Hey guys, in this video we’re going to take a look at some free bass VST instruments.
These are virtual instruments we can use to create a bass sound completely within a digital
audio workstation.
For this video, we’ll be looking at all these plugins in Reaper, since it’s a commonly
used home recording program, but we can also use these in different programs as well.
The first plugin we’ll look at is Bassline by EVM.
First we have some presets we can choose from at the top.
This also has presets we can choose by going back and forth with the arrows on the plugin
itself.
I’ll usually start with the D/Bass preset and make changes to that.
We have options for an acoustic bass, plucked bass, picked bass, electric bass, slap bass,
digital bass, and muted bass.
One of the main problems I have with this plugin is it’s only creating a lot of really
low frequencies with most of the presets, to a point that it’s barely even audible
on headphones, and the higher frequency information is completely absent.
To me, this plugin is good to create a really deep bass sound that you can even layer with
different bass recordings, but it shouldn’t be used completely on its own.
Next is DSK BassZ.
This has a few different built in bass sounds that can be chosen at the top, and controls
for Envelope and Filter but you can get some usable sounds from the presets anyways.
Unfortunately, pressing the help button only links us to a broken page on DSK’s website.
Some of the better bass sounds in this plugin come from the precision bass and Yamaha bass,
but some of the generic presets like the picked bass and acoustic bass don’t actually sound
that great.
Next up we have VB-1, or virtual bass unit by Steinberg.
This plugin creates a very artificial bass sound, and there are a few different presets
we can start with, but they all sound a lot like a synth.
The first options we have are the position of the pickup and pick.
The pick creates a warmer sound as it moves up towards the neck and a brighter sound at
the bridge, and moving the pickup made no noticeable difference to me.
Setting the release really low lets the notes cut off immediately at the end, but increasing
it slightly allows them to blend together a little more.
Push it too far though and they start to overlap and interfere with each other.
The shape allows the sound to go from smooth to harsher with more attack and click to it.
With the damper at 100, we can get a really muted sound.
At 0 it’s very bright and harsh, and I usually set it somewhere in between.
Finally, we have a volume control and a random button to randomly change all the settings
on the plugin.
The best free bass plugin I’ve found is the SI-Bass plugin included with Cakewalk
by BandLab.
After Cakewalk is installed with the SI-Instruments package, you can add this plugin to Reaper
by adding the scan path.
I’ll put the scan path in the video description down below for anyone that wants to add it
to their program.
This plugin has a lot of features, starting with the different presets from the drop down
menu.
There’s also built in basslines that we can drag and drop onto the instrument track,
and this does work properly in Reaper.
We have some options for tuning, slide time, poly or monophonic voice, and pickup selector
on the bass.
Down below, there are amp settings for volume, panning, bass, mid, and treble EQ, and finally
drive and compression.
I’ve found this plugin is really capable of making a convincing virtual bass sound.
Thanks for checking out this video on free bass VST instruments.
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