Free or Low Price Bass Guitar (not Bass Synth) VST - any recommendations?

[21tones]

I've searched on KVR, Free Plugins, the web and Youtube, and there seems to be virtually nothing usable out there. But having received great recommendations in a recent thread about pianos I thought it was worth a try asking about a realistic sounding bass guitar.
The best I have come across is Ample P Bass Lite 2.
Project 16 has picked and fingered Rickenbacker (supposedly).
On KVR Adam Monroe has an electric bass for $15.

Am I missing something good out there?
Any recommendations really appreciated.
There were so many good sounding free pianos around, but not bass guitars it would seem!

[Erisian]

Ample Bass is my fave. You could try this https://www.audiopluginsforfree.com/vb-1/

Cakewalk by Bandlab do a good one too but you would have to install the DAW then the optional instruments, then find the bass and copy it to your general vst folder. It's all free though.

[dj ray]

Look no further than https://www.martinic.com/en/products/kee-bass
It's based on something like a Rhodes Piano Bass (actually a Rheem Kee Bass), and sounds absolutely wonderful, and it's free. I've used it instead of a bass guitar on several tracks, and its nice and low in the mix, and very 'authentic'. One of the best freebies out there.

For bass guitar proper, I would look at the Scarbee Rickenbacker Bass from Native Instruments. It's old but to my ears, still sounds terrific and has that bite that helps it cut through the mix. And it doesn't use a lot of CPU either. You may already own it, if you have any of the NI controllers. I wouldn't buy it full price though.

For a completely free bass VST, Ample Bass as suggested above. If I think of another, I'll be sure to update.

[21tones]

Thanks to you both for your suggestions. I'd have to try the martinic in a mix, although the more obvious bass synth sound might work on one song I am developing at the moment.
15 years ago, before I gave up home recording for a long time, I did used to use Slayer 2 for its basses. (I got it free with my DAW).
I haven't looked at any of the many guitar vsts, as I use real guitars, but wonder whether there might be usable basses inside any of those vsts?
Thanks again.

[Erisian]

Look no further than https://www.martinic.com/en/products/kee-bass
It's based on something like a Rhodes Piano Bass (actually a Rheem Kee Bass), and sounds absolutely wonderful, and it's free. I've used it instead of a bass guitar on several tracks, and its nice and low in the mix, and very 'authentic'. One of the best freebies out there.

I had never heard of this one before but I had to download it after reading your post. It has a really good bass sound. I don't usually sign up for things but I got a full license for this one. Thanks.

[dj ray]

Erisian: my pleasure. They're a great company for giving away such a high quality instrument.

21tones: Slayer did have some nice basses. Too bad that whole line was suspended. PlastiCZ still sounds great. I thought of a couple of very nice bass instruments while I was working out. One is Waves Bass Fingers and it's on sale right now for 36 bucks. That's a steal although I still love my NI Ricky.
https://www.waves.com/plugins/bass-fing ... ss-fingers

The other really great bass instrument is the good old Purity by Sonic Cat. It's like those old school sound modules, and has quite a few really nice bass patches. With a little bit of overdrive and skill, you could fool most people. Which is pretty much what a lot of those 90s producers did with their JV1080s.
https://sonic-cat.com/purity/

Cheers.

[21tones]

Thanks for the tip about Waves Bass Fingers. Unfortunately, my very old computer only has 8gb RAM with no space for any more so the required 16gb for Bass Fingers probably wouldn't work on my machine. I've installed Ample Bass, which as you say, is pretty good for free. I also downloaded the Project 16 Picked Bass for something with more bite but it is an mse file (even though the download link says vst). I don't know how to, or whether it is safe, to open this. Pity.
Thanks again for your help

[21tones]

A quick update as I found this article that seems to have done a good job of compiling all the free bass guitar vsts that are around. Some of them sound awful to my ears, but I thought it might be of interest to anyone who is looking for one
https://happycomposer.com/free-bass-guitar/

[Halonmusic]

ABPL 2
https://plugins4free.com/plugin/2505/

[donkey tugger]

I recalled this one from Unreal is quite a nice freebie, details in this thread;

viewtopic.php?f=42&t=517060

For paid stuff, I'd second the Scarbee Rickenbacker. Used to use it for doing stuff a lot when travelling, and a lot of the time I wouldn't bother recording real bass to replace it when I got home. If you keep an eye on the buy and sell section of the forum someone will be selling it cheap at some point.

[Obsolete462444]

Very affordable and judging by the demo video, could be really great:

https://adammonroemusic.com/electric-ba ... s-vst.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_XAUYYaT24

The guy, Adam Monroe, also has a Slap Bass VSTi and a few other really good looking (and sounding) multisampled instruments. I've never tried them personally though and reviews / tests are hard to find.

Then there are some great free basses in the SFZ format, which can be played back with Sforzando VSTi (Standard Bass is particularly amazing):
https://sfzinstruments.github.io/basses/

[Scrubbing Monkeys]

http://www.yohng.com/software/bass.html

Simple. To the point. Virtually uses no resources. Sounds good enough for alot of stuff.