Ronan Fed releases RF-AB303, a free virtual instrument inspired by the Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer.
Ronan Fed’s line of synths, pads, and drums makes it easier for bedroom producers to reproduce the magic of electronic music at home without spending lots of money trying to buy every instrument. The developer recently pulled all of his plugins offline (including the excellent RF-DSP), but thankfully they’re now back online, along with a new addition.
This time the RF team delivers a powerful oscillator monophonic synth that emulates an acid bass worthy of its name. The RF-AB303.
This free VST plugin is easily programmed with any DAW available and simulates the Roland TB-303 vintage analog bass synthesizer with a very satisfying exactitude. It comes with different filters and a variety of effects such as Parametric Equalization, Reverb, Delay, Distortion, and Compression, enabling the production of intricate acid patterns typical of Acid House, Techno, and Trance music.
The interface has three main sections; on the far left, you’ll find the oscillator board, where you can switch waveforms and define pulse width. At its right sits the filters board where you can have fun defining the wave’s velocity and its decay, and where you can apply cutoffs, add some resonance, and define the envelope mod.
Then on the far right, you have the master board where you can fix the overall volume, slide, gate, tunning, phase, and panning.
The RF-AB303 synth has a crisp sound and nicely penetrates the mix. The envelopes are very much analog in the sense that slight adjustments can significantly alter the shape’s character and can make you stumble upon many happy accidents.
It also offers you the ability to loop a bassline you composed on the piano roll, while on the RF-PAD you could be drumming or designing a pattern. Something that can come in handy in live performances.
If you like RF-AB303, be sure to check out the RF-Drums drum sampler plugin from the same developer.
This monophonic synth bass is compatible with Windows 8, 10, and 11, and needs Visual C++ Redistributable Package to run.
RF-AB303 is available in VST and VST3 plugin formats for 64-bit digital audio workstations on Windows.
Download: RF-AB303
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7 Comments
MRG
onWelcome back Ronan. And, wow, not only this new plugin but some of the others were updated too. I’ll spend the next weekend rediscovering the whole range, it’s a promise. Concerning AB303, judging by the videos alone, it seems like a very fun little thing. Perhaps not -the- perfect TB-303 clone, but what interests me are the extra features anyway.
Keep ’em coming! Feed on the positive feedback, it’s tastier anyway.
Numanoid
onYes, great to see the site up again! There are many plugins beyond AB303 that Windows users now have a new chance to check out :-)
Cool WAV
onWelcome back Ronan Fed!
Darryl Lim
onYes indeed, welcome back Ronan Fed! :D
Bthelick
onThis can’t be a coincidence!
I literally just made a video 2 weeks ago explaining how no one can get the authentic Josh Wink 303 sound (including Roland themselves) because they didn’t take into account of how the square waves would vary in pulse width on the original model due to the cheap transistor circuit!
MRG
onIt’s a conspiracy by the lizard alien overlords who control us all from the deep state of the hollow-yet-still-flat earth! I KNEW IT!
MRG
onNice vid, BTW. Interesting that you’re driving hot the 24dB ladder before going into the BYOD/TS808. I wonder if Wink himself ran hot the console input before going fx insert to a real pedal. Anywho, very close to the real thing. Cheers and tnx for the Vital patch.