How It Was Recorded

Moby · Play, 1999

Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?

Sampled gospel vocalSub bassDrum programmingPiano and string padsMixing and sequencingVerified3Reported6

What the sources do and do not say

Single Sound On Sound interview (Tom Flint, February 2000) about this track, read in full. Samples, drum breakbeat and unnamed delay are left out as no unit is identified. The Tape Op page found is about a later album (Wait For Me) and is paywalled, so unused.

Sampled gospel vocal

Sampled 1953 gospel choir recording

Mix effects

Avid Pro Tools

Verified

Moby tried a surface-noise removal filter on the vocal sample, then dropped the result because it took away the sample's character.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

The plugin used on the record

Avid Pro Tools

DAW

The DAW used on the record.

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Yamaha SPX900

Verified

Provided the reverb on the piano and the vocals, which Moby gives as one of the few effects on the track.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Covers this kind of unit

Valhalla DSP ValhallaVintageVerb

reverb

A reverb built on the methods of 1980s digital units like this one, which is the job it did on the record; it is not a model of this unit and does not cover its other effects.

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Sub bass

Moby

Instrument

Roland Juno-106

Reported

Played the simple sub bass line that underpins the track.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Emulation of this unit

Roland Roland Cloud

instrument

Roland's own subscription, which includes its software Juno-106.

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Also worth a look: TAL Software TAL-U-NO-LX (Models the Juno-60, the Juno-106's close predecessor); Arturia Jun-6 V (Models the Juno-6, an earlier member of the same family).

Drum programming

Moby

Instrument

Roland TR-909

Reported

Used to programme the main drum part, added after the piano chords.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Emulation of this unit

D16 Group Drumazon 2

drum instrument

An emulation of the TR-909.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Also worth a look: Roland Roland Cloud (Roland's own subscription, which includes its software TR-909).

Piano and string pads

Moby

Instrument

E-mu Proformance

Reported

Moby believes it supplied the main piano sound on the song.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Covers this kind of unit

Native Instruments Kontakt

instrument

A sample player that plays back recorded grand pianos, which is how the original made its sound; it is not a model of this unit.

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Yamaha SY22

Reported

One of the two synths used to play the string pad parts heard behind the first verse vocal.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Close match

Korg KORG Collection

instrument

Includes the Wavestation, a vector synth from the same year that mixes sources with a joystick in the same way.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Also worth a look: Arturia Prophet-VS V (A model of the Prophet VS, the synth that introduced joystick vector mixing).

Yamaha SY85

Reported

One of the two synths used to play the string pad parts heard behind the first verse vocal.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Covers this kind of unit

Korg KORG Collection

instrument

A collection of sample-based workstations of the same period (M1, Trinity, Triton), which build sounds from stored samples through digital filters in the same way; it is not a model of this unit.

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Mixing and sequencing

Moby

Input chain

Steinberg Cubase

Verified

Used purely as a MIDI sequencer for the song, not for audio.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. This is already software, so the stand-in is the thing itself. No product link has been added for it yet.

Mix effects

Soundcraft Spirit 24:8:2

Reported

The desk the samplers and synths were patched into for mixing the song at his home studio.

Source: Sound On Sound, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. No plugin models this desk, and nothing in the catalogue stands in fairly for a budget analogue mixer of this kind.

Sources

  1. MOBY: Recording Moby's 'Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?', Sound On Sound, 2000-02. Accessed 15 Nov 2026.
Verified

Stated by the engineer, producer or artist, or by the manufacturer.

Reported

Stated by a reputable secondary source.

Inferred

An educated suggestion, not a documented fact.

Disclosure: plugin links currently go straight to the maker and earn us nothing. If that changes, affiliate links will be marked here. Suggestions are chosen on fit, never on commission, and are kept separate from the recording facts. More.