TOONTRACK EXPANSION PACKS
In the search for new bass and drum grooves that will move the spirit, we go to Church and get Gospel with Toontrack
Toontrack can offer you something for pretty much every occasion. The beauty of their catalogue lies in its expansion capabilities; you begin with their basic packages, such as EZDrummer 2 and EZBass, and build your library through their extensive line of expansion packs, celebrating a wealth of musical styles.
The latest genre to get the Toontrack makeover is Gospel. Firstly, we’ll need to point out that these are expansion packs, so you’ll need to have a copy of EZBass and EZDrummer 2 installed, in order to proceed. Superior Drummer 3 users can also import the Gospel EZX drum expansion pack, without the requirement to cross-grade to EZDrummer.
Where the Gospel EZX fixes aim, is with content leaning firmly in the direction of celebratory and worship music, which arguably ties into the Soul and Funk genre too. Stacked with new kit sounds and percussion, Gospel will compliment the existing EZDrummer default content beautifully. The 1.2GB of sampled content, captured at Paragon Studios in Nashville, centres around three different drums kits, with the usual Toontrack ability to mix and swap sounds with comparative ease. The kits reflect different eras of Gospel, from the 1940s to the present day, engineered by seven-time grammy-award-winner, Danny Duncan.
The diverse nature of the kits is pretty striking, from brightness and punch, through to darker and fully rounded sounds. Thanks to a substantial set of mixes, procured by Danny Duncan, there’s plenty of production-ready kits included. Some of these can sound a little flabby, dependent on the groove material employed. We were aware of some sonic limitations, such as a lesser ability to handle some of the subtle drop-sticks, surrounding the main backbeat. It’s far more stark in isolation, but once placed in context this perception dissipates quickly, in part thanks to the impressive kit playing of Calvin Rodgers.
As with all EZDrummer expansion packs, it’s the ease of use, and extensive selection of sounds and MIDI grooves that make for a winning formula, but as far as Gospel goes, it’s the ability to link in the drum pack with the bass expansion that makes light work of the genre.
The Gospel EZB expansion is a great addition to the rightly applauded EZBass package. In contrast to the default Toontrack EZBass content, Gospel features the most gloriously captured MTD USA 535 Andrew Gouche AG5 five-string bass. This means that it extends to beautiful tonal 5-string depths, often found in modern funk, soul, and of course Gospel. Included is a generous amount of suitable and stylised MIDI content, which is transferrable in key within the EZBass package, thanks to Toontrack’s ingenious onboard programming system. It’s just as easy to drag and drop into your DAW, while sonically the pack allows for nifty-switching between bridge and neck position, for a contrast in sound reproduction. All instances concentrate on finger-playing, rather than the use of any plectrum.
Toontrack have pulled off another master stroke with these two associated expansions; the bass is rich, full and unbelievably realistic, while the drums sound punchy, stylised and very classic.