Looking for good sounding free bass guitar VST instruments, AU plugins and sample libraries? You’ve come to the right pace! Check out our selection here:

• Bass Guitar Effects Vst Plugin
• Bass Effect Vst Plugins
• Bass Effect Vst Plugins

4Front Bass

Format: VST, AU, RTAS, 32 bit + 64 bit
OS: Windows, Mac

Audio Example:

You’re looking for a simple bass plugin without any need for constant tone tweaking? Then 4Front Bass by George Yohng will be your best bet. I think it’s the first plugin I’ve ever come across that claims so unapologetically “This plugin has no settings”. And truly, it doesn’t need them. 4Front Bass is one of the most popular bass guitar plugins I’ve come across, and it’s simply because of its very useable tone.

• 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: The 60 Best Free VST Plugins Ever Made; The 7 Best Free Synth VST Plugins; 8 Free VST Plugins that Will Inspire You In Strange Ways.
• Ample Bass P Lite II aim to bring the Fender Precision Bass sound to your studio. The Ample Bass VST plugin is an electric bass vst plugin great for some groovier and more rock-centric bass sounds.
• This excellent but oft-overlooked bass plugin resides in Logic’s Specialized Audio Units folder and is similar to Octaver guitar pedals such as the Boss OC-2. It splits incoming audio into two analysis ranges then generates two sets of lower harmonics. You can then blend the results back in with your dry signal or play them alone.
• The bass guitar VST happens to be one of my favorite plugins. In fact, I would argue that a lot of bass guitars you hear in pop music today, have some sort of bass guitar VST blended in the mix. Today we are going to be taking an in-depth look at the current best bass guitar VSTs available.
• Bass Master is a strictly bass-oriented virtual instrument that was created by Loopmasters. Like most modern VST plugins, it is compatible with all VST and AU plugin hosts out there. Creating great basslines that sit well in a mix can be a bit complicated, and this is usually achieved by layering different synths and samples manually.
• Pedals is a VST effect plug-in for Windows, designed forprocessing electric guitar and bass. It is also possible to process other audio sources for a variety of artistic techniques. For more convenience, Pedals’ GUI simulates real devices for sound processing: guitar pedals, amplifiers, speakers, etc.

Samsara Cycle Audio Om Bass 2

This VST plugin is a fun one: With 128 presets to try and a ton of settings, you can shape your bass tone to your liking. The bass offers eight different styles (finger, generic, muted, pick, slap, sub, wah, pop) that differ greatly in tone.

Format: VST, 32 bit
OS: Windows

Audio examples:

On Samara Cycle Audio, you can find a big collection of free VST instruments and effect plugins. One of them is Om Bass 2, a much-improved successor of the original Om Bass. This VST plugin is a fun one: With 128 presets to try and a ton of settings, you can shape your bass tone to your liking.

The bassoffers eight different styles (finger, generic, muted, pick, slap, sub, wah,pop) that differ greatly in tone. The “tone” knob will shift the sound moretowards a more full-bodied bass sound when you turn it to the left or a morebiting sound with present mids when you turn it to the right. You can then useenvelope shaper, EQ, delay, tremolo and distortion to adjust the details.

I found Om Bass 2 more realistic in the more “subby” tones. The more guitar-like tones are more on the synthetic side. Depending on your project, that may or may not be a good thing.

Ample Bass P II Lite

Format: Standalone, VST2, AU, RTAS, AAX (32 bit + 64 bit)
OS: Windows + Mac

Audio examples:

Ample Sound is known for its many guitar and bass sample libraries. What makes their products interesting for many users is that they don’t require Kontakt like many other sample libraries do. Instead, Ample Sound products come with their own player and can be embedded via VST, AU, RTAS and AAX or even played as standalone.

With AmpleBass P Lite II, the company has released a free lite version of its Ample BassP II, a sampled Fender Precision Bass. The free version comes with fewersamples, a reduced sample depth and a lower range of playable notes (instead ofB0 – F4, the lite version can only do D1-F4). What’s also missing arealternative articulations such as legato slides, palm mutes, slap, tap, staccatoand natural harmonic.

But let’stalk about what Ample Bass does haveto offer: 443 samples at 16 bit / 44.1 khZ, sustain, hammer on and pull off andaccent articulations are included in this free bass guitar plugin. It alsocomes with different velocity layers (and separate sample cycles for each one),an auto buzz system, poly legato and a capo feature. For a more realisticsound, you can turn up the fingering noise.

All these features make Ample Bass P Lite II not only one of the most realistic virtual bass instruments on the market, but also a dynamic and interesting instrument.

Get Ample Bass P Lite II on the Ample Sound website.

Free DirectBass 2.0

Format: Kontakt 3 and higher (full version of Kontakt is required!)

Fft vst free. Audio examples:

Pettinhouse is a project by Andrea Pettinao. On his site, he not only offers about a dozen guitar, bass and drum sample libraries, he has also released free versions of many of his products. This Free DirectBass 2.0 is taken from his DirectBass 2.0 library and recreates a Yamaha TRB 5 string bass guitar. Like other Pettinhouse libraries, the realism of this free instrument is noteworthy, especially because this library is really simple to use. As this bass guitar was recorded directly (un-amped), it makes sense to process it with an amp simulator (I used Guitar Rig for the audio examples).

Autodafe Acoustic Bass

Format: Kontakt 5 and higher (full version of Kontakt is required!)

Audio examples:

This Acoustic Bass Kontakt library is a little different from other bass guitars on this list because it is, as the name implies, sampled from an acoustic bass (not an electric one). The library contains three instruments: acoustic bass, muted bass and picked bass. With each of these instruments, you have the option to adjust the ADSR envelope. If you’re looking for a more acoustic type of feel, this might be an interesting library to check out.

CoreBass Cherry Slides

Format: Kontakt 4 and higher (full version of Kontakt is required!)

Audio example:

So you’ve found a good bass library, but need some extra sound effects to make it sound more realistic or interesting? Then here’s a free bonus library: CoreBass Cherry Slides. 45 slides, no regrets.

Get Cherry Slides from Orange Tree Samples.

Alternatives

Didn’t findwhat you were looking for? Maybe one of the following bass plugins andlibraries is more to your liking:

Samsara Cycle Audio FabBass (VST / Windows / 32 bit)
Project16 Fingered Bass (VST, AU / Windows + Mac / 32 bit + 64 bit)
SpearGear: Raspier (VST / Windows / 32 bit)
VB-1 (VST / Windows + Mac / 32 bit + 64 bit)
Chronos (Kontakt 5+)
FS Ibanez Electric Bass Guitar (SFZ)
FS Washburn Acoustic Bass Guitar (SFZ)

Over toyou…

Do you happento know some other cool bass plugin or library? Let us know in the comments!

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.

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.

Bass Guitar Effects Vst Plugin

LinPlug – FreeAlpha

Bass Effect Vst Plugins

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

Bass Effect Vst Plugins

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: