Ample Bass Upright

Name: Ample Bass Upright
Price: 149 USD
Author: Ample Sound

by Ample Sound · Instrument · Sampled upright (double) bass

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Ample Bass Upright is a sampled upright double bass recorded with neck, body and room mics plus DI, running in Ample Sound's own plugin.

It has 13 articulations including slap, a fretless-style slide system, a riff editor and Guitar Pro tab import. It costs $149.

Best for: Bass, Acoustic Instruments. Genres: Jazz, Acoustic & Classical, R&B & Soul.

Keywords: upright piano, sample-based, bass instrument, plucks, guitar instrument, acoustic drums, monophonic, classic, polyphonic, smooth, strings, visual feedback.

What it does

Ample Bass Upright is Ample Sound's sampled upright (double) bass, played fingerstyle and built for jazz-style plucked lines. The developer calls the instrument "one of the most iconic and soulful instruments in jazz music."

13 articulations: sustain, palm mute, natural harmonic, hammer-on and pull-off, legato slide, slide in, slide out, slap, pop, tap, accentuated, repeat note and dead note.
Samples and mics: a fingerstyle library recorded with neck, body and room mics plus a DI signal, so you can blend a close, woody tone with more room or a direct sound.
Legato and slides: a polyphonic legato and slide smoother for realistic legato at any interval and speed, with a slide system designed for a fretless instrument.
Tuning: drop tuning down to D1.
Riffer 4: a MIDI riff editor with piano-roll and tab views you can switch between, string visualisation that prevents two notes on one string, automatic fingering, technique editing, CC and velocity editors, and hundreds of bass riff presets.
Tab Reader 4: imports bass tracks from Guitar Pro files (GP3 to GP8) and keeps the fingering, articulations and performance data.
Effects: 8-band EQ, compressor, delay and convolution reverb.

The product page names its tools as version 4 (Riffer 4, Tab Reader 4) but gives no plugin version number.

Source: Ample Sound product page

When to use it

Ample Bass Upright is the pick when you want to program realistic plucked upright lines quickly, since Riffer and Guitar Pro import let you write or paste walking bass parts with fingering intact. Compared with Trilian, it is a single dedicated upright with far more articulation and mic control for that one instrument, but none of Trilian's electric and synth basses. Unlike SWAM Double Bass, which is modelled and can be bowed, it is sampled and plucked only, which gives it a natural recorded tone but less continuous expression.

Best for: walking jazz lines, blues and rockabilly bass, and plucked upright parts in soul, pop and acoustic songs.
Genres: jazz, blues, rockabilly, soul and acoustic music.
Look elsewhere if: you need bowed (arco) double bass; the product page lists no bowed articulation, so SWAM Double Bass or an orchestral library suits that better.
Tip: blend the neck, body, room and DI mics differently for each genre; Sample Library Review suggests experimenting there first.

What producers say

Reviewers rate its sound and control highly, with the lack of bowing the main limit.

Sample Library Review (Brian Brylow, 2017, version II) called it his favourite of three upright bass plugins, praising the sampling, the mic blend, the familiar Ample interface and the tab integration.
Criticisms: the same review noted "the inability to play it as a bowed instrument", which limits orchestral use.

Sample Library Review

Where to buy

Ample Sound: $149
Plugin Boutique: $149

Tutorials and reviews

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