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Grooves: The two packs have different lay-outs for their grooves and the choice is personal: some will prefer the cascading options, others prefer less choice. Below: Eco’s added advantage - the MIDI map allows you to edit trigger allocations and even articulations, something you can’t do with EZ. DTXIII. While I couldn’t locate anything similar on the Toontrack product, it certainly found all the triggers from the TD-20 and had no trouble with the Zendrum’s General MIDI output. However, Eco’s detailed MIDI tweaking capability came to the fore with the Zendrum, offering enormously powerful allocation of triggers thanks to its detailed articulation scope. For example, not only can you assign a snare to a trigger, but you can set it as a drag, a flam, a rim shot, side stick or even a choke. Overall impression Both VSTs are easy to install, connect and use. They are both easy to learn and drummers will soon be flipping between kits, altering levels and playing realistic-sounding kits. By fiddling with the buffer size and sample rates, latency can be reduced with even ageing computer hardware. The real choice between the two is simplicity versus tweakability. EZdrummer is certainly the most idiotproof of the two, with less to adjust and more simplified operations. Eco has more choices, more control and, potentially, more chance of confusing the novice. Both are good tools for getting realistic drum sounds out of electronic triggers, and either would probably satisfy most drummers. And even though they come with limited kit choices, both are easily (and reasonably cheaply) upgraded, with Toontrack and BFD offering expansion packs. And when you’ve mastered these programmes and are keen for even more control and options, both are upgradeable to the full-size offerings. Sound-wise, the two packs are equally good – and certainly better than stock sounds from most modules. 20
While the base products’ sound palettes are limited, both developers offer a range of add-on kits, and here Toontrack seems to have the upper hand, with at least 10 EZX packs ranging from Latin to Metal as well as several kit packs for its big brother, Superior Drummer. Interestingly, Toontrack’s latest expansion offering, The Classic, is available only for the EZdrummer platform. There are fewer dedicated add-ons for Eco, but drummers can access several SD expansion packs and kits – albeit with reduced articulation. Pricewise, both are somewhere around the $100$125 (€95-€120) range, with Eco coming in cheaper, but in past weeks, there have been some specials which have given EZ a slight price advantage. Okay, so if there has to a reckoning and I have to choose, I’d go for the Eco – not because of the bigger base kit, more detailed samples or the more advanced mixing options, but just because of the tweakability. www.digitaldrummermag.com