Bass reactionīut with many different kinds of bass out there, can Bass Rider really handle them all, as Waves claims? We found it most effective on animated transient-heavy bass sources, as opposed to drones or monotonous, rhythmically flat sounds. Ultimately, though, Bass Rider managed to follow everything we threw at it with ease, dramatically improving mediocre performances and further cementing already solid ones. While the default setup is a great starting point, we had to turn the Sensitivity knob up and switch the Response to Fast to accurately track more frantic fingerstyle playing. The Range controls define how heavy-handed Bass Rider is in its adjustments, from subtle refinements of 2dB each way, to huge jumps of up to 12dB (which can still come off sounding reasonably natural). Set it wrongly and you'll end up with constant gain boosts or cuts - finding the right setting is essential. With that sweet spot established, the Rider fader is adjusted on a note-by-note basis, attenuating loud notes and boosting quiet ones.
Most important, though, is the Target meter/fader combination at the top, which is where the bass riding begins… Ride 'em, cowboyĬorrectly setting the Target fader is crucial to getting Bass Rider riding properly - the best results are obtained when it's set so that the incoming bass signal peaks just above (ie, to the right of) the fader position. The GUI is compact and straightforward, comprising Range, Rider and Output sliders, aswell as Detect and Ignore sections, in which you adjust how quickly Bass Rider reacts to the incoming signal and determine to what extent extraneous noises (string squeaks, etc) should be ignored. While the fundamental aims of the two plug-ins are the same (ie, volume levelling), Vocal Rider encourages you to write its movements into the host track as automation via a set of dedicated controls, while Bass Rider works entirely 'on the fly', with no automation-writing functionality to be found.