Bass enhancer for Mac

V404

A sub that follows the note.

Root puts a sine an octave under each note you play, Reach adds harmonics a small speaker can play, Growl gives the line a vowel, and Move sweeps that vowel in time.

$15 until December 31, then $29

Download free 77 MB

The free download is the whole plugin. Until you add a license, it dips in volume for a moment once a minute. Or play it here first.

V404 processing a 55 Hz bass tone: a grid of fine blue lines across a blue-violet nebula falls toward a small black opening at the center. Under it, the Octave menu at −1 OCT, the Split slider at 110 Hz, and the Root, Reach, Growl and Move knobs, each a different glass material, with its value under it: 75%, 78%, 72% and 1/8.
Root 75% · Reach 78% · Growl 72% · Move 1/8 · on a 55 Hz tone
Platform
macOS 11 or later · Apple silicon and Intel
Formats
VST3 · AU · Standalone
Tested on
macOS 26.5 on Apple silicon (M5)
Version
1.0.2

In your browser

Put a floor under a bass line

V404's own sound code, ported to the browser, under the screen it was designed from. Start the bass loop, bring up Root, then Reach, and watch the field answer.

Open it full window

Watch

6 short films, a minute or less each

Transcript

V404 is a bass designer with four knobs, and a screen that shows your low end bending around a black hole.

Put it on a bass, an 808 or a kick, and play.

The four knobs.

Root adds a clean sub, an octave under your note.

Reach adds harmonics, so the bass reads on small speakers.

Growl gives the low end a vowel.

Move sets that vowel moving, in time with your song.

Your dry sound passes through untouched, in stereo. Everything V404 adds is mono.

Switching it on isn't just louder. V404 matches its level to your dry sound, at half strength.

Click bypass, and your input comes out exactly as it went in.

V404, for Mac. Get it at smileyface.studio.

The four knobs

Root, Reach, Growl, Move

  • The Root knob at 75%, drawn larger than the others: a dark glass well with blue reflections inside an engraved bezel, its blue value ring and pointer at 75%.

    Root

    A sine one octave under the note you play, or two from the Octave menu. It goes from off up to 6 dB over your bass's own low end, in mono.

  • The Reach knob at 78%: an iris of blue glass blades opened wide around a dark center, inside its value ring.

    Reach

    Adds the 2nd to 6th harmonics of the note V404 is following. The line gets thicker, and a speaker too small for the low end has something to play.

  • The Growl knob at 72%: a dark glass lens crossed by a torn band of violet light with jagged edges.

    Growl

    Gives any bass a vowel, even a clean sub, with three formant filters fed from the note. Turn it up and it growls.

  • The Move knob on 1/8: a tilted glass orbit with tick marks and a light on its track, labeled 1/8 at its center.

    Move

    Sweeps Growl's vowel. Hold it at STILL, sweep once per note at NOTE, lock it to your tempo from 1/1 to 1/32, or run it free from 0.5 to 20 Hz.

Made at Smiley Face Studio · San Diego

Nothing escapes the low end

V404

$15 until December 31, then $29.

How it arrives
Pay with PayPal or a card. Your license and the download are on the next page, and in your inbox.
The license
One license covers every format, on the Macs you make music on. It works offline, with no account and no iLok. Updates are free.
Your Mac
macOS 11 or later, Apple silicon or Intel. There’s no Windows version, and no AAX for Pro Tools, yet.
Questions?
Write to david@smileyface.studio.

All sales are final (refund policy).

Tell us what you think

A bass it made better, or one it made worse. Both help.

Report a bug

Say what you did and what you expected. The fix comes back to you as a free update.