Making an EZ Drummer Template for Sonar

October 04th, 2007 | Category: EZ Drummer, Sonar, Tutorials

Are you tired of setting up EZ Drummer every time you start a new project? Sonar makes it easy to create a project template that will load your EZ Drummer setup when you create a new project file. This tutorial will show you how to configure EZ Drummer with multi-track output and save it as a Sonar template.

First, create a new, empty project. Name it “EZ Drummer Template” or something like that. If there are any audio or MIDI tracks in the project, delete them. Next, insert EZ Drummer into your project as a soft synth. (If you can’t find EZDrummer in your Soft Synths, see the tutorial on How to open EZDrummer in Sonar).

Insert Soft Synth Dialog

Choose the options indicated above; make sure you pick “Insert Synth Audio Outputs: Stereo.” This will allow EZ Drummer to output into 8 separate channels, so you have individual control over each drum. When you’re finished, you should have a track folder containing a MIDI track and 8 audio tracks.

EZ Drummer Tracks
Click to enlarge

By default, EZ Drummer outputs to a single stereo track. That may be fine for quick demo projects, but to really work with EZ Drummer it is better to route the drums into separate tracks inside Sonar. This configuration gives you more control over the sound of the kit, and allows you to change the level, pan, and add effects to individual drums.

To accomplish this, you need to assign the individual drums to different outputs in the EZ Drummer mixer window. Open the EZ Drummer window, and click on the mixer in the lower left.

EZ Drummer Mixer
Click to enlarge

First, assign different outputs to each drum. Since you are limited to 8 outputs, I combine the two snare microphones on a single track. Since our tracks are stereo, don’t worry about having both overheads on a single track. The screen shot above shows how I like to set it up. In addition, I like to set the level of each drum to unity gain (0db) and pan it center. This effectively bypasses the EZ Drummer mixer, and lets me mix the drums inside Sonar. Remember our 8 channels in Sonar? That is where we’ll adjust the level and pan of each drum.

Close the EZ Drummer window and go back to your Sonar track view. Since we want our template to reduce the amount of work we have to do every time we start a new project, there are several “housekeeping chores” I like to do. First, I name each track according to the drum I assigned to it in the EZ Drummer Mixer – kick, snare, hats, etc. Secondly, I create a submix for the drums. (If you don’t know what a submix is, or how to create one, see Sonar Busing Praxis). I assign all 8 tracks to output to this drum bus. Next, I set up a drum map for the MIDI channel. Finally, I create a rough mix of the drums, adjusting level and panning on each drum track.

Track Setup Drum Map Setup
Click to enlarge

Finally, it is time to save your project as a template. Choose File > Save As from the menu to open the save dialog. Next to “Save as type” select “Template” and next to “Go to Folder” select “Template Files (.CWT, .TPL)” to ensure that the template is saved to your template folder.

Save Template
Click to enlarge

Now, the next time you create a new project file, you will have the option to select your template and EZ Drummer will load with the configuration you’ve just made.

Select New Template

If there are other tracks that you nearly always create immediately after starting a new project, you might want to add them to your template as well. For instance, you could create a “Bass Guitar” track and map the track input to the appropriate channel on your audio interface. Or you could create effects buses that you always use. You can put whatever you want in a template, and they are a powerful way to save time when you start a new project.

31 comments

31 Comments so far

  1. Gareth November 23rd, 2007 10:07 am

    This is a clear and very helpful tutorial. Enabled me rapidly to set up a template.

  2. David March 25th, 2008 7:18 pm

    Thanx for the tutorial! This is the second time I have googled for help and you have came to the rescue.

    Very nice work, easy to understand and follow. Thanx again for taking your time.

    David.

  3. Drid July 1st, 2008 8:22 pm

    Very nice work on all of your tutorials, Ive spent the last 5-6 hours reading them as Im new to Sonar and you have really opened my eyes. This is a fantastic website and I find your blogs insightful and funny!

    Bookmarked

    Happy Shredding!

  4. Dave July 1st, 2008 9:02 pm

    Thanks for the kind words! Hope your recording goes well.

  5. jamesc July 15th, 2008 1:50 pm

    thank you thank you thank you!!!!!

  6. matt November 27th, 2008 7:06 pm

    How do you mix down so that you have a waveform for each part of the kit on a track each?

  7. Dave November 29th, 2008 4:02 pm

    matt, use the “Bounce to Tracks” feature.

  8. matt December 3rd, 2008 10:20 pm

    Roger that…done.

    Nice helpful site mate

  9. Ariel January 20th, 2009 4:00 am

    when i save it as a template and open a new project with this template, all the settings in the mixer in EZdrummer reset to default. Any idea why its doing that? Great post btw, i can actually get a NATURAL drum sound it my recordings, thank you and thank EZdrummer!

  10. Dave January 20th, 2009 1:31 pm

    Ariel, I’m not sure why it’s not saving the EZDrummer mixer settings.. it saves them for me. What version of Sonar are you using?

  11. Zac January 28th, 2009 5:51 pm

    I am also having this issue of it not saving my mixing settings. Also tried saving the ezdrummer settings as a preset and then loading them when I re-open my project and that doesn’t work either.

    I am using Sonar 7 Producer Edition

  12. Ariel February 3rd, 2009 1:45 am

    same as zac, Sonar 7 PE, ive done the same thing he has and still nothing, its not that big a deal honestly, to me anyways, but, im just curious why it does that. also, just out of curiosity, maybe you might know, or know somewhere i can find this out, is there any way to use your own samples in easy drummer?

  13. Dave February 3rd, 2009 10:58 am

    I’m still using Sonar 6. I don’t know why it doesn’t work in 7. Do other VST plugins remember their settings?

    There is no way to use your own samples in EZ Drummer. I think you can do it in Session Drummer 2, which is included in Sonar 7 PE. You’re supposed to be able to “Create custom drum kits by loading individual components.” http://www.cakewalk.com/products/SessionDrummer2/keys.asp

  14. Ariel February 3rd, 2009 11:05 am

    yes, they do, all of them except EZdrummer,

    ah alright, thanks much.

  15. Dave February 3rd, 2009 11:18 am

    Have you patched EZ Drummer? It looks like they just released a 1.1.6 patch.
    http://www.toontrack.com/userarea.asp

  16. Ariel February 3rd, 2009 11:47 am

    no i havent, thanks ill look into that, do you know if BFD has the same mixer output capabilities as EZ drummer? ive heard its better? your opinion?

  17. Dave February 3rd, 2009 1:46 pm

    I don’t know anything about BFD, sorry.

  18. Ariel February 3rd, 2009 6:02 pm

    oh alright, thanks for all your help though, great site, ill be checking back regularly for updates =] have a good one sir

  19. thecreekboy79 February 18th, 2009 5:05 am

    Cheers for this tutorial I managed to get it kinda up and running. I’m not sure if I am being really stupid but when I load my template I can’t get the Ezdrummer interface to load, but when I go into the drum map the EZdrummer sounds are all loaded there?! Any help please anyone?

    Cheers

  20. Ariel March 29th, 2009 11:09 am

    i made a drum map for addictive drums if anyone is interested or knows anyone thats interested, i tried out AD and it hands down destroys EZ drummer, if you can afford the few extra bucks, of course, anyways, i searched the web for drum maps for AD and the ones i didi find, sucked, so i pulled up AD’s keyboard map and made one out of scratch, idk if your allowed to put email adresses on here but, if you would like it or know anyone that would, just shoot me an email anunez91@msn.com

  21. Pogov May 21st, 2009 3:21 am

    Hello, very nice and helpfull tutorial, but I have problem when I’m trying to load some of the EZX expansions in Sonar 8 (claustrophobic, DFH and so on) that I have installed-namely they do not want to open.
    Can you help whit this?
    Thanks.

  22. Dave May 21st, 2009 9:38 am

    Have you updated EZ Drummer to the latest version (1.1.6)?

  23. Pogov May 22nd, 2009 5:45 am

    Yes I have updated to 1.1.6 version but I’ve noticed that this problem is only whith claustrophobic and twisted kit. Latin, DFH and jazz works. I don’t know why but when I opening ez drummer in Sonar it is shown in the right corner version 1.0 (not 1.1.6 as it should – in Cubase is 1.1.6). Maybe during the installation something goes wrong I don’t know – what do you think?

  24. Dave May 22nd, 2009 9:07 am

    It sounds like you have the DLL installed in two places, and Sonar is finding the one that has not been updated. It should say 1.1.6 in Sonar.

  25. Jay June 8th, 2009 9:22 pm

    Hi, have the same problems of some previous posters about the mixer settings that won’t save. Any tips ? I have Sonar 8 btw

  26. Dave June 9th, 2009 7:47 am

    Make sure you’ve updated EZ Drummer to the latest version.

  27. Jay June 9th, 2009 10:54 am

    Is there such issues with previous version of ezdrummer or you just suggest to update as a first step to solve the problem ?

  28. Dave June 9th, 2009 1:41 pm

    There have been many issues relating to host integration along the way. For instance, 1.1.5 added “the ability to recall saved files from Sonar track templates” and 1.1.4 fixed preferences and settings under Vista.

    I’ve never had any problems with it since I upgraded to Sonar 6, but I haven’t upgraded since, so I can’t speak for Sonar 8.

  29. Luvleggs August 20th, 2009 10:25 am

    One question I have is if you’re using the ezdrummer grooves and you drag the midi track into sonar will it separate out the parts or do I need to do that track by track?

  30. Dave August 20th, 2009 10:28 am

    All the MIDI stays in one track. The audio comes in on different tracks.

  31. Luvleggs August 20th, 2009 3:21 pm

    Got it, that makes sense. Thanks

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