Bass · Source 29

Double bass.

Written as MIDI. Played as an upright — plucked or bowed.

One upright, two ways to play it. Pizzicato for a walking line, arco for a scored one; both are presets of the same instrument.

Play it in the browser or on a track in your DAW · dø1, $12 a month with Pro
§ 01 · Hear it

Hear it.

The same part plucked, then bowed. Step between them while it plays: the thump and decay of pizz against the slow, grainy onset of the bow.

The part is the melody of After You’ve Gone — 34 notes at 138 bpm, the one the chooser on /sources plays on every instrument. Each take is the double bass’s render as it came back: nothing played, sampled or edited.

29PbDouble bass (pizzicato)E1–G4
1 of 2 · Pizzicato
0:00

One part, 2 articulations — step between them while it plays.

§ 02 · In your DAW

MIDI in. Audio out.

Write the part in the piano roll you already use — Logic Pro, Ableton Live, FL Studio, REAPER, Cubase and Studio One — with dø1 on the track, or upload a .mid at /tools/sources. Notes, timing and velocity are read as written.

What comes back is a double bass take: dry, close-mic, 24-bit / 48 kHz, on the track it came from. Usually 20 to 60 seconds. Render again and you get a different take.

Rendering in the browser is free with an account — 120 credits a month, 10 per 30-second render. The plugin is part of Pro, $12 a month: 2,000 credits, dø1 (AU and VST3) and Dø Desktop, which installs it.

Get the DAW plugin AU & VST3 · installs with Dø Desktop
29PbDouble bass (pizzicato)E1–G4
Bass · Double bass
In
MIDI — the piano roll on a dø1 track, or a .mid at /tools/sources
Out
A double bass take · dry, close-mic · 24-bit / 48 kHz
Range
Pizzicato E1–G4 · Arco E1–G4
Presets
Pizzicato · Arco
Time
20 to 60 seconds a render
Price
$12 a month with Pro · free in the browser with an account

Pizzicato is not a short arco.

A plucked upright string has a thump at the attack, a round fundamental and a decay that depends on how hard it was pulled. A bowed one has a slow, grainy onset and sustains as long as the bow does. Two sounds from the same wood — which is why they are two presets, not one sample set with two envelopes.

The range runs down to E1, where most of what you hear is the fundamental and its first few partials. The render keeps the thump and the note definition that let a bass line read on small speakers.

Questions.

Upright or electric?

Upright. The electric bass is its own instrument, with its own page.

Can I write a walking line?

Yes. Write it as MIDI, pick pizzicato, render. Note length is how long each note rings; velocity is how hard it is pulled.

Which preset does the player use?

Both. Step between pizzicato and arco while the part plays.

More sources.

Bass

Also

Related.