7 free REAKTOR ensembles for bigger bass

There has always been a fascination with the low-end spectrum of music. Out of the musical frequency spectrum, bass frequencies are the only ones that can be both heard and felt. Whole genres are based on, or born out of love for the bass. Think dub, drum and bass, techno, dancehall, garage, dubstep, the list goes on… Dubstep without subs? No way. The nastier the better, right?

The REAKTOR User Library community has produced a massive number of incredible synth and effect ensembles throughout the years, with a good number of creations dedicated to the bassline. The following list compiles the nastiest and most speaker damaging ones out there.

Let the trunk rattle

Simple and basic, yet extremely effective and powerful for its purpose: delivering fat bass.

Dial in the distortion knob to get a trademark trap-style, sub-bassline sound. Bass One also works great in the upper registers for funky leads and melody lines.

Check out Bass One here.

The definition of nasty

The Wobble Synth ensemble does exactly what the name suggests: slamming out the nastiest and grimiest bass sounds. Perfectly suited for wobbly dubstep and grungy drum and bass excursions.

Check out Wobble Synth here.

Bass from outer space

Judging from the presets the Bazztard synth leans towards a more sci-fi oriented domain. On first look, it may not be the heaviest on the low-end, but tweaked correctly it still can make your guts twirl, especially as the filter is fun to play with. Bazztard is also capable of some vowel-style bass sounds, adding an extraterrestrial character.

Check out Bazztard here.

Fat synth bass

The Dusk BLK has become somewhat of a classic amongst the User Library’s synth ensembles. Comments like “this is a fantastic synth, can’t believe it’s free”, and “incredibly clear saw synthesis” are proof of its good reputation within NI’s user community.  It is the go-to synth for fat and deep basslines, ranging from clear to nasty and saturated.

Check out Dusk BLK here.

Atmospheric basslines

Built by the same creators as the Dusk BLK and Wobble Synth, and also sharing the same layout with Dusk BLK, ATMOS is capable of very deep and harsh bass sounds. The great-sounding onboard effects add extra layers of eeriness and atmosphere to the sounds. You could easily compose a soundtrack to The Upside Down with this one.

Check out ATMOS here.

Monophonic FM subs

Mono FM is not only a great mono synth but also a good way to familiarize yourself with FM-synthesis in general. Being a mono synth it offers 10 harmonics per operator (a term introduced by Yamaha, basically describing a mixture of an oscillator, envelope, and amplifier). Also on board are a pitch knob and a glide function.

Check out Mono FM here.

The dark side of the rave

In case you ever have to score your most dystopian and horrific nightmare, Dark Matter would be the go-to synth. Due to the creative placement of modulation functions and an additional effect section, including sync delay, reverb, phaser, flanger, and a multistep bitcrusher, this ensemble is capable of some very unconventional and out there sounds.

Check out Dark Matter here.