Your killer bass sound?

[doctormelodious]

I have MachFive2 (with just the included library thus far), and all of the VIs that come with DP6. I struggle with the age-old challenge of getting a good, solid, punchy bass sound. I scroll through all of the bass samples/patches, and nothing's giving me what I want. Of course, I know it's not only the sample/patch, but the way it's EQ'd, compressed, etc. Then there's the whole mastering process, about which I know just enough to be dangerous.

So I wanted to pose this wide-open question: how do you achieve your killer bass sound? If you're using fake bass, what are your go-to sounds, and what makes them so?

Thanks!
DM

P.S. If there's already a thread for this, my apologies in advance -- and please point me to it! I searched but didn't find.

[Shooshie]

One of my favorite sources is Bassline, which I augment with a parallel Aux track holding one or more plugins which nearly always include Waves C4 or Linear Phase Multiband (which I call the C5), and sometimes MaxxBass. There are dozens of great basses in the Kurzweil library that I also like. Orchestral basses include cellos and double basses, and there are fine ones in the VSL library and Garritan and MSI. Then there are bass wind instruments, including tuba, trombone, euphonium, contrabassoon, contrabass sax, bass sax, bassoon, bari sax, and others I'm probably forgetting. They all have their place, and can be a lot of fun. But I really like synth basses a lot, even though I don't have much call for them in my normal work. Bassline is capable of some great bass sounds. When you modulate them with various plugins, they become far and beyond what the presets in Bassline will give you.

Shooshie

[Dan Worley]

http://www.spectrasonics.net/instruments/trilian.php

If I were to use a VI for bass, this would be at the very top of my list. I read somewhere on here that there was/is some trouble running it in DP. I don't know what that was all about (some trouble with Steam, I think) or with what version(s) of DP it was happening in or if it's still a problem.

Anyway, check it out.

c-ya,

Dan Worley

[tonester]

My go-to is EastWest Quantum Leap Ministry Of Rock. Next would be Trilogy/Trillian. If you use Reason, their Electric Bass refill is quite nice. This is of course when i don't want to play the line myself!!!!

[newrigel]

Trilian... hands DOWN! Good thump and tone... well, I think because I'm used to real bass players most likely. I've tried them all and nothing's as convincing. Don't have to process them either to sit in the mix which is what a good bass should... it should stand on it's own!
Some seem to compress basses too much and suck the life out of them... you don't need to with trilian, it's there!

[SixStringGeek]

I keep going back to Red Bass (now J-Bass I think) in Kontakt 3 running through Amplitube Ampeg SVX virtual amp. Or I just plug my bass into my interface and run it through the same.

[David Polich]

+1 for Trillian. The gold standard for virtual bass instruments, as
far as I'm concerned.

[doctormelodious]

I just watched one of the Trilian videos on the Spectrasonics web site. Very impressive indeed. I'm leaning heavily towards it at this point.

Thanks for the responses. I'm also interested in hearing about your approach to EQ and compression on bass tracks.

Regards,
DM

[newrigel]

I just watched one of the Trilian videos on the Spectrasonics web site. Very impressive indeed. I'm leaning heavily towards it at this point.

Thanks for the responses. I'm also interested in hearing about your approach to EQ and compression on bass tracks.

Regards,
DM

Opto comps are the mainstay but it all depends on the aggression you want. LA2A or 1176 LN (software or hardware) rip pretty good but I also use SVX and it's has some nice SVT sims and 8 10 cabinet models that give it another level of realism. DBX comps are good too. It's one of those subjective things in tone... everyones different when it comes to comps. But I believe in the tone of the bass itself before anything and trilian has that sound! Nice and rich harmonically and punchy and just enough transient to have the aggression if needed. You don't want to be heavy handed with it thats for sure because on the deeper patches, the tone is really velocity sensitive to get that realism in the dynamics.

[bongo_x]

Whatever you're using for your source, I love DP's built in Preamp-1 on bass. Out of the zillion plugins I own I end up using that much of the time. A little distortion, a little eq, a little compression, and viola. Or bass, actually.

bb

[cxi2001]

Trillian and / or Ominsphere every time.
Whenever i go to it i find a new sound, which is usually monstrous.
No problems in DP, though i'm still on 6.03.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I guess we're talking bass guitar sounds? OK, I'm outta here.

[Shooshie]

Funny; bass has so much potential beyond "electric bass guitar." I LOVE bass, and program endless bass patches for fun.

[Dan Worley]

Funny; bass has so much potential beyond "electric bass guitar." I LOVE bass, and program endless bass patches for fun.

Trillian goes way beyond electric bass guitar. Just reading the patch list and sound sources will make you drool.

http://www.spectrasonics.net/instrument ... ibrary.php

c-ya,

Dan Worley

[JD]

Curious if anyone is using Rob Papens SubBoomBass. If so, feedback on it as i've been considering it. I demo'd it a while back and remember being pretty impressed with it but didn't have the funds at the time.