Aux Keys Rig Rundown with Joshua Zacarius

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Joshua Zacharia from Fort Wayne, Indiana, jumps into The Worship Keys to break down his aux world setup from the gear he trusts to the way he programs and layers sounds. He walks through how he uses stock sounds, MIDI controls, keyboard splits, and why Logic and Ableton both have a place in his workflow. From Omnisphere and Keyscape to Valhalla Reverb, Joshua shares how he builds worship sounds that are clean, creative, and intentional. If you love keys, sound design, and practical tips you can actually use, this one’s for you. Tune in now and let us know what setup tip stood out most.

Joshua Zacarius

Transcript

Speaker: 0:08

Welcome to the Worship Keys YouTube channel. My name is Carson Bruce, so glad you're here. We talk all things music theory, gear, industry and ministry for your worship keys playing. If this episode is beneficial for you or you have any questions as you continue to watch, feel free to comment below and I'd love to hear any feedback that you have along the way. So let's get into today's episode. Hey guys, I'm Joshua Zacarius. Believe it or not, I'm actually 18, and I'm from Fort Wayne, Indiana, as you can see here. This is my aux world. Starting off with the north stage four. Yeah. And then you got the native instruments, the komplete. I think it's the S 61. And then of course you got the JDXA on top. Yeah, this one I'm gonna be using all stock sounds right here, hits and stuff. Uh, some leads. Of course, you know, midi. Um, this one actually too, I'm gonna be using mid off too. To control my sounds. I use a novation launch control, you know, a sign. So like my cutoff, my reverb if I want delay and then. Some, whatever, you know, um, focus, right? Uh, two channels, two channel output, um, you know, not into crazy. So right here I have Ableton, and believe it or not, I know my CPU is up, but I have logic as well. Specs, she, uh. I got C about this MacBook. Oh, uh, 16 Gigabyte Memory, logic and Ableton. So this side is controlling logic, and then this side is controlling Ableton. Um, what I tend to do, so on my Ableton, I have, uh, keys. And then I have like something to stack under my keys. So like a key, so let's say either roads or I use a CP 70, and I got that method from my mentor, uh, Marlon, uh, great keyboardist, great everything. That's actually the person who lend me the template. And then I kind of rearranged everything, his, myself. Um, but yeah, so right here I use like secondary keys. And then he also taught me a trick where. You can split your keyboard. So like, from like right here to like right here, I have like all accent stuff. So like, uh, here let me, here lemme make sure volume up for y'all. Uh, you know, just the accent stuff, you know, uh, and songs. And then, um, I have a, a one pad side, which is like my shimmer and stuff like that. And then I have on the other side called Bright, that's where I have all my like pads, like my heavy pads. And then like in my pads, what's crazy is I can make them, uh, a sequence as se as a sequencer. And then I, I have like a side chain as well to use 'em. Um. And then, uh, right here is like a, you know, from like right here to right here, just like some synth base, but boom. So I got this one method, right, um, under my keys a lot of times like. It feels good during worship and everything, but let's say when you're like, when the moment's kind of like rising up and it's like high, I, I I actually stacked the wing tack piano. But the thing is I took out the piano and I just left like the, the little tacky sound. So for example, oh wait, you, so this is before, this is just to give us that, you know, like that. Like, okay, like we going up. Um, so that's a, that's a thing right there. Um. For plugins, I'm using Omnisphere Keys Scape. vahalla Reverb. Vaha Simmer a boom, VAHA Simmer. Put that on you guys' keys. That one like. It, it's like, how can I say? It's the key to all your problems. Like it hits all the sweet spots, all everything. Like legit. Put it at like what, 15, zero point 15, um, and then bypass it. Uh, mid stereo, um, and depending also on your room and everything, you know. But yeah. And then of course we got Drone City, you know, so right here is where I control my drones And then the cutoff and everything, how warm it gets to, how bright it gets. What drones are you using? Uh, drones Ooh, Leonard. Joan. Leonard. Yep. Leonard, the, the shepherd. Yeah, the shepherd one on multi-tracks. Yep. Y'all should go get it. And then on this side, um, a lot of stuff right here is more like texture kind of stuff, you know? Uh, I have, for example, I have some, oh, some art. Just stuff like that, um, you know, just to like, how can I say, lighting up the mood. Um, and then I also got accents right here. I know y'all seen it over here, but like I have them also over here as well. Um, oh, this one sound I got from Leonard. Shout out to Leonard. So that sound, um, I use it like in a big moment. So let's say if we're doing son of suffering, uh. Praise King Jesus to God. You know, um, I have some lead, some lead stuff. Um, depending on which song we do. I have like a heavy synth, like, just like spot on. Um. Okay. And then let's just say I, I have this one particular sound that I use, depending on a chorus, which artist or which song we play. Um, just let's say if we on a down moment and like everyone is having fun. Oh, you know, just, I used it a lot for joe L. Barnes. And Nate a couple times. What else? I wish they let me, you know, play this out loud, but right now it is, you know, it is nothing. But actually I can show you some presets I use, um, right here. So if you go to, oh, bank, I think, is it m Yeah, M right here. Uh, okay. I'm. The Arabic hit right here. So, uh, bank M number six, Arabic's hit. And then, um, ah, the guy, oh wait, hey, that's filipe martins, bro. That, that's the goat. That's the goat. Hey. Yeah. So yeah, that's basically what I use. And then I have a few lead sounds here. Uh, let me see. Some pat, like yelling pad. I'm trying. Yeah. Pomona. A lot of my videos, like the synth based stuff, I get 'em from this one as well. I, but yeah. This is make your own arrangements, huh? Yeah. I make my own arrangements. I'm a programmer and a producer. Get started. Producers and programmers. Some tips. Um, you all logic. Both. You're doing, you're doing okay. Both right now I'm getting into like Ableton. My good friend Eli and Boho, he was just saying it is much more easy to function on Ableton just 'cause like you can do a lot, like you can legit dissect it. I mean, logic you can too, but like, it's just Ableton has its own thing, you know? And so like, I'm kind of getting used to it, you know, the whole arrangement thing. But for you to get started when it comes to programming, it's really find your sound, you know? Really, a lot of people, they tend to like find, like copy someone or they have an influence. You know what I mean? So it is like, to me, I have an influence. His name is Trill and like I just study off of him. But I basically, whatever I study, I try to make my own sound, you know? Um, but yeah. Have your own sound. No. I can say don't take away from this song. Add to the song, you know, uh, make the song stand out, you know what I mean? Like, don't make it too different, but like, you know what I mean? And then for producers, you always gotta see what the artists want. You know? Always gotta give it to them whatever they want, and try to like, basically take what's in their mind