EZKeys 2 by Toontrack

Overview

Piano and songwriting software that offers a wealth of features for creating musical ideas and arrangements.

Key Features

• Fully resizable and scalable interface
• Bandmate: Get chords and grooves based on your own audio or MIDI
• Onboard grid editor with humanization, scale matching, timing features and more
• Tap2Find: Get grooves based on the rhythm and notes you input
• Includes a core sound library featuring a grand piano recorded using a wide range of microphones and ambiences
• Mix-ready presets for a broad range of styles and sounds
• Includes a MIDI library covering different playing styles and music genres
• Pedal noises
• Sostenuto pedal
• Una corda pedal

Technical Specifications

Library Size

4 GB GB

Mic Positions

1 mic position

Plugin Formats

VST3, AU, AAX

Standalone

Yes

Ideal Use Cases

• Songwriters looking for creative inspiration to quickly generate chord progressions and melodies for new compositions.
• Music producers needing to quickly sketch out piano parts and arrangements for their tracks, regardless of their piano playing skill.
• Educators demonstrating piano concepts and songwriting techniques in a visual and interactive way.
• Arrangers and orchestrators experimenting with different piano voicings and styles to fit their musical vision.
• Beatmakers and electronic artists seeking unique piano grooves and textures to incorporate into their productions.

Insights from Real-World Use

Strengths

• endless use
• nicely sampled grand piano
• new songwriting features
• vast library of cool piano phrases
• rich
• Core sample library sounds excellent
• Revamped UI and feature set provides massive workflow improvements
• Great value for money
• piano sounds great without any external help
• different mic perspectives and sounds within easy reach
• great acoustic piano instrument
• session pianist
• songwriting assistant
• super easy to audition patterns
• add your own MIDI patterns
• possibilities infinite

Weaknesses

• bug
• EZkeys 2 plugin suffers from one of the bugs
• not impressed at all
• piano sounds like a Digital piano
• Copy drag works on a whim
• doesn't copy
• no handle
• can't just select that bar
• entire midi arrangement is tied together
• Piano Samples aren't going to be great
• kind of remind me of the samples on the old digital uprights
• bland
• no way to turn of the Effects
• Noise of the piano is tied into the FX
• reverb isn't very strong, doesn't have a lot of of character
• bugs

Tone: beautiful sound, great sounding piano, grand piano, sounds excellent, sounds great, great acoustic piano instrument, bland

Review Snippets

• EZKeys 2 is a valuable tool the speaker would happily buy and will use endlessly.
• Literally not impressed at all. The piano sounds like a Digital piano. Copy drag works on a whim. I mean just trying to drag 1 part to copy it either; just doesn't copy, or you have to drag it out of touching the previous chord and sometimes that doesn't even work. Actually it doesn't even work. Pul
• EZD3 has much better tools for creating drum lines, not just playing them. I have EZBass, EZKeys 2, Superior Drummer 3 and EZMix. All great for song creation.
• Bandmate and editing features are key selling points for creating realistic, high-quality music, especially for non-piano players.
• EZKeys 2 delivers professional-sounding piano parts for music production.
• Enables basic players to create complex, fantastic-sounding music they couldn't play themselves.
• in no time I made a funky song starting from EZkeys 2, then moving the midi to EZbass and to EZdrummer ... Congrats to Toontrack I was eager to get EZ Keys 2 and...
• Pros · Core sample library sounds excellent. · Revamped UI and feature set provides massive workflow improvements. · Great value for money, either as a new.
• Pros · Core sample library sounds excellent. · Revamped UI and feature set provides massive workflow improvements. · Great value for money, either as a new.
• The sounds and pads in EZKeys 2 are beautiful and great sounding.
• Positive opinion on the quality of the sampled grand piano.
• Positive on the quality of auto-generated accompaniment from chord detection.
• The 'tap to find' feature is a nice, useful way to search for grooves based on playing.
• The piano sounds great without any external help, with different mic perspectives and sounds within easy reach. The Bandmate needed a little help with the key.
• EZKeys 2 is a fabulous addition for non-piano players to create keyboard tracks.

Frequently Asked Questions

What host or player software do I need to use EZKeys 2?

EZKeys 2 does not require a separate host or player, as it functions as a standalone application. It also supports VST3, AU, and AAX plugin formats.

Is EZKeys 2 a sampled or modeled piano?

EZKeys 2 is a sampled piano, built on a Fazioli F212 grand piano. It includes 4 GB of multi-sampled sounds.

What is the library size of EZKeys 2?

The core sound library for EZKeys 2 is 4 GB. It requires 5 GB of free disk space for installation.

What are the system requirements for EZKeys 2?

For Windows, you need 64-bit Windows 10 or newer with 4 GB RAM (8 GB recommended). For Mac, you need macOS 10.13 or higher with an Intel or Apple silicon processor and 4 GB RAM (8 GB recommended).

Does EZKeys 2 offer mic position options?

Yes, it includes one mic position for the core sound library. The recording utilized various microphones like Thuresson CM402s, Royer R-121, DeGeer Manibus, AKG C24, and Neumann KM84.

Does EZKeys 2 simulate piano pedal noises and sustain pedal behavior?

Yes, EZKeys 2 includes adjustable pedal noise for realism, as well as a sostenuto pedal for selective sustain of held notes and an una corda (soft) pedal simulation.

What genres is EZKeys 2 best suited for?

EZKeys 2 is versatile and suitable for a broad range of genres including pop, rock, classical, jazz, soul/r&b, and contemporary music.