Skrillex Secret Weapons: Top 10 VST Plugins He Actually Uses

Curious about the VST plugin that shaped Skrillex’s signature sound in hits like “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites,” “Bangarang,” and “Rumble”? This article highlights the top 10 plugins he has used in his music.

From Grammy to headlining the world’s biggest festivals. Skrillex’s name is consistently at the top in the DJ industry, particularly in terms of music production style and sound. Sonny Moore was born in 1988 and grew up in northern Los Angeles and California. His music career began as a lead vocalist in the band “From First to Last“. Then in 2008, he started experimenting with electronic music, that’s when the name “Skrillex” was born, and everything changed. He released tracks on Myspace for free and caught the attention of the underground EDM community. His breakthrough track, “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites,” solidified Skrillex’s status as a leading figure in dubstep music.

Afterwards, we all know how he collaborated with so many popular artists and won six Grammys. These days, his collaboration with Fred Again and Four Tet, as well as the release of three amazing albums in three years, is inspiring. This year, Sonny announced he reestablished Owsla, his record label from which artists such as Zedd, Porter Robinson, and What So Not emerged as popular names in the EDM industry.

This time, the intention is the same: to support young and upcoming talent. This is one of the most precious chances for aspiring producers to get signed to this legendary record label. Not only this, but musicians who produce different genres can also take inspiration from Skrillex’s sound. So, in this article, we compiled the top 10 list of VST plugins used by Skriilex from all the relevant sources. Also, if you are a beginner, we have some free alternatives as well at the end of this article. Let’s dive in.

Here is the list of plugins used by Skrillex in his tracks:

1. Native Instruments – Massive Synth
2. Waves – CLA Vocals
3. Xfer – Serum
4. ReFX – Nexus
5. FabFilter – Pro-L 2 Limiter
6. Stock Ableton Plugins
7. Valhalla – Shimmer
8. kiloHearts – Phase Plant
9. Soundtoys – Little Alterboy
10. Wide Blue Sound – Elysium

1. Native Instruments – Massive Synth:

The Legendary plugin by Native Instruments is none other than Massive. It is one of the most popular plugins among producers from legends such as Martin Garrix, Deadmau5 and Skrillex. In an old video of Skrillex, he makes sounds from Ableton and NI Massive. Also, in an interview in 2011, He said his two favourite plugins are FM8 and The Massive. Skrillex used the glitchy patches from Massive, which are powerful and experimental at the same time. Massive was released in 2006 and quickly became the ideal choice for many producers.

Massive’s interface, which shows modulation routing visually, made it accessible even to those who are beginners to wavetable synth or even music production. Skrillex exploited this to its full potential by automating, layering and movements in his sound. In recent years, Native Instruments introduced Massive X, which is the successor of Massive. It offers an all-new sound engine that is modular, a very powerful plugin. Even when I started my music journey, Massive was one of the first plugins that I learned with, and you can too. Check out the video below to learn more about NI Massive.

2. Waves – CLA Vocals:

CLA Vocals is a Multi-effects plugin optimized for Vocal processing, developed by Waves in collaboration with Grammy-winning mix engineer Chris Lord-Alge. This plugin has a notable legacy and is used by many popular artists around the world. It gained popularity among producers, including Skrillex, who rely on tightly sculpted, high-impact vocals in complex electronic arrangements.

Technically, the plugin features six effects: bass, Treble, compression, reverb, delay, and pitch modulation. These effects are processed in parallel within the plugin and allowing for real-time adjustments without the need for a full chain of separate plugins. Skrillex uses vocals in almost all of his tracks, and to make the vocals sound clear, bold, and dynamically controlled, he uses CLA vocals. In a Reddit post, he said “¨Im using lots of stuff! Depends on the sound, song… There’s no right way. But WAVs CLA vocal is nice to throw on to get that pop sound”.

3. Xfer – Serum:

When we think of a wavetable synth that defined an era, Xfer Serum immediately comes to mind. Launched in 2014 by Steve Duda, Serum quickly became a cornerstone in electronic music production. It’s real-time wavetable manipulation, drag and drop modulation routing and visual feedback help users to design complex sounds effortlessly. When we talk about Skrillex, he is known for his growling sounds that we see in his livestream, here. Not only the growls and experimental sounds, but also the soothing pads, deep bass and lead can be designed in this plugin.

In 2025, after 11 years, Steve Duda and  Dave Gamble finally launched Serum 2, making it even more powerful and arguably the most feature-rich synth plugin. It now includes three oscillators supporting wavetable, sample, granular and spectral synthesis. The updated version has a powerful modulation system with expanded LFO, an arpeggiator, and a clip sequencer. Serum is one of the most versatile plugins you can have, no matter what genre you produce. It can make any tracks sound unique and powerful.

4. reFX – Nexus:

We all saw the music video of Skrillex’s Ableton project for the Fuji opener, and one detail that stood out to producers everywhere was the use of Nexus. Nexus is considered to be one of the most powerful synths by producers. Its vast library and presets across genres like EDM, Trance, Hip hop and cinematic are used by many big names in the industry, including Martin Garrix, Avicii, David Guetta and Skrillex. Nexus has evolved over time, and now we have the Nexus 5, which offers 5300 factory presets for almost every genre. You can also control parameters such as modulation matrix, Advanced arpegggiator and FX routing like reverb, flanger, phaser and Delay. So, if you want to add a blend of powerful sounds to your track, this is the only plugin you can use to make everything.

5. FabFilter – Pro-L 2 Limiter:

The Limiter is the most crucial component of mastering, and Fab Filter Pro L2 is not only one of the most trusted plugins among mastering engineers but also a key part of Skrillex’s processing chain. In the music video of “Mumbai Power” as well as in live streams, and even discussions on Reddit, you can observe that Pro L2 plays an important role in his tracks to obtain the loudness. Specifically in the video of the track Mumbai Power, Skrillex has been using Pro L2 on his master channel and even on buses, particularly to preserve transient energy while maximising the loudness without distortion. Pro L2 isn’t just a clear limiter, it’s a creative tool when dialled in right.

Additionally, Fab filter Pro L2 offers some awesome features such as true peak limiting, LUFS and RMS with 32x oversampling and more. If you are a beginner looking for a limiter, congrats, you’ve now found the best option available in the market. So don’t think, just buy it and make your track sound loud.

6. Stock Ableton Plugins:

As we all know that Skrillex uses Ableton as his primary DAW, while third-party plugins often grab attention, some of the most iconic records, even from Skrillex, were made using Ableton’s native tools. In the music videos, live streams, you can spot Ableton’s EQ Eight, Saturator, and Glue Compressor in his project. Ableton is just released the latest Live update, 12.2, on June 11, 2025. With the release of this new update, tools get even more powerful alongside all-new creative features such as Bounce to new track, Auto Filter overhaul, expressive chords and more.

Skrillex’s workflow, often dubbed “minimal yet meticulous,” proves that it’s not about the plugin count; it’s about clarity. If you’re a beginner and have a very tight budget, Ableton has substitutes for almost every plugin, including Serum, which is the wavetable. Additionally, there are a lot of features you can explore in Live 12 without spending too much on a lot of fancy plugins.

7. Valhalla – Shimmer:

Valhalla Shimmer is an atmospheric reverb designed by Valhalla DSP and is one of the best tools that you can use for transforming simple sound into a vast, evolving texture. Not only Skrillex but this amazing plugin is also used by many renowned artists such as Fred Again and even Deadmau5. Unlike other reverb plugins, Shimmer offers 4 Reverb Modes:  Mono / Small, Stereo / Medium, Stereo / Big Stereo and 5 Pitch Shift Modes, including Single, Dual, Single Reverse, Dual Reverse and Bypass mode. This plugin stands out for its CPU efficiency and easy-to-use interface. So, whether you make dubstep, cinematic or even melodic house. This plugin is a must-have in 2025.

8. kiloHearts – Phase Plant:

Phase Plant is one of the most underrated plugins available. It isn’t just another soft synth; it’s a modular synthesis ecosystem built to create experimental and powerful sounds. It combines subtractive, wavetable, granular and sample-based synths into one interface. Phase plant’s open modular architecture gives you the freedom to design anything from compact synths to complex evolving patches.

The real-time magic happens when you use modules like Disperser, Multipass, and transient shaper all in one place. In Skrillex’s production, you might have noticed the tonal controls, dynamic movements and glitches that make anyone want to dance. That’s what Phase Plant is all about. It is one of my favourite plugins, especially the factory presets from some of the most highly-regarded sound designers. You can experiment endlessly in this plugin with the lowest possible CPU load. Additionally, kilohearts offers updates for free. They said, “We won’t charge you a penny for new versions, and we will continue to improve all our software with new features”.

9. Soundtoys – Little Alterboy:

Little AlterBoy by SoundToys is another one of the most recognisable vocal processing plugins in the current music production scene. This is an easy to use plugin with just three knobs including Formant shifting, Pitch modulation and robotic hard tuning. With it, you can manipulate any voice from deep, low-register tones to chipmunk-like high pitches. It is no surprise that Skrillex is using this amazing plugin for vocal flips and FX layers. In a live stream of Heavy Mellow Skrillex is seen using the Soundtoys Little Alterboy, the most stunning feature of this plugin is its precision and detailed tuning. Its MIDI control capability also makes it perfect for live manipulation and pitch-controlled harmonics, turning the plugin into playable instruments. You can experiment a lot with this tool.

10. Wide Blue Sound – Elysium:

Elysium by Wide Blue Sound is an advanced motion synth that blends modern synth with organic instruments to create rich as well as evolving textures. This plugin is a must-have for producers who like to make cinematic scoring, ambient and electronica. Skrillex, on the other hand skrillex is a dubstep producer, so where he uses this plugin, Confusing right?, But take a pause and remember the intros of his tracks, such as “Way Back” (with PinkPantheress & Trippie Redd), “Summit” (feat. Ellie Goulding) and even “Don’t Get Too Close” (with Bibi Bourelly) all these tracks have an ambient intros which might be made using some of the sounds from Elysium. With over 300 sound sources and a fast, user-friendly interface, Elysium is one of the best tools for creating atmospheric breakdowns as well as melodic buildup.

Plugin List:

Here are some of the best free substitution plugins for beginners:

1. Vital Wavetable Synth
2. Kilohearts Essentials bundle
3. Camel Crusher
   

Read more gear and plugins used by Skrillex here

P.S. We are starting a series to explore the plugins and gear used by electronic music producers. Please suggest your favourite artist below that you want us to write about for the next article. Peace!