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Independent research by truerecs. Not affiliated with, endorsed or verified by Virtual Riot.Are you Virtual Riot? Claim this page
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Independent research by truerecs. Not affiliated with, endorsed or verified by Virtual Riot. Every item links to its public source.
16 items · Last checked

What's in Virtual Riot's studio?

Virtual Riot uses Ableton Live, with Serum and Serum 2, Pigments 7 and Massive for sound design, as his own 2025 and 2026 videos show. He mixes with Cableguys ShaperBox for sidechain, Newfangled Saturate as a clipper and FabFilter Pro-MB, and masters with iZotope Ozone.

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What studio gear Virtual Riot uses: a sourced gear guide

Independent research by truerecs: every item links to the public source it comes from.

Live rig

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Studio: synths

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Studio: mixing and mastering

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Questions

About Virtual Riot's gear.

What DAW does Virtual Riot use?

Ableton Live. In his 2025 rig tour he explains that his custom keyboard sends MIDI to his laptop running Ableton, and his Studio Time videos and Ableton rack tutorials are all made in it.

What synths does Virtual Riot use?

Serum is all over his videos, and in 2025 he started posting Serum 2 tutorials and presets. He also uses Massive, Vital, reFX Nexus for pianos and plucks, and Arturia Pigments 7, which he demonstrated for Arturia in 2026.

How does Virtual Riot mix and master?

In his 2025 mixing video he clips drums with Newfangled Saturate, levels the sub with FabFilter Pro-MB and masters with iZotope Ozone 11, mostly the EQ, multiband dynamics and gain match. In 2023 he said he sometimes puts soothe before Ozone.

How does Virtual Riot sidechain?

His 2025 video how I sidechain routes Serum and Massive through a sidechain track and triggers Cableguys ShaperBox from MIDI notes, with a clipper so the kick and snare always come through.

What does Virtual Riot play live?

His Stealing Fire tour rig is a full size glowing keyboard built for him by Moldover, sending MIDI to Ableton on his laptop, which runs into the mixer next to three CDJs, plus a PlayStation controller mapped to MIDI drums.

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Virtual Riot
About this guide · Last checked

Virtual Riot is Valentin Brunn, the German-born dubstep and bass music producer behind Stealing Fire. This guide covers the DAW, synths and mixing plugins he shows in his own Studio Time and production videos and his 2025 live rig tour, plus the track he says inspired one of his arrangements.

truerecs put this guide together from public videos, interviews and posts. Each item says how we know and links to the source. Virtual Riot didn't write it or choose anything on it. How we source gear guides.

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truerecs gear guides are independent research from public sources, not made or approved by the artist. Store buttons on this page may be affiliate links: truerecs may earn a commission when you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. Virtual Riot isn't paid for them. Report an error or ask for removal. Full disclosure.