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Programming a jazzy beat using brushed drum samples

1 Virtual drum kits with full sets of brushed articulations aren’t common, but Toontrack’s Jazz EZX for EZdrummer 2 is a fantastic, affordable option. First, let’s hear the difference in sound between brushes and sticks playing regular strokes. Here’s a backbeat groove, triggering Jazz EZX’s Basic preset, which uses sticks.

4 Ultimately, brushes are primarily intended for playing swung jazz grooves on the snare drum, the right hand tapping out the ride pattern and the left playing the characteristic breathy swirls for which they’re best known. Here’s the right hand, accompanied by a pedalled hi-hat on beats 2 and 4.

2 And here’s the same groove again, this time with Jazz EZX’s Brush Delight preset. You can clearly hear the difference between the sticks and brushes: the snare, hi-hats and toms are much softer. Indeed, brushes don’t work particularly well for this kind of groove, due to the compromised attack of their sound.

5 Jazz EZX’s ‘half circle’ articulation samples the sound of a brush being dragged around the circumference of the snare head. Placing one every other beat instantly invokes that smoky jazz club vibe. EZdrummer can only trigger one snare sound at a time, however, so I have to offset the swirls from the main hits.

3 A drummer would probably approach a brushed groove like this by moving the ride off the hi-hat and onto the snare. I’ve switched from regular eighth-notes to sets of three 16th-notes, and shifted the main beats to a rimshot articulation. This introduces sonic continuity between the riding pattern and the backbeat.

6 Jazz EZX also features a fast ‘full circle’ brush swirl articulation, which is ideal for filling shorter gaps between main hits. Here’s my final pattern, complete with a very quiet kick drum on every beat. Hear how the swirls work rhythmically around the main snare hits rather than getting in their way. Nice.