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Review: X-EIGHT 808 Bass VST Plugin by Thenatan

X-Eight 808 delivers the iconic bass sounds of the legendary Roland 808 drum machine, a staple for countless music genres today.Sub-bass is often additionally distorted so that it can also be heard on small loudspeakers. In Trap music, this technique has developed into its sound signature. If you make Trap music, sooner or later you will need distorted sub-bass sounds. Not only do they sound good, but they also cut through the mix. Best of all, its what’s working for the genre at the moment.

X-Eight by Thenatan is a sub-bass 808 virtual instrument and is therefore particularly interesting for Trap producers. The more than 1000 presets, many of which can be used well in making beats and other productions, sound really good and mostly pretty brutal. With some presets, there is not much sub-bass left due to the distortion.

The GUI is clear, not too many functions, and focused on instant results. Visually, everything is reminiscent of old military equipment and thus also of the computer games in the Fallout series. A nice change from the often sterile-looking GUIs of other plugins.

At the top you select the preset, the bank is set a little further down, under expansion.

That’s how you get over 1000 presets, which is quite official for a plugin that can only do distorted bass sounds.

Below that, the amp section allows for treble and bass boosts, while next to it is an LFO section with rate and depth controls. The Mod Wheel, Aftertouch, or Velocity can be selected as the source. There are also five waveforms available: Triangle, Sine, Saw, Square, and Exponent.

The next section deals with the envelope: Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release. This is important for hip-hop beats. Start the bass with a slight delay to clear space for the kick, and synchronize its decay precisely with the snare. Activate the release trigger decay function to ensure the sound plays only when the key is released, enhancing the rhythm.

At the bottom of the display, there is a small keyboard with a total of four octaves for playing sounds if you don’t have a keyboard or controller at hand.

That’s quite practical, I see trap producers who limit themselves to their work on their laptop and the FL Studio again and again. There are also two controls, one for glide (poly, mono, legato) and one for tuning. The sound can be detuned in both directions by up to 200 percent.