ToonTrack EZKeys Dream Machine

DREAM BIG.
A hybrid instrument for modern pop, ambient soundscapes and soundtracks.

PLEASE NOTE: This title is a digital download and requires a free ToonTrack account. After purchase ToonTrack will provide us with a valid licence in the form of a serial number that we will then forward to you. This process can take up to a day to complete.

EZkeys Dream Machine is a hybrid and preset-driven instrument designed for use in modern pop, ambient soundscapes and soundtracks. It’s centered around two main components from opposite ends of the audio spectrum: a Rhodes Mark 7* electric piano as well as an undisputed cornerstone in the melodic percussion family, the celeste. Both main instruments can be used individually, but together they form unique sonic texture unlike anything ever heard. In addition to these two instruments, a marimba and a xylophone are utilized in the background of several of the many included presets to paint even richer timbres of sound.

All in all, EZkeys Dream Machine is a new creative vantage point in your arsenal of songwriting tools. It’s percussive, melodic and, quite frankly, sounds like a dream.

FEATURE SPOTLIGHT.

• Perfect for modern pop, ambient soundscapes and soundtracks
• Two main instruments: a Rhodes Mark 7* and a Schiedmayer* celeste (to be used individually or together in preset combinations)
• Includes sounds from a marimba and a xylophone (used in preset combinations)
• A comprehensive collection of mix-ready presets, offering creative instrument blends of never-before-heard hybrids of sounds
• Uncompromising dynamic response for great playability

MEET THE ENGINEERS.
In EZkeys Dream Machine, you’re not only blending a Rhodes* and a celeste – two fundamentally different instruments – you’re also using a marimba and a xylophone when layering sounds in presets. Where did the idea come from?

Viktor: When listening through what we already had in our line of instruments for EZkeys, we realized that we were lacking something with more of a mallets vibe. We wanted that bright and piercing tone of a celeste, but like the sonic explorers we are, we of course couldn’t settle for “just” a sampled instrument.

Mikael: When we started working on layering different instruments, we realized right away that the Rhodes* and the celeste were a perfect marriage. They shared some pretty similar sonic qualities while they had an essentially different attack and tone. Together, they complemented each other on several levels. To add even more character and an extra ounce of percussive feel to it, we decided to use use a xylophone and a marimba as additional layers for several of the presets.

Were all these instruments sampled like traditional EZkeys instruments?
Viktor: The Rhodes* and the celeste are multi-sampled with as much velocity detail and sensitivity as all other EZkeys instruments. You can pull up either of them and use them individually – both are amazing instruments. I personally love how they come alive when combined, though.

Mikael: To keep the size down and the usability in focus, the the xylophone and marimba are not quite as detailed, which was the plan all along. We wanted the product to be based around the two leading characters of the Rhodes* and celeste while the other two would fill in the gaps and add that extra bit of creative power.

Listening to the presets in this product, the tonal range is pretty spectacular. It goes from subtle lullaby-like sounds to menacing and nightmarish. What was the thought process?
Viktor: Not all dreams are nice and cloud-like. They can be claustrophobic and quite horrifying also (laughs).

Mikael: We wanted to make a product that catered to a broadest possible range – something that could fit just as seamlessly in in pop song as an ambient soundscape or soundtrack. But as always when it comes to sound, it’s all about context and how someone ultimately applies these sounds in their creative space. That’s the good thing about creativity, it’s completely arbitrary.

To make this collection of presets as broad as you could, you also invited several outside producers to help out (Alexander Juneblad, Addeboy vs. Cliff, Andreas Estensen).
Viktor: Even though you may have all the tools you can wish for at arm’s length, it’s always challenging to reinvent yourself after a certain point. It’s also great to add an outside element. None of these guys were involved in the initial process of actually preparing the sounds, so it was like a blank slate for them. They could just start painting with sound with no preconception or restriction.

Mikael: EZkeys Dream Machine comes with more than 40 individually crafted blends of sound, so it’s a quite massive body of work. We have some truly talented people that we’ve worked closely with for other projects, so it was an easy call to get them involved. Some of their sounds are lightyears away from my own, so I think lending more than just a couple of guys’ creative mind space to the product was key in order to make it as broad as it possibly could be. The sounds really deserved it!

What are the effect chains in the presets built on?
Viktor: Anything and everything! The tools we have available in the backend of EZkeys to make presets include a complete array of effects and saturations. One thing that I particularly like is how some of the presets use different attack times and swells between the included instruments, making the stroke very articulate and unique.

Mikael: Delays, reverbs, filters, distortion, EQs – you name it. For some presets, a variety of effects were used while some have the instruments in complete tonal focus, with possibly just a hint of some saturation.

What’s your favorite thing with EZkeys Dream Machine?
Viktor: The width. It’s a perfect instrument for anything from shrill leads to ambient pads. Actually, I can imagine it in pretty much any context.

Mikael: I agree! Creatively, this truly is a dream machine.

Name: Viktor Hansson
Location: Umeå, Sweden
Role: Sound designer and content creator

Name: Mikael Stenberg
Location: Umeå, Sweden
Role: Sound designer and content creator

ABOUT THE INSTRUMENTS.
RHODES* MARK 7.
The Rhodes* is a classic electric piano that emerged in the mid sixties. Since then, it’s been immortalized in countless iconic songs and used by just as many players. It’s likely one of the world’s most popular electric pianos – spanning use in anything from rock to jazz, blues and the most cutting-edge genre of any decade.

CELESTE.
Although a member of the percussion family, the celeste, is very much similar to an upright piano but with smaller keys and a much more condensed cabinet. Sonically, it reminds a lot of a glockenspiel but with a softer and more subtle timbre, which is also the quality that gave the instrument its name, celeste, meaning ‘heavenly’ in French. As opposed to a piano, the hammers in a celeste strike metal plates instead of strings.

MARIMBA AND XYLOPHONE.
These two melodic percussion pieces are both struck manually with mallets and have been used in near any context or genre. Together with the main instruments in EZkeys Dream Machine, these two timeless instruments are used for layering in several of the included presets, adding sonic width and timbre.

THE PRESETS.
The included signal chain presets are based on high quality effects from Overloud. You can adjust each preset by using a set of controls that will affect the individual parameters.

MK VII.
MK VII Basic
Based on the MK VII with tremolo and reverb controls.

Mellow MK VII
Based on MK VII, tremolo, reverb and adjustable grit.

MK Seven Dimension
Based on the MK VII with a nice chorus and a hint of celeste.

Dream Weaver
A straight up combo of the four instruments. Decide your own mix and add reverb.

Amped Hybrid
Rhodes and celeste. Adjustable tremolo and amp drive.

Club Wah
Roomy warm Rhodes with a hint of Marimba and Celeste. Adjustable wah effect. Add phase to your liking for that extra club feeling.

Blender
Blend Rhodes and marimba to your liking. Adjustable tremolo knob.

Organic Pump
Based on the Rhodes with adjustable attack to imitate an old pump organ.

Cloony
A Spooky Rhodes and marimba blend with adjustable reverb and swell.

Elektrom
A kind of gritty Rhodes with a hint of celeste. Add xylophone to your liking.

Freeze
Ambient Rhodes with adjustable swell. Add celeste to your liking.

Freeze Amp
Ambient Rhodes with an adjustable swell knob and adjustable amp drive.

MK Dreams
Rhodes and Mallets with lots of delay and reverb. Adjust amount of mallets, swell and octave effect.

Rhodes Sky
Rhodes with a beautiful round Mallet feel to it. Adjustable swell and ambience.

CELESTE.
Celeste Basic
Based on the celeste. Adjustable tremolo and reverb.

Mellow Celeste
A smoother celeste with adjustable high cut and low cut.

Celeste Plate
Celeste with adjustable plate reverb.

Mallet Piano
Based around the Celeste but together with Rhodes and xylophone you get this unique “mallet piano”. Adjustable tremolo and reverb.

Celestial Ambience
Ambient celeste w a hint of Rhodes. Adjustable tape drive and ambience. Adjust amount Rhodes to your liking.

Interstellar
An outer space celeste with soft-sounding mallets and reverb. Add Rhodes to your liking.

Pogba
Mainly ambient celeste and a hint of marimba. Add Rhodes and xylophone to your liking. Adjustable swell.

Romance
A romantic ambient celeste with smooth mallets and reverb. Add Rhodes, swell and delay to your liking.

Bell Room
A mix of all four instruments with a Bell like feel to it. Adjust reverb and amount of Rhodes.

Elven Children
Mysterious Celeste with a hint of xylophone. Adjust ambience and modulation.

Modwhale
Ambient echo celeste. adjust swell, delay time and add marimba to your liking.

Room Celeste
A nice basic roomy celeste with adjustable reverb and delay.

MALLETS.
Panned Mallets
Marimba, xylophone and celeste in wide stereo. Adjustable stereo spread and reverb. Add phaser to your liking.

Vibra Vibes
Marimba and Celeste and vibrato for a vibraphone effect. Adjustable vibrato and reverb.

Balearic Sunset
Ambient and warm mallets combo together with Celeste. Adjust tremolo, ambience and modulation.

Caves
Ambient and huge sounding marimba and xylophone. Lots of adjustable resonance.

Mystic Movie
Mallets and Rhodes in a combo with lots of delay. Adjust modulation and delay repeats.

On the Beach
Marimba and xylophone in a perfect blend. Beach vibes with adjustable tremolo and modulation.

Popping Corns
Marimba and xylophone for that popping sound. Adjust reverb and modulation.

Playful TV
Marimba and xylophone in a cartoonish collaboration. Adjust octaves, ambience and swell. Add Rhodes to your liking.

Delay Train
A spacey mallet-driven preset with lots of echo and space. Adjust delay, reverb, swell, delay and amount of Rhodes.

Doppelganger
Marimba and xylophone and lots of delay builds this echoey bouncy preset. Adjust delay time.

SOUNDSCAPES.
Chili
A poppy and almost intergalactic combo of celeste, marimba and Rhodes. Adjust modulation, filter, ambience and amount of Rhodes.

Crucifix
Celeste, Marimba and Rhodes creates this cathedral sounding combination. Adjust room and Octaves

Snowfall
Celeste and Rhodes in a combination that brings you out in the cold. Adjustable reverb, modulation and pitch.

Spooky
A horror combo of all four instruments. Adjust reverb, swell and amount of marimba.

Spoony
A combination of Rhodes and Marimba that leaves you floating in space. Adjust modulation delay, swell, filter and reverse effect.

Spoony Dark
A combination of Rhodes and Celeste. A heavier and darker but still weightless feeling. Adjust Modulation delay, swell, filter and Reverse effect.

Barock Trap
A head spinning, mind twisting combination of Rhodes and Marimba. Adjustable octaves and ambience.

Mellow Dream
The Rhodes piano in an ambient, filtered harmonic version with a panning effect. Adjustable reverb, panning and filter. Add celeste to your liking.

Panda Age
Filtered combo of Rhodes, marimba and xylophone. Adjustable ambience and swell filter.

Sky
Ambient combination of all four instruments. Nice, warm and welcoming sound. Adjustable, ambience, attack and amount of Rhodes.

Stargaze
A combination of Rhodes and marimba. Huge swells and sounds from an ever expanding sonic universe. Adjustable ambience, filter and swell.

EZKEYS – FEATURE OVERVIEW
32- and 64-bit AAX, VST, and AU instrument as well as a low latency stand-alone application
Drag and drop the included MIDI straight to the built-in song track
Drag and drop support for your own or third party MIDI straight into EZkeys
Drag and drop MIDI from the song track or directly from the song browser to your DAW or to your desktop
EZkeys will analyze and chord-separate any MIDI on the fly
Record or overdub MIDI directly in EZkeys
Use your own, the included or any third party MIDI/chord progressions and transform with playing styles found in other MIDI files
Quickly add basic chords to the timeline or drag and drop any chord from the Chord Wheel
Real-time chord display that enables you to instantly see what chords you are playing
Chord selector, based upon the circle of fifths, allowing you to change chords instantly
Presets for the most commonly used chord types
Customize the coloration of any chord by opening up the detailed view
Alter the voicing of a chord on the fly by clicking the – or + buttons in the Chord Wheel
“Humanize” any pre-quantized MIDI upon import in EZkeys
Transpose individual song blocks or full songs
Export songs or files as wave files straight from the EZkeys interface
Comes with an easy to understand music theory document including MIDI examples
Possibility to tune the piano by octave, semitone or cents
Dynamics controls that let you adjust the velocity response to match your keyboard or playing style
Three pedals: sustain, sostenuto and damping
MIDI-learn and automation
Ready-made presets utilizing high-quality effects from Overloud. The presets range from raw and unprocessed to heavily distorted and tweaked

EZKEYS – MIDI OVERVIEW
Extensive MIDI library played by a professional session pianist
All major styles covered (Pop/Rock, Soul/RnB, Country, Gospel, Jazz, Blues, Boogie, Funk)
All songs performed in full 8 bar or longer blocks
All songs performed with increasing intensity as intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus and bridge variations
Single, rhythmical and broken chords in different variations as well as FX and endings
Straight/swing variations in 4/4 and 6/8
Intuitive browser that lets you add you own favorites and arrange them in folders

Supported Hosts *

Ableton Live (version 10 or above)
Cakewalk (version 2018 or above)
Cubase (version 6 or above)
Digital Performer (version 9 or above)
GarageBand (version 10 or above)
Logic Pro (version 9 or above)
Pro Tools (version 12 or above)
REAPER (version 6 or above)
Studio One Artist (version 5 or above)
Studio One Professional (version 2 or above)
Waveform (version 10 or above)

* The list consists of hosts where the main features of our software work. There might be cases where features like drag & drop of MIDI, multi-channel-out, MIDI channel filtering or other non-critical features do not work. If unsure, we recommend that you investigate with the respective manufacturer what limitations may exist in their environment. If your host is not listed it means that we have not tested it. It may still work but a prerequisite is that the host supports VST3, AU or AAX instruments.