Arturia Pigments 7: Virtual Riot’s Bass-Forward Sound Design Playground

Virtual Riot opens the session by tracing his journey from classical piano beginnings in Germany to his current status as a US-based DJ and producer. He emphasizes how his exposure to both musicality and technical sound design has shaped his distinctive approach to dubstep and bass music. The influence of live performance is front and center: seeing what energizes a crowd directly informs his production decisions, blending the worlds of songwriting and engineering.

Arturia’s legacy in analog emulation and hybrid instrument design gets a nod, with Virtual Riot recalling his early experiences with their Minimoog plugin. He highlights the appeal of combining analog warmth and sampled acoustic elements—like those found in Arturia’s augmented instruments—with the cutting-edge synthesis tools that Pigments 7 brings to the table. This sets the stage for a workflow that values both expressive playability and technical depth.

A recurring theme in Virtual Riot’s workflow is the use of random modulation to inject subtle, analog-style imperfections into digital sounds. He walks through setting up random modulators in Pigments 7—switching them to freeze mode so each new note receives a unique value—and routing them to parameters like oscillator fine-tune, filter pan, and even glide time. This approach simulates the slight detuning and drift you’d expect from classic analog polysynths, but with far greater control and flexibility.

The practical impact is immediate: even simple saw waves gain a sense of movement and depth, while more complex patches become unpredictable in musically useful ways. Virtual Riot extends this technique to the modal oscillator, randomizing overtone levels for a more realistic, acoustic feel. This philosophy of controlled chaos is central to his dubstep sound design, where liveliness and variation are prized over sterile repetition.

He also reflects on the creative process itself, drawing parallels between building domino chains as a child and constructing musical sequences in a DAW. The message is clear: playfulness and experimentation are not just side effects, but essential drivers of innovation in electronic music production.

The final segment shifts from solo sound design to the collaborative dynamic between Virtual Riot and VJ Nuray. Their workflow is a real-time exchange, with music and visuals evolving together to maximize the impact of live shows. Decisions about sonic details—like when to add a laser-friendly moment or tweak an intro for visual emphasis—are made in tandem, underscoring the importance of cross-disciplinary feedback.

This partnership highlights how modern performance setups increasingly blur the lines between audio and visual artistry. Pigments 7’s flexibility supports this by enabling rapid iteration and adaptation, whether for a festival mainstage or a more intimate club context. The result is an immersive experience where every element, from bass drop to light show, is tuned for maximum audience engagement.