Dope VST Bass Engine Urban Bass Plugin review

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Hey what’s good fam!

Back with another review for you, this is the Bass Engine plugin from DopeVST

I’m a huge fan of their Beat Machine drum plugin, so I definitely wanted to show you this one

Let’s check it out!

So what is Bass Engine?

bass_engineIt’s a straight forward, simple to use bass plugin aimed at Hip Hop and Urban production styles.

The concept is to cover 3 decades of bass styles. The 90’s, the 2000’s, and the 2010’s.

Each “era” is represented by a different style or styles of bass that were popular in music during that time.

It’s got a very simple interface and the patches load pretty quickly.

Quick Specs

How does it sound?

Reel to Reel Tape RecorderI really like the plugin because it covers various styles of bass that are useful in urban production.

It’s got the old school, dirty, dust-soaked bass that sounds as if it were chopped straight from vinyl.

It’s also got short percussive electric and acoustic bass notes.

There’s rugged synth bass, huge 808s, and crazy deep sub bass as well.

Sure, the acoustic and electric instruments aren’t super multi layered works of perfection, but that’s not the aim of this plugin.

I find that it’s very easy to grab a bass that works in most production situations no matter if I need a simple sub bass or a smooth dirty electric bass.

The “decades” are covered well, but for me I don’t think any one style is stuck in a specific era, so I find tons of useful patches in all 3 decades represented.

Overall the sound fits well in urban productions, no matter if you like it dirty and worn or clean and crisp.

So what’s the bottom line?

I’m always a bit weary when plugins are created to cater to a specific style of music, sometimes it can be overdone or cheesy, however that’s not the case here.

I find that much of the tone of this plugin works well for my productions, and it sort of reminds me of the time when I first got a mophatt module. Up until that point I was using “general purpose” modules and keyboards but the mophatt was the first to really nail the sound of vinyl samples and urban tones all in one. Unlike the mophatt though, this is bass, so you won’t have to worry about the instruments having a “dated” sound in my opinion.

Dirty bass lines work now and will continue to work, the same can be said for 808 and sub bass, it’s something that won’t get old because you can always find use for these types of bass tones in urban music.


4andhalfsubs
I give Bass Engine 4.5 out of 5 subs, I think they did a great job of creating a plugin that’s simple to use, sounds good, and has plenty of variety for all types of urban production styles.

 

A couple of things I would like to see in the future:

  • A way to quickly save favorites, with 300 patches you’re sure to find your favorites and it would be cool to be able to load them up quickly
  • Throw a basic EQ in there, maybe even a filter. It doesn’t have to be complex, but sometimes you want to tweak just a little, no need to load up a separate plugin for basic tweaks.
  • This may be wishful thinking, but it would be cool to be able to layer in there, imagine taking a crusty dirty electric bass and layering a deep sub under it…sure I can do this manually but as long as I’m typing up my wishlist why not!

Not having these things isn’t an issue for me at all really, it would just be cool to have.

This is a great plugin and it’s cool to see people putting out products like this. It doesn’t aim to replace your huge multi-sampled bass library, the main goal here is workflow and inspiration.

I find having to dig and tweak too much or wait for patches to load can be the difference between capturing and idea and losing it.

This is one of those types of plugins that makes it quick to audition and move to laying down an idea.

I definitely like what Dope VST is doing, and the combination of Bass Engine along with their Beat Machine plugin is a great one two punch.

Even if you don’t need drums, if you’re looking for a new bass plugin that’s easy to work with and has a bunch of useful patches then check this out: http://dopebassvst.com

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think

18 Comments

  1. This is one of my favorite vsti’s. I bought this last month after I saw your review. DOPE! Is all I can say. It had basses in there that I was looking for and some I didn’t know I was looking for. I want to see more instruments like this. Thanks for putting me on!

    Reply
  2. Hi Saintjoe,
    I am about to purchase this plugin and want to use it with the MPC Renaissance. I read somewhere that I need Kontakt 4 in order to use the Bass Engine. Is this true or can I load it as VST/AU straight to the ren?
    Thanks very much in advance.

    Best regards,
    Marco

    Reply
    • I think Dope Bass VST has a bit more variety, where sub boom bass is a full bass synth so it has more control. I prefer dope bass vst personally if I had to pick one.

      Reply
  3. Hey Saintjoe!

    Love all your stuff and especially your helpful videos!!

    Please tell me where I can safely purchase this product and some other Dope VST software plug ins?? Having a hard time with ‘Plugin Boutique’???

    Please help.
    GC

    Reply
  4. Hey! Thanks for the review! I downloaded it and put the VST in my plugin folder (MAC) and when i open Maschine and updated plugin preferences, i still cannot find Bass Engine in Maschine. Where is it located in Maschine?

    Reply
    • You have to make sure Maschine knows which plugin folder you’re using. Also you need to be using the proper version 64 bit or 32 bit depending on which version of Maschine you’re using.

      Reply
  5. I just got this after seeing your video. I’m having hard to getting this plug in to show up in protools. I moved it to my plug in folders and did plug in rescan..but still nothing.

    Reply

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