The Beta Grew Up: Box of Bass 1.0 Is Out, Free
In June I put the bass chain from the Box of Rules records out as a free beta called Bass Better-er, and asked people to break it. You did — on your basses, in your DAWs, in sessions I would never have thought to test. Two months and a dozen builds later, the beta has grown into something that deserved a real name. Box of Bass 1.0 is out now, and it is free.
Same rig, more of it
The heart is unchanged: one bass DI split into parallel studio-captured layers — true sub, two clean cabs, three driven mics, two rooms — each owning its slice of the spectrum, blended back into one bigger instrument. Around it, v1 opens the machine up. The drive stage got dials — SATURATE, DRIVE, RELEASE, SUSTAIN — so the dirt breathes with your playing instead of sitting on top of it. There is a six-band master EQ with movable bands, per-strip headroom pads, room feeds you choose per room, a WIDTH spreader that leaves the mono fold-down mathematically intact, and a GUITAR MODE that pitches the whole chain down an octave — plug in a guitar, get a bass. The factory bank now ships with artist presets: my three hand-dialled tones from the records, transcribed knob by knob.
One bass DI, rebuilt into a whole session. Still free.
Pro Tools, properly
The most-asked question of the beta finally has a good answer: the macOS installer now includes a PACE-signed AAX, so Box of Bass loads in retail Pro Tools alongside the VST3, AU and standalone builds for macOS, Windows and Linux. Free for any use, commercial productions included — no account, no dongle. Downloads always point at the newest build on GitHub, straight from the plugin page.
A farewell to the beta
Bass Better-er closes at v0.2.2 — a farewell release with a parting gift (the WIDTH spreader, backported). It keeps working forever; it just stops changing. The two install side by side, and old sessions keep resolving to the beta, so nothing you saved ever breaks. If you rode the beta and have two minutes, tell me what it got right and wrong — that feedback is what built v1.
And then there is Pro
The premium version is real and it is close: a redesigned interface, channels you add and design yourself, every strip's EQ on one interactive map, and drive characters you can open up and re-voice. Have a look at the previews — and if you join the mailing list there, you get the release date first and a launch discount when it lands.