Synthbass guys I need some help

[BiigM]

Hi.

I need the help of you keybass guys.

I'm looking for a synth that is only gonna be used for synthbass duties. I will be using it live so it needs to be relative easy to setup and use.

The style of music and sounds are stuff like Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Cameo etc. No trance and techno stuff at all.

I guess a Little Phatty would be the right choice, since most of this style is probably done on Moogs right? But I'm not shure that I wanna spend that much since I'm only just getting into this keybass stuff But it probably needs to sound pretty analog.

Anyway the stuff i looked at in order of price is:

Alesis Micron. ( I know editing might be a bitch but I guess i wouldn't do much on gigs anyway. Is the placement of the bender a problem?)

Mopho Keyboard. (not out yet but almost, Does it have octaves enough? It's from F to C to octaves + a 5th above)

Creamware Minimax ASB + midikeys (maybe not as practical)

Little Phatty (obvious, but getting out of my pricerange a bit)

Studio Elecetronics se-1x (Definately out of my range, but a guy can dream can't he )

So the first 3 is probably my own best bets 'cause of price, but you guys probably knows much better.

Thx

[AverageWhiteBassist]

I get all my synth sounds through my Boss ME-8B and my bass. I did make a thread so you can hear some sounds. I get by alright with it, I was really into synth bass for years and this one sounded the best. I have no experience with the items you listed, so if they are keys I apologize, but if they are effects, the ME-8B is worth a shot. Sounds huge through my DB750.

[BiigM]

Hey.

Thanks. But yes they are alle keys.

I have both the Korg G5 and the Markbass Supersynth. None of them is ideal to me so that's why I'm going the Keys route now :-)

Anyone wanna buy the pedals, hehe.

[AverageWhiteBassist]

I've never tried either, I've settled on the ME-8b which I fought forever because who thought a multi-effect could work so well? Anyway, good luck on your quest! Throw up a classified, someone will grab those pedals from you.

[BiigM]

Any help with this guys? :-)

[davecheng]

I was in a similar situation last year.

Regular work with several r&b/funk cover bands called for more "authentic" Moog-like sounds so I looked to keys. Plus, I think playing keys just adds to the fun and variety--there's only so many times a month I can play Boogie On Reggae Woman on an electric without losing my mind.

I played with some synth bass pedals at a local store, but I think that lasted all of five minutes before I decided there really was no substitute for keys.

So I started bringing a 61-key Triton (and sometimes Motif ES6) for the larger gigs because I was initially too cheap to buy another piece of gear. Then size and weight won out, and I went looking for a smaller keyboard.

I didn't think laptop, soft-synth, and MIDI controller would work because I wanted a dead-simple, 5 minute load-in for all of my gear. Too many connections.

Then I stumbled on a cheap microKORG. Great sounds. Some really fat patches, and good Moog analog sounds. (The board is chock full of trance patches though. I didn't use very many.) It even ran on batteries. But after a few gigs, I could not get used to the tiny keys. I'd always have to stare at my damn hands and really concentrate when playing a fast run or fill.

Then I read about the Alesis Micron and bought a new one right away. Even better sounds, I thought. Out of the box, there are several very authentic fat analog bass patches. You're correct that it isn't the easiest thing to program, but with the micronAU audio unit on a Mac, it's quite a bit more user-friendly.

The Micron also had more assignable real-time knobs for control, but in reality, I was only using it for bass patches, so they saw little use. The horizontal pitch bend wheel was an easy transition. And most of the default patches have modulation mapped to one of the sliders for adding funky vibratos in your runs.

The normal-sized keys and small footprint, though, won me over in the end. I passed on several opportunities to buy a Little Phatty Stage because it's just too large to justify carrying around to gigs.

Through a 410 and a two-channel LMK head, switching back and forth is a breeze. And it sounds absolutely huge:



There are better soft-synths for recording. And more "baller factor" boards like an authentic Moog to look nice sitting on stage. But I think the Micron was a great compromise, especially at the price.

[BiigM]

Hi.

Thanks for the advice Dave. It seems you have done all the thinking before me :-)

I think the moog would be to impractical too, and it is very much more expensive than some of the other options.

Only thing keeping me from getting the Micron is that the Mopho Keyboard version is coming out very soon. And it is analog so it might be even better suited for bass right?

Did anyone use the mopho for bass? Maybe a comparison with the Micron :-)

Thx guys

[bassmanjla]

just test drove a line 6 M9. found a pretty good synth on there. surprised.

[rakirksey]

Originally Posted by BiigM

... Did anyone use the mopho for bass? Maybe a comparison with the Micron :-)

I didn't realize that the Mopho Keyboard is coming out. That looks pretty sexy.

I haven't tried the Mopho, but I do currently use the Evolver for Bass plus other things. The sound architecture is different, but the analog side is probably somewhat comparable.

I don't really do Moog sounds on the Evolver, and it's probably not expected to get "Moog" sounds since the filters are different. If you want an exact replica of Moog you'd probably need to get a Moog. If you want something that will pass, then I'd probably wait for the Mopho keyboard. The knobs on the interface help a lot in a live situation. If you're just recording then no knobs on the interface aren't as bad.