What's it Worth?: Parallax X by Neural DSP
Bass guitar can be one of the hardest elements to get right in a mix What the part is, how it was played, the genre, and even how the song is structured all play a roll in how you might approach mixing it.
Sometimes the bass only needs some light EQ. Other times, it needs parallel processing for more control over the tone to get it to sit right in the mix.
Today, we're talking about Parallax X, Neural DSP's bass processor designed for hard hitting bass tones that cut through even the densest of rock and metal mixes.
What is it? How does it sound? And more importantly, is it worth your money?
What is it?
Neural DSP has made a name for itself with high-quality, intuitive amp sims. Their plugins show up on countless recordings and are the go-to choice for many home musicians.
Parallel bass processing is a common technique for creating hard hitting bass tones. But traditionally, setting it up means juggling multiple tracks and plugins.
This is where Parallax X comes in. It's an all-in-one solution for designing powerful bass tones inside a single plugin.
It splits the bass signal into three bands, low, mid, and high, each is processed independently. This lets you compress the lows for consistency and punch, while distorting the mids and highs for clarity and aggression.
With these tools you have complete control of the bass tone.
But it goes beyond basic multi-band parallel processing. Parallax X includes:
A cab sim and IR loader for shaping the distorted mids and highs
A built in 6-band EQ for additinoal tone sculpting
A tuner, so you don't need to load a separate one while recording
A transpose knob (+12/-12 semitones) to audition different tunings quickly.
A standalone version, which is great for practice or live use, with all plugin features plus a built-in metronome.
How Does it Sound?
If you're mixing heavier music like rock and metal, getting a great bass tone with Parallax X is quick and intuitive.
Start by compressing the lows until the bass sounds solid and consistent. This keeps low notes from booming and high notes from sounding weak.
Then add distortion to the mids and highs. I like to work on them one at a time. For mids, I dial in the drive first, then I bring the mid volume all the way down and slowly blend it back in with the lows.
Next I do the same thing for the highs.
Once I have a tone I feel sounds pretty decent by itself, I bring it into the full mix and continue making adjustments, but now in context with everything else.
I'll adjust the low/high pass filters, rebalance the three bands, play around with the cab sim mic placement and mics, and use the built in EQ to emphasize or cut certain frequencies.
The heavier the guitars, the more distortion the bass might need to cut through sit in the mix.
Where Parallax X falls slightly short is in cleaner or more mellow styles. Even the distortion turned all the way down, there's still a bit of grit to tone. This isn't really a complaint, the plugin is designed to make bass stand out in heavier music, and it does that extremely well.
What's It Worth?
Parallax X is easy to use and great at what it does, but its full price of €99.00 (~$115 USD + taxes) is a bit steep, especially when similar results can be achieved by setting up your own parallel processing with stock plugins.
If you want to learn more about how to use parallel processing to control how the bass sounds in your mix without buying a specialized plugin, check out this article: 3-Step Bass Mix That Works Every Time
While Parallax X is more of an overall bass mixing toolkit, the price still puts it on the higher side compared to other bass amp sims.
With that said, Parallax X makes parallel processing quick and painless, but with an approximate $125 cost, it makes it difficult to recommend when there are much cheaper and free bass tone options out there.
I purchased Parallax X when it was on sale for €49.50 (~$60), and that price I think is a much more reasonable asking price.
Final Verdict
If you make heavy music and want a fast and reliable way to dial in a great bass tone, Parallax X is a fantastic tool. It saves time, simplifies workflow, and sounds excellent.
Neural DSP offers free 14-day trials for all of their plugins so you can try them out and see if you like them before purchasing. If you're interested in Parallax X, do the free trial and see if you like it. It might help you get the sound you're after.
What do you struggle with when mixing your music? Leave a comment below and let me know, I'd love to help.
-Anthony