bilo06
Kontakt is free isn't it?

I was quite suprised by this also and did a double check. Orange Tree says their Cherry Bass does not work with Kontakt Player and requires the full version. 

Beepster
You should seriously check out the Craig Anderton Gibson EB5 sample bank for DimPro. It sounds EXCELLENT and since he took the time to proper sample it with all the pickup configs it's pretty versatile for many styles.

Thanks Beepster but let me give a little background. As Konrad notes the NI Scarbee basses are really good; I particularly like the Rickenbacker. So, I saw no reason to "re-invent the wheel," particularly since most of the time I don't want to sound like a "real bass." I'm not looking for finger squeaks, multisamples, etc. (although I did sample multiple slides); what I want is something that plays like a synth bass, with seamless dynamics changes, but sounds like an electric bass. So that was the rationale behind the Gibson Bass Expansion Pack.
 
These two songs emphasize the bass part, so they're good demos for the Expansion Pack (all the amps are CA-X series amps, too). I think what you'll hear what I mean by a cross between synth bass and electric bass. And of course, if you don't like 'em...that's cool too 
 

 

I've used Trillian for years (back to when it was Trilogy). It's very good for any basses, really (even synth basses). It's even got Chapman Stick samples. Keyswitches help to produce a performance/recording with bass-centric techniques (slides, harmonics, ghost notes, etc.). 

I did purchase the Acoustic Sample basses (6) and first impression is that they sound quite nice.
I will try swapping them into some of my tunes to hear what they sound like in context. But it's nice having a core of nicely sampled VST's to work with.
 
 
 
 

I was on the edge of getting Amplesounds Jazz bass, but went for a real one instead. I see they have an upright now too.
 
http://www.amplesound.net/en/index.asp

You can download a free version of Amplesound's Jazz bass, which I did. I'm sure the 'full' version is nicer but even this sounded good. Cost/Value came into play for me...$119 to one bass from Amplesounds vs $140 for 6 basses from
Acoustic Samples.
 
But hey! I would have bought a 'real' bass too..........if I could play one, which I can't...or don't have the time to learn

SampleTank has always given me the bass sounds I need.

+1 for Craig's EB5 bass.

Depends on your budget, but I constantly use Spectrasonics Trilian, as my 'go-to' bass plug-in, when not recording my own bass guitar. Also used Native instruments Scarbee basses, which can be sweet too.
 
Best Stu

@Craig...
 
Hiya, bud. Been contemplating getting in touch with you about some wacky ideas I've had brewing (since your post in the "Rent a Beeps" thread) but have been a little preoccupied with other stuff.
 
I gotta say though, although I get what you're saying about the EB5 pack and its potential for a more "synthy/simulated" sound (as far as production goes) to me it's really just a good, hearty "real" bass sound. Keep in mind I'm quite a bit younger than you (no offense... it's more of a compliment because you have more experience and saw/did things I never will) and I'm also from the era where really started moving away from the brighter/thinner tones of the classic P's, J's and Rickies (the latter being the option for more "heft") to active pickups, bass humbuckers and a much fatter/rounder/upfront sound. Like electric bass before was kind of something that was "there" but in the background and the only time it REALLY poked through was with those special players who really dug into their gear to make it do so.
 
I think during the 80's engineers and gear builders started focusing on filling up that huge amount of room in the lower frequency ranges that previously was pretty sparsely populated. Even with bass heavy bands of the 70's (like Yes, Rush, Black Sabbath, etc) there wasn't really that "brown note" type rumble going on with all the fancy bass lines.
 
Of course though the process seemed to take a while and bass sounds in the 80's were pretty clinical/cold/not that great and STILL too buried in the mixes. The 90's seemed to make things better but that nice, wide low freq filling stuff usually only happened with synths... and still does (with modern pop, dance, hip hop).
 
But I do NOT like synth bass as a replacement for real bass to fill those freqs. It bothers me to no end.
 
So to me that EB5 pack fills the low end similar to what a synth would (broad low freq coverage) but has the attack and tone of a real bass/really tight live player. Also without that "active" pickup bass sound which I also find rather unnatural (but generally one of the few ways to use a real bass to fill those low freqs and still retain attack).
 
I do not own, nor have used, the Scarbee stuff but I'm guessing it emulates the older style bass sound(s) and probably great for classic rock, blues, etc. For me though, as a more "modern" metal/rock hound who struggles with that "perfect" bottom end (nice and fat but still punchy and present when need be through dense mixes) the EB5 really does nicely.
 
Since I use P-Bass to perform my own parts and that has the thinner, punchier, easily overdriven sound being able to slap on some reinforcement with a natural bottom freq saturating sound is extremely useful. On its own though the EB5 samples have held up nicely through the thickest/most chaotic material I've ever worked on.
 
The fact it was extremely cost effective (it was on sale for $20 and slides right into a synth I already had) made it golden for me. IDK what Scrabee or the other alternatives cost but I'm assuming WAY more.
 
Personally what I'd REALLY like to do is get Overloud MarkII to shove my P, the EB5 samples and/or the other samples I have (and synths) through then completely hone in on the freqs/sounds I hear in my head and reject the rest via EQing, blending, etc.
 
tl;dr...
 
EB5 has been, and likely will continue to be, very useful for my "pseudo" realistic bass adventures.
 
Cheers and thanks.