Toontrack Vintage Rock Brushes & Sticks EZX

First off, if you’re considering buying this kit, go to toontrack’s website, find it and listen to the samples. There are dry, drum kit only (no other music tracks) samples which will tell you exactly how the kit sounds.

That being said, there’s no need for me to describe what they sound like, just that this was exactly what I was looking for – basic, vintage, will sit well in a mix of basic, classic rock inspired and/or mainly acoustic tracks. The snare is the opposite of of that huge, wet, way-too-loud snare of the 90’s. If you’re a fan of that sound, this is not for you. Actually, if you’re a fan of that sound, please go to hell, which must be where that godawful sound originated.

I A/B’d the standard Garageband rock kit with this one – world of difference. Of course you can’t expect much from a “stock” GB kit, but the exact same midi loop just came to life with this Vintage Rock kit – it sounds like drums now, and like a drummer. There are only 2 toms – 1 rack and 1 floor. If I ever need more, I’ll just put them on a separate track from another kit, tune them as close as possible and they should sit fine in a mix.

I recently purchased The Classic and the Vintage Rock EZX packages. I debated long enough between the two that there was a sale – so I got both. I’m really glad I didn’t purchase The Classic by its self. I was looking for something with a dirty hard-rock, to early seventies metal, so I could make some stoner type rock. I listen to a lot of Clutch, Black Sabbath, and Kyuss, but a lot of the programs such as Metalheads, DKFH, and Rock Solid didn’t seem to give me what I was looking for. I read a lot of reviews and what sold me on The Classic is the overwhelming amount of midi files it said I’d be getting. It advertised from Beatles to Led Zeppelin style. The Classic is not for anything remotely heavy, but it does have a lot of midi to choose from and it does have the 4 mic set up, but as far as it’ll take you is straight rock, with more of a tilt to pop. Just to point out, it is a little on the weak side for drum hits, but you can adjust the mics to give you a decent sound. It does have a ton of midi to choose from, and for me it’s not a total loss, because I can use the midi with other kits, so for 40 bucks I can’t complain.

Now for the Vintage Rock, I got what I was looking for. There are a lot of crashing cymbals which are ideal for stoner type hard-rock. There are a lot of grooves, there’s a lot of John Bonham, there’s a lot of AC/DC boogie-woogie, there’s quite a smorgasbord of styles and beats. The drums are limited yes, but they sound great, and you can use different sets with the same midi files again, which really adds to the Vintage being a winner. If you’re looking for something to do dirty sounding rock and roll, look no further. Also the thing I felt was missing from the Pop/Rock kit was tom grooves, which I use quite a bit in writing songs, also snare rolls (for Johnny Cash type train songs), and build ups. The Vintage Rock has all that. Plus the layout is awesome, because on most midi files you get the basic beat with Hats closed, Hats Half Open, Ride, and Tom Grooves, but with other files you also get Hats Open plus Ride Bell, Ride Edge (gets that dirty sound I like) and some full cymbal hit grooves just banging it out. Plus you get some Odd Signature grooves in ¾, 6/8, 5/8, 7/8, 9/8 and some extras including Brushed Snare Swirls, Cymbal FX, and Bonus grooves. This Vintage Rock EZX really has a lot of options from blues, jazz, reggae, funk, rock, dirty garage rock, and hard-rock. One thing I’d suggest is go through and listen to all the grooves at the BPM listed, the drums sound great and might inspire new songs. You are not going to get brutal metal, and you’re not going to get the crisp clean tones you’d get with Rock Solid, but it’s not supposed to sound too processed. I’m still hoping Toontrack will do something closer to garage rock/grungy/stoner metal style exclusively. Get something between Foo-Fighters, Clutch, and Black Sabbath and I’ll be like a fat kid in a candy store.
If you like Pop rock The Classic is for you, but if you like everything from Blues to Hard-Rock the Vintage Rock EZX is for you.

I feel a bit duped because this set is just so similar sounding to the Custom & Vintage library. It would be nice if there was a bit of a warning on the product page. The library itself consists of the exact same drums recorded in the same studio by the same producer. I primarily bought the EZX for the midi, but found it wasn’t organized in the same way as modern EZX and SDX libraries. The grooves are still really good, but it does make it a bit tougher to browse through. Thankfully the midi is not also the same, but it isn’t as large a library, from what I can tell, as the SDX and modern EZX libraries. I suspect this was made earlier in the life cycle of EZX libraries and that’s why there is such a difference. That said, I do like the genres and grooves included, even if they are comparatively a pain to browse through and don’t include quite the variety of sub-grooves. It does include a bonus library in the way it’s normally structure, but only includes 5 grooves.

If you don’t already own Custom & Vintage, this is a great starter library. Peter Henderson, the producer, really knows how to get a great sound, especially out of his snares (as well as everything else). He also produced The Classic library by Toontrack, which I have yet to try. If you do own C&V, it may be worth it to get this library for the midi-grooves, because they have good variety in styles, but the way they are organized kills the mood.

If you are trying to decide between this and C&V, it’s an easy choice: C&V all the way. It may be more expensive, the variety and sonic quality it offers is just amazing, plus you can get expansion presets for it.