XY Bass manual
Installing XY Bass, what each axis and control does, the presets, and what the plug-in reports to your host.
Installing
Windows. Copy XY Bass.vst3 into C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3.
macOS. Run the installer, which places the VST3 in
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3 and the Audio Unit in
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components. The archive contains the same two bundles
if you would rather place them by hand.
Linux. Copy XY Bass.vst3 into ~/.vst3 or /usr/lib/vst3.
The plug-in reports 459 samples of latency at 48 kHz (9.6 ms), which your host compensates for automatically. It is a mixing plug-in rather than a tracking one: if you are monitoring through it while playing, expect that delay.
The pad
X — Sub … Translate. To the left the plug-in works on depth: reinforcing the fundamental where it exists and reconstructing it where it does not. To the right it works on audibility: generating the harmonics that let a low note read as bass on a speaker that cannot reproduce the fundamental. The middle does both.
Y — Clean … Dirty. How much saturation and character the plug-in may add. Low keeps the result close to the source. High drives the harmonics harder and lets them clip, with the fundamental protected so the bottom stays steady.
Drag the pad, or double-click to return to the centre.
The controls
| Control | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Mix | 0–100 % | Blends against the dry signal. At 0 % the output is bit-identical to bypass. |
| Input | ±18 dB | Level into the engine. |
| Output | ±18 dB | Level out, after the ceiling. |
| Auto Gain | on/off | Matches the processed level to the source so pad positions compare fairly. On by default. |
| Delta | on/off | Plays only what the plug-in adds. |
| Bypass | on/off | Crossfaded and latency-aligned, so the comparison is fair. |
Presets
| Preset | For |
|---|---|
| Balanced Bass | The default starting point. |
| Clean Weight | Depth with as little character as possible. |
| Club Sub | Maximum felt depth, for systems that go low. |
| Phone Translation | Audibility on small speakers. |
| 808 Bigger | Long sub notes that need to stay defined. |
| Kick Body | Weight under a kick without lengthening it. |
| Techno Hammer | Hard, driven low end. |
| Bass Growl | Character-first, for synth bass. |
| Small Speaker | The translation end, pushed further. |
| Gentle Mixbus | Light hold on a full mix, blended with Mix. |
| Dirty Rumble | Saturated depth. |
| Heavy But Clean | Weight at high level with restrained character. |
| Translate Hard | The right-hand corner, for the hardest cases. |
Notes
- Auto Gain compares the processed level to the source continuously. Turn it off if you want to hear the level the settings actually produce.
- The ceiling is a soft limit on the output. It leaves anything below −0.9 dBFS untouched and bends smoothly above it. The meter shows when it is working.
- Mix at 0 % with Output at 0 dB gives you the input back, sample for sample, which makes it a safe A/B.
- Very high sample rates (176.4 kHz and above) switch the internal oversampling off, since the rate already provides the headroom. Latency there is lower as a result.
Specifications
- Latency: 459 samples at 48 kHz (9.6 ms); 429 at 44.1 kHz; 869 at 96 kHz.
- Reported tail: 1 s.
- Sample rates: 22.05 kHz to 768 kHz.
- Channels: mono and stereo.
- CPU: about 1.3 % of one core at 48 kHz in stereo.
- Formats: VST3 (Windows, macOS, Linux), Audio Unit (macOS).