I finally got EZDrummer to work. Well, now that I h4x3d Cubase SX3 that is. It just didn't work completely with LE.

I have a few question for the regular users though. Say I have a stock midi loop that fits a song arrangement, but it's either too fast or too slow that it just won't fit, is there any simple way to change the tempo? I believe this would have to be done within Cubase not EZD(its options are minimal), but how does one go about doing this? I don't want to speed up the tempo for the whole song(as I think that's what happens if you do it in Cubase), just certain sections, is this possible? Or would I have to make a copy of the midi file I want to edit and edit it by speeding up the tempo, then importing it into EZD like a new midi loop? I wish EZD would let you use a slider or something like that for adjusting the tempo of individual loops.

I'm also having trouble making my own midi loops for use in EZD. I made 1 simple loop in Fruity Loops, converted it to MIDI and saved it as a midi file and it imports into EZD just perfectly, BUT it's triggering the wrong piece of the drumset I want to use(eg: I made drum fill loop on the snare but it's triggering a ride cymbal). I read the EZD Midi mapping document it comes with that explains what midi keys trigger every piece, I know the snare drum is note 33, but how do I tell Fruity Loops to trigger that note when I have converted it to midi instead of the ride cymbal?

Also, is there a better way to write your own midi files and sample them besides FL? I'm looking for something extremely simple and easy but that lets you do tempo changes and possibly stuff in odd time signatures. I don't have a midi controller so I'd need something where I can fill in the blocks, like fruity loops or other basic drum machine software(eg: leafdrums, Beatcraft, and similar, but that lets you export as midi, letting you choose the midi mapping you want for each track(snare, bassdrum, etc.)

The problem in fruity loops is that I have to make a loop with real wav sounds, but when I prepare it for exporting it as a midi file(can't undo this), the sound is lost so if I need to go back and edit it, I have to start all over again, as you can't listen to a midi file as it's just data. I could just save the loop with wavs separately from the bare midi one, but surely there must be a more efficient way to edit midi files than this right?

I also tried writing drum tracks in guitar pro but it's totally gay, I'm slow writing my own stuff in it and exporting other drum tracks from guitar/drum tabs I have(obviously only the drum track is imported): always triggers the wrong notes and I'll be fucked if I know how to adjust midi mappings in guitarpro.

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First off, I have no idea how to help you with this problem. But I just thought you might be interested in knowing that I managed to get those drum loops working (I just got a different file format) and damn they sound incredible. I know that being able to craft the drum patterns exactly etc is a benefit with what you are doing but personally for ease of use, fuck it I'd much rather spend 10 mins laying out these loops rather than manually programming them. Tempo changes are easy, and although I haven't searched yet, the site claims time signature shifts are easily done as well. I can send you some to listen to if you wanted. Personally I can't quite understand why generally anyone would want to spend upwards of £50 for a program where you have to manually map out all your drum sections compared to £15 for 1000+ ready made loops/fills/one shots etc. Just thought you might be interested, good luck with this though.

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Thanks but I got someone pretty knowledgeable to explain it to me on another forum, haven't grasped it completely yet but it's not as hard as it seems, it's just that I don't know where all the options are within Cubase. Can anyone explain how to do tempo changes for only small sections in a song and not for the whole song?

EZD comes with a ton of premade loops as well, it's the same thing, you don't need to map em yourself. EZD has varying hits and velocity(how hard the drum is hit) settings which can make the drumset sound way more realistic.

But I have some ideas for drum loops that EZD doesn't come with, so I gotta map em out myself or change the tempo of ones I like but want em to go faster/slower.

If you have Cubase SX3 or an app like Sonar I suggest checking out EZD and the DKFH expansion, it really sounds amazing.

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Yeah I guess my horizons are pretty limited at the moment. I bet DKFH sounds awesome when you get the rhythms hooked up. Probably a dumb question but have you tried the Cubase forums?

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Tempo changes in Cubase are easy, just press Ctrl + T to open the Tempo track. This allows you to ad in a tempo or time sig change at any point in the song you want. All you need to do is draw a point on the line, and go up to the top to change the values. Changing it back goes the same way, just make sure you have it saying "track" instead of "fixed" next to the tempo on the transport panel.

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Man, I'm not quite getting it, someone else explained it the same way but it's not working. I have it set to track, and I'm dragging the blue line in the tempo editor(with the red dot at the left) up and down to change tempo, but it still applies the tempo to the whole song not just the section I selected with the markers. Show me a pic if it's easier for you.

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Use the pencil tool to draw a new point on the tempo line. Cubase is all in bars up top, so wherever you make the change in the tempo track it will change in any midi at and after that point. You can also put the cursor at the point you want to change and then press ctrl t so it takes you right to that spot at the tempo track.

pic
http://i11.tinypic.com/6azeiit.jpg

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YAY, finally got it , thanks! I wasn't using the draw tool, hence I was moving the tempo for the whole song, thanks a lot!

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soeru if you're using EZD, just choose a pattern close to what you want and edit it in cubase.

right click on pattern in your event window > midi > open drum editor

you should get the pattern in large diamonds which are easy to move around. you can also use the 'drumstick' tool to add or subtract hits. easy. loop playback until you get it the way you want it.

as far as exporting patterns from FL ... you'll need to match the maps. to see your notes in FL, right click on the track > send to piano roll. you can either make your EZD map match the FL defaults, or the other way around. sounds like a lot of work though.

edit: forgot to add that FL has a 'virtual keyboard' option that let's you use your standard computer keyboard as a midi controller. if you want a stand alone there are some free ones, just search 'virtual midi keyboard'.