EastWest The Dark Side
Grunge Virtual Instrument Library
You Haven't Punished Your Music Enough
If you're looking for an exercise in mangling, no library will take you farther than The Dark Side.
With a vast collection of crushed, battle-scarred drums, guitars, keys and more, it was designed with a single purpose in mind: to push conventional instruments beyond the point of recognition and take a stand against bland, sterile recordings.
It would be impossible to ask for more attitude and grunge than is available to you here.
Mangle, Bleed and Crunch Any Song to Your Heart's Content
If you need to push any instrument you can think of beyond the point of recognition through distortion, feedback, flutter and more, The Dark Side will become a welcome playground for you.
Nearly every instrument was recorded with intense effect chains, and the player interface contains even more ways to push a range of sounds into oblivion.
You can create virtually any grungy sound you need by pulling up one of these instruments and putting it through the ringer of intense FX.
Drums
These have been pushed so hard that you may wonder if your speakers are crumbling.
The core tone of these kits is preserved, heavily compressed for punch and explosive releases, and overdriven through a series of unforgiving analog distortion modules.
Basses
A premier collection of industrial basses and synths that make for a hefty low-end foundation.
They've been forced through a number of aggressive effects, turning them into a monstrous force when paired with heavy drums.
Guitars
The Dark Side's premium example of grunge, these guitars will boldly cut through any mix with force.
They shine when you're ready to throw away melodic control for unconstrained power.
Keys and Strings
These were designed to be as unsettling as humanly possible, whether through distortion or nails-on-a-chalkboard intervals baked into the library.
A single note should be enough to set your listeners on edge.
Traditional and Choirs
Chopped, punished, and overdriven, this collection is ideal if you want to add a more organic touch but still need a heavy dose of edginess.
Instruments FX
A combination of instruments pulled from other sections and run through significant variations in effects and other processing.
Feel free to make changes of your own and save them as new .ewi files to recall later!
Misc and Perc
Everything that was too weird or obtrusive to be included anywhere else in this library, from unusual percussion to complex, synthesized FX.
System Requirements
- MacOS 10.13 High Sierra and above
- Windows 7 and above (64-bit only)
- Intel, AMD, or Apple Silicon CPU
- 16GB RAM or more (32GB or more recommended)
- 40GB free storage space
- Free iLok account and iLok License Manager
- iLok Machine and iLok USB licensing methods are supported
Plugin Formats
AAX Native, AU, VST2, VST3, and Standalone
User Manual