SWAM Bass Tuba

What it does

The bass tuba in Audio Modeling’s SWAM brass line, modelled rather than sampled, so tone follows the controller for as long as the note lasts. Expression, velocity, vibrato, growl, flutter tongue, tongue attack and breath noise sit on the panel, and nearly all of them accept MIDI learn. Pipe gestures move between half valve, normal valve and half trans valve, mutes cover straight, cup and hand, and the timbre page reaches bell resonance and micro tuning.

In the demo

Jade plays it from an Arturia KeyStep 37 with an iRig Stomp IO on the floor doing the work of an expression pedal, and maps flutter tongue, growl and breath noise to knobs. She brings it against the E flat tuba to show how the timbres part company, then loads all five brass apps together in AUM.

Worth knowing

Sold on its own and inside a Horns and Tubas bundle with the E flat tuba, the euphonium and the two French horns. Played from keys with no continuous controller the low notes sit flat.