Following a reboot of its popular piano player, Toontrack’s EZkeys 2 promises a number of new tricks and sounds that could make composition easier for the most users yet. We give it to the Experts to see if its new features deliver.
In Summary
EZkeys 2 sets out to do what it says on the tin; the second incarnation of Toontrack’s piano VI adds extra compositional tools that promise to increase its usefulness to non-players such as guitarists and drummers, as well as a brand new rendering of a Fazioli F212 medium grand piano.
Going Deeper
With keyboard VIs great and small bringing an entire gamut of in the box keyboard sounds to the DAW, most concentrate on single instruments such as synths, pianos, and organs. While some land with MIDI, most would concede that these instruments need to be played with a lot of input from the player. This can of course be performances from conventional keyboard controller MIDI, although some genres have been driven for decades by synths and other sounds that have been programmed or otherwise drawn-in by non-players with big ideas.
EZkeys: A Brief History
Toontrack’s EZkeys line has for many years provided another way for composers to find the changes that the song might need. Landing with an entire library of MIDI chord progressions, the instruments’ innovative chord wheel also aided writers with chord groupings arising from musical constructs. While the basic instrument featured piano, other instruments were also available as entire products with different sounds and MIDI of their own.
EZkeys 2: Overview
Some reading this will be familiar with Toontrack’s other EZ instruments covering drums, bass, and keys. The new EZkeys 2 instrument’s features and expansions now brings the keyboard player into line with its bass and drums bandmates. All this is centred around a single brand new, comprehensively sampled core sound library in the shape of its Fazioli F212 medium grand piano. Users can then buy EKZ expansion sets of sounds and MIDI in keeping with other EZ line intruments. Perhaps just as significant is a raft of new compositional tools that draw upon a number of Toontrack’s existing technologies.
In the video we explore the new songwriting features of EZkeys 2. We show how players at any level can get a pro piano sound using its new core sound library with just a few basic chords. We then get it to conjure a part out of thin air as it listens to the guitar part in the Bandmate tab. We then explore its other new features for writers that could make Blank Page Syndrome a thing of the past.
EZkeys 2 Headline Features:
All-new core sound library around a Fazioli F212 medium grand piano with a comprehensive range of microphone perspectives and ambiences available.
Recorded through RMV Studio’s Neve 8068 console.
Fully resizable and scalable interface.
Bandmate: Get chords and grooves based on audio or existing MIDI.
Onboard grid editor with humanization, scale matching, timing features and more.
Tap2Find: Get grooves based on the rhythm and notes played in.
Mix-ready presets for a broad range of styles and sounds.
An all-new MIDI library covering different playing styles and music genres.
New business model: Software includes core sound library.
Expert Panel - Hit or Miss?
In every Expert review we ask three of our team of contributors to give their first impressions of the product. We ask them to give the product a hit or miss, based on factors such as originality, innovation, usefulness, quality and value for money. For each hit the products gets an Expert Award. One hit and it gets our bronze award, two hits gets silver and for a hit from all three of the panel it gets a coveted gold award. Of course if there’s three misses, there’s no award.
Russ Hughes On Toontrack EZkeys 2
I think one of the biggest challenges with EZKeys is the name. As is often the case when a brand names a product, or in the case of Toontrack, an entire range of plugins, no one can predict the future. When EZ Drummer first came to market, around 2006, the product was squarely aimed at music creation enthusiasts wanting great drums on their recording. Since then the entire EZ line has matured into a powerful suite of composition tools that even the most demanding professional will find useful. So my concern is that people who could find EZKeys 2 useful may dismiss it based purely on the name and the perception it invokes. That would be a mistake.
EZKeys 2 is a strong follow up to the original concept, drawing on technologies used in many of their other products. In doing so, it gives those of varying skill levels a powerful tool set to help with composition. I’m not a fan of ‘pro level’ chord packs for various reasons, partly because just dragging a pile of chords onto a DAW timeline isn’t very useful. What EZKeys offers is a set of tools to help you find the perfect sound, chords and then develop them to make them your own. It’s also a useful learning tool, using the circle of fifths principle when presenting the chord options. The piano sounds have been bought up to date and offer very nice tones that can cover a multitude of genres. The Bandmate isn’t perfect, but still works well enough to get the basics figured out. EZKeys 2 is everything I often wished EZKeys was and far more. If you use pianos in your writing and recording then check out EZ Keys 2, it has a lot of bang for the buck! HIT.
PJ Gibbs On Toontrack EZkeys 2
EZkeys takes the exceptional foundation of its predecessor and enhances it with a host of innovative features. This comprehensive overhaul includes a completely rebuilt interface that can be adjusted to suit your preferences, offering greater flexibility and scalability.
The sound quality has been significantly improved by including a meticulously sampled grand piano recorded using various microphones and ambient settings. In addition, the updated MIDI library includes multiple playing styles and genres, and the new core sound library is now included as the default. Nice!
The Tap2Find feature lets you discover grooves by inputting specific rhythms and notes. The Bandmate function takes it further by selecting chords and grooves based on your audio or MIDI input. The built-in grid editor also comes with nice features such as humanization, scale matching, and precise timing adjustments, offering a wealth of creative possibilities.
The Chord feature generates musical and expressive chord progressions based on your preferred style and mood. In contrast, the Songwriting Scales feature is great for when you need additional inspiration by allowing you to set the tone based on your current mood or desired scale, generating fresh ideas. The ready-to-use presets are great and seamlessly integrate into your projects - making for a smooth and efficient workflow.
EZkeys 2 empowers you with virtually limitless options for editing, arranging, and customising your performances, providing you with complete creative control over your music. HIT.
Luke Goddard On Toontrack EZkeys 2
The first EZkeys instrument was fun and easy to use, thanks to its bundled riffs, licks, and progressions. Innovations such as its chord wheel also helped less technical writers to inject their own personality into MIDI that was, through no fault of its own, quite prescriptive. Step forward Bandmate: finally writers can play into EZkeys 2 using their weapon of choice to get meaningful parts from their virtual keys player… Brilliant.
I’ve used enough Toontrack products to expect excellent sounds out of the box, and EZkeys 2 doesn’t disappoint. The piano sounds great without any external help, with different mic perspectives and sounds within easy reach. The Bandmate needed a little help with the key detection, but to shoot it down for that would be pretty mean… On the whole it’s amazing and I’ve no doubt that it will get better. For its sound and innovation, using EZkeys 2 proves to me that Toontrack’s in-house band has a worthy new member. HIT.
Toontrack EZkeys 2 gets the Experts’ Gold award
A Word About This Article
As the Experts team considered how we could better help the community we thought that some of you are time poor and don’t have the time to read a long article or a watch a long video. In 2023 we are going to be trying out articles that have the fast takeaway right at the start and then an opportunity to go deeper if you wish. Let us know if you like this idea in the comments.