I'm going to start recording some music again and with lockdown in London right now, I won't be able to get my hands on a bass guitar for a good few weeks. Are there any bass simulators that you could plug a midi track into? Free options preferably!
AmpleBass has a free version, but said free version doesn't have the whole fretboard. I believe it has the full range when talking just notes, but doesn't have the variations - so for example if you wanted to play an E octave higher, it won't play on 12th fret of the E string, but instead on 2nd fret of the D string. Other wise, I dunno. There's probably some decent cheapo or maybe even free stuff for Kontakt, but for that you need the full version. Haven't looked into neither this, nor SFZ instruments.
Not free but I really like Ample Metal Ray5. I'ts the most user friendly since you can import tab directly and it has an interface where you can write in 8 bars of tab and then drop the midi into your DAW. Being able to visualise the whole bass line, forcing strings, changing velocities, slides, legato, vibrato etc without having to touch the piano roll makes it a much easier experience. Toontrack EZbass is another one thats worth checking out. Much more style options but I was disappointed that they just sampled one note and not individual frets so you could change string to get a different tone. Its a lot better sounding than Ample but the user interface for programming isn't nearly as intuitive.
I use Loki from solemn tones. It honestly sounds rather good, and is dead easy to use. Not the most customizable sound, but you have 3 or 4 good tones. For the money I think it's well worth it.
Forgot to mention, you can get a di from it so if you feel you want to run with other plugins to get a more custom sound you can do that no problems. A neat feature I used occasionally.
It's not free, more one the expensive side actually, but I thought it needed to be mentioned here: Spectrasonics Trillian. Pretty much the equivalent of Superior Drums in terms of possibilities but for bass. The only truly professional sounding solution I've tried so far, full range, bending, different string gauges etc.
Can i use it like this: use ample to to write 8 bars then drop it in a track in cubase with djinn bass for the DI and then use parallax? I really struggle to programm bass lines with the piano roll but I still want the djinn bass DI/parallax combo...
I don’t think so because ample bass has midi data written in on each note to tell it what string to play on and how it’s played. It could create problems with the midi map Djinn bass uses by triggering unwanted effects.
I'm surprise nobody have recommend Submission Audio Djinnbass, Eurobass or Impact Studio's Nuclear Bass. And those are the stuffs audio engineer often use in their actual mix.
I'm here to drop two suggestions: 1, coil tap your guitar and then pitch shift it down an octave. Is it amazing? not really. Is it good enough for most situations? Definitely! 2, Anything made by submission Audio. I have Punkbass and Eurobass 2 and they're excellent.
I've got Loki Bass and Loki Bass II, which are great. Submission Audio's Eurobass 2 is absolutely killer also!
