# My new video: ezbass vs ujam's virtual bassist



## Reid Rosefelt (Sep 5, 2020)

I've been working on this for a few weeks, doing a lot of research. I even took Eli Krantzberg's *Groove3 course on EZBass*, which I recommend. So I feel confident that you will learn a thing or two about these instruments if you check this out. EZBass is complex, so I do a deep dive on it. ujam instruments are deceptively simple, so I do my best to paint a picture of the amazing artificial intelligence inside them. If you watch all of this, I believe you will have newfound admiration for what ujam has achieved.

The quality of EZBass is right on the surface, in its expansive feature set. I get into the features of EZBass most in "Making a Song With EZBass."

I realize that it is long, so here are the chapters so you can check out what interests you:

Importing Music 1:28
ujam Virtual Bassist User Interface 3:31
EZBass User Interface 7:13
Making a Song with EZBass 12:50
Exporting MIDI from EZBass 21:50
Making a Song with ujam Virtual Bassist 22:49
Playing Live with ujam Virtual Bassist 28:27
Fretboard Logic 31:47
Effects 35:36
History of the Virtual Bass 39:18
Final Thoughts 44:10


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## Rory (Sep 5, 2020)

Haven't seen all of it, but I really like the style of this video. I also have a lot of time for Eli Krantzberg.

I think that you should get yourself another Rickenbacker and hire a medium to line up jams with Jack Bruce.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Sep 5, 2020)

Rory said:


> Haven't seen all of it, but I really like the style of this video. I also have a lot of time for Eli Krantzberg.
> 
> I think that you should get yourself another Rickenbacker and hire a medium to line up jams with Jack Bruce.


I'm going to be really honest here and admit that I don't actually love the way a Rick _sounds. _I was about to buy a relatively cheap guitar that sounded like a Fender Jazz Bass, but before I did that, I checked by this store in Manhattan I liked that sold used gear. And the guy said, "if you buy that other guitar, it will lose value by the time you walk out of the store, but this Rickenbacker will gain in value." So I bought the Rick. I kept the case in a special place and I used to make a pilgrimage to it often to just look at it. I couldn't believe that I owned such a beautiful thing. It was fun to jam with my friends. I had electric guitars and amps always ready when people came over. I had a bass amp just for that.

I definitely loved having it and I wish I never sold it. But maybe I should have just bought the cheapo "Fender Jazz" because that was actually the bass sound I wanted to hear.

But the guy in the store did not lie. The Rick did gain in value.

If I ever get another bass it will be a cheap one. All my guitars are inexpensive these days, mostly Yamahas.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Sep 6, 2020)

On a related note... based on this picture, do you think the new EZBass Classic Rock expansion (coming in 9/15) is a Precision?

And if so, would you buy it?








As the Vintage Bass that comes with EZBass is a Fender Jazz Bass (ujam's Royal) and, if I'm right about this, the new one will be a Precision (ujam's Rowdy), so they'll have two of the same instruments. Will the next EZBass be a Hofner Beatle Bass like ujam's Dandy?


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## Macrawn (Sep 6, 2020)

Really great overview of these instruments. I really like that you have in depth knowledge of both instruments. Too many people put out videos of them fiddling with something they barely know how to use. The history at the end was a nice progression to show how we got to this point. 

I think your point that back 10-20+ years ago, most people knew how to play an instrument. It's not as common now. Heck I gave up guitar and honestly haven't missed it... well maybe a little. I just put my focus on piano. So the demand for instruments for non players of the instrument is pretty high.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Sep 6, 2020)

Macrawn said:


> Really great overview of these instruments. I really like that you have in depth knowledge of both instruments. Too many people put out videos of them fiddling with something they barely know how to use. The history at the end was a nice progression to show how we got to this point.
> 
> I think your point that back 10-20+ years ago, most people knew how to play an instrument. It's not as common now. Heck I gave up guitar and honestly haven't missed it... well maybe a little. I just put my focus on piano. So the demand for instruments for non players of the instrument is pretty high.



Thank you @Macrawn

Okay. Maybe you've given up the guitar, but you do play piano. You're not one of those people who don't know how to create a chord progression. I use guitar VIs more than my actual guitars, because they can do things I can't do with my real guitars. But there is no acoustic guitar VI that sounds like what my guitar sounds like when I play it. That will always be impossible, even if they spent decades on it, and charge a million dollars. The possibilities for sounds are infinite. You can see in my "fret logic" section that making a VI is a series of compromises.

In terms of in-depth knowledge, it wouldn't be practical for somebody like Don Bodin to put in the ridiculous amount of time I did on this video every week. Definitely taking the Groove 3 course was a huge help for me with EZBass. The Toontrack videos show the basics, the manual tells you more, but when you take the Groove3 course, you realize you don't know anything. Plus I discovered a few things that even Groove 3 didn't.

With ujam I had to correspond with them to learn stuff. I even heard back from the co-founder, Peter Gorges. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to make the points that I did. They didn't care about giving out information in my little video. I wish that Toontrack would have been willing to tell me...anything. They wouldn't even tell me who all the founders of Toontrack were.  This video will be up a long time, and it would have been nice for me to be able to include what they had to say, because EZBass, in my opinion, is a major advance in the history. It's an amazing achievement.

The only thing I can think of is that they don't want to be seen on a timeline, as part of a "history." Maybe they want the history to begin with EZBass.

"First look" videos are fun for just that, but you don't really learn much that you can't by just playing it yourself for a few minutes. I'm grateful that others make them, but I never will, because I don't think I could do it anywhere near as well as somebody like Don Bodin does. He's got a real gift.

In terms of the history of the virtual bass, the Steinberg bass for HALion really looks like it has earned a place there. I don't have it, but there are some really exciting ideas in that one. Among other things, they sampled every note, and you have control over what string you use. Plus playing styles.

But this was a Toontrack vs ujam video, not a wrapup of everything on the market, which would have been beyond my ability to pay for it. I own and like everything I talked about in this video.


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## Markrs (Sep 6, 2020)

Rory said:


> Haven't seen all of it, but I really like the style of this video. I also have a lot of time for Eli Krantzberg.
> 
> I think that you should get yourself another Rickenbacker and hire a medium to line up jams with Jack Bruce.


Great review and comparison Reid, loves all the extra work you put into the YouTube video 🙂


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## mojamusic (Sep 22, 2020)

Very good comparison/walk-thru video! I learned a great deal by watching


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## Fox (Oct 14, 2020)

Loved the video. Thank you! Appreciate all the research you did, Reid.

My next question, and the most important one, is this: will EZBass have a Black Friday sale!?


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## Reid Rosefelt (Oct 14, 2020)

Fox said:


> Loved the video. Thank you! Appreciate all the research you did, Reid.
> 
> My next question, and the most important one, is this: will EZBass have a Black Friday sale!?


Thank you. It did take many weeks to do.

Toontrack has BF deals, but I suspect it's too early for EZBass. For example, they have sales on some new MIDI now, but not for the new EZBass British Invasion MIDI. But you never know...

On the other hand, last year the entire ujam store was 50% off and there were flash sales of some products.


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