Is a digital replica of the SansAmp Bass Driver DI pedal, which is a very popular bass preamp DI box with distortion, presence, and EQ controls. This is a very simple plugin which works great and doesn’t really use much CPU power. The free plugin is available in VST, AU, and AAX formats, with support for both 64 and 32 bit. Including improved alias free oscillators, new developed fast envelopes and lfo’s with a wide range from 0.1Hz up to 400 Hz. A free routable envelope with attack and decay is available too. This synth is useful for a wide range of sounds from percussion to deep bass sounds. 2 oscillators with hard sync, PW and FM (saw, pulse, triangle, sine).
Leads are great. They are the sugary surface of any good track. They get you in the door and perk you up.
But we all know what that one special ingredient is… The most important part of arranging and writing songs. It’s the soul of any good track:
The BASS.
But there’s thousands of free VSTs out there. Which ones are good for bass? No sweat. We found all the best ones so you don’t have to dig.
Synth Bass Vst Free
Here’s our 10 favourite free bass VST plugins that will give you bigger, better bass.
Steinberg – Model E
The Model E is a useful 3 oscillator bass station capable of pumping out some nice lines.
The super simple controls make all your options easy to see and tweak. Plus the lower CPU usage means easy breezy basslines in no time.
TAL – Elek7ro
When it comes to free VSTs no one beats TAL. All their free plugins work great and are super useful. I’m a huge fan of their plugins and you should be too.
The Elek7ro is no exception to their history of producing high quality tools. This synth-plug is good for pretty much everything. Including making some nice full basses for your tracks.
It even comes with a super helpful user guide for getting the most out of Elek7ro.
Plogue – Sforzando TableWarp2
The TableWarp2 is part of Plogue’s Sforzando bundle. It’s a versatile synth that gives you tons of classic sounds…
Including some superb mid-low range basses perfect for beefing up your tracks.
NUsofting – Sinnah
The Sinnah is great. It can create cool noisy tones with its 3 channel delay matrix and feedback sculpting.
It also has a pretty solid onboard EQ which really helps bring out the magic in each tone. So you can get tons of control over the bass sounds you create.
TAL – Bassline
I’ve already talked about the TAL-Bassline in an older Free Plugins article. But I had to put it on this list because it’s so good. The Bassline is basically built for better bass.
This plug has a warm analog sound and ‘robust core‘ for all your bass and acid needs. Plus, the TAL Bassline user guide will have your walls rattling in no time.
u-he – TyrellN6
U-he is another major source for some very superb free plugins. The TyrellN6 is a powerful overall plugin that will give you all varieties of nice analog synth sounds.
That means wicked basses too. It also has some nice triggering features that are super fun to play around with and a nice, clean interface for easy tweakage.
The download page is in german. So if you don’t speak German just scroll down to find the download link!
Ample Sound – Ample Bass P Lite II
The Ample Bass P Lite II is a nice electric bass plug perfect for some groovier and more rock-centric bass sounds.
Ample Bass also comes with some nice ‘articulations’ including palm mute, slap and legato slide for those little accents that makes bass pop.
LinPlug – FreeAlpha
Bass Vst Free
This plugin is the free version of LinPlug’s Alpha. But just because it’s the free version doesn’t mean it’s not good. In fact, it’s great!
FreeAlpha‘s 2 oscillators are perfect for all sorts of nice basses and the built-in presets are superb starting points for all types of bass and more.
Bruce Sutherland – JUCEoplvsti
If you ever dreamed of making all those incredible sounds that lived on old DOS games then this plugin is your hot ticket.
JuceOPLVSTI is modelled on the Yamaha OPL sound chip found in some old PC computers.
Juce’s interface is a lot like a video game and is super easy to use to get some superb basses, leads and pretty much any other sound you need from an FM synth.
Synister – Synister
Synister is one of the best looking and easiest to use synth plugins I’ve ever seen. This 3 oscillator synth is perfect for making all types of basslines.
The interface is simple, organized and easy to follow. The effects, envelopes, oscillators, LFOs and filters all have their own drop down menus for an easy workflow. And it even has a built in step sequencer!
The bassline bottomline
A good bassline can make or break a track. Finding the best one for your track can be tricky.
These bass VSTs will give you everything you need to find the right one (Hot tip: Turn your monitors way up while you’re experimenting if you wanna meet the neighbours).
Put these in your DAW, start experimenting and take a trip to the international bass station.
If you’re already set for bass check out our other Free VST Plugin Favourites:
As grime undergoes a major resurgence, we demonstrate how to create some of the genre’s staple synth sounds from scratch.
In the early noughties grime’s raw sound seemed at odds with the burgeoning sonic sophistication of garage and drum and bass. However, the gritty grime style has become an increasingly important influence for underground music producers in recent years. In this walkthrough we’ll take a look at how we create some of the most essential grime sounds from scratch.
Wot Do U Call It?
To make our first bass we’re going to use Native Instruments’ ubiquitous Massive, but you’ll be able get results that are to all intents and purposes identical with practically any virtual analogue synth.
Our first patch is an eskibeat classic, the kind of twisty synth bass popularised by grime godfather Wiley in tracks like ‘Wot Do U Call It?’. Wiley was a big fan of the Gliding Squares preset on a Korg Triton, but we’ll make our sound from scratch. The main advantage (other than the fact you don’t need to buy a Triton) is that you get a lot more control over the end result when you create the sound from scratch.
Start by clicking the File button, and select the New Sound option to get an initialised patch. Turn Oscillator 1’s Wt-position knob all the way down to give us a pure pulse tone.
http://www.attackmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Audio-1.mp3To get that swooping grime feel we need to loosen up the attack and release time a little. Click the 4 Env button to bring up the envelope assigned to the patch’s amplitude level, and turn up the Attack and Release knobs to about 10 and 11 o’clock respectively. This gives the sound a lazier feel.
http://www.attackmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Audio-2.mp3This bass works well with a little glide, so click the Voicing tab and change the Voicing mode to Monophon.
Massive’s glide time is a little long by default, which gives us an effect that’s a little over the top.
Free Bass Vst Amp
http://www.attackmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Audio-3.mp3To remedy this, click the Osc tab and turn down the Time knob in the Glide panel to between 10 and 11 o’clock.
http://www.attackmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Audio-4.mp3That’s got our sound’s movement sorted, but its still very bright. Let’s murk it up a bit with some low-pass filtering. In the Filter 1 panel set the filter type to Lowpass 2, then turn the Cutoff up to 12 o’clock and the Resonance down to the minimum level possible. This gives us a sound that sits neatly in the low end. You can experiment with this later on, turning up the cutoff frequency slightly if you want the sound to be brighter and more prominent in the mix.
http://www.attackmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Audio-5.mp3The final element of the patch is unison detune. Select the Voicing tab again, then activate Pitch and Cutoff knob in the Unisono Spread panel. Set the upper range of the modulation amount to 0.20, and turn the modulation amount all the way up.
Now turn up the number of Unisono voices in the Voicing panel. Each number of voices gives you a different character. 3 gives us an interesting balance of solidity and filth.