Who are you, and what do you do? What do you like to do outside of work?

My name is Darius Moldovan, and I’m a full-time media composer. I produce music for Hollywood films and AAA video game trailers. I’ve worked on campaigns such as Top Gun: Maverick, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, AIR, Loki, various Call of Duty games, and many others. I am currently working in-house exclusively for SPM Music Group.

Outside of work, I like to spend time with my wife and five kids. I also enjoy playing COD with friends and investing more time into my skills: learning instruments, keeping up to date with tech, creating custom workflow solutions, or whatever other rabbit hole I get lost in at the time.

What hardware do you use?

The main components of my studio consist of a fully spec’d out M2 Ultra Mac Studio and a networked NUC 13 Extreme, which helps carry some of the workload and control the customised Wacom Cintiq Pro 27” touchscreen which also controls Cubase on the Mac. My audio interfaces consist of a Lynx Hilo and UAD Apollo x6. The audio is sent to my Drawmer MC3.1 monitor controller, which feeds my Focal Trio 11BEs and Avantone Mixcubes. My main keyboard controller is a Roland RD-2000. I also use a Roli Seaboard Rise, and an Expressive E Touché controller for organic, expressive instrument programming. All of this sits on a custom-made desk I designed, which is skinned in real carbon fibre.

I also have several bass guitars that I love. The ones pictured here are a Dingwall NG-3, an MG Bass Desert custom,a Cort C6 (de-fretted) an Ibanez BTB806SC, and the most recent: the custom Fingybass. It is a travel bass that is a 22” short scale, six-string fretless that I helped design. Especially for use practicing in bed while enjoying some Netflix with my wife.

I only have six-string basses currently.

And what software?

My main work application is Cubase, which I have a strong love/hate relationship with. I also have a vast array of third-party instruments and plugins from companies like FabFilter, Soundtoys, Kilohearts, Universal Audio, Sonible, Audio Imperia, Heavyocity, and many more.

What’s your keyboard setup like? Do you use a custom layout or custom keycaps?

I’m currently using a ZSA Moonlander with customized keycaps and layouts. I have spent numerous hours perfecting and adjusting the custom layout for Cubase—copying the muscle memory I developed with a previous controller that I spent well over 10,000 hours developing.

Integrating it all on the Moonlander has been awesome because my left hand stays on the keyboard for the vast majority of the time I work. The only time it moves is when I use my customised touch screen or Stream Decks. Being able to switch from a custom app-specific layout to keyboard typing at the touch of a button was a game changer for me. I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface with the potential of this setup.

What would be your dream setup?

I have pretty much built my dream setup. If I were to go to the next level, a bigger, purpose-built room would be nice with an Atmos 7.1.4 system, which is not necessary for my work, but would fun to have.