FI-09

Nisko

A 1960s sub bass, sampled straight to tape.

VST3, AU, AAX plugin

A 1963 Hohner Basset bass synthesizer, sampled up close for the Nisko sub bass plugin.

story

Press a note, and the whole room moves.

One oscillator, a two-octave keyboard, and a small light bulb that glows when you press a key, read by an optical sensor that shapes the volume. Hohner built the Basset in 1963 as a bass voice for accordion orchestras: the first solid-state bass synthesizer ever made. Simple, and made to be felt.

Like the Moog Taurus bass pedals that came a decade later, it does one thing and commits to it: a deep, chest-punching sub, every time. I sampled it through an all-tube signal path, straight to tape, so the weight is already in the plugin.

Answers differently every time
On an analogue synth, the oscillator never starts in quite the same place twice. Nisko's doesn't either. The samples run long enough that they never loop.
Straight to tape
A 1963 Hohner Basset, recorded to tape through 1950s studio gear and a Klangfilm mastering EQ.
One knob of dirt
The F! knob brings in distortion sampled from a LOMO tube preamp and a 1940s Presto limiter. Take it as far as you want.
every update is free
Buy it once, and you get all future versions and improvements.
“Nisko really is full of character. It's extremely easy and simple to use but sounds alive and quite different to other bass instruments.”
Rick Simpson, Coldplay

The sub

Press a key and hold it. The low end fills the floor, round and fat on the sine, gnarlier on the saw. The F! knob adds as much dirt as the track can take. Sit it under an orchestra or a beat, and feel the weight arrive.

The sine, phat
The saw, gnarlier
Sine and saw combined
Pushed with the F! knob

pricing

  • Nisko

    A 1960s sub bass, sampled straight to tape.

  • Starters Bundle

    Nisko bundled with Lekko, a 1970s Scandinavian upright, sampled as quietly as possible and Ciemno, a 1970s electric piano, pushed somewhere darker.

There are no sales at Felt. This is the price today and the price in December, for everyone.

The Nisko plugin interface

try it free

Play one key and let the room answer. There's no time limit on the trial, though the sound mutes now and then.

details

formats
VST3, AU, AAX · macOS 10.13+, Windows 10+ (64-bit). No Kontakt required: the plugin loads in your DAW like other plugins.
oscillators
Two, analogue-sampled: sine and saw, plus sampled F! distortion.
range
F-1–F2
manual
The Nisko manual covers every control.
size
380 MB
licence
One licence per user, install on as many machines as you personally use. All future updates are free.

Hohner and Basset are trademarks of their respective owners. Felt Instruments is not affiliated with Hohner.