The new software instrument splits a bass sound into sub, harmonics and texture stages, then runs it through a dedicated processing chain for 808s, Reeses and hard bass.
Arturia has released Pure SUB, a software instrument built for one job: designing bass. Rather than treating low end as one output among many, Pure SUB breaks a bass sound into three stages – Sub, Harmonics and Texture – each with its own controls, then runs the result through a bass-focused processing chain.
Pure SUB at a glance
- Three-stage bass design – Sub, Harmonics and Texture, each shaped on its own
- Sub Regen keeps the fundamental clean and stable through heavy processing
- Sub Processor with 33 modes, more than 40 filter modes and an FX rack of 18 effects across 12 slots
- Maximiser with a Hard clipping mode for loudness, pump and grit
- Three envelopes plus a dedicated pitch envelope, and six modulator slots, with MPE support
- 300 presets covering 808s, Reeses, wobbles and distorted growls
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Building the core
The Sub stage shapes the fundamental on its own, with independent control over its level, phase and pitch. Because heavy filtering and effects can knock the low end around, a Sub Regen function restores a clean, stable fundamental anywhere in the chain, so you can process hard without losing weight.
Harmonics builds the body of the tone, switching between Pressure and Reese modes and running from clean 808s to evolving, stereo-wide shapes. Texture rounds out the core with Noise or Corroder modes, bringing in ring modulation, AM or distortion, or key-tracked white noise and simple waveforms for grit and presence. That noise layer also has a practical use, making a sub audible on small speakers where the lowest frequencies tend to vanish.
Processing and movement
The Sub Processor reshapes the harmonic profile through 33 modes of distortion and texture, backed by more than 40 filter modes and an FX rack holding 18 effects across 12 slots. A Maximiser adds loudness and pump at the output, with a Hard mode that brings in clipping grit.
Three envelopes plus a dedicated pitch envelope cover punchy transients and gliding 808 slides, while six modulator slots take envelopes, functions, random sources, a voice modulator or a step sequencer. Modulators drag and drop onto any parameter, and can be routed onto each other’s amounts, so a single macro fires several modulations at once. Pure SUB supports MPE too, for players after per-note expression.
Pure SUB ships with 300 presets spanning clean subs, gliding 808s, rolling Reeses, wobbles and distorted growls, made for dubstep, drum and bass, club and other bass-led styles.
Learn more here.
