EZdrummer 3 comes with its own grooves, but it plays any drum MIDI you give it, including packs played by a real drummer. There are two ways in: through EZdrummer’s own Grooves browser, or straight onto a MIDI track in your DAW. Both take a minute. There is one thing to check on the note map, and it is the china.

In this post:

• Two ways to use MIDI in EZdrummer 3
• Load a pack into the Grooves browser
• Or put the MIDI straight on a DAW track
• Check the note map
• Tempo and half-time
• Make it yours
• Questions

Two ways to use MIDI in EZdrummer 3

	Grooves browser	DAW track
Best for	Browsing and auditioning a whole pack	Using a groove you already picked
Preview before using	Yes, click to play	Play it in the DAW
Edit with EZdrummer’s tools	Yes, on the Song Track	In your DAW’s MIDI editor
Setup	Add the folder once	None

Menu names below are from Toontrack’s EZdrummer 3 manual. If your version words one slightly differently, it is in the same place.

Load a pack into the Grooves browser

1. Unzip the pack somewhere you will keep it, for example a “Drum MIDI” folder.
2. In EZdrummer 3, open the Grooves tab.
3. Either drag the .mid files, or the whole folder, onto User MIDI in the browser. Or leave them where they are and use Options > User MIDI and Linked Folders > Add Linked Folder to point EZdrummer at the folder.
4. If you add files to that folder later, use Sync File Changes so EZdrummer sees them.
5. Click a groove to hear it with your kit. Drag the ones you like onto the Song Track, or straight onto a MIDI track in your DAW.

When you right-click a User MIDI folder or file, MIDI Mapping > MIDI In/E-Drum Preset tells EZdrummer which map the files were made in, for example an e-kit brand. EZdrummer then converts them to its own map. Our grooves use the General MIDI notes, which mostly match EZdrummer’s standard map already: see the check below.

Or put the MIDI straight on a DAW track

1. Load EZdrummer 3 on an instrument track in your DAW.
2. Drag a .mid file from the pack onto that track.
3. Press play. MIDI from your DAW goes through EZdrummer’s MIDI In map, which is set in Settings > E-Drums/MIDI In.

To bring a file into EZdrummer’s Song Track instead, use the Track menu’s Import MIDI file…. It goes in at the playhead.

Check the note map

Toontrack’s manual shows the MIDI Mapping Layout for EZdrummer 3’s standard map. Put the notes our grooves use against it, and almost everything lands on the right drum:

The catch is the china. General MIDI puts it on note 52, and in the layout in the manual, 52 plays the ride’s edge; that kit has no china. Metalcore, deathcore and djent grooves use a lot of china, so this is worth fixing:

1. Open Help > Show MIDI Mapping Layout to see your kit’s map. Each EZX can differ.
2. If your kit has a china, go to Settings > E-Drums/MIDI In, find the china, and add note 52 to it (Add Note, or double-click a note number to change it, or Learn…).
3. If your kit has no china, the ride edge it plays now is a fair stand-in, or pick a crash.

Across 32 grooves from 8 of our packs, just 12 notes are used, all standard General MIDI. The kick and snare are most of the hits, then the open hi-hat, the second crash, the floor tom, the closed hi-hat and the china. Check those first.

For why maps disagree at all, see Drum MIDI mapping explained; every note is listed on the drum map.

Tempo and half-time

• Grooves follow your tempo. EZdrummer’s Original Tempo setting is off by default, so a groove plays at your DAW or Song Track tempo, not the tempo it was played at.
• Half and double time. The tempo modifier (1/2x, 1x, 2x, 2/3x and 3/2x) changes how a groove feels against your tempo, and it is kept when you drag the groove to the Song Track. A 1/2x groove is a quick way to try a half-time section.
• Follow Host keeps the Song Track locked to your DAW’s tempo.

Pack tempos are a guide, not a rule. Our packs tell you the tempo they were played at (it is in the file or folder name in many packs). Start near that tempo, then try it faster or slower by ear.

Make it yours

• Grid Editor: change single notes, as in any MIDI editor.
• Edit Play Style: changes the hits, velocity, articulation and quantise of the grooves you select. Played grooves already have their feel, so leave quantise off unless you want them tighter.
• Song Creator: builds variations and an arrangement from one groove.
• Bandmate and Tap2Find: drag in a riff (audio or MIDI), or tap a rhythm, and EZdrummer suggests grooves that fit.

Every groove in the packs was played by a drummer on an electronic kit and kept as MIDI, not typed in note by note.

Questions

Can EZdrummer 3 use MIDI from other companies?

Yes. Add the files to User MIDI or a linked folder in the Grooves tab, or drag them onto EZdrummer’s track in your DAW.

Is EZdrummer 3 General MIDI?

Its standard map shares most of the General MIDI notes: kick, snare, hi-hats, five of the six toms, two crashes, ride and bell. In the layout in Toontrack’s manual, GM’s china (52), high tom (50) and splash (55) play other cymbals.

Why does my china sound like a ride in EZdrummer?

Because General MIDI’s china note, 52, plays the ride edge on that map. Add note 52 to your kit’s china in Settings > E-Drums/MIDI In.

Do I need EZdrummer’s Song Track?

No. MIDI on a DAW track plays EZdrummer directly. The Song Track is useful if you want to arrange with EZdrummer’s own tools.

The Everything Bundle has all 21 packs of General MIDI grooves, played by a real drummer, for EZdrummer 3 or any other drum plugin.