UJAM’s new plugin Subcraft, “The Ultimate Sub Bass Instrument,” is a Roland 808 style collection of different kick drum, bass sounds, and loops. UJAM put two years of development with professional audio engineers into Subcraft with extra attention in phase aligning the Kick-Bass low frequencies to make sure that they be even and would not get lost. The instruments sound great initially, and the program is deep and the sounds can be substantially manipulated to bring you very contemporary sounding custom instruments. As 808 implies, this plugin is aimed a modern pop, hip-hop, rap and techno styles of music, but could also be used for film scoring and more.
The main controls are Kick and Bass. The Kick amount can be dialed in or removed completely, and there are plenty of presets for both sounds. To get an idea of the flavor of Subcraft, some of the preset menus are called Dark & Beefy and Rough & Dirty. You can dial in the amount of shuffle and many of the loops are tempo-based, but not in steps—you may have to conform your tempo to the Subcraft if you really want a particular sound. Again, Subcraft is very easy to get going with from the outset and you may never need to use the extended features, but it is a very deep program where the manual will give you the benefit of the enhanced features.
Subcraft requires MIDI notes for performing bass lines. If you have a MIDI keyboard or pad, this will be the easiest as you can control Subcraft in real-time. You can also control Subcraft by using MIDI step sequencers or by entering MIDI notes manually.
Similar to some other Virtual Instrument companies, installing Subcraft requires a UJAM account and their proprietary software installation software. With over 50 plugins to UJAM’s credit, installation and authorization is all handled here, and they also are giving away a free effects plugin called Micro with creation of your own personal account. Every UJAM plugin is available with full functionality for a seven-day free trial period.
Based in Germany and descended from the Steinberg Corporation, UJAM is the brainchild of two of the very top names in the music business: Pharrell Williams and Hans Zimmer. Pharrell is arguably the top producer of modern hip-hop inspired pop songs. Says Zimmer of their plugins, “The bridge from your imagination directly into your computer,” and in Williams’ words, “We want the process of making music to be so much easier.”
Available in VST 2, VST 3, AAX and AU 2 formats. $49
