Kontakt 11 Bass

Use a guitar to midi converter software and play it on a guitar. The midi output would then be sent to Kontakt for the bass sounds.
I know, the guitar is not a bass as you requested but it would be closer than using a keyboard.
 
example software:
http://www.jamorigin.com/products/midi-guitar/
 
 

nathanielleemaloney
One thought I had was converting the audio to midi and then would it be able to play the midi sounds for the bass?

If the audio track is clean and played consistently it can work.
You will probably have to do some editing of the midi to get rid of false notes and such.
Melodyne can do the audio to midi conversion for you.
Give it a try!  Trying things like this is the best way to learn.

Every time I've tried that it's been a hassle. Slides, bends and vibrato don't translate well. And you have to record the bass direct; amping yields too much distortion that can confuse Melodyne or whatever software you're using.
 
Don't dismiss the possibility of playing bass on a keyboard, even if your keyboard skills are minimal. As a bass player, you might be surprised at how well you adapt. Just as drummers can be the best drum sequencers, bass players quickly figure out how to translate keyboards to believable bass parts. You don't have to be adept at the keyboard. You'll be recording MIDI, not audio, and can therefore correct any mistakes before rendering. You can record the part at half speed if necessary. In the end, you'll have a lot of fun trying out different sources for the audio such as synthesizers and sample libraries, and layering multiple sources for effects you'd never achieve with your bass.

bitflipper
 
Don't dismiss the possibility of playing bass on a keyboard, even if your keyboard skills are minimal. As a bass player, you might be surprised at how well you adapt. Just as drummers can be the best drum sequencers, bass players quickly figure out how to translate keyboards to believable bass parts. You don't have to be adept at the keyboard. You'll be recording MIDI, not audio, and can therefore correct any mistakes before rendering. You can record the part at half speed if necessary. In the end, you'll have a lot of fun trying out different sources for the audio such as synthesizers and sample libraries, and layering multiple sources for effects you'd never achieve with your bass.

being a bass player at heart this IMHO is the best advice given here and completely reflects my experience, yet I would scratch the part about playing half speed. I'd do the other extreme i.e. no quantizing at all (it's bass, so this essentially is a rhythm track). I would use a cost effective (trying to avoid the word "cheap" here) keyboard that you like for playing bass lines (it's most likely not the fully weighted piano keyboard), enjoy the fun of playing bass lines with different sound sources/synths and play until you like the bass lick, then record and comp. Stay away from quantizing and don't spend too much time in the piano roll editing (for bass I usually limit myself to deleting stray notes, although with some good bass VSTs, these almost silent stray notes actually add some character).
 
using this approach I have actually developed some bass lines for songs that I wouldn't have playing the real bass, but they translate well to the instrument i.e. they sound really cool and are indeed fun to play on the real thing.
 
BTW, as regards K11, I really like the Rickenbacker emu. That actually makes we want to buy a real Rickenbacker.
 
 

Ham N Egz
there are bass to mid convertors
 

interesting tool. unfortunately reviews are not so great and direct order from company only ... otherwise I might have tried it for the fun of it

bitflipper
Unfortunately these have the same problems as their software equivalents, as it's nearly impossible to generate appropriate wheel events from pitch variances such as slides, bends and vibrato. They'd probably really fall down trying to track a fretless bass.
 
But while disappointing for recording purposes they'd probably still be very cool for real-time applications such as playing a synth bass on stage. You'd just have to play very straight with minimal embellishments. If I was a bass player in a band I'd definitely have one, plus some kind of compact hardware synth such as a Moog Little Phatty.

Bitt, do you remember Peaveys Midi Bass? I think from the 90s or maybe later? probably didnt track well with the technology of that time. I think Roland also had a hex pickup for bass guitar, also.

If the OP is proficient at playing bass, I'd just record the real bass.
If there's an issue with not achieving the desired sound from the bass, I would address that issue.
IMO, That's going to be far more productive use of time/resources than audio>MIDI.