The engine also offers very easy stereo double tracking. There is full control of the virtual player’s hand position and string preference. Articulations can be controlled by velocity, keyswitch or MIDI CC. The engine behind this bass has a lot in common with Shreddage 2 IBZ. There are also three EQs (pre-amp, post-amp and post-cab), distortion, compression etc. It’s not a fancy amp sim, but it quickly does a great job of turning the clean DI samples into a realistic “bass being played through a bass amp” sound, whether vintage or modern. The instrument also includes effects, which are actually very useful, especially the amp and cab simulator. More old-school sounds are possible (stay off the B and C strings and you get a standard-tuned four-string bass), but not quite as thumpy as they could be with a more vintage-style bass, in which case the notes would not sustain as long and the frequency response wouldn’t be as even. Modern funk-influenced pop is also a big strength. The sound sure is great for metal, but what else is it good for? The first genre that came to my mind was modern gospel, where six-string basses are common and the bass plays high notes quite often. There’s also an entire articulation of slides, scrapes and other noise effects, too.
There are release noises, too, which get three control parameters all to themselves, and if you really want a noisy performance, you can even turn up the DI line noise and add some random resonances from hitting neighboring strings sometimes. Smooth and mellow verses that get rougher towards the end and lead into a gritty chorus just take a few automation clips. Thanks to the ability to automate these parameters, this is a very expressive bass. Between the sample start point offset control and the extra pop noises, the same note at the same velocity can sound smooth and round or aggresively percussive. The sound is very tweakable, and what’s especially useful is the ability to control just how gritty and noisy the sound is. Everything was recorded through a high-end tube DI based on a classic tube Putnam console design, which is probably responsible for some of the warmth. Only the C string is more about bright zing than warmth (as high C strings on 6-string basses normally are). Being a bassist and having lots of recordings of myself laying around on my hard drive, I did some comparisons and this bass has a much nicer low end than my recordings. The sound is very clean and clear, but with a warm low end even at the highest velocities. This is a very smart compromise – B strings generally sound better tuned to B. So, it can be very metal, but it certainly doesn’t have to be. However, most of the samples on the lowest string were actually recorded with it tuned to B, and it was only tuned down for the lowest notes. The bass is set up with GEADGC tuning, like a typical six-string bass but with the low B string dropped to G. Just about the only sample content that would be rarely used outside of metal is the very lowest notes – the lowest note available is a low G, for extreme detunings. The staccato articulation is very aggressive, and in fast passages can be used as a fifth velocity layer.
Velocity layers are more important for bass guitar because it is often played without distortion and also because the tonal contrast between hard and soft plucks is essential to many types of basslines. Still, Shreddage Bass 2 comes with more than 11,000 samples, which is very close to the amount of samples included in Shreddage 2 IBZ (Impact Soundworks’ metal guitar library), even though there’s no palm mutes, no pinch harmonics, no manual vibrato… Instead, what we get is more velocity layers (four for the sustained notes compared to two) and more round robins (up to eight). So, is it metal, or is it good for anything and everything? Or can both be true at the same time? While metal guitarists take advantage of various playing techniques that are not often used in other music styles, most metal bassists rather stick to the “normal” playing technique. In the case of this particular bass library, Impact Soundworks even claim it’s good for “any musical style”. The Shreddage series of sample libraries is generally made with metal in mind, but it’s good for a lot more. Shreddage Bass 2 ($119) is a detailed sample library of a six-string bass guitar for Native Instruments Kontakt and the free Kontakt player.