MOTUnation.com

i have been thumbing through the presets and used a couple for a few tracks already. The thing is, i still haven't found the holy grail of bass sounds just yet.

What's everyone using? Any specific plugs coupled with the bass that you feel are mandatory for your production?

It looks like I will begin sculpting a few bass sounds to work with. Any thoughts on bass for house, dance, techno etc?

You've probably heard it before but I'll say it again...Spectrasonic's Trilogy is probably all you'll ever need.

Trilogy and Reaktor 5.1.

is trilogy really where it's at? i heard a couple of peeps suggest picking it up but when i go to listen to their demos it all just sounds like something i heard before... and, if it's all samples originally, how is the ability to play around with it? just the other day someone said that access virus is the way to go...

Try the new Prophet V from Arturia, which also includes the Prophet VS (and they can be used together!). A versatile soft synth with truly phat filters that sound very analog/organic. I heard the demos at NAMM and was blown away. Probably the first soft synth that has impressed me in the bass department (and I'm primarily a bassist, so am hyper-sensitive to the quality of low frequency material, whatever the instrument).

I like MX4 for pads and textures, but haven't really used it much yet as most of my recent work has been very focused on emulations. I'm planning on using it some tonight, and am interested in checking out how good it is for synth bass, as I thought that was supposed to be one of its strong points.

I did my first full session with the MX4 last night, and am blown away. I had only had time to toy with it a tiny bit until yesterday, when I used it completely by itself to track a full song (backing tracks for live performance of "I Ran (So Far Away)"). I used some layering, but even individual presets are deep and phat; including the basses. Once I'm under less time-pressue, I hope to have time to start programming my own sounds on this amazing synth (which I still think is the best of the current crop of non-emulative soft synths).

well, i have to admit... i bought trilogy from gc... brought it home... kept it under the almighty shrink wrap next to my g5... i opened mx4 and tweeked away determined to find some special bass love...lol... well, i did... and more... after tinkering around and getting the sound pretty damn close to what i was wanting i discovered so much more about the modulation power... very cool.. needless to say, i returned trilogy back to gc the following afternoon