Reaper has a nice little vst that will split an instrument into three discrete bands - as set by the user...created a cople of copies of the track and set each of the three to a different band in the VST then treat according...usually sending all three to a common bus to "glue".
Personally I'm not keen on that.
I often create a send track and put a high pass on that, find the character freq for the bass & boost that a little THEN throw on an overdrive vst or VST pedal like a Tubescreamer clone. I then blend the two tracks as suites the track. The overdrive gives it some grit and bite. Reaper Mania has a vid about mixing bass freshly uploaded today all of which can be replicated in another DAW :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghEMSKgqjQo.


Kenny duplicates the bass track for this. I'm inclined to send as I can make timing etc changes to the original and not have to repeat them of the duplicate or, in fact delete & duplicate the media.
Flat wound strings are difficult - they're almost a one trick pony. I have a bass set up with flats for when I need THAT sound. The variations they offer are limited by the actually tone they have...an exciter might add some stuff that's not there but not a lot.
The BEST flat sound for me is on the early Scott Walker recordings...

Which starts with a mute in front of the bridge or on top of it if there's a cover. It's most effective in a mono mix as it REALLY sits perfectly...in a stereo mix it's still great.
I look for a different tone with each song so vary the processing greatly. The one thing they all have in common is HEAVY compression (Modern Deathcore compressor) and sometimes VOLA2 to help that aspect.
The MOTOWN EXCITER is a good technique for bass too. Duplicate or send the track, MASSIVELY compress it doubled one and then add lots of top end...blend the two - usually only small amounts of the treated track needed...it's what Motown used to do to bass & vocals to get "that" feel & sound.

Last edited by rayc; 08/30/23 04:36 PM.
Cheers
rayc
"What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe