Bass synthesizer · VST3 · AU · Standalone · macOS and Windows
Heavy bass that holds together across the range.
Push the top as wide and dirty as you like. The sub stays centered, solid, and in tune.
A big modern bass is two sounds: a clean sub for weight and a gritty top for character.
GrindSub builds both layers from one source, so they stay in step.
A clean sine or triangle, always centered and phase-aligned with the grind, so the layers reinforce each other instead of cancelling.
A morphing wavetable with its own filter, five distortion types, up to seven voices, chorus, and a widener. It stays above the sub's range, so you can drive it hard without clouding the low end.
The sub underneath, the top over it, from one source, so they stay in step.
Hard clip, two saturations, and two wavefolders, from warm to metallic. Add bias for asymmetric grit, or blend it back for something subtler.
Sweep from saw to folded, square, and triangle, by hand or with modulation.
Stack detuned voices, add chorus, and spread the grind. None of it touches the sub. The stereo meter shows how it will hold up in mono.
Knock adds a thump and a flash of bite to the sub. Drop sweeps the grind down into each note for growls and zaps while the sub stays on pitch.
Cutoff and modulation are set in intervals above the note ("+2 octaves"), not hertz. With full keytracking, the tone stays put whether you play a low E or two octaves up.
At full keytracking, the filter self-oscillates in tune with the note you play.
Separate tilt controls for the sub and grind even out loudness across the range. The default patch stays within 1.5 dB over its lowest two octaves.
A bar for each recent note flags the ones sitting low.
See where your note and filter sit, live.
A correlation meter split just above the fundamental confirms the bottom stays centered.
Peak and momentary loudness, always in the header.
The same notes and automation produce the same output at any buffer size.
Fast lines, overlaps, and velocity changes don't add unwanted clicks, and your attack settings stay intact.
Route the sub and grind to their own tracks for processing or sidechaining.
Your license is a small file with your name on it. Paste it in or drop it on the plugin. Nothing phones home, so it works on offline machines. See the license terms for how many computers it covers.
Only days you open GrindSub count. When the trial ends, audio stops, but projects, settings, and presets are kept. Register and the sound returns.
- Free updates for all of version 1.x.
- New factory presets as they ship.
- Early beta versions: register your license with the Discord bot for access.
Join the DarkEffekt Discord for help, patch sharing, and news, or write to support@darkeffekt.com.
Every control explained, plus low-end tips. Read the manual.
No. It's monophonic, with full stereo output.
By design; it leaves the fundamental to the sub. If a patch sounds thin, check the sub level first.
On small speakers the top carries the bassline. Keep an eye on mono compatibility if you widen it a lot, and a little sub saturation helps too.
- Clean sub: sine or triangle, optional octave down, saturation, level, and a long-release option
- Grind: morphing wavetable, up to 7 unison voices with detune and spread, and its own level
- Resonant 24 dB filter with drive and adjustable keytracking
- Per-voice distortion: clip, tanh, cubic, sine fold, or linear fold, with drive, bias, and mix
- Automatic cleanup that keeps the grind out of the sub's range, or a manual high-pass
- Chorus (thickening or true stereo) and a stereo widener, on the grind only
- Knock and Drop for punchy, pitched attacks
- Separate level tilts for each layer
- Output level and a switchable soft-clip safety
- Monophonic, with retrigger and legato modes
- Glide up to 2 seconds, on overlapping notes or every note
- Pitch bend up to 24 semitones, adjustable velocity sensitivity, mod wheel, and sustain pedal
- LFO with four shapes, free or tempo-synced (straight, dotted, and triplet), retriggered per note or locked to your song
- Envelope with a ready-made pluck
- Mod wheel as a source
- 12 depth knobs: every source to wavetable, filter, resonance, and distortion
- Live modulation rings
- Output peak and loudness
- Spectrum with note and filter markers
- Low-end stereo check
- Per-note loudness history
- Resizable window, tooltips everywhere, double-click to reset
- Preset browser with folders, import, and export
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