Bass Boutique

Finally in our Ultimate Synths Collection, it’s time to get your subs shaking with these 900 bass samples

We’re going low end for our Ultimate Synths with a selection of bass synth samples (and, ok, bass guitar but they’re all good, ok!). As ever, the Computer Music sampling experts Cyclick and Groove Criminals have put these together for us and they detail their sampling exploits below as they round up over 900 hits and loops to get your cones wobbling. Cyclick

Subsonic scientist Robbie Stamp, aka Cyclick, is a true expert at creating the odd rumble or two.

“Three sources were used this month: an Epiphone Ripper electric bass, an original Novation Bass Station (battered but still pumping out the 303 stylings) and a Kurzweil

K2600r synth/sampler/FX monster, which provides some great 80s sawtooth basses.

“The multisamples were made with two velocity layers: hard and soft, which is more of a medium really. Some of the multisamples have their sustain loop ranges set in their WAV metadata so they’ll play sustained in most sampler packages.”

Groove Criminals

Low-end labourer Oli Bell of Groove Criminals is a real chest-shaker, so naturally, he enjoyed himself this month. “For some trusty bottom end, synth-wise, we went all hardware, turning to our analogues, the Juno, SH-09, SH-101, Moog Little Phatty, plus a sprinkling of Super Bass

Station and Virus B. As well as recording straight from the synths, we also used a bass Fuzz and Digitech Bass Synth Wah to mix things up a little. Everything was sequenced by an Arturia BeatStep using both MIDI and CV/gate except for the Juno, which used its internal arpeggio, and the SH-101, which used a mixture of just about everything.”

Oli pauses to drop some bass: “As well as the synths, we also recorded an Indie acoustic fretless and Yamaha electric bass guitar. Again, these were used clean and also run through the fuzz and synth wah. All the multisamples are a single octave just to let us squeeze more in, and there’s plenty of bonus single-hit bass tones (recorded at C1 and C2) to play with.”