Best VST EQ for bass guitar?

[tdehan]

What VST plugins that come with Cakewalk would be good to use on the bass guitar track I just laid down?

Thanks

[Colin Nicholls]

The Sonitus suite is very capable, and lightweight.

The Equalizer has 6 parametric bands; I'd be astounded if you couldn't achieve what you wanted with it.

 

[Chaps]

1 hour ago, tdehan said:

What VST plugins that come with Cakewalk would be good to use on the bass guitar track I just laid down?

Thanks

There were some nifty ProChannel presets around that Cakewalk for Bandlab doesn't include. There are some bass presets that are a good starting point. I zipped up my ProChannel Presets folder if you want to check them out. New presets can be added to the ProChannel Presets folder at:

C:\Cakewalk Content\Cakewalk Core\ProChannel Presets .

ProChannel Presets.zip

[Rico Belled]

The Pro-Channel EQ is all you need!

 

R

[Craig Anderton]

I use the Multiband Compressor for bass, but often not set for compression.  Think of it as a supremely flexible graphic equalizer. However, if you have problems with resonances or dead spots, you'll need a parametric.

I wrote an article for Sound on Sound magazine about recording bass with Sonar, it's still relevant because it uses mostly Sonitus effects. There's also an in-depth description of how to use the Sonitus Multiband as a high-performance graphic equalizer on page 112 of The Huge book of Cakewalk by BandLab Tips.

[tdehan]

23 hours ago, Chappel said:

There were some nifty ProChannel presets around that Cakewalk for Bandlab doesn't include. There are some bass presets that are a good starting point. I zipped up my ProChannel Presets folder if you want to check them out. New presets can be added to the ProChannel Presets folder at:

C:\Cakewalk Content\Cakewalk Core\ProChannel Presets .

ProChannel Presets.zip 59.28 kB · 2 downloads

Thanks.  I downloaded, unzipped and copied the ProChannel Presets to the destination folder you list.  However, how do I access them from within Cakewalk?

[Chaps]

1 hour ago, tdehan said:

Thanks.  I downloaded, unzipped and copied the ProChannel Presets to the destination folder you list.  However, how do I access them from within Cakewalk?

First of all, I strongly recommend that you download, or bookmark, the Cakewalk Reference Guide. There is detailed information there on how to use the ProChannel (and Cakewalk in general). It is a must have as a reference to look things up and understand most functions.

https://bandlab.github.io/cakewalk/docs/Cakewalk Reference Guide.pdf

You can access the ProChannel by clicking a button in the top right of an audio track.

 

Now it gets a little trickier. The button to load a ProChannel Preset is invisible until you put the mouse cursor over the Preset Name Box .  Once you can see the folder, click it to see the presets.

 

 

Edited June 19, 2020 by Chappel

[Jon White]

What kind of tone do you want?  What does it sound like now that you want to change?  That makes pursuit of effects a bit more deliberate.  Mr. Anderton's suggestion is super.  I use band-based compression most often.  Waves has two good ones.

[Craig Anderton]

4 hours ago, Jon White said:

What kind of tone do you want?  What does it sound like now that you want to change?  That makes pursuit of effects a bit more deliberate.  Mr. Anderton's suggestion is super.  I use band-based compression most often.  Waves has two good ones.

Thanks for the props! The most appropriate tools are sometimes the least-expected ones.

[bitflipper]

My favorite for bass is Meldaproductions' MDynamicEQ.

It's a great static EQ, but being dynamic as well, it's useful for dealing with bass resonances. The dynamic action also lets you add some high-frequency boosts only on the notes that need it. These qualities also make it well-suited for vocals.

[lapasoa]

I think that the most valuable VST for bass is to play right and with masterly touch.

[Craig Anderton]

1 hour ago, lapasoa said:

I think that the most valuable VST for bass is to play right and with masterly touch.

Ah yes, the Waves "Good Bass Player's Touch Substitute" plug-in...I use it all the time

Seriously, though, that can give you tone and dynamics. But it won't fix EQ issues.

[Jon White]

11 hours ago, bitflipper said:

My favorite for bass is Meldaproductions' MDynamicEQ.

It's a great static EQ, but being dynamic as well, it's useful for dealing with bass resonances. The dynamic action also lets you add some high-frequency boosts only on the notes that need it. These qualities also make it well-suited for vocals.

Killer, killer software.  Great citation, Bit.

[Jon White]

22 hours ago, Craig Anderton said:

Thanks for the props! The most appropriate tools are sometimes the least-expected ones.

Mr. Anderton, I've enjoyed your engagement and contributions to the recording world for over twenty-five years (Electronic Musician magazines that I still have).  It is my privilege to absorb your thoughts and approaches to music production.   I truly mean that.

[Jon White]

I record upright bass to jazz quite often, and I do it by having my tone "live", as with all my guitar and analog input -- that being the tone that I present to Cakewalk is from a mixer output and already has my commitment to the final voice.  Short statement: I don't reamp.  Now, if latency didn't exist, I might record tones with live plugins in the channel.  For now, no.

SO, I have my preamps and analog boxes dialed in, and then my plugins (two ASIO devices can work at the same time if controlled by different applications) doing the rest. 

Typical guitar for me is BiasFX2 or SGear via my TonePort UX2 (ASIO, 24-bit, 48KHz) and Cakewalk using my Lynx soundcard at the same specs. The TonePort sends its output to my mixer, which sends an analogue signal to the Lynx inputs, and that is the final track sound, overall (but may take on digital/plugin tweaks later).  It takes (pun intended) deliberate commitment and tone planning, but I'm used to that.  The bottom line, so to speak, is that I'm so bad at playing that I need the tone of my guitar, bass, sax, piano to be inspiring as I play, and to be what I see as the final voice.

Anyway, that sets up EQ fashions in the hardware AND the plugins.  I would say that the preamps and stuff prior to plugins shape my EQ stance more than a plugin.  Message here is, maybe: have the analog voice be the stuff as much as possible.  That will be outboard stuff that you would commit to if gigging, right?  Your tone as the "you" being presented to recording efforts.  I learned this in the studio, as well.  

Edited June 21, 2020 by Jon White