NI Introducing SESSION BASSIST – ICON BASS

[Larry Shelby]

Hit-defining bass

ICON BASS brings a professional session bassist to your DAW with a range of patterns, effects, and articulations captured from an iconic electric bass guitar. Tap into the power and punch of active electronics for basslines that cut through the mix.

$99 - works in the Kontakt Player

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/guitar/session-bassist-icon-bass/

[Bapu]

Newest item to be added to the next version of Komplete.

That's how they get ya!

[Reid Rosefelt]

I want this!  

I'll probably use the $25 NI voucher this summer to bring it down to $75.   And when the next Komplete comes, I will sell for $50.   It's worth $25 for me to have this until then.   I love the Session Guitarist series. 

[simon]

41 minutes ago, Reid Rosefelt said:

  I love the Session Guitarist series. 

I love the Session Guitarist stuff too - I wonder how this will translate to bass ?

[Marc Cormier]

26 minutes ago, simon said:

I love the Session Guitarist stuff too - I wonder how this will translate to bass ?

I’m looking forward to getting Prime Bass this summer when I upgrade to K14CE.  Same company, similar UI, demos sound and look good.  Anyone have experience with it?

[PavlovsCat]

I'm curious how people plan on using this or any other loop-based bass guitar plugins in their productions. Really to better understand how we all think about these tools. 

Personally, I sometimes use drum loops (that someone else recorded, not me)  instead of a click track when I'm first working on a project and I used to be a semi-pro drummer, however, when I'm laying down a first track -- say a piano -- I sometimes I will struggle to hear a clicktrack, while other times, it's more inspiring to play along with a drum beat with a good groove to maintain a good feel. But I always go back and replace the loop with something I or a collaborator actually played. I suppose 99% of that is because a production doesn't feel its my own if I use loops. Even if I realize that the quality of the loop is far superior to my playing -- which is often the case -- it's still not mine, so I replace it with my own playing.   

I'd be very interested in learning how others plan on using this plugin in their workflow and how they think about using loops as opposed to playing parts in their productions. I have to admit that I was surprised that @Bapu, who's a talented bassist (I've heard his playing and even follow one of his projects on SoundCloud, so I know he's a good player and I'm sure he loves to play), is using this as I figured he would prefer to create his own bass parts as opposed to using a loop-based tool. I'd be very interested how you plan to use it, Bapu. Is it kind of how I use drum loops or will you keep someone else's bass loops in your final production if you feel it fits well? 

[Nick Blanc]

9 hours ago, PavlovsCat said:

I'm curious how people plan on using this or any other loop-based bass guitar plugins in their productions. Really to better understand how we all think about these tools. 

Personally, I sometimes use drum loops (that someone else recorded, not me)  instead of a click track when I'm first working on a project and I used to be a semi-pro drummer, however, when I'm laying down a first track -- say a piano -- I sometimes I will struggle to hear a clicktrack, while other times, it's more inspiring to play along with a drum beat with a good groove to maintain a good feel. But I always go back and replace the loop with something I or a collaborator actually played. I suppose 99% of that is because a production doesn't feel its my own if I use loops. Even if I realize that the quality of the loop is far superior to my playing -- which is often the case -- it's still not mine, so I replace it with my own playing.   

I'd be very interested in learning how others plan on using this plugin in their workflow and how they think about using loops as opposed to playing parts in their productions. I have to admit that I was surprised that @Bapu, who's a talented bassist (I've heard his playing and even follow one of his projects on SoundCloud, so I know he's a good player and I'm sure he loves to play), is using this as I figured he would prefer to create his own bass parts as opposed to using a loop-based tool. I'd be very interested how you plan to use it, Bapu. Is it kind of how I use drum loops or will you keep someone else's bass loops in your final production if you feel it fits well? 

I use a lot of loops, phrases less so? If there's any difference. Well yes there is, but it's in the nuance. I think it has to do with volume. I make (amongst other things) beats. That in of itself is a heavy loop based genre. So what I like to do is listen to loops and phrases, try to see if I can play it myself on the keyboard. Or something similar. I record that and then chop it up or loop it. Sometimes with a 'hard cut' at the end to give it that oldschool loop feel. Back to 'volume'. I make somewhere between 3-5 beats a week. I'm not laying down an original drumtrack, basstrack, guitartrack, pianotrack, etc. every new project. Loops and phrases are there for my convenience. 

I get the feeling that something doesn't feel like your own, I have that same issue with presets. And the statisfaction is indeed much higher when you created everything yourself. I just can't do it. I can't play guitar besides Smoke on the Water type of riffs. I can't play drums apart from some shakers in my mic. I can't sing, so I use a vocoder and autotune. I'm a mediocre piano player at best.  * Liam Neeson mode on: what I do have, is a particular set of skills. */off. I can create and arrange pretty well if I say so myself. 

Long answer short: I use these kind of libraries, sometimes as a centerpiece in beats/loop oriented styles or in the background as a stand-in for my musical shortcomings.

And besides all of this, when you play a track of yours for your friends (or even peers) where you used a loop or a phrase, there is absolutely no-one who will judge you and say "hey hold on a minute, that's just an EQ-ed and compressed and slightly altered version of a phrase from Session Bassist by NI, you big fraud!" Even Arcade has so much stuff that you can use almost everything freely. Even the 1000 Youtube video's warning you about using vocals from Splice are nonsense as far as I'm concerned. Yeah so what that anyone else can use that vocal? Listen to the current EDM charts, it's full of re-used samples from 10-20 years ago. 

[Reid Rosefelt]

On 4/12/2023 at 3:46 PM, Reid Rosefelt said:

I want this!  

I'll probably use the $25 NI voucher this summer to bring it down to $75.   And when the next Komplete comes, I will sell for $50.   It's worth $25 for me to have this until then.   I love the Session Guitarist series. 

I don't know if anybody mentioned that if you buy this, you can get any other Session Guitarist or Session Bassist  (except Electric Sunburst Deluxe), for 50% off.

So here's what I'm thinking...     Maybe I'll buy ICON BASS and PRIME BASS now for $100.   After I upgrade to KUCE 14, I can sell Prime Bass for $50, which effectively means I get ICON BASS for $50, instead of the $75 I was planning to pay in June.

And then, in June 2025, when I have KUCE 15,  I'll sell ICON BASS for $50.      So I get ICON BASS for two years  for free.

Ain't it amazing how I can justify my GAS? 

I bet we'll be able to jam live with these basses  by combining some of these patterns with a set of SESSION GUITARIST patterns. 

I can't wait until they offer an acoustic bass.   Maybe it will also be part of Komplete 15.

[DeeringAmps]

2 minutes ago, Reid Rosefelt said:

amazing how I can justify my GAS? 

?

[dumbquestions]

Truly dumb question… that I haven’t been able to figure out. I know what the concept of GAS means, but is it intended as an acronym? I see it everywhere, so I imagine it has a meaning of some kind since it’s always in capital letters? Like Gross Accumulation of Spending…? or Great Asset Stockpile.. ? Guilt-Associated Spending?

Am I close?

Edited April 21, 2023 by dumbquestions

[Magic Russ]

Gear Acquisition Syndrome

I think I first saw the term used in an ad for one of the online retailers, but it seems Walter Becker of Steely Dan coined the term.

Edited April 21, 2023 by Magic Russ

[Zo]

I ll ask Bapu if i need a real bassist !!

[dumbquestions]

9 minutes ago, Magic Russ said:

Gear Acquisition Syndrome

It was coined as part of an ad for Musician's Friend.

Ah how did I not think of that one. thank you!