Toontrack Pop! EZX review

Toontrack's EZX range of expansion packs for EZdrummer and Superior Drummer 2 gives e-drummers and rhythm programmers alike abroad range of highly playable, thoroughly convincing, mix-ready acoustic and electronic kits at a perfectly pitched price point.

We love 'em, and the latest, Pop!, does nothing to compromise our adoration. Comprising 10 drum kits built on multisamples pulled together from years of Toontrack recording sessions in various top-flight studios around the world, Pop! is actually a slightly misleading title for this eclectic library.

Rock, funk, electro, house, tribal and more are covered, with kicks (of which there are 10), snares (10), hats (five), toms (five sets) and cymbals (five sets) ranging from big and burly totight and funky, with some intriguing and wonderfully unusual options in between.

The kick drums are particularly noteworthy - they're among the best we've heard in an EZX. There's a fair bit of percussion included in the box, too - tambourines, shakers, cabasa, bells and so on - although we felt let down by the single handclap and fingersnap options.

As ever, kit elements can be freely combined, a decent library of MIDI performances is included (complete with Humanize option), and the built-in mixer makes balancing the sound of your kit - along with room ambience and gated reverb - quick and easy, feeding up to eight VST/AU outputs.

There's little control beyond level and pan in EZdrummer - you can't even repitch the drums, let alone tweak the reverb settings - butthen that's what EZdrummer's all about: simplicity and focus. If you want deeper editing of your EZXs, you should think about getting Superior Drummer 2, which enables you to combine pieces from different kits, tune drums, apply effects and more.