Toontrack Metal Machine EZX: A Producer’s Guide for Modern Metal

The debate over programmed drums in metal is endless. We&#39ve all heard them: the plastic-sounding, machine-gun blast beats that feel lifeless and robotic. It's easy to blame the samples, but that's not the whole story.

The truth is, samples are just another tool in your DAW. Even on massive metal records where you think you're hearing a 100% acoustic kit, there are likely samples blended in everywhere—reinforcing the kick, adding snap to the snare, and ensuring consistency.

The problem isn't that samples are used; it’s how they're used. This is where a powerful tool like the Toontrack Metal Machine EZX comes in. It’s not just about getting loud drums; it’s about having the right raw materials to craft a performance that sounds powerful, polished, and, most importantly, human.

Let's break down what this EZX offers and how to use it to get pro results that don't sound like a drum machine.

What is Toontrack Metal Machine EZX? An Overview

First off, an EZX is an expansion pack for Toontrack’s EZdrummer or Superior Drummer 3. The Metal Machine EZX is a beast, specifically engineered for modern metal by a producer who needs no introduction: Andy Sneap.

His work with bands like Judas Priest, Megadeth, Killswitch Engage, and Arch Enemy speaks for itself. The sounds in this library are pulled directly from his personal sample collection and recordings, giving you access to that signature Sneap punch and clarity.

Here’s what you get:

• Three Complete Kits: A Ludwig kit and two Tama kits, offering different flavors of punch and resonance.
• Signature Snares: You get a mix of snares, including the legendary Ludwig Black Beauty and a Tama Bell Brass—both staples in metal production.
• MIDI Grooves: These aren't just generic rock beats. The included MIDI library was performed by Tomas Haake of Meshuggah, giving you a solid foundation of complex, aggressive rhythms to build from or pull inspiration.

In short, Metal Machine EZX gives you mix-ready, world-class drum sounds right out of the box. But as any seasoned producer knows, the real magic happens when you move beyond the presets.

Beyond the Stock Grooves: Making Metal Machine EZX Sound Real

Dropping a stock MIDI groove onto a track and calling it a day is a recipe for robotic-sounding drums. The key is to use the incredible sounds of Metal Machine EZX and infuse them with human imperfections. Here’s how.

The Human Touch: Velocity is Everything

No human drummer hits a drum with the exact same force every single time. This variation is called velocity, and it’s the number one reason programmed drums often sound fake. A MIDI velocity of 127 (the max) not only plays the sample at its loudest but also triggers the "hardest hit" sample in a multi-layered library like this one.

When every snare hit is at 127, you get that dreaded machine-gun effect.

Actionable Steps:

1. Vary Your Main Hits: Go into your MIDI editor (the piano roll in most DAWs). Even for a straight-forward rock beat, pull the velocities of your snare hits on beats 2 and 4 down slightly from 127. Try alternating between 115 and 125. The sonic difference is subtle, but the feel is immediate.
2. Program Ghost Notes: Add very low-velocity snare notes (try velocities between 20-50) in between the main backbeats to simulate the subtle snare work of a real drummer. These add groove and complexity.
3. Think Like a Drummer During Blasts: A drummer physically cannot hit the snare as hard during a 250 BPM blast beat as they can during a slow breakdown. Select the snare hits in your blast beat sections and lower their overall velocities significantly. This makes the performance more believable and adds dynamic impact when you return to a slower, hard-hitting groove.

The Best of Both Worlds: Blending Samples with Live Drums

While Metal Machine EZX is great for writing, its true power lies in reinforcing a live drum performance. This technique is used by almost every major metal producer.

Let's take blast beats again. Due to the high speed, a drummer's real snare hits are often thin and get lost in a wall of guitars and cymbals. If you just turn up the snare mic, you also turn up a ton of unwanted cymbal bleed, creating a washy, harsh mess.

Here’s the pro workflow:

1. Isolate Your Live Snare: Start with your multitrack live drum recording.
2. Trigger the Performance: Use a drum trigger plugin like Slate Trigger 2 or your DAW’s built-in transient detection to convert the audio of the live snare track into MIDI data.
3. Load Metal Machine EZX:
   Create an instrument track with Metal Machine EZX loaded and route the newly created MIDI to it.
4. Blend and Phase Align: Now, slowly blend the Metal Machine snare sample underneath your live snare. You get the punch and consistency of the sample combined with the realism and ambience of the overheads and room mics from the live recording. Make sure to check for phase issues and flip the polarity on one of the tracks if it sounds thin or weak.

Smart Quantizing: The 90% Rule

Quantizing (snapping notes perfectly to the grid) is a powerful tool, but quantizing 100% is another ticket to robotic-sounding drums. A little bit of human "slop" is what gives a performance its feel.

Instead of snapping everything perfectly to the grid, try quantizing with a "strength" setting of around 85-95%. This tightens up the performance by moving the hits closer to the grid without killing the subtle push and pull of the original feel. After you've done this macro-edit, zoom in and manually adjust any specific hits that sound out of place. This preserves the groove while still locking everything in.

Post-Processing for a Cohesive Kit

Even Andy Sneap’s samples need to be tailored to your mix. Don't be afraid to process them further.

• Drum Bus Compression: Route your entire Metal Machine kit to a stereo bus and apply a compressor. A VCA-style compressor like the Waves SSL G-Master Buss Compressor or Slate Digital FG-GREY is perfect for "gluing" the individual pieces together into a single, cohesive instrument. This is one of the most fundamental basics of compression for mixing metal for getting a punchy, unified drum sound.
• EQ to Fit the Song: The kick might sound perfect in solo, but how does it sit with your bass guitar? The snare might have a great crack, but is it fighting with the lead vocals? Use EQ to carve out space. For example, if your guitars are thick in the 200-400Hz range, you might need to scoop a bit of that out of the kick and snare to prevent muddiness. Getting drums and guitars to play nice is key, and it often involves some surgical moves, like taming the guitar’s low-end.
• Add Your Own Ambience: EZX kits often have built-in reverb, but using your own allows you to place the drums in the same virtual "space" as the rest of your instruments. Send your snare and toms to a reverb bus with something like Valhalla VintageVerb to give the kit a sense of depth and dimension that matches your track.

Bringing It Together: From Samples to a Killer Mix

Toontrack Metal Machine EZX is an incredible tool for modern metal producers. It gives you the raw sounds you need to compete with major label records. But remember, it's just the starting point.

By focusing on humanizing elements like velocity, using smart quantizing, blending with live drums, and applying your own post-processing, you can elevate these samples from a simple writing tool to the backbone of a professional, powerful, and authentic-sounding metal track.

These techniques are the building blocks of modern metal production. But seeing how top-tier producers apply them in real-time on real songs is a game-changer. Imagine watching the exact moves that guys like Will Putney, Jens Bogren, or Nolly Getgood make to craft their signature drum sounds.

At Nail The Mix, that’s exactly what you get. Each month, we give you the raw multitracks from a massive metal song and you get to watch the original producer mix it from scratch, explaining every plugin, every fader move, and every decision. Check out our full catalog of sessions and see for yourself how the pros get it done. Our list of instructors features the best in the business, ready to show you how they build these killer tones from the ground up.