Pfundstein Audio Plugins has released Tiefkraft, a virtual bass guitar collection that brings eight sampled bass guitars together in a single VST3/AU instrument. The new plugin combines the developer’s previous bass instruments into one MIDI-playable suite for macOS and Windows.
Tiefkraft is designed around a straightforward workflow. All eight basses can be selected from a single dropdown menu, while key switches and automation parameters provide additional control over articulations and performance details.
The collection includes six conventional 4- and 5-string basses, each with different woods, pickup configurations and construction characteristics. The remaining two instruments are 8-string basses with paired strings, producing an octave effect similar to a 12-string guitar. This type of bass has been used by players including John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Joey DeMaio of Manowar, Mike Rutherford of Genesis and Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick.
The sampled instruments cover a range from A0, using drop-A tuning on the 5-string basses, up to G4 at the 24th fret. Pickup options include neck, bridge, humbucker and single-coil configurations, with clean DI and processed amplified outputs available.
Tiefkraft includes multiple velocity layers and round-robin samples for more natural performances. Available articulations include fingerstyle, pick up/down, slap, tapping, palm muting, slides, bends, hammer-ons and pull-offs. Key switches can be used to control articulations directly from a MIDI keyboard.
The eight basses included in Tiefkraft are:
- Sandberg Panther Special 5 Thuya — a 5-string, 35-inch-scale bass handcrafted in Braunschweig, Germany, featuring a mahogany body, Thuya top, maple neck, Pau Ferro fingerboard and two Sandberg trapezoid pickups.
- Sandberg Basic Ken Taylor RW — a 4-string bass with a mahogany body, quilted maple top, maple neck and fingerboard, and Sandberg Powerhumbucker pickups with humbucker and single-coil modes.
- BassLine Buster CW4 — a one-of-a-kind handcrafted 4-string bass with swamp ash and black limba construction, EMG pickups and Noll TCM3 electronics.
- BassLine Buster Std8 (Mark I) — an 8-string bass with alder body, maple neck, EMG MM TW pickups and Noll TCM3 electronics.
- BassLine Buster Std8 (Mark II) — an updated 8-string design featuring two independently controllable pickups, including a bridge EMG 35DC bass pickup and a neck EMG H4A guitar pickup.
- ESP LTD B-404 — a 4-string neck-through bass with a swamp ash body, spalted maple top, 5-piece maple/walnut neck and EMG active electronics.
- ESP E-II BTL-4 — a Japanese-made 4-string bass with an alder body, spalted maple top, maple neck, ebony fingerboard and Seymour Duncan SSB pickups.
- ESP E-II BTL-5 — a 5-string version featuring the same general construction and pickup configuration as the BTL-4.
Pricing & Availability
Until the end of September, the plugin is available for an introductory price of $49 (Reg. $249).
The plugin supports VST3 and Audio Units and can be used with compatible DAWs including Cubase, Ableton Live, Reaper, Bitwig, PreSonus Studio One, FL Studio and Mixcraft. A standalone version for macOS and Windows is also included.
Audio examples are available on SoundCloud: SoundCloud.com/pfundsteinaudioplugins/sets/tiefkraft-vst3-au-plugin-audio
YouTube.com/watch?v=pXwhx-ZiAlY
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