Welcome to PRIME BASS
Get the most out of PRIME BASS with the online documentation. Learn basic workflows as well as advanced tips and tricks.
Thank you for purchasing SESSION BASSIST - PRIME BASS, a classic bass sample library powered by KONTAKT. This document will provide you with instructions and advice on how to use the library, as well as additional information.
We hope that you will be truly inspired by using PRIME BASS.
What’s new in PRIME BASS?
PRIME BASS offers most technical features found in other products of the SESSION GUITARIST series, while it also adds many new features:
Patterns and phrases: PRIME BASS includes 355 patterns, 209 of which are phrases, which can either be played as a phrase, or in one pitch mode. This mode flattens the melody to the root note and allows you to create custom phrases while maintaining the rhythm of the original performance.
MIDI drag and drop: Phrases can be dragged and dropped into a MIDI track of your DAW. The MIDI notes can then be edited to create custom phrases.
Slap and pop articulations: These articulations can be played as single notes, which allows you to create your own slapped performances.
Chromatic dead note articulations: Play open, muted, slap or pop articulations while holding down the Bb1 keyswitch to perform chromatic dead notes.
Feel control: This control enables you to shift accents in a pattern from the downbeat to the offbeat and vice versa to adapt the accentuation of patterns to your needs.
Octave down: This switch tunes the entire sample set down by one octave, which works great for electronic and film music genres.
Signal drive: The Drive control adds tube and transformer saturation to the main bass signal. This enables you to create a dense and solid bass sound without adding additional effects.
Filter Songs by musical style: To make it easier to find patterns or song presets suitable for a specific musical genre, it is now possible to filter the content library via genre tabs in the song browser.
Fret noises: When playing melodies or pitch changes, the instrument emulates the fingering of the notes and the ringing of strings that lie in between the saddle of the instrument and the left hand of the bassist.
New amps and effects: Shape your sound with the new Bass Invader and Bass Pro amplifiers, Supercharger GT compressor, peak limiter, new reverb effects, new EQ presets, 10 different filters, and a Lo-Fi effect.
About SESSION BASSIST - PRIME BASS
PRIME BASS combines a pattern-based bass library with a sophisticated multisample set, designed to deliver authentic-sounding bass lines, patterns, and riffs for songwriting and music production. Its samples originate from a unique 70s style Fender Precision bass made in 1981. The instrument’s pickup signal was recorded through the DI input of a vintage Universal Audio M-610 preamp. In addition to the pickup signal, two vintage dynamic microphones were mounted above the strings to capture the acoustic sound, which can be dialed in for additional presence and clarity.
The signals were converted by the SPL Madison analog-to-digital converter and fed into an RME MADIface XT via MADI, both externally clocked by an Antelope Audio 10MX Rubidium atomic clock.
A total of 355 loops, single notes in many different articulations, round robin variants and velocities in multiple fret positions over the range of three octaves, and additional sample content were performed live by professional bassists Gwenael Damman and Jakob Winterstein. The loops and phrases are grouped into 81 song presets, containing four to six patterns each, as well as a matching sound preset. You can select patterns via keyswitches and play them on your MIDI keyboard. Playback will always stay in sync with your host project. Phrases can also be dragged and dropped into the DAW for MIDI editing.
Regarding sound options, PRIME BASS offers an authentic emulation of the real instrument’s tone control, an input drive control to add saturation at the input stage and a built-in effects chain for further processing. An expanded selection of integrated effects and a carefully curated sound preset library provides for a truly versatile collection of sounds, suitable for a wide range of musical styles.
The key feature of PRIME BASS is its revolutionary playback engine. You can seamlessly switch between different patterns, and also alter the dynamics in real-time, thus creating true-to-life musical performances. Because all the nuances of the original performance, such as exact timing and dynamics, have been preserved, you will notice that the instrument feels very natural and organic. All of the integrated patterns can be played over a wide tempo range in outstanding sound quality.
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