Toontrack releases "EZkeys String Machine" and "Dream Pop EZkeys MIDI pack" (+EZkeys updated to v1.2.4)

Toontrack announced the release of two new products in the EZkeys Line: the EZkeys String Machine and the Dream Pop EZkeys MIDI pack.

The String Machine sound library is based around a meticulously sampled mid-seventies Solina String Ensemble synthesizer, but also comes with a collection of sounds sampled from several other machines of the same era. Combined with the rich selection of presets and instrument blends, EZkeys String Machine paints a sonic landscape of never-before-heard hybrids of sounds.

Feature Spotlight:

• The full EZkeys software and MIDI library.
• A carefully sampled mid-seventies Solina String Ensemble synthesizer.
• Sounds from several other classic machines of the same era.
• Close to 70 mix-ready presets.

More information, video and audio demos: toontrack.com/product/ezkeys-string-machine

The Dream Pop EZkeys MIDI pack was influenced by the genre of dream pop as a whole, but also loosely based around the EZkeys String Machine instrument and its rich palette of sounds. Even though it comes with traditional piano or keyboard playing styles and works just as well with any instrument in the EZkeys Line, the separate section of "dream pads" related to each song is tailored for ambient and ethereal soundscapes.

Feature Spotlight:

• Piano/keyboard playing variations inspired by dream pop music.
• Played by professional piano player.
• 4/4 playing variations in straight feel.
• Intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus and bridge sections.
• A separate section of "dream pads" MIDI for each song.

More information, video and audio demos: toontrack.com/product/dream-pop-ezkeys-midi

About the EZkeys Line
Each EZkeys sound library title comes with the same functionality and MIDI library. The MIDI covers all major styles from pop, rock and gospel to country and jazz. Drag and drop MIDI, add color and transpose included or your own imported MIDI on the fly. The EZkeys Line includes several classic analogue and electric pianos.

EZkeys 1.2.4 is now available to download using the Product Manager or from the 'My Products' area in your Toontrack account. Please note that version 1.2.4 is required for the support of EZkeys products released from this point forward (Q3 2016).

New:

• Support for String Machine - many internal improvements.
• EZkeys projects can now be saved and loaded from the menu in the plug-in.
• The Chord Selector now has Left and Right buttons for moving the Chord Selector to the previous/next chord. Left and right arrow keys can be used in some hosts.
• The Chord Selector now has a Clean button, a toggle to make the MIDI in that chord follow the scale.
• Use Browser MIDI, Paste Chords and Paste MIDI now make the MIDI notes follow scale, if the menu option "Keep MIDI in Chord Scale" is on (which is the default).
• The Loop button is MIDI-learnable.
• Support for up and down arrow keys in the Browser.

Improved:

• Standalone sample rate is no longer fixed at 44.1k for ASIO - now always uses the default sample rate of the ASIO device.
• The standalone can now handle an unlimited number of outputs on the sound card - any two can be selected.

Fixed:

• "Add Chord" did not snap, which could lead to problems. For example, when exporting MIDI, blocks could be omitted.
• Importing MIDI containing bar lengths 0 lead to a crash.
• Export WAV/MIDI menu entries are now disabled if the song track is empty.
• The red translucent block that marks the current recording sometimes became too long when a loop endpoint was reached, and it no longer overlaps itself in a loop.
• In the Browser, some headers had a play button.
• Higher velocities could not be previewed on black keys by clicking on them.
• When locating the sounds (if the sound path was not correctly set), it was possible to select an 'MEZK_*' folder as the sound path, after which authorization would not work. Also, the correct path (the parent of the MEZK folder) was in some cases not possible to select.
• Several functions are now disabled during recording, for example Undo/Redo, Use Browser MIDI, moving the playhead, splitting blocks and other operations that modify the contents of the song track.
• With the Chord Notation tool, left click inserted chord where mouse was and not where the snapped cursor was.
• When clicking with the Chord Notation tool on a chord to edit, it snapped to the left chord instead of the cursor-marked chord to the right.
• If a chord was added at the end of block with the Chord Notation tool, EZkeys crashed.