The long awaited 'Knock' 808 Module for Kontakt is here. 'Knock' is an exclusive collection of industry quality 808s powered by Kontakt. Each 808 is perfectly tuned and ready for immediate creative workflow. 'Knock' comes with simple ADSR knobs for you to take full control of the 808.
Looking for earthy 808 bass samples that hit you in the chest? Hate being confined to your standard bass sounds?
The 808 has proved to be the long lasting legacy of the Roland 808 drum machine, and when used in conjunction with live hats and snares you can create some seriously tasty beats!
We’ve found 5 of the best 808 bass packs that will open up a world of opportunity in your productions, from dubstep to hip hop, R&B to techno.
These 808s will give your low end a fresh and energizing new vibe, let’s take a look…
Over a period of three decades, the 808 has become an important sound for hip hop, trap, and other electronic music genres. Not many sounds in modern-day music have had quite an impact like the 808. With the birth of the internet, plugin manufacturers and sample creators have flooded the market with their products, makingRead More. VST plugins directory, Sample, Download VST Instrument plugins for free, for Cubase, FL Studio, Ableton, etc. Discover and download mastering plugin. Top 28 Analog Synth VST Plugins We have selected top 28 free vst analog synth plugins which can be downloaded for. Vst4free 808 When working on a track using 808 Warfare - you can play out your bassline, then go back and click next to switch through the 808 patches until you find the perfect 808 for the track you are working on. VST, Plugins, Audio, Samples, Free, Download. Initial Audio 808 Studio (Mac). 2018 303 808 bass free Full hip hop initial audio MAC osx rap roland tr trap vst.
Quick Rundown
Below is a short list of the 808 bass sample packs we talk about in this article. Scroll down for more details or click for audio demos.
1. Modern Samples – Analog 808
Comprising of both tuned samples and huge bass drops, the Analog 808 pack by Modern Samples have been recorded solely through analog gear. This conviction to the recording process ensures the highest quality sounds, keeping the bass sounding true.
There’s 212 tuned samples that all have varying texture and color, and 35 bass drops for taking your track from big to huge!
All of the samples are organized into the standard Falling 808s, Long, Medium and Short, and they’re fully mixed and ready to go, so ease of use has been nailed. You can have these sounds in your mix within minutes following the instant download.
The extensive range of analog gear used on Analog 808 is what has given this pack its great variety of sounds. Warmth, depth, and texture have been added using a vintage Neve 1073 preamp and EQ, and body and fullness came from the Tube-Tech CL1B compressor. For the more extreme sounds, an Empirical Labs Distressor was used to increase note sustain, emphasize the punch and add multiple flavors of distortion.
With some of the industries finest recording gear used to record Analog 808 and a massive selection of samples, the $37 price tag is very reasonable both for the quality and value you receive in this pack. Certainly worth the attention of anyone serious about huge 808s!
2. Producers Choice – Urban 808 Kontakt Library
For the producers using the Kontakt platform to produce their tunes, The Producers Choice has something special just for you! They’ve put together a library of 808 basses mapped across the keyboard and tuned perfectly.
The benefit of a Kontact library is that you can leave your midi notes in place, and switch patches until you find an 808 that fits perfectly into your track.
The Urban 808 Kontakt Library comes with 20 808 samples, all based on the Roland TR-808 but then uniquely processed to give each sample its own character. The processing and mixing of the sounds guarantee there’s no pops, crackles, unwanted noise or silences, just ready to rock, professional 808 basses.
Despite having far less selection than the 3 packs we’ve already covered, the Urban 808 Kontakt Library still has a vast range of 808 sounds available. The 22 styles include hip hop, clean, gritty, dirty, distorted, punchy, compressed and monster to name but a few. As a bonus, there is a 23rd instrument included, which has 808 claps, snares, toms, cowbells, hats and more.
Currently, the Urban 808 Kontakt Library is being offered at $35, which is a saving of $15 on the RRP. At this price, it’s unquestionably something anyone using Kontakt to make urban music should be looking at.
Despite what would seem like a lacking in samples compared to the other packs we’ve discussed, the fact this is set up correctly for Kontakt means there is so much freedom that can be employed. You can use the samples as they come, or you can tweak things such as the legato, amp release and fade. This is all supported by top quality, thick, punchy samples that you just can’t go wrong with!
A full version of Kontakt 5 is required to use Urban 808 Kontakt Library, so don’t be too hasty in purchasing if your software isn’t up to standard!
3. Producers Choice – 808 Warfare
As a follow up to the Urban 808 Kontakt Library, The Producers Choice developed an extended 808 bass collection with 808 Warfare! If you liked the sound of the Urban 808 Kontakt Library but aren’t familiar with Kontakt, or you’re highly proficient using different software, 808 Warfare could be for you. Comprising of 169 WAV samples, there’s plenty for everyone, but 41 Kontakt patches are also included for those who prefer to use the NI software.
With a straightforward and practical interface, 808 Warfare offers the same ease of use as Urban 808, just swap your patches around until you’re satisfied with your low end. Once again, the whole pack is mapped to be perfectly pitched on the keyboard and polished with EQ, compression and transient shapers to ensure quality.
Finding an 808 sample that fits your genre and mix, but also cuts through with the desired punch is no problem with 808 Warfare. These sounds can be pushed to their limit while holding their integrity.
The RRP on 808 Warfare is representative of how vastly extended it is compared to 808 Urban, and its superior compatibility; $107. But the great people at The Producers Choice are offering it for just $47! So if you’re a Kontakt pro and can spend an extra 12 bucks on almost double the patches that Urban 808 offers, or if you don’t use contact and want some solid WAV format samples, take a look at 808 Warfare!
4. Capsun ProAudio – STR808 Sub Bass
Capsun ProAudio’s STR808 collection is formed from 50 newly designed one shot samples, all in 24bit WAV quality. Across the 50 samples, they have tried to include tones and flavors for every mix including analog warmth, grimy distortion, clean tones and saturated trap subs.
All the samples in STR808 have already been pitched and tagged to their root key, along with being rigorously mixed. Transient shaping, EQ, saturation, and other processing have all been carried out to ensure every single sound is ready to use from the moment you load the sounds!
Along with the one shot WAV samples, each sound is included as a soft sampler for Kontakt, NN-XT, Ableton Simpler, and SFZ, making it even easier for users of those platforms to get stuck in.
But if you’re feeling like inspiration is eluding you, this 808 bass kit has you covered. 100 sub bass loops are included to get your track off the ground, all tagged with root key and tempo.
Free Trap 808 Vst
Genre isn’t an issue here either, the loops range from 80bpm to 160bpm, so whether its lo-fi hip hop or dark drum & bass, there’s a loop here to spark the imagination.
To appeal to those just getting started, Capsun ProAudio has thrown in a bonus 16 hit drum kit, so the STR808 could be all you need to get started. The kit is mapped for Ableton Drum Rack & Reason Kong with an additional 10 bonus loops in WAV & Rex2 format.
At a price of $19.26, the STR808 collection offers great value for money. Probably more suited to beginners and intermediate producers, the STR808 has a lot to offer for those starting out or looking to up their low-end game.
5. Zenhiser – Universal 808 Kicks
Having already released a full 808 drum pack, TR-808 The Drum Machine, Zenhiser has now turned their attention to focusing just on 808 bass samples. What they have produced is a pack of 300 unique samples ranging from subtly pushed sub kicks to overly saturated monster bass sounds.
With a huge selection available, there is a sample for every genre including trap, hip hop, drum & bass, EDM, progressive house, trance, techno, and hardstyle.
As with the Analog 808 collection, Universal 808 Kicks is separated into folders, but this time there are an additional 2 on top of the original 4. Along with the short kicks (fast attack, heavy bottom and a fast release, more suited to trap and hip-hop), there is also ‘short layered’ which have been designed to have a bit less sub harmonics, with a heavy body and a sharp attack click layered over. These kicks have been formulated with the EDM, Progressive House & Trance producers in mind.
As standard, there is then also medium, long and falling folders. Musically, the medium would be most commonly utilized, with super warm lower frequencies, more depth and little more length than the short kicks. The long and falling samples would be most likely used for specific purposes.
Zenhiser has also introduced a standalone FX folder, for the hardstyle and hard techno producers, where the sonic range and possibilities are truly unleashed!
At $30.85, Universal 808 Kicks packs a whole lot into 1 product, making it great value for money. Aimed more towards intermediate to professional producers who are well-versed in creating their beats and are now refining their sound, but who are wanting a diverse selection of kick sounds and freedom to craft their tracks to perfection.
The Roundup
Your bass is the foundation of any track, and no producer can afford to overlook its importance. We’ve covered 5 of the best 808 bass packs, all of which offer the kind of quality you’re going to need to lay solid foundations on which to build a strong track on.
Though all the 808 bass sound kits we’ve featured are great, if we had to pick one, we’d go with Analog 808. Though the samples aren’t designed for VST software like Kontakt, all the samples are labelled with their root key, and they can all easily be added to a piano role or pitched up an down with a filter.
It’s mostly the quality and character that we appreciate here, with 100% of the samples utilizing some of the best analog recording gear, it’s hard to find 808 sounds produced with such intent of quality.
So now that you have a great selection to choose from, there should be no excuses why your beats shouldn’t be rattling your neighbors windows.
Over a period of three decades, the 808 has become an important sound for hip hop, trap, and other electronic music genres. Not many sounds in modern-day music have had quite an impact like the 808.
With the birth of the internet, plugin manufacturers and sample creators have flooded the market with their products, making it difficult to find the perfect 808.
If you’ve been searching (and who hasn’t?) then look no further. We’ve compiled a list of some of the best 808 plugins available right now.
Let’s check them out.
Top 808 VST’s
1. Future Audio Workshop SubLab
We find that it’s much easier to use plugins when they have a single purpose, making it simpler for music creators to…create! That’s why we think that the SubLab from Future Audio Workshop is great. It lets you make just about any sub tone you can think of for almost any genre, but more specifically trap and hip hop.
Sublab is more or less a hybrid VST, consisting of both an analog synth and an X-sub synth layer, which can be routed to a kick drum fairly easily. The easy-to-use (and attractive) interface provides great feedback from the spectrogram and oscillator waveform. You can blend together, three different layers in the “mixing” section.
The plugin gives every musical “genius” the ability to play with multiple layers (synth and sample) to create massive sub tones without destroying the bottom end of your mix. If that isn’t enough, you can always add in some dirt with the compression and saturation modules.
Let’s be honest, no plugin is perfect, and SubLab is no exception. There are only 69 presets included, which might be limiting for some producers. On the flip side, it’s not too difficult to build new tones from scratch, making it beginner-friendly.
Pros
- Generate sub tones without sacrificing the bottom end
- The compression and saturation are very high quality
- Three layers to play around with
Cons
- sampler section has no visual feedback
- Not velocity-sensitive
2. Niche Audio Planet 808
If you ever surf the web for samples, you’ve probably seen about a million different 808 kits out there. While that’s all good for modern music producers, many of the kits lack the necessary processing for when they are used in the context of full-on productions.
Niche Audio Plant 808 combats this by providing a number of different vibe-driven 808 kits for just about any music genre. Each of these 808 kits has been sampled, edited, and processed with care. While there are additional patches for a number of soft samplers, the Niche Audio Planet 808 is best used in Ableton Live or Maschine 2.
There are thirteen standard kits and two special kits included, as well as an array of low-end subs and percussion to add a bit of flair to the kits. Every kit has starter patterns to help get some ideas down right off the bat. Each one also comes with different pitches so that you can fit the samples with your music in any key.
Overall, this 808 VST is known for its authenticity. It is meticulously sculpted for Ableton Live and Maschine to make it a viable 808 asset for any kind of modern music producer.
Pros
- Versatile pack of 808s
- Meticulously sampled, edited, and organized
- Comes set up for Ableton Live and Maschine
Cons
- You lose many ease of use features in other DAWs
3. Wave Alchemy Revolution
Wave Alchemy says that their Revolution plugin is one of the most accurate virtual drum machine plugins available right now. Included in the VST are a number of classic machines like the OB-DX, 908, 606, 78, etc. but the 808s are what stands out.
In order to capture the original tone of each analog drum machine and every little nuance, Wave Alchemy injected thousands upon thousands of samples into the sound engine of the Revolution. The end result is the subtle differences that make analog so unique.
Each sound was captured through a balanced Radial JDI and a NEVE 1073 preamp, which resulted in sounds with a full frequency range response – think warm, punchy and dynamic! Another thing to note here is that each sound was also peak matched to help in the auditioning process.
A really cool feature is that you can load the different drum sounds into the 14 drum voice modules, effectively giving you a frankenstein kit of sorts. Use an 808 kick, a 909 hat, and an OB-DX snare. Get creative!
Pros
- A lot of high quality samples to play around with
- Comes with FX like reverb and saturation
- The interface is nice to look at 😉
Cons
- Not as beginner-friendly as some of the other options
4. DopeSONIX Bass Engine 1
If you make hip hop beats and you’re looking for a HUGE all-around bass plugin, the Bas Engine 1 might be what you’ve been missing. DopeSONIX went to the trouble of studying the last 30 years of hip hop to get a good representation of every bass sound through each era. You’ll get everything from a classic 808 to a vinyl-style upright bass.
The plugin comes arranged with the sounds in order from the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. In the 90’s collection, you can expect to see samples from machines like the MPC 60 MKII and SP-1200. Those were the days when bass lines were sampled from soul, jazz, and funk records.
By the time we hit the 2000’s, producers started getting their hands on hardware bass synths for more powerful bass tones. Some of the more popular samplers included the MPC 3000 and the ASR-10. Included in the Bass Engine 1 are 100 presets to give you those deep, dirty Y2K bass sounds.
Finally, you’ll get a collection of 808 and sub-bass sounds that we’re all taylored to modern trap, hip-hop, EDM, and dubstep. This is an absolutely impressive collection of hip-hop bass sounds combined with MIDI basslines, ADSR controls, and low CPU to boot.
Pros
- Quality bass sounds organized through the decades
- Interface is intuitive and easy to use
- Very low CPU usage!
Cons
- Not as many 808s as we were hoping (only 20)
5. Synsonic Instruments Synsonic BD-808
If you hate sifting through tons of different 808 sounds to find the right one, then the Synsonic BD-808 might be right for you – simplicity at its best! The BD-808 is incredibly useful for creating dope 808 bass lines with very little effort.
Unlike other plugins on our list, the BD-808 doesn’t use any 808 samples, instead it relies on detailed analysis of the old school bass drum circuits. Furthermore, it makes use of a MIDI control, allowing you to operate the plugin like a bass synthesizer, something you can’t do with an 808 sample.
Included are a few parameters to tweak your sounds to perfection.
- Accent – emphasizes the attack
- Tone – which controls the amount of click on the tone
- Plus a few other standard controls, such as Level and Decay.
808 Warfare Download Free
Besides those controls, there are some other sound manipulation possibilities, such as halftone tuning, fine tuning, extended decay, and MIDISync.
By our analysis, we feel like the DB-808 is one of the simplest 808 VST plugins around for anyone looking for quality 808 sounds. Also, the ultra low price means you won’t burn a hole in your wallet.
Pros
- Ultra low cost
- Simple to Operate
- Additional controls for shaping your sound
Cons
- Not as versatile as others on the list
- Some users have commented that it can be a bit buggy
6. DopeSONIX Beat Machine 2
The Beat Machine 2 by DopeSONIX is an upgrade from the DopeSONIX Beat Machine 1 on our list, though this one is more of a drum machine than a bass synthesizer. It was designed for producers who need a wide variety of hip-hop drums for different production styles from different eras.
There are 600 different kits onboard that have been EQ’ed and mixed ahead of time so that they can be used in your productions right off the bat. The days of spending hours on end looking for the right kit pieces are long gone.
The cool thing about the DopeSONIX Beat Machine 2 is that these kits were arranged by era. The first 100 presets bring you the dusty, chopped kit pieces from 90s hip-hop. The second 100 presets are from the 2000s, giving you the new Boombap sounds of producers such as Havoc and Alchemist alongside the 808 driven styles of Lil Jon, the clean-cut sounds of Timbaland, and the new wave West Coast sounds of Dr. Dre. Lastly, you get the 808 and 909 inspired sounds from hood trap producers such as DJ Mustard and Lex Luger.
There are 600 high-quality drum kits, 1200+ samples, 300 stereo kits, 300 multi-out kits, and 50 drum patterns, all wrapped up in a flexible and low CPU plugin.
Pros
- Hundreds of incredible drum kits
- Sounds arranged by era
- Low CPU usage
Cons
- The sheer number of kit pieces can be overwhelming
7. D16 Group Nepheton
D16 Group is famous for their digital emulations of well-known, classic synths and drum machines. The Nepheton is a recreation of the famous 808 drum machine. Every sound that comes out of the unit is perfectly captured enabling you to import the original 808 sounds straight into your DAW.
The Nepheton uses hybrid sequencing, which should please both modern producers as well as the serious drum machine enthusiasts. Built in is a randomize feature allowing you to quickly dial-in some unique rhythms when the original 808 patterns start to get dull.
If you’re after a pure 808 emulation, the D16 Nepheton may be the best choice on our list.
Pros
- Classic 808 emulation
- Hybrid sequencing
- Randomizer feature for interesting patterns
Cons
- Modern producers may feel limited
8. Wave Alchemy Transistor Revolution MKII
For producers using Kontakt, the Transistor Revolution MKII is a perfect match. This plugin is a digital recreation of the iconic TR-808 and TR-909 drum machines from the 1980’s. Though this plugin has been around for quite some time, it has undergone some reason updates including a full re-script. Expect intuitive workflow and a beautiful interface.
The plugin comes equipped with a 16-track step sequencer, a 10-track mixer for individual drum processing, unified 808 and 909 instruments, reverb and delay defends, tape saturation, and volume and pan controls.
Thanks to the advanced sampling technology available in Kontakt, you can expect some 22,000 samples in this plugin for thick and fat sounds!
Carefully recorded with a Radial JDI and NEVE 1073 preamp, you can expect analog warmth and dynamics – top-notch analog sound at a relatively low price.
Pros
- Premium quality analog sounds
- Intuitive UI
Cons
- CPU hog!
Best 808 Vst
Get Down With the 808
Free Vst 808 Plugins
If your goal is to create chest-thumping trap, hip-hop or EDM, you need to get your hands on some quality 808s.
Instead of sifting through thousands of samples trying to create a good drum kit, why not pick up one of the best 808 VST’s on our list and get back to what you love doing – making music?