Not So EZDrummer

Okay, so I decided to treat myself to a copy of EZDrummer so that I could create/manipulate drum tracks easily within Reaper.

What's EZDrummer? Essentially a set of pre-recorded drum grooves that can be midi-triggered so that you can knock up realistic basslines for your home recordings.

The concept's great. Preview grooves, tweak, drag and drop onto your time-line etc. It's also not alone in the market. There are a few other packages that do similar things. It's actually not a million miles away from Instant Drummer on the iPhone which I've used for band rehearsals (only much more in-depth).

So far, my experience of the program, or rather the virtual instrument hasn't been flawless. I've got it working within Reaper... just about. After a couple of false starts, including the drums sounding fine when previewed then first off silent followed by sounding like a piano (midi patch 1?) I randomly clicked devices on and off until I got drums... realistic drums. Yay!

It took me about 2 hours of hair-pulling to get to that point. The installation's still not perfect. For some reason the AISO driver craps out from time to time so I have to come out and go back into the program.... don't know why. I'm sure with time I'll get things running smoothly, but after such a struggle to get anything out I wasn't feeling inspired to keep playing.

Anywho, I guess when I've had the chance to try it out in anger (possibly at the weekend?) I'll post a demo.

Oh, and I suppose I should say that I got the basic package plus "Vintage Rock" (eg a Beatles-esque kit) bundled. It looks like other kits and grooves are available from 3rd party vendors, too, such as Groove Monkee.