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EZKeys 2 Review
The promotional YouTube clips make EZKeys 2 look like something that could be really useful, especially the Bandmate feature. Unfortunately, it falls way short of that goal. I use EZ Drummer and love it. It works rather well. But EZKeys isn’t that useful.
I attempted to use the Bandmate feature multiple times, but the outcome wasn’t good. It not only failed to correctly identify the chords, it also failed to identify when the chords change. I used a single guitar wave playing E7#9 to A13, and Am7 to G13. Then I attempted a wave with guitar and drums. Then guitar, drums, and bass. It failed all 3 times to read the chords and the timing of the chord changes. I even tried a single piano chord track. That failed as well.
The midi grid is adequate, but the Studio One midi editor is easier to use and has better options.
Toontrack also seemed to cheap-out on what midi sounds are included. If you want/need something more than basic piano, you’ll have to spend a little more on some expansion packs.
Overall, I’m not impressed. Perhaps this works with very basic chords on simplistic songs. But so far, I haven’t found EZKeys 2 that useful.
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3 Replies
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I haven’t tried either of these, but assume they’re more like a band-in-a-box type thing. Wonder how they stack up to the DigiTech Trio pedal? People seem to dig it… although if you are looking for the songwriting and specifically piano backing then it wouldn’t work.
Thanks for the review! 👍🤘
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These are plugins for a recording daw. I’m a lousy drummer, so I use EZ Drummer on all my recordings. Very realistic sound. My keyboard skills are minimal, and I was hoping that EZ Keys would kick it up a notch. Unfortunately it’s not as good as I had hoped.
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Regarding piano sample libraries/virtual instruments – the best I’ve ever encountered by far is “Keyscape” by Spectrasonics (the makers of Omnisphere, created by an ex-Roland designer/programmer).
Unfortunately, it’s rather expensive, and very CPU/RAM hungry, though the sounds themselves are amazing.
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