Many of the parameters in this tab can be changed using key switches in the C0 range of your keyboard. The dynamic range and playing style can be set and adjusted in real time, too. There’s even a control to let the strings ring and decide what fingerings will be recognised – and whether open strings will be used or not. Next, you can choose whether the stroke is with the index finger, middle finger or alternating – and then decide whether the touch will be normal, hard, or soft. Then you can add muting to the strings as you see fit.

You can choose to play with fingers, a pick, or by slapping. Once you’ve chosen your bass of choice, you move to the next tab – Play Style – to determine how the bass will be played. As if having access to these 12 basses wasn’t enough, Modo Bass also gives you access to many of the parameters for each one, making them completely customisable and giving you access to a ridiculous number of permutations. The list of basses is pretty impressive in its own right, and there’s a guide on page 93. This is where you can choose from the 12 basses offered. The main screen is laid out in tabs, and the first is the Model tab. The result is a plug-in that just might be the last electric-bass instrument you’ll ever need.

Then it takes all these interacting factors and adds effects and amps to the signal chain. Modo Bass uses something IK Multimedia calls modal synthesis technology – it models each physical component of the bass body from the strings, pickups and electronics to the player’s action. “IK’s modal synthesis ensures this is not just a sampled bass pack. But this is not just a sampled bass pack.

Each sits nicely in one track or another and would be fine as-is. From the 60s P-Bass all the way down to the Flame Bass (based on a Warwick Streamer), every instrument has a very unique character and sound to bring to your mixes. A total of 12 iconic basses are initially offered for use.

To the far right of this strip is an arrow that lets you scroll to the two remaining basses. Along the top of Modo Bass, we find a strip that contains images of the first 10 basses available. Modo Bass opens with a simple image of perhaps the definitive electric bass… the venerable Fender P-Bass (a 60s version).

Modo software review