It’s big, it’s bad and it’s the bass. A fundamental, structural, creative and essential aspect to a music track. The possibilities are endless when using bass but it’s all about getting the right bass, for the right song.

Nine Volt have produced a bass guitar sample pack using a diverse range of low-end bass tones, stabs and licks. These are specifically designed for a certain genre, which could be it’s downfall. Big Bad Bass Guitar is aimed at the Rock and Hardrock genre in it’s raw state. So obviously anyone looking at producing the next Cheryl Cole hit may want to stay clear that is unless you want to hear a cat being butt raped by Alanis Morrisette! :O

On Test

Now assuming you have purchased Big Bad Bass Guitar sample pack for music production, you will most likely be technically minded and have a grasp on working your way around music production software and other sample packs.

Opening up the pack in your computer shows a few folders on which you choose how to integrate them into your work flow. Nine Volt haven’t messed around with this release and have converted their samples into five different formats and to help the user get this sample pack running they have included an introductory video and Read Me guide.


The read me guide is simple and informative, it also acts as a tutorial for using the samples within your set format. In this instance I will be using Apple Loops, as I am running Logic Pro 8. So it all sounds simple on paper, but is it really that easy?



Yes it bloody well is. Anyone familiar using the Apple Loops Utility will know how easy it is to use, and just to make life even easier the whizz kids over at Nine Volt have tagged each sample into categories for you – what it is to have half a brain eh? So all the user has to do is a strenuous click and drag of the Big Bad Bass Guitar sample folder into the Audio library – and that’s it!

Now the samples are in, there is nothing to worry about. You don’t have to worry about what key the song is in as Apple Loops hooks you up with different options, the tempo automatically changes and it pretty much makes you a cup of tea at the same time. Thank you Apple, again you make life so simple.

Making a track is as simple as pancakes now that the samples are in the Apple Loops Library. Just choose the one that floats your boat and drag it over to the arrange window. Done, done and done.
But here is the catch. For me personally a bass guitar within most music and especially Rock music needs to be natural. You need to manually play the riff to get the right sound and feel for the record. The same goes for drums, it just needs to be played naturally for it to sound good and fit within the record.

At times whilst flicking through some of the sample pack it disappoints by displaying a somewhat flat range of bass tones often sounding like an average MIDI bass plug-in. Some of the ideas are nice, they have a few sequences that could be used to manipulate a riff and play around with. The idea that a Rock song could be written around a sampled bass riff blows my mind - unless it’s just used as a reference. Oddly enough the whole Big Bad Bass Guitar sample pack was recorded with a Fender Precision (P-Bass) Guitar in the same tone. The idea being that the user can have more control and allow for more customization. So lets sum that up – almost 600 samples, all played with one guitar? The result isn’t an amazing one, but it can fill a gap in your sample library.

Looking at it from a producer’s perspective, Nine Volt has taken the perspective into mind by leaving the files as raw as possible, which leaves the mixing and mastering open. They are mono tracks recorded at 24bit/44.1kHz sample rate and left totally un-compressed.

The Bottom Line

The idea behind Big Bad Bass Guitar is brilliant, but it just doesn’t work in practice. Everything ends up sounding too MIDI for my personal opinion and nothing sounds natural. Everything is simple to use and you can whack the disc in and within minutes you can produce a record - but nothing heavy duty.

Using Big Bad Bass Guitar for the “backbone” of some of your rock tunes is a good idea to get some ideas flowing. This however is as far as it gets I’m afraid. Twiddle, fiddle and diddle with them but putting them in a track without some serious manipulation is a bad idea. The low-end frequencies might tickle your fancy too.

What’s even more confusing about the pack is that it seems to be no clear indication that these are Royalty Free. The disclaimer clearly states the distribution as a sample is not allowed but nothing about within a track. Everything is copyrighted by Nine Volt Audio and something that confused the hell out of me was this :

What loss! What will I lose? This frightens me. I hope I don’t lose my socks, it’s bloody cold outside.

Price:

Its a pricey £71.47 - not worth it in my opinion, just save up an extra couple of zingers and get your mitts on a proper bass.

Buy It Here