Toontrack Dark Matter EZX: Your Cure for Robotic Metal Drums

We’ve all heard it. That sterile, machine-gun rattle that screams “programmed drums.” It’s the sound of modern metal’s biggest complaint: drums that sound fake, plastic, and completely devoid of human feel. Nowhere is this more obvious than in a poorly programmed blast beat—a stiff, lifeless clatter that pulls all the energy out of a track.

But here’s the thing: samples are not the enemy. Some of the most massive, organic-sounding metal albums you love are drenched in samples. The problem isn’t that producers use tools like Toontrack’s drum libraries; it’s how they use them. The difference between a brutal, realistic performance and a shitty kitchen robot is all in the nuance.

This is where a library like the Toontrack Dark Matter EZX comes in. It’s not just another collection of drum hits; it’s a purpose-built toolkit for creating dark, aggressive, and—most importantly—believable heavy drums. Let's dig into what it is and how to wield it to avoid the dreaded robot drummer syndrome.

What Exactly Is Toontrack Dark Matter EZX?

Created by Jocke Skog of Clawfinger fame (who’s also worked with titans like Meshuggah and In Flames), the Dark Matter EZX is an expansion pack for EZdrummer 2 and Superior Drummer 3. It’s laser-focused on delivering a sound that’s tailor-made for modern metal, industrial, and heavy rock.

A Quick Product Overview

At its core, Dark Matter gives you two complete kits, but they’re not your typical clean, raw recordings. These sounds have been processed by Jocke Skog through his own signal chains, meaning they come pre-loaded with grit, saturation, and punch. You get a collection of mix-ready presets that serve as incredible starting points, along with a custom library of MIDI grooves to kickstart your writing process.

Why This EZX Kicks Ass for Modern Metal

• Deep Multi-Samples are Everything: Remember, no human drummer hits the snare in the exact same spot with the exact same force twice. Dark Matter is built on deeply sampled instruments, meaning there are tons of unique recordings (articulations) at different velocity levels. Hitting a snare at a velocity of 95 triggers a completely different sample than hitting it at 127. This is your number one weapon against repetitive, machine-gun drums.
• Processed for Immediate Impact: Jocke’s presets aren’t shy. They’re EQ’d, compressed, and saturated to cut through a wall of distorted guitars right out of the box. This saves you tons of time trying to muscle a raw drum sound into a dense mix and lets you focus on the performance.
• The Vibe is Just Right: The name says it all. The overall sound is dark, menacing, and aggressive. The kicks have a low-end gut punch, the snares crack with authority, and the cymbals have a metallic sheen that fits perfectly in heavier contexts.

Putting Dark Matter to Work: The Human Touch

Owning a great sample library is one thing; making it breathe is another. If you just draw in MIDI notes at max velocity and snap them perfectly to the grid, even Dark Matter will sound robotic. The magic is in faking the human element.

Programming Realistic Blast Beats

Let’s tackle the biggest offender first. A blast beat programmed at 100% quantization and 127 velocity is awful. Our brains are hardwired to detect patterns, and when we hear something that's too perfect and repetitive, we tune it out. It loses all its impact.

Velocity is Your Best Friend

This is non-negotiable. Instead of leaving every snare hit in a blast beat at max volume, start creating variation.

Try this:

1. Set the main, on-beat snare hits to a high velocity, like somewhere between 118-125.
2. Set the alternating, “ghost note” snare hits to a lower velocity, maybe 105-115.
3. Manually go through and nudge a few of those velocities up or down by a few values.

This tiny bit of an adjustment forces Toontrack’s engine to pull from different sample layers, creating subtle tonal and volume shifts that sound incredibly natural. Suddenly, it’s not a loop; it’s a performance.

Get Off the Grid (A Little)

Perfect timing is for machines. Even the tightest metal drummers have a certain "pocket" or feel that isn't perfectly on the grid.

• Quantize to 90%: Instead of snapping every note to 100%, try a setting like 90% or 95%. This tightens up the performance without completely sterilizing it, leaving in just enough of the original MIDI’s push and pull.
• Manual Nudging: For critical snare hits or kick drum patterns, zoom in and manually drag a few notes a few ticks ahead of or behind the beat. This can make a groove feel more frantic and aggressive or more laid-back, depending on what you’re going for.

Blending Samples with Live Drums

Often, the best use of samples isn’t to replace live drums, but to reinforce them. Say you have a killer live drum recording, but the drummer’s blast beats get a little weak because they have to play lighter at high speeds. Just turning up the snare track brings up a ton of nasty cymbal bleed.

This is a perfect job for Dark Matter.

Use a trigger plugin like Slate Trigger 2 or Logic's built-in drum replacement to layer a Dark Matter snare sample under the live one. Set the trigger’s dynamics to follow the drummer's original velocity. Now, when the live snare gets quieter, so does the sample. You get all the added punch and consistency without sacrificing the human performance. Just be sure to check the phase relationship between the live snare and the sample to avoid a thin, weird sound.

Mix Processing: Taking Dark Matter Even Further

While the included presets are fantastic, you’ll still want to process the drums to fit your unique song.

Bus-Level Compression and Saturation

Sending your Dark Matter kit to a stereo drum bus and processing it as a whole is a classic move for a reason.

• Glue It Together: A touch of bus compression can make the entire kit feel more cohesive. Try using an SSL-style bus compressor (like the one in Slate’s VBC) with a slow attack (around 30ms) and a fast release. This lets the initial punch of the kick and snare through before clamping down, adding excitement and power.
• Add Some Harmonics: Running the drum bus through a saturation plugin like Soundtoys Decapitator or FabFilter Saturn 2 can add some warmth and aggression, helping the drums stand up to heavy guitars.

EQing for Your Specific Song

The Dark Matter presets don’t know what your guitars sound like. Once you’ve dialed in your tone using killer metal guitar EQ techniques, you might need to carve some space in the drums. This could mean:

• Dipping a little 400Hz out of the kick drum to make room for the bass guitar's fundamental.
• Boosting the snare's crackle around 3-5kHz to help it slice through the mix.
• Using a high-pass filter on the cymbals to clean up low-end rumble.

Beyond the Samples: Learning from the Pros

Mastering tools like the Toontrack Dark Matter EZX is a huge step toward professional-sounding productions. But these principles are just the beginning.

Imagine watching world-class producers like Will Putney, Jens Bogren, or Nolly Getgood apply these exact concepts in real-time on real songs. That’s the experience Nail The Mix delivers every single month. We hand you the actual multi-tracks from bands like Gojira, Lamb of God, and Architects, and then you get to sit in on a live mixing class with the producer who made the record.

You’ll see firsthand how they program drums, blend samples, dial in bus compression, and solve the same problems you face in your own mixes. If you’re ready to stop guessing and start learning the methods that actually work, check out our full catalog of mixing sessions and see what you've been missing.