LØW

Welcome

Meet LØW

Shape the depth. Control the motion. Own the low end. LØW is a bass synth plugin designed for deep, expressive, mix-ready low end.

Hand-draw, play and loop envelopes to sculpt the perfect articulation for your track. LØW covers every bass sound, from classic to original, from silky to gritty, from analog to digital.

Key features

12 free-hand envelopes

Draw modulation shapes with total freedom.

Multiple bass engines

A wide range of core sound characters.

DNA

Explore the mutations of the bass engines.

Tone shaping

Dual-band amp envelope.

Rich preset library

From clean subs to aggressive growls.

Compatibility

VST2, VST3, AU and AAX: works in all major DAWs.

Why LØW

• Evolving tone, not static patches.
• Mix-ready dynamics: draw your low and mid envelopes right in the synth.
• Smart stereo control, fully mono-compatible.
• Same spirit as RANDOM, but laser-focused on bass sounds.

Where to start

Quick start

System requirements

LØW runs as a plugin in your DAW on Windows and macOS.

Windows

• Windows 10
• 2 GHz Pentium IV processor or equivalent
• A host that supports 32-bit or 64-bit VST
• Formats: VST, VST3, AAX

macOS

• macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later
• Intel or Apple Silicon processor
• A host application that supports 64-bit VST or AudioUnit
• Formats: AU, VST, VST3, AAX

Quick start

Installation

Download the installer for your system, run it, then enter your license code the first time you open LØW.

Windows

1. Download the LOW_vX.X.X.exe installer file.
2. Install to your preferred plugin folder.
3. On first launch, enter your license code.

macOS

1. Download the LOW_vX.X.X.pkg installer file.
2. Follow the steps to install. The plugins are installed to the default location: /Library/Audio/PlugIns.
3. On first launch, enter your license code.

Quick start

Activating & deactivating the license

Each license you buy lets you activate the plugin on 3 computers at a time.

If you need to run it on another machine, first deactivate the plugin's license on one of your machines.

When a license is deactivated

Your plugin is still usable, but in a frozen state: your existing sessions will load the plugin and its parameters in their last saved state. However, you won't be able to access the user interface to tweak its parameters.

Using LØW

Global controls

These controls affect the overall behavior of the LØW instance.

Bend amount

Sets the sensitivity and range of your MIDI controller's pitch bend wheel.

Velocity sensitivity

How much the incoming note velocity (how hard you press the key) affects the sound's parameters, such as volume or filter cutoff.

Gain

The main output gain: the final volume of the plugin before it leaves the channel.

Dark / light mode

Click the moon or the sun to switch between the dark and light interface.

Using LØW

Envelopes

The 12 free-hand envelopes are the heart of LØW's sound shaping. Each one can be shaped in three ways.

Hand sculpting

Click and drag over the envelope display to draw any shape you can imagine.

Shape library

Cycle through a variety of useful preset shapes as a starting point.

Warp mode

Turn on Warp to lock the current shape: clicking and dragging now warps and bends the whole envelope while keeping its core character. Switch Warp on and off to alternate between drawing and warping.

Looping

With looping on, holding a note plays the envelope from start to finish, then loops the section between the loop markers.

Loop markers

Drag the sliders at the bottom of the envelope display to set the section to loop.

Amount

Intensity of the envelope: no effect at 0%, full modulation at 100%.

Attack

How long the modulation takes to ramp up to its initial peak.

Release

How long the modulation takes to fade out after the note is released.

Rate

Speed of the envelope, including the playback speed of the looped section.

Drift

Adds subtle random variations to the loop playback: an organic, analog-style instability that makes your basslines feel less static and more alive.

Using LØW

Modifiers

This global section shapes all 12 envelopes at once.

Depth

“Fractalizes” the envelopes: the higher the depth, the more often the envelope line is cut and displaced, adding complexity and jaggedness.

Offset

Offsets the fractal pattern applied by Depth, so you can find a sweet spot in the complex modulation.

Smooth

Softens sharp edges and jaggedness, whether drawn or created by Depth.

Contrast

Makes the shapes more extreme: low points lower, high points higher.

Try it

1. Draw a simple, straight horizontal line in an envelope.
2. Slowly turn Depth up from 0 to 10.
3. Watch the line become more and more jagged and complex.

Using LØW

Oscillator view

Switch between LØW's two main editing pages with Oscillator and Filters, at the top left of the plugin.

DNA

The DNA section is the core of the synth.

Engines

Switch between LØW's synth engines, each with its own foundational bass character.

Seed

A variation of the selected engine's internal parameters, pictured in the DNA view.

Stereo

Stereo width of the sound.

Pitch hold

The button in the middle of the pitch envelopes selects Gate or Hold mode.

• Gate: the envelope loop continues as long as the note is held.
• Hold: the envelope loop plays for a fixed time, set by the Duration knob.

Pitch impact

Draw and control the initial impact of the pitch: perfect for percussive “thwacks” or “zaps” at the start of a note, in the classic 808 style.

Pitch

Amount of pitch impact applied by the envelope.

Duration

Duration of the pitch impact envelope.

Type

Absolute: the impact goes up to a fixed pitch. Relative (default): the impact is relative to the note you play.

Pitch drop

This envelope controls the pitch drop. Pitch sets the amount of the drop, Duration how long it takes.

Pitch glide

Glide (portamento) slides smoothly between notes. LØW's glide controls are built for expressive playing, like a fretless bass.

Octave rise / fall

Offset of + or − 1 octave, and the time the pitch takes to ramp up or down to it.

Retrigger

Retriggers the glide envelope on every incoming note, even when you play legato.

Glide rise / fall

Speed of the glide, set separately for gliding up to a note (rise) and down to a note (fall).

Glide mix

Overall dry/wet of the glide effect between notes.

Oscillator envelopes

DNA gain

Volume of the DNA engine before the filter section: dynamic volume changes, plucks or swells at the core of the sound.

DNA mutate

Modulates the DNA Seed: complex shapes create evolving timbres that “mutate” over time.

Color

Modulates a timbral parameter specific to each DNA engine, like the tone or brightness of the oscillator: add grit, warmth or digital character.

Bottom

Shapes the sub-bass or fundamental frequencies: the weight and punch of your bassline, separately from the body of the sound.

Using LØW

Filter view

Click Filters at the top left of the plugin to open the filter section.

Crossover filter

The crossover filter splits the sound into two bands, high and low, so you can process them independently.

High & low frequency

Set the crossover points between high and mid, and between mid and low, manually.

High & low ratio

Set the crossover points relative to the note's root frequency, so they track your keyboard.

Mix

Blends Frequency and Ratio: at 0% only Ratio is used, at 100% only Frequency, in between both are interpolated.

The widget below the settings shows the crossover points.

Two master knobs sit in the middle of the filter envelopes:

• Color: color and timbre of the impact part of the sound.
• Output: gain of the impact part of the sound.

Filter envelopes

The oscillator splits into high and low bands at the crossover point. You control the amplitude of each band separately for the Impact (the initial transient) and the Body (the sustaining part) of the sound.

Filter impact / body

Control the filter cutoff: Impact shapes the click or pluck of the filter, Body the sustain and decay. For a classic plucky bass, try a fast, sharp Impact and a shorter Body.

High impact / body

Dynamics of the frequencies above the crossover: sizzle and attack at the start of a note (High Impact), air and presence as it decays (High Body).

Low impact / body

Dynamics of the frequencies below the crossover, the key to a mix-ready sound: Low Impact controls the thump of the sub, Low Body its sustain, to keep your mix clear of mud.

Help

Support

Can't find your answer in this guide? Everything else is in the BEATSURFING Help center.

Contact us

Thanks for supporting us. Don't hesitate to reach out with any questions or ideas: send us a message from the Help center.

The BEATSURFING team