Top 5Has said they use
Ableton
Live“I started using Ableton for my live shows back in 2010, so it kind of made sense to make the move in the studio.”
Said in MusicRadar (Computer Music): Producer Masterclass - Sub Focus, October 2020
Photo: Toxicab · CC BY 2.0
Independent research by truerecs. Not affiliated with, endorsed or verified by Sub Focus. Every item links to its public source.
44 items · Last checked What DAW does Sub Focus use?
Sub Focus has said they use Ableton Live in the studio after years on Cubase, with Serum, Massive, Sylenth1 and Omnisphere as main soft synths. They have also said they use an Intellijel Eurorack modular, a Roland Juno-60, an E-mu Emulator II, Mackie HR824 monitors and a UAD Arrow interface.
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Top 5
Where to start with Sub Focus's gear.
01
02
Top 5Has said they use
Steinberg
Cubase“For my productions, I use Cubase although I experiment a little more in Ableton Live now.”
Said in AskAudio: Interview: Sub Focus on Production, iPad for Live Performance, and Tidal Wave, November 2012
03
Top 5Has said they use
Xfer Records
Serum“Most of my bass sounds are made in wavetable synths like Massive or Serum.”
Said in MusicRadar (Computer Music): Producer Masterclass - Sub Focus, October 2020
04
Top 5Has said they use
Native Instruments
Massive“Basically I use Ableton and a few third-party synths like Massive, FM8 and Sylenth.”
Said in AskAudio: Interview: Sub Focus on Production, iPad for Live Performance, and Tidal Wave, November 2012
05
Top 5Has said they use
Native Instruments
Massive X“The main ones I use at the moment are Massive, Massive X, Nexus, Omnisphere, Serum and Sylenth1.”
Said in MusicRadar (Computer Music): Producer Masterclass - Sub Focus, October 2020
What studio gear Sub Focus uses: a sourced gear guide
Independent research by truerecs: every item links to the public source it comes from.
Studio
Has said they use
Ableton
Live“I started using Ableton for my live shows back in 2010, so it kind of made sense to make the move in the studio.”
Said in MusicRadar (Computer Music): Producer Masterclass - Sub Focus, October 2020
Has said they use
Steinberg
Cubase“For my productions, I use Cubase although I experiment a little more in Ableton Live now.”
Said in AskAudio: Interview: Sub Focus on Production, iPad for Live Performance, and Tidal Wave, November 2012
Steinberg
WaveLab
Has said they use
Steinberg
WaveLab“I often use the spectrum analyser in WaveLab as a secondary visual reference”
Said in MusicRadar (Computer Music): Producer Masterclass - Sub Focus, October 2020
Has said they use
Xfer Records
Serum“Most of my bass sounds are made in wavetable synths like Massive or Serum.”
Said in MusicRadar (Computer Music): Producer Masterclass - Sub Focus, October 2020
Has said they use
Native Instruments
Massive“Basically I use Ableton and a few third-party synths like Massive, FM8 and Sylenth.”
Said in AskAudio: Interview: Sub Focus on Production, iPad for Live Performance, and Tidal Wave, November 2012
Has said they use
Native Instruments
Massive X“The main ones I use at the moment are Massive, Massive X, Nexus, Omnisphere, Serum and Sylenth1.”
Said in MusicRadar (Computer Music): Producer Masterclass - Sub Focus, October 2020
Has said they use
reFX
Nexus“The main ones I use at the moment are Massive, Massive X, Nexus, Omnisphere, Serum and Sylenth1.”
Said in MusicRadar (Computer Music): Producer Masterclass - Sub Focus, October 2020
Has said they use
Spectrasonics
Omnisphere“The main ones I use at the moment are Massive, Massive X, Nexus, Omnisphere, Serum and Sylenth1.”
Said in MusicRadar (Computer Music): Producer Masterclass - Sub Focus, October 2020
Has said they use
LennarDigital
Sylenth1“Sylenth has got an amazing detune on it with a great analogue sound.”
Said in MusicRadar (Future Music): In pictures: Sub Focus's studio, December 2013
Also at
Has said they use
Native Instruments
FM8“Synth-wise: things like Massive, FM8 are sounding cool...”
Said in AskAudio: Interview: Sub Focus on Production, iPad for Live Performance, and Tidal Wave, November 2012
Has said they use
Native Instruments
Kontakt“I use Kontakt quite a lot as well.”
Said in AskAudio: Interview: Sub Focus on Production, iPad for Live Performance, and Tidal Wave, November 2012
Has said they use
iZotope
Ozone“I'm a big fan of the iZotope plugins, Ozone and Alloy.”
Said in AskAudio: Interview: Sub Focus on Production, iPad for Live Performance, and Tidal Wave, November 2012
iZotope
Alloy
Has said they use
iZotope
Alloy“I'm a big fan of the iZotope plugins, Ozone and Alloy.”
Said in AskAudio: Interview: Sub Focus on Production, iPad for Live Performance, and Tidal Wave, November 2012
No store page for this one.
Has said they use
Waves
Waves plugins“In the studio, I use Cubase, the Waves plug-ins.”
Said in AskAudio: Interview: Sub Focus on Production, iPad for Live Performance, and Tidal Wave, November 2012
Has said they use
Valhalla DSP
Valhalla Shimmer“It’s very good for long reverbs with this effect where the feedback on the reverb is pitch shifted.”
Said in MusicRadar (Future Music): In pictures: Sub Focus's studio, December 2013
Has said they use
Xfer Records
LFO Tool“Also, sidechaining and using plugins like the LFO tool can really help to clear out space for these.”
Said in MusicRadar (Computer Music): Producer Masterclass - Sub Focus, October 2020
dBlue
Glitch
Has said they use
dBlue
Glitch“On the more unusual front there’s Glitch which is a good chopper for rearranging sounds”
Said in MusicRadar (Future Music): In pictures: Sub Focus's studio, December 2013
No store page for this one.
PaulStretch
PaulStretch
Has said they use
PaulStretch
PaulStretch“Then there’s PaulStretch which is a great emulation of the old Akai time-stretch which is good for those old badly stretched vocals.”
Said in MusicRadar (Future Music): In pictures: Sub Focus's studio, December 2013
No store page for this one.
Ableton
Max for Live (CV Tools)
Has said they use
Ableton
Max for Live (CV Tools)“I also use a lot of the Max for Live plugins, like CV Tools, for controlling my modular synth.”
Said in MusicRadar (Computer Music): Producer Masterclass - Sub Focus, October 2020
Has said they use
Roland
Juno-60“I picked this up a while back.”
Said in MusicRadar (Future Music): In pictures: Sub Focus's studio, December 2013
Seen using
Roland
D-50Seen in MusicRadar (Computer Music): Producer Masterclass - Sub Focus, October 2020
Has said they use
E-mu
Emulator II“The strings on ‘Fine Day’ are all from an 80’s sampler called an Emulator II”
Said in UKF: Sub Focus talks Evolve, May 2023
No store page for this one.
Has said they use
Spirit
Absolute Zero“These are my ‘normal’ monitors and are really old and cheap and I’ve just got really used to them.”
Said in MusicRadar (Future Music): In pictures: Sub Focus's studio, December 2013
No store page for this one.
Has said they use
Mackie
HR824“They’re a lot more bassy with a more clubby sound than my regular monitors.”
Said in MusicRadar (Future Music): In pictures: Sub Focus's studio, December 2013
Has said they use
Mackie
Big Knob“For keeping everything together.”
Said in MusicRadar (Future Music): In pictures: Sub Focus's studio, December 2013
Has said they use
Technics
SL-1200 turntable“Just for sampling old vinyl.”
Said in MusicRadar (Future Music): In pictures: Sub Focus's studio, December 2013
Modular
Has said they use
Intellijel
Metropolis“I used the Intellijel Metropolis sequencer, which allows you to reverse or randomise the steps”
Said in MusicRadar (Future Music): Sub Focus and Wilkinson on Portals, August 2020
No store page for this one.
Has said they use
Intellijel
Atlantis“The main things I used on Just Hold On were the Intellijel Metropolis, which I used as a sequencer going into the Intellijel Atlantis synth - an SH-101 clone.”
Said in MusicRadar (Future Music): Sub Focus and Wilkinson on Portals, August 2020
No store page for this one.
Intellijel
uScale
Has said they use
Intellijel
uScale“The Intellijell Metropolis, Atlantis and uScale modules were the central elements to the patch used on the lead to Just Hold On.”
Said in MusicRadar (Future Music): Sub Focus and Wilkinson on Portals, August 2020
No store page for this one.
Has said they use
Mutable Instruments
Rings“We also used the physical modelling synth module Rings from Mutable Instruments on the track Alone.”
Said in MusicRadar (Future Music): Sub Focus and Wilkinson on Portals, August 2020
No store page for this one.
Has said they use
Make Noise
Morphagene“I use the Make Noise Morphagene a little too, which is a granular sampler.”
Said in MusicRadar (Future Music): Sub Focus and Wilkinson on Portals, August 2020
Recording
Has said they use
Universal Audio
Arrow“When I do remote sessions outside the studio, this comes along with me.”
Said in MusicRadar (Future Music): Sub Focus and Wilkinson on Portals, August 2020
No store page for this one.
Has said they use
Neumann
U 87 Ai“We used the KU-10 binaural head mic while recording cello and u87/u47s on all the vocal recordings.”
Said in MusicRadar (Future Music): Sub Focus and Wilkinson on Portals, August 2020
Has said they use
Neumann
KU 100“We used the KU-10 binaural head mic while recording cello and u87/u47s on all the vocal recordings.”
Said in MusicRadar (Future Music): Sub Focus and Wilkinson on Portals, August 2020
Has said they use
Shure
SM58“we then found that the original recording on just a handheld SM58 was way better”
Said in UKF: Sub Focus talks Evolve, May 2023
Has said they use
“Bass guitar is my first instrument; it was fun to pick this up at RW.”
Said in MusicRadar (Future Music): Sub Focus and Wilkinson on Portals, August 2020
Stage
M-Audio
Axiom 25
Has said they use
M-Audio
Axiom 25“I’ve got my M-Audio Axiom keyboard and two iPads running bespoke patches for Lemur.”
Said in MusicRadar (Future Music): In pictures: Sub Focus's studio, December 2013
No store page for this one.
Liine
Lemur
Has said they use
Liine
Lemur“It just means I don't have to switch between the two bespoke templates for the Liine Lemur app that I had made by Liine for me.”
Said in AskAudio: Interview: Sub Focus on Production, iPad for Live Performance, and Tidal Wave, November 2012
No store page for this one.
Has said they use
Akai Professional
APC20“I still use an APC-20 for navigating my Ableton project, controlling effects and a few other things in Ableton.”
Said in AskAudio: Interview: Sub Focus on Production, iPad for Live Performance, and Tidal Wave, November 2012
Has said they use
Apple
iPad“I'm using two iPads so I don't have to switch between different software on each one.”
Said in AskAudio: Interview: Sub Focus on Production, iPad for Live Performance, and Tidal Wave, November 2012
Tour bag
Has said they use
Apple
MacBook Pro“I need my MacBook Pro and iPad in order to manage all music for my DJ sets and download files easily.”
Said in AskAudio: Interview: Sub Focus on Production, iPad for Live Performance, and Tidal Wave, November 2012
DJ booth
Has said they use
AlphaTheta
rekordbox“I use this laptop for working up my DJ sets in Pioneer rekordbox.”
Said in MusicRadar (Future Music): In pictures: Sub Focus's studio, December 2013
Daily rituals
GCE
Vectrex
Has said they use
GCE
Vectrex“A lot of the first branding for Circular Sound was all done on this old video game console called a Vectrex.”
Said in UKF: Sub Focus talks Evolve, May 2023
No store page for this one.
Records that shaped me
Has said they love
Good Looking Records
Logical Progression (LTJ Bukem)“Perhaps the real drum ‘n’ bass catalyst, though, was buying the first Logical Progression CD around 1996, put together by LTJ Bukem.”
Said in MusicRadar (Computer Music): Producer Masterclass - Sub Focus, October 2020
No store page for this one.
Questions
About Sub Focus's gear.
What DAW does Sub Focus use?
Sub Focus has said they use Ableton Live, moving it into the studio after using it for live shows from 2010. Before that they said they made records in Cubase, and they have said they use the WaveLab spectrum analyser as a visual reference.
What plugins does Sub Focus use?
Sub Focus has said they use Serum, Massive, Massive X, Sylenth1, Omnisphere and Nexus as main soft synths, plus Valhalla Shimmer, Xfer LFO Tool, PaulStretch, dBlue Glitch, Kontakt and iZotope Ozone.
What synth does Sub Focus use?
Sub Focus has said they use an Intellijel Eurorack modular built around the Metropolis sequencer and Atlantis voice, a Roland Juno-60 and an E-mu Emulator II sampler, and was seen using a Roland D-50 in the studio in 2020.
What studio monitors does Sub Focus use?
In 2013 Sub Focus said they use old Spirit Absolute Zero monitors set very close to their head as the main pair, with Mackie HR824 monitors as a bassier second pair for reference.
What audio interface does Sub Focus use?
Sub Focus has said they use a Universal Audio Arrow interface, which comes along for remote sessions outside the studio.
What MIDI keyboard does Sub Focus use?
Sub Focus has said they use an M-Audio Axiom 25 keyboard with two iPads running custom Lemur patches in the live setup, plus an Akai APC20 for navigating Ableton.
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Sub Focus
About this guide · Last checked
Sub Focus is London drum and bass producer and DJ Nick Douwma, known for tracks like Tidal Wave, Desire and Air I Breathe. This guide covers the DAWs, soft synths, modular, monitors and live controllers named in Sub Focus studio interviews from 2012 to 2023.
truerecs put this guide together from public videos, interviews and posts. Each item says how we know and links to the source. Sub Focus didn't write it or choose anything on it. How we source gear guides.
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