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BassFlex vs EZbass

EZbass and BassFlex both play a bass from MIDI on Windows, but EZbass leans on ready-made parts. EZbass is Toontrack's bass program: two sampled electric basses, bass MIDI for all common genres, and a tool that builds a bass line from drum or keyboard MIDI, on Windows and Mac. BassFlex is modeled, not sampled: presets for electric, acoustic and upright basses, a 24.3 MB download, and $79.

What they have in common

Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit, as a standalone program and as a plugin.
Bass parts from MIDI. EZbass plays its own MIDI. BassFlex opens and plays a MIDI file, and plays what you play.
An amp and cabinet. EZbass builds amp and cabinet simulation and effects into each preset. BassFlex has a bass amp and cabinets up to eight 10-inch speakers.
A trial before you buy. Toontrack offers a free 10-day trial. BassFlex has a demo you can download and try before you buy.

Where EZbass stands out

Mac as well as Windows, with VST, AU and AAX plugins as well as VST3.
Ready-made parts. Bass MIDI for all common genres. BassFlex has no patterns or riffs of its own: its parts come from ComposerFlex, a MIDI file or your playing.
Drums & Keys. Drag in drum or keyboard MIDI and it gives you a matching bass line.
Audio Tracker. It turns recorded guitar or bass audio into MIDI.

Where BassFlex stands out

Small. A 24.3 MB download that installs at 50.6 MB. EZbass asks for 5 GB of free disk space.
More kinds of bass. EZbass has two electric basses. BassFlex has presets for electric, acoustic and upright basses, with four strings tuned E1 A1 D2 G2 and five strings in some presets.
Your own settings. Over 70 sliders, in panels from the pluck to the EQ.
Four slots (A to D) to switch between sounds or layer them, with Compare, Vary and Randomize.
Your song to a file. It renders a MIDI file to FLAC, or to WAV with the included command-line renderer.
No account. A license key and your email address, entered once for each Windows user on each computer, no online activation, and one license for one person, to use on all of their own computers. Toontrack uses an account, and its FAQ allows two active authorizations at a time, four in total.
Built to play ComposerFlex's songs, our songwriting program, on the same PC with no setup. Its articulations (palm mute, hammer-on, pull-off, slide, bend, vibrato, harmonic, slap and pop) arrive from ComposerFlex, not from special keys.
$79, where EZbass is $179.

Which to pick

On a Mac: EZbass.
To get a bass line from drum or keyboard MIDI, or from recorded audio: EZbass.
On Windows, for acoustic and upright basses too, with a small download: BassFlex.
If you'd rather have no account, at $79: BassFlex.

Owning both

EZbass brings parts you can drop in, and BassFlex brings an instrument you can shape, and they run side by side. Both have a trial, so try them with your own MIDI: Toontrack's is on toontrack.com, and BassFlex's demo is here. This page doesn't compare how they sound. That's for your ears.

The facts side by side

Every fact about EZbass is from Toontrack's own pages, checked on 7 November 2026. Prices are list prices in US dollars; sales come and go.

	BassFlex	EZbass
How it makes its sound	Modeled. It computes every note as you play, from the physics of plucked strings: the upright and acoustic basses sound through the body, and the electric basses through a pickup, some of them with a bass amp and cabinet. It plays no recordings.	Sampled: two sampled electric basses, with the bridge and neck pickups sampled separately (the maker's words).
Price	$79, one-time	$179
Download and disk space	24.3 MB download, 50.6 MB installed	5 GB of free disk space
Memory the maker asks for	4 GB, with 4 cores or more and 100 MB of disk (the minimum we state for every Flex program)	4 GB of RAM minimum (8 GB or more recommended)
Runs on	Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit	Windows 10 or newer, 64-bit; macOS 10.13 or newer (Intel or Apple silicon)
Forms	Standalone and VST3	Standalone, and VST, VST3, AU or AAX in a 64-bit host
Needs another program	Nothing else	Nothing else (standalone included)
Copy protection	A license key and your email address, entered once for each Windows user on each computer. No account and no online activation.	Toontrack authorization, through its Product Manager and a Toontrack account
Computers per license	One license for one person, to use on all of their own computers	Two active authorizations at a time, four in total before Toontrack support resets the count
Demo	A demo to download and try before you buy	Free 10-day trial, fully working, through the Toontrack Product Manager (a free Toontrack account is needed)
Basses included	Presets for electric bass, acoustic bass guitar and upright bass; four slots to layer sounds	2 electric basses (fingers, pick and slap on one; fingers and pick on the other), bass MIDI for all common genres, Drums & Keys (drop in drum or keyboard MIDI and get a matching bass line), Audio Tracker and chord tools

More: virtual basses compared: modeled and sampled, a table of 15 products, and all about BassFlex.

If something here is out of date, write to [email protected] and we'll correct it.

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