Mainframe

The deal

$59.50 at Plugin Boutique (down from $119). The 50% discount runs through December 2, 2026.

What it is

Mainframe is a bass synthesizer from Rankin Audio built around two oscillator layers that can run wavetables or samplers. It leans toward heavy, distorted, talking bass tones, helped by a family of proprietary Growl filters. A built-in resampling engine lets you record the synth straight back into its own sample lane and keep reshaping the result.

Who it's for

Bass music producers working in drum and bass, dubstep, and related genres who want to design aggressive, processed basses inside a single instrument. It also suits sound designers who like to resample and mangle their own patches.

Key features

• 39 filter types across six families, including basic, analog, comb, formant, special, and the Growl filters
• 17 effect modules cover reverb, resonator banks, pitch shift, and more
• Four filter slots, four envelopes, four LFOs, and two step sequencers give plenty of modulation depth
• MPE support and over 300 presets make it easy to start