# Anyone ever use Ezdrummer live?



## WarMachine (Sep 9, 2013)

As bad as i hate to admit it, im starting to think that it really couldn't hurt to take my drum tracks i've recorded my CD with and use them live. We ALWAYS have shit luck with drummers, be it egos, life problems in general, whatever. The more i've thought about it the more it's not sounding too bad, so lemme ask you guys; how many of you do this (if any) and how does the crowd respond to it? I get the feeling most would be thinking "shit, these guys are just playing to a CD!" lol and i wouldn't blame them if they did honestly! The drums have ALWAYS been our biggest set back, no one around us has the chops to hang and me and the guys can work our magic but its hard to cover up sloppy drums. Im hoping you guys got some good stories for me, cuz i'm dying to get back at it and hoping this will be a band aid until a good drummer hears it and is like, "kick the cd out and put me in!" lol


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## GunpointMetal (Sep 9, 2013)

If its jus the drums, I don't see a problem...see lots of bands doing this these days. We played with a band last weekend that is using Beatcraft for drums and it worked just fine....I WOULD NOT try and run EZDrummer off of a MIDI file live, though...just do stereo bounces onto an MP3 player or something


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## WarMachine (Sep 9, 2013)

GunpointMetal said:


> If its jus the drums, I don't see a problem...see lots of bands doing this these days. We played with a band last weekend that is using Beatcraft for drums and it worked just fine....I WOULD NOT try and run EZDrummer off of a MIDI file live, though...just do stereo bounces onto an MP3 player or something


Yeah dude, definitely lol. If we would even attempt this i would just make mp3's of my drum tracks and go from there. I've seen other bands do this and thought "meh", lol but then again they sucked too so it helped with the feeling lmao. I've really being weighing out the pro's and cons with it too. One the one hand i would think that people would look at that and be like "wtf is the drummer?!" but then again on the other hand i would think it would be better than having a drummer that wasn't worth shit either lol. You can cover up bass and even sometimes crap vocals, but when drums are crap, the band is crap! I may end up trying it dude, the sitting and not doing shit because of a drummer is killin me! we had shit lined up in cleveland, pittsburgh, new york, rhode island and now can't do shit! Its only been like a month and a half but damn! thanks for the input dude. how did the crowd respond to those bands you mentioned running drum tracks?


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## VacantPlanet (Sep 9, 2013)

Hey man, I'm in Huntington, and I'm in the same quandary. If you try it, let me know how it works!


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## iRaiseTheDead (Sep 9, 2013)

As long as it's just the drums, I feel like it could work 

Which ezdrummer pack would you be using? The only thing I don't like is the snares sound super dry and some of the kicks do too


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## WarMachine (Sep 10, 2013)

VacantPlanet said:


> Hey man, I'm in Huntington, and I'm in the same quandary. If you try it, let me know how it works!


Will do dude!


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## WarMachine (Sep 10, 2013)

iRaiseTheDead said:


> As long as it's just the drums, I feel like it could work
> 
> Which ezdrummer pack would you be using? The only thing I don't like is the snares sound super dry and some of the kicks do too


I'd be using the DFH pack, and i agree without any EQ/Comp the set as a whole sound a little dry and hollow. If i would try this out, i would be compressing and EQ'ing the drums as i would on a finished track so that should take out all the harshness. Im still debating on it tho lol, its just hard to let go of the fact that there wouldn't be any drums up there and that awkward feeling of just jamming to a CD


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## pestilentdecay (Sep 10, 2013)

I used EZ Drummer live, I put my drum tracks onto a cd player (I know, a little dumb live since it can skip), and ran it through the PA. Specifically, i was using DKFH and had a preset from EZ Mix along with it. Sounded good in my opinion.


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## HUGH JAYNUS (Sep 10, 2013)

I've seen a band do this live. I was actually impressed they did it. Because they were resourceful enough to do a show short of a key member, and tight enough to play to a machine. 

Actually started thinking of doing the same with the 2nd guitar track and bass track when our other guitarist and bassist left last year. I was sick of waiting and searching and teaching the songs all over again. Hell I wrote and recorded all the guitars on my band's album, so why not?

Red Seas Fire also did this when Nolly left to play for Periphery. They played his parts from a laptop running logic into the house PA


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## WarMachine (Sep 10, 2013)

Thanks dudes, all these comments are making me feel a lot better actually! I know that my guys can rock with backing drum tracks, the next task may be to find out a way to switch from track to track without walking to the side of a stage, hitting play then running back to the mic lol. 

@METAL_WIZARD - Another thing that makes be feel better about thinking this through. I'm just worried about reactions to just seeing 2 guitars and a bass lol. But it does beat not doing anything and it sure as shit beats having to struggle with a shit drummer too! Like i said earlier in the post, you can cover up sketchy bass or even guitar but you can't cover up crap drums. Thanks for all the input guys, if you do try this out i'll definitely necrobump this thread with results! We've all been there, got rolling really solid and strong then, you get your ass backed down to the start when a crucial piece of the band drops out. F'n sucks!


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## HUGH JAYNUS (Sep 10, 2013)

Exactly why I was thinking of it. I think you can get a program to run it through track by track and u could use headphones and have the click for timing as far as starting the songs and changes. Maybe Logic?


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## WarMachine (Sep 10, 2013)

Not really sure on that one dude, that's a new can of worms in and of itself lol. im thinking i could get away with running 1 big track on my laptop, with about a 10 second pause in between songs (if need be) and just have 2 hits on a hihat to kick off a song maybe. Then again we know most of the dudes that run sound at our local shows so maybe i could have like 2 or 3 tracks to play and just have them hit it when we need to. I play the leads and do vocals and im VERY vocal lol, i like interacting with the crowd and shit. I hate going to a show when a frontman just does his thing and goes on. People click a LOT better when you can relate with em ya know?


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## GunpointMetal (Sep 10, 2013)

The band last weekend got a good response, as have others I've seen. We played with a band years ago that used a dvd player and projector. they had all of their drums mixed down one channel, rhythm guitar down the other which was output to the board, then a projector playing a video synced to the backing music...was pretty sick. The only time I've seen bands where this doesn't work is when the band relies on a single source for playback and it crashes so their set is over....always have a back-up for your backing tracks!


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## HUGH JAYNUS (Sep 10, 2013)

WarMachine said:


> Not really sure on that one dude, that's a new can of worms in and of itself lol. im thinking i could get away with running 1 big track on my laptop, with about a 10 second pause in between songs (if need be) and just have 2 hits on a hihat to kick off a song maybe. Then again we know most of the dudes that run sound at our local shows so maybe i could have like 2 or 3 tracks to play and just have them hit it when we need to. I play the leads and do vocals and im VERY vocal lol, i like interacting with the crowd and shit. I hate going to a show when a frontman just does his thing and goes on. People click a LOT better when you can relate with em ya know?



Have the bassist hit play on the next track for each song. He won't be as tied down as you. And like u said a little count off


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## WarMachine (Sep 10, 2013)

METAL_WIZARD said:


> Have the bassist hit play on the next track for each song. He won't be as tied down as you. And like u said a little count off


May just do that, he's not that busy anyways hahaha


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## HUGH JAYNUS (Sep 10, 2013)

They typically aren't. Lol.


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## Nykur_Myrkvi (Sep 10, 2013)

My band does this after going through numerous difficulties regarding drummers.

While there have been people who've been sceptical about using a drum machine it works great for us. We play prog metal with piano, violin, 8 string guitar, bass and three vocalists, having so many things going on might help us cover up the loss of a human drummer.


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## WarMachine (Sep 10, 2013)

Nykur_Myrkvi said:


> My band does this after going through numerous difficulties regarding drummers.
> 
> While there have been people who've been sceptical about using a drum machine it works great for us. We play prog metal with piano, violin, 8 string guitar, bass and three vocalists, having so many things going on might help us cover up the loss of a human drummer.


Im sure the extra people onstage help as you said. Without drums we are just a 3 piece, but i figure what the hell, only one way to find out if this will help us or hurt us ya know? It gets tiresome when you have a drummer that sucks or isnt on par with the rest of the band, then you get comments all night of "damn that guitarist is wicked" instead of "WHERE THE FAWK DID THESE GUYS COME FROM?!". Drums have really been the only setback i have had since the start, im not tooting my own horn but the way i play really overshadows the drummers i've had, so it really stands out like a sore thumb when things dont work out the way they should lol. I guess best case scenario, if we do this maybe a good drummer will be at the show or some other people there that know of good ones and spread the word along. The sad thing is, having said that about my previous drummers i'll probably have the best, tightest sounding show i've ever had just by loading my drum tracks through the PA


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## VacantPlanet (Sep 10, 2013)

I'm hoping for your case and mine that if the remaining band members put on a good show, the audience won't notice. Most places have a house drum, so more than likely that would be sitting behind you guys. Since the audience doesn't much of the drummer anyway, as long as you guys can put on a good performance, I'd hope it'd be just fine. Good luck!


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## WarMachine (Sep 11, 2013)

Thanks dude, yeah between the 3 of us we've got enough energy to fuel angus young lol. Im the least active of the 3 just because of vocals but when i not singing im looking like dimebag on crack with windmills and slam dancin' haha. Thanks man


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## HUGH JAYNUS (Sep 11, 2013)

if there is any info you would need to make it work, you will find it here for sure. good luck with it! 

when is the show anyway?


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## DVRP (Sep 11, 2013)

Pre plan your set so you push play once. Of course you'll need to rehearse dead spots in your set, but better to build good habits now.


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## WarMachine (Sep 12, 2013)

METAL_WIZARD said:


> if there is any info you would need to make it work, you will find it here for sure. good luck with it!
> 
> when is the show anyway?


Thanks dude, yeah i always come to SSO anyways even besides the knowledge pool it has lol. I dont have any scheduled anytime real soon, i was asked to jump on to a show in columbus on the 4th next month but i was more just thinking ahead, in the likely case we got something good and didn't have someone to sit in on the skins. 

@DVRP - Absolutely dude, before i would even think about this i would be getting the crew together and making sure the music was tighter than a nun


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## BenSolace (Sep 16, 2013)

DVRP said:


> Pre plan your set so you push play once. Of course you'll need to rehearse dead spots in your set, but better to build good habits now.



+1. My band have a number of different setlists on our laptop, we just choose the most appropriate one for the show we're playing (both time wise and material wise) and we just load one up and press play. Not only does it ensure you don't run over your time, but you can add cool things in between songs like orchestral/glitchy things while you're introducing the next song. Of course, it helps to have in-ears with cues when doing this so you don't miss the start of the actual song!


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## Rev2010 (Sep 17, 2013)

There are musicians out there that do one man shows with everything else being on backing tracks, and they still find an audience.

There are musicians out there that don't even play their music live but DJ it (often in psy trance for example), and they still find an audience.

There are music acts out there where NO musicians are on stage, just a group of dancers/singers, and they still find an audience.

Dude, you have nothing to worry about. And since it's only the drummer you're missing you still have plenty of visual show. When you introduce your band just have the singer say, "We're currently down a member since our drummer left so we're playing along to drum tracks tonight. If you're a drummer and like the music hit us up after the show". Might land a replacement.

My electronic industrial project is just me and my singer. I do all the music and he does the lyrics and vocals. The music I write has sooo many different synth parts, drum parts, additional instrumentation, effects, etc. For me to perform our music live would be insanely complicated and require at least another person or two. We've played 4 shows where he sang over our songs in WAV format from my player while I controlled our audio and lighting rig. No one came up to us after any of our shows to tell us how boring and shitty our gig was, rather we have video of people dancing in front of the stage.

So yeah, you definitely can do it and I wouldn't overthink it or let others tell you that it would be lame, boring, cheating, or any of that nonsense.


Rev.


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## WarMachine (Sep 17, 2013)

Thanks for that dude, i've been needing that  i keep reassuring myself with everything you said in that post lol. The way i've been looking at it is like this:

- It beats the shit out of sitting at home not doing shit
- Probably will end up being the tightest set we've ever had lol
- Beats the shit out of having a shit drummer. 

Lets face it, i'd much rather people be leaving saying "dude, those guys ....in rip, i just wish they had a drummer!", than saying "yeah, those guitars are ....in killer but those drums kill the band" (when we HAD a drummer lol). If i can talk the crew into it i think we'll pull it off. Good thing about it is it shouldn't take too long to get prepped for it either, drums usually tend to be our biggest downtime, in the dude learning the tunes and us learning how to play around him haha. 
+1 Rev


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## Rev2010 (Sep 17, 2013)

Excellent attitude bro!  Like I said, you guys walk up on stage and the singer simply says, "We're down a member recently so tonight we're playing to a backing drum track" explains it all. I don't think anyone would stand there and say, "Oh man, these guys should've cancelled and sat at home until they got a drummer. There's still the rest of you to put on a performance!


Rev.


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## WarMachine (Sep 17, 2013)

Exactly dude! I'd much rather be out doing our thang and reaching several people at once than just hitting up one at a time for drummers as well! Plus too, there are a shit ton of musicians that go to shows so it couldn't hurt! I just talked with my rhythm and he's down for it so hopefully we get my bass player on track and we can hit it up! if and when this goes down i'll make sure to necrobump (well hopefully not that long lol) and post the results here! Thanks again dude, and everyone else for your input  mucho appreciated!


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## BenSolace (Sep 18, 2013)

Or, why not make a joke out of it? Bring along to shows a cardboard cut out or a home-made "scarecrow" made out of plastic piping or something. That's what I'd do!


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## WarMachine (Sep 18, 2013)

Lmao its funny you say that dude! We did a show last December in Columbus and the first band had one of those little shit first act brands you can buy at stores and a blow up doll with the sticks taped to its hands  good shit


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## BenSolace (Sep 18, 2013)

WarMachine said:


> Lmao its funny you say that dude! We did a show last December in Columbus and the first band had one of those little shit first act brands you can buy at stores and a blow up doll with the sticks taped to its hands  good shit



Hah, now that's what I'm talking about. There's way too much seriousness in metal sometimes!


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## HUGH JAYNUS (Sep 19, 2013)

this just got awesome lol. please do this


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## WarMachine (Sep 20, 2013)

Hahahaha


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## exarchangel (Oct 2, 2013)

I personally use EZ drummer for the loops and superior drummer for the sounds, just drag the midi sections over......


For live, it could totally work, it would be a huge drain on the actual performance though, not having a real drummer....if you guys go balls out and put on an amazing show it can work though


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