I get asked about my setup more than almost anything else. What DAW do you use? What plugins? What headphones? So rather than answering the same questions one at a time, here is a full rundown of what I am using in 2026 and how it all fits together.

Before I start, a disclaimer: your setup does not make your music. I made tracks on far worse equipment than what I have now, and some of those earlier productions had ideas in them that better gear would not have improved. That said, good tools do make the process smoother and more enjoyable. They remove friction so you can focus on the creative part.

DAWs: FL Studio, Ableton Live, and Reason

I run three DAWs, which probably sounds excessive, but each one serves a different purpose in my workflow.

FL Studio is where I started back in 2012 after moving from Reason. I still use it for drafting ideas. The piano roll is the best in the business for quickly sketching out melodies and chord progressions. When I have a rough idea bouncing around my head at midnight, FL Studio is where I capture it before it disappears.

Ableton Live became my primary production environment in 2025. The workflow is different from FL Studio in ways that took some adjusting, but the session view and the way Ableton handles audio manipulation made it worth the switch for full production work. It also plays well with Reason racks, which matters for my setup.

Reason Studios is the first DAW I ever used, back in 2006. I do not run it as a standalone anymore, but I load Reason Rack as a plugin inside both FL Studio and Ableton. The instruments and effects in Reason still have a character that I have not found replicated anywhere else. The Europa synth and some of the legacy devices still make appearances in my tracks.

Main VST Plugins

These are the plugins I reach for most often. I have plenty of others installed, but these five cover about 90% of what I need:

Xfer Serum 2 is my go-to synthesiser. I covered this in detail in my Serum 2 review, but the short version is that the wavetable engine combined with the visual feedback makes it the fastest way for me to design sounds from scratch. Most of my leads, pads, and bass sounds start here.

Arturia Pigments is my choice for them great sounds and does really well for warmth and feel good sounds, you can really push the boundaries with this synthesizer. It looks great and modern, and once you get to know how it works its so easy to experiment with.

Kilohearts PhasePlant is another great VST you can sink your teeth into, with a similar modular synthesis to other VSTs but with a different layout, I feel this one you can make sounds truly how you want them.

reFX Nexus fills a different role. Where Serum is about building sounds from the ground up, Nexus is about having production-ready presets that I can drop into a track and tweak slightly. Some producers look down on preset-based synths. I think that is a waste of energy. If a Nexus preset gets me 80% of the way to the sound I hear in my head, I will use it and spend my time on arrangement instead.

Native Instruments Kontakt handles anything sample-based. Orchestral elements, vocal libraries, realistic instruments, and atmospheric textures. When I want a sound that does not feel synthetic, Kontakt is where I go.

Adam Szabo: Viper is an underrated synth that I use for specific types of sounds, particularly sharp Trance-style leads and arpeggiated sequences. It does not get talked about as much as Serum or Massive, but it fills a gap in my toolkit that the bigger names do not cover as well.

Reason Rack Plugin gives me access to all the Reason instruments and effects inside Ableton or FL Studio. Thor, Europa, Subtractor, and the effects processors all have a particular warmth and character. It is like having a modular rack available whenever I want it.

ShaperBox 3 is a must have when you want to compress, add sidechaining along with multiple ways to improve and make changes to your audio making your sounds and music elevate and sound better. You can even take one sound run it through ShaperBox to make a completely new sound out of it. Even if you want to give it rythem or warmth this is possible too. This tool has been in most of my music and would say its a must to get if your looking to get into producing.

This is just a few of my most used though I do have a vast library of VSTs, sounds, samples to achieve what ever ideas comes to mind for the best creativity in that moment.

Notable mentions: Diva, Kickstart 2, Ozone 12, Wider, Neon Glow, UVI Workstation, KSHMR Plugins, Rift, Dada Life Plugins (Endless Smile, Eternal Return, Wide Awake, Space In Your Face)

Mixing and Mastering

I keep my mixing chain fairly straightforward. I use a combination of stock Ableton effects and a few third-party plugins for EQ, compression, and limiting. The philosophy is simple: if it sounds right, it is right. I have learned more from referencing against tracks I admire than from reading about specific plugin settings.

For mastering, I do my own initial passes but I also use Symphonic Distribution's partner services when I want a second set of ears on a release. Getting too close to your own music is a real problem, and sometimes outside perspective catches things you have been listening past for hours.

Hardware

My hardware setup is minimal compared to what some producers run. I produce primarily in the box (meaning software-based rather than hardware synths and outboard gear). What I do have:

  • A decent pair of studio monitors for mixing reference
  • Studio headphones for late-night sessions when monitors would disturb the peace
  • A MIDI keyboard for playing in melodies and chords rather than drawing them in
  • An audio interface for monitoring and recording

I deliberately kept this section vague on specific models because I think too many setup posts turn into shopping lists. The specific brand of your headphones matters less than learning how music sounds on them over time. Familiarity with your monitoring environment beats expensive equipment you have not spent enough hours with.

What I Would Change

No setup is perfect. If I could wave a wand, I would add better acoustic treatment to my room. Room acoustics affect mixing decisions more than most home producers realise, and it is one of those boring investments that pays off in every single track you produce afterwards.

I would also like to get a proper analogue synthesiser at some point. Not because I need one for production purposes but because the tactile experience of turning real knobs and patching cables changes how you approach sound design. There is a physicality to hardware that software does not quite replicate.

But those are wants, not needs. The setup I have now lets me make the music I want to make, and at the end of the day that is the only benchmark that matters.