Die Kunst
des Sounddesigns
Pure SUB brings together 300 production-ready presets built to be played, processed and pulled apart.
To represent the breadth of modern bass design, we worked with producers, artists and sound designers grounded in club music, electronic production and experimental synthesis.
Each contributor brought a distinct approach to weight, movement and impact, creating sounds that span disciplined low-end pressure, evolving modulation and confrontational distortion.
Joe Sheldrick
"What makes Pure SUB special is how fast and easy it is to make a complex, track ready modern bass sound. And then you can quickly duplicate your sound, randomize a few parameters using the Dice buttons and the results are unlimited variations within seconds. It lets you get on with finishing your track, rather than slow down your inspiration and workflow like more complex synths can do. I would sometimes have a type of sound in mind, but either way I will also take advantage of the Dice and randomize the waveforms or sub processor to see what sound I get. But even without randomizing, it is always such a quick process to get a big and sometimes complex sound within minutes."
Henry Hoover
I love how filthy this sound is. It demonstrates how powerful Pure SUB is. I like to use the mod wheel to high pass the sound and sometimes add extra delay or reverb. And I used that modulation here which allows for great performance for build ups or fills.
Joe Sheldrick
I am a sound designer and composer with a wide variety of experience in these worlds spread over 20 years. I started out as a club DJ/producer and I then got into sample pack and preset creation. I later progressed into the sonic branding world where I initially worked for electric vehicle startup Arrival, then later as a freelancer. In 2024 I joined the Arturia sound design team where I have been working on the Augmented Series amongst other projects. I love scoring music to visuals and I am a synth and music tech enthusiast.
Amoss
"What I really enjoyed about Pure SUB is how quickly I could create new sounds. There are loads of great wavetables to choose from, giving you a huge range of tones, and being able to quickly assign LFOs to create movement is perfect for my workflow. I also really enjoyed the sub processor, it not only speeds up the process, but it's randomisation feature is a great way to quickly audition different variations and make creative decisions faster. My standard approach is to create a solid foundation for a sound, getting the sub, harmonic content and balance right is key to the processing that follows. I wanted to showcase the different styles found in my own music, from clean, controlled wobble subs to blown-out Reese basses. This synth can do it all."
Bounce
Bounce is a really fun preset to play around with, offering plenty of dynamic and tonal control. You can move from soft, rounded harmonics to noisy, blown-out drive. I used the Blended Saw waveform and modulated it with a triangle LFO, while the noise is controlled by a second LFO at a different rate and shape. When played together, these create a polyrhythm that introduces exciting, unpredictable moments, keeping the patch feeling organic and generative.
Amoss
Amoss
Amoss is a Bristol-based drum & bass producer known for his dark, rolling sound and forward-thinking approach. Blending cutting-edge sound design with the foundations of the genre, his music has been released on labels including Critical Music, Symmetry, V Recordings, Flexout Audio and Sofa Sound. As a DJ, he has performed internationally across the US, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and throughout the UK and Europe, delivering sets that balance cutting-edge sounds with a deep respect for drum & bass roots.
mleuc
"The key-tracking features are always lovely in a sub oriented patch. It's often hard to nail the harmonics right on all notes and having only keytracked or static stuff is a bit annoying, having both here makes it quite easy to tune stuff fast. that combined with carefully shaped lfo can go a long way. I always try to lean into what's best for the synth or feels interesting to me as far as raw sound, then I try and shape that into something I'd use myself - something with really clear motion and timbre. Solid but with quite a good dose of details either about the texture or micro motions in harmonics."
Metal Muncher
Metal Muncher is not very sub bass coded, but I found it the coolest I made. It has quite a deep formant which I always love but also lovely glossy details on the rest of the spectrum with an aggressive yet silky sound to it. The main concept behind it is stacking reverbs on a rich sound to get the good resonances that doesn't even sound like reverbs anymore, accentuated by fine-tuned filters motions.
mleuc
Sound designer for the most part, music producer for my own enjoyment the rest of time. Electronic music gradually led me to specialize in exploring all types of synthesised sounds for what they have to offer, then trying to fuse them together to express various vibes and aesthetics better.
Martin Rabiller
"Pure SUB is the business. I love its simplicity, fun factor, and the wide palette of bass tones it can produce. Harmonics profiles and artist processing chains, combined with the randomization feature, make it ideal for quick variation and ideation. The Texture engine's different modes are just as strong, delivering nasty, crunchy textures in seconds without having to tune a dozen knobs. My approach was pretty exploratory, I wasn't chasing one specific genre or sound, more seeing what the engine could do across a bunch of different styles. Most of my presets started from the Sub processor presets as a base, and from there I'd often go back and tweak the harmonics slightly, even after heavy processing, just to find interesting variations. I also leaned a lot on functions to create movement and keep things alive rather than static."
Istreya
My favorite preset has to be Istreya, shoutout to that futuristic, young color bass sound. It uses a Chord harmonic profile, which immediately gives it this color bass tone. The Sub processor makes it dirty and fat, while the sharp amplitude modulation gives it a razor sharp wobbly groove. A reverb filter at the end of the processing chain pushes it even further into color bass territory.
Martin Rabiller
I have been an electronic music producer and sound craftsman for more than a decade. Under various aliases, including my main identity 'Narumik', I’ve released banging records on labels like Feel Free Records, The Funky Cat, and Bebert Brothers. My work also includes video game soundtracks and presets for modern synthesizers like Pigments. My sounds blend modern edgy textures, unconventional vibes, and hard-hitting harmonics.
Christian Laffitte
"For me, the main strengths of this instrument are definitely the processing power and the quality of the effects, especially the distortion, drive, and multiband compression. The interface is super intuitive, and the modulation options with the envelopes give you absolute freedom to shape your sound. What really surprised me was the maximizer module with its hard and soft modes. The threshold controls let you dial in some serious aggressiveness, clarity, and punch. It’s pretty incredible how hard you can push the signal while keeping that massive dynamic range without crushing the sound. It’s just awesome to work with. When it comes to my approach to sound design, I was specifically focusing on trap. So, naturally, I built everything around heavy sub-bass—like 808-style sounds—along with Reese basses to really enrich the genre's texture. In my daily work, I regularly design trap sound packs for major platforms like Splice, Loopmasters, and Novation’s Launchpad, which makes this instrument an absolute game-changer for me. My goal was to craft sounds that translate effortlessly into high-energy production environments. Trap relies heavily on that raw, chest-rattling low-end, but keeping it clean without sacrificing grit is always a challenge. That’s where the power of this synth truly shines. The modulation engine and envelope controls give me total freedom to shape transient attacks and tailor long, booming tails."
Voltage Rupture
Voltage Rupture is a bass reese style preset designed for high expressivity and maximum dynamic range. Its structure allows for advanced sonic progressions and precise customization using macros. The quality of the distortion, drive, and multiband compression effects lets you sculpt a really aggressive sound with tons of expressivity—one that instantly meets the demands of drum and bass and similar genres.
Christian Laffitte
Osprey
"The dedicated sub engine is incredible, but the pre-distortion tone shaping truly surprised me. The LoFi and Rage filters became immediate favorites for generating unexpected, character-rich results. Another major strength is the per-FX sub isolation: being able to keep a tight, centered low-end while injecting wide stereo information into the upper harmonics is an absolute game-changer for modern bass design. My goal was to craft punchy, versatile basses with distinct personalities. My method relied on pre-distortion tone shaping to sculpt the sound before driving the saturation. I systematically leveraged the sub isolation controls to preserve a rock-solid, clean sub foundation, while pushing the mid and high harmonics with aggressive filtering and stereo width to ensure every preset cuts through any mix seamlessly."
Automation Reese
My favorite preset I've designed is the Automaton Reese, and what I love most about it is the incredible level of versatility it offers right out of the box. The preset gives you deep, intuitive control over tonality, waveform shaping, and movement speed. Making it effortless to craft evolving variations and modulations that keep the sound alive throughout an entire track. This makes it incredibly easy to craft a wide range of textures from a single starting point.
Osprey
Osprey is a Belgian Drum & Bass producer and DJ known for his deep, forward-thinking sound and his powerful, emotional tracks, released on respected labels such as Flexout Audio, Stellar Audio and Delta9 Recordings. His independent release series and standout performances at venues including Le Bikini in Toulouse, Liège and Brussels have cemented his reputation in the underground scene. Constantly pushing boundaries while keeping a high standard of quality, Osprey is a rising name to watch in bass music.
Trail
"I really like the interface and the original design of the Engine section, which offers a very instinctive and creative approach to sound design. Pure SUB encourages experimentation and makes it easy to stumbleupon happy accidents, thanks to an architecture that feels both simple and flexible. I approached the sound design by creating bass sounds I could genuinely use in my own productions. I applied techniques I use daily with other synths, translating them to Pure SUB while staying open to unexpected results. I focused on textures I liked from the Engine module, shaping them with distortion and filters to create sounds that felt true to my style."
Trust No One
This preset is a growling bass made with some Morph movements and filter envelopes, coupled with a touch of distortion. It's kind of a vocal/organic textured bass, shaped for bass music and beyond. I really like how the harmonics give different results depending on the pitch of the note. On higher notes, it's screaming, while the lower you play, the darker and grittier it becomes.
Trail
Trail is a bass music producer and DJ from Toulouse, France. Blending soulful, vintage-inspired melodies with raw, industrial dancefloor energy, his sound moves fluidly between drum & bass and gritty 140 BPM styles. With support from BBC Radio 1, Rinse FM, and UKF, Trail has gained international recognition through standout solo EPs on Alix Perez's imprint 1985 music, including collaborations with labelmates Monty and Visages. His DJ sets reflect this sonic duality, offering high-impact journeys through dark textures and airy, melancholic atmospheres. Trail is part of a new generation pushing the boundaries of bass music from the heart of Toulouse’s thriving scene.
Undulae
"The main strength of the instrument to me is the ability to swap out Sub Processor presets on the fly. It's like halfway between preset surfing and intentional sound design. You can be intentional with the oscillators, filters, and modulation, but then changing the Sub Processor can open up tons of possibilities you weren't necessarily planning on when originally designing the patch. My sound design approach usually involved exploring the interplay between the wavetables and the Sub Processor effect chains. The stock wavetables are extremely robust and well-rounded, as are the Sub Processor chains. As a result, there are tons of sweet spots to be discovered by throwing together different combinations of the two. "
Steady Acid Pulsar
I like this preset because it shows off the rich texture possibilities of the sub processor. You can start with a relatively simple patch with a bit of motion, and the sub processor will really bring it to life.
Undulae
Undulae is the bass music project of Brendan Rincon, a lifelong electronic musician currently based in Denver, Colorado. He is a sought-after educator for both newcomers and established artists alike, known for sharing deep sound design and production techniques on social media. With years of experience making music in a wide range of niches and styles, he weaves together sonic journeys of original music, equal parts influenced by experimental bass music, cinematic film scores, and leftfield IDM.
Mr Bill
"It's main strength actually might be what it leaves out, it just whittles the main elements of bass design down into a nice, simple format - which is in a way a strength in terms of it's UX (there's less to be bogged down with when making a bass sound), you get from idea to usable bass sound quite quickly, so perhaps that is worth more in certain cases than extra features. There are about 20-30 bass sounds I seem to be able to make in most tools, and so I treat those as the standard for "Can this synth do these standard bass sounds I always seem to need?", and it definitely passed with flying colors, you can certainly make all the main basses with this tool."
Get Smarted
I like sequences, I find them fun to resample, and usually more inspiring than single sounds. This is especially when you get modulators involved, because the modulation can be embedded more tightly into the sound, which has a specific quality to it I find hard to get any other way.
Mr Bill
I’m Bill, known as Mr. Bill in the electronic music world. Over 15 years I’ve built a career producing albums, EPs, collaborations, sound design tools, and education via tutorials and a podcast.