Learn about the different ways of importing and exporting MIDI, with and without tempo information, and how to export your EZKeys 2 project as audio.

• Grid Editor: Tools & Timing (09:11) - Learn to adjust the timing and feel of your parts using the main tools and the timing controls in the Grid Editor.

• Grid Editor: Highlight Keys (03:37) - Discover the new highlighting functions that alert, and optionally restrict, you to using only notes relevant to the overall song key/mode, the scale/mode for each underlying chord, or just the chord tones.

• Grid Editor: Selection & Editing Functions (08:16) - Explore some of the corrective and creative uses for the advanced note selection and editing functions found in the Grid Editor drop down menus.

• Velocity & Pitch Bend (09:25) - A new song idea is quickly generated and fleshed out. The velocity lane in the Grid Editor is then used to edit and scale the velocities of the EZKeys 2 piano part. The Pitch Bend lane is also demonstrated.

• MIDI CC & Envelope Editing (07:15) - Learn how to assign effects and transport parameters to CC messages and draw in automation envelopes in the MIDI Values Editor to control them.

• Songwriting Scales (04:28) - A new feature introduced to EZKeys 2, Songwriting Scales is a fantastic creative tool useful for stimulating ideas to develop chord progressions related to specific keys, scales, modes, and moods.

• Bandmate: Audio (09:55) - See how the Bandmate feature analyzes existing audio and gives you custom-made grooves that fit your ideas.

• Bandmate: MIDI (04:15) - Follow along as Bandmate generates a custom piano part based on an imported MIDI bass file. See also how the MIDI drop zone in the Grooves tab works as a basis for searching through the grooves library.

• Coda (09:36) - Hear a final playback of the short piece developed throughout the series and get a brief review of the menu items and settings available within EZKeys 2.