Bass Murf and clones

[warwick.hoy]

I was researching the Moogerfooger Bass Murf.

I really like that (not sure if it is the right term) arpeggiation that I hear on their website sound samples.

http://www.moogmusic.com/moogerfooge...product_id=215

What kind of filter is this. I saw "resonance" mentioned; is that what I'm looking at here.

I have a little trouble justifying spending that much money at the moment however. I saw between $350 used, and $450 new.

In my research I of course searched talkbass effects forums and a few other units came up.

The Line 6 FM-4 came up which is more in my price range and that sparked my interest. Also the Akai MFC-42 which appeared and that seems to be a rack mount unit.

Can I get some elaboration on those two units?

Perhaps some soundclips.

I'm assuming the Line 6 is a digital modeler of such FX. Any drawbacks to that. I would be using it a writing tool so I don't think I need a whole ton of control over the arpeggiation.

It will be a moment before I buy something like this as there are other things more pressing. Should I just save up my pennies for the Moog?

Thanks in advance for you comments.

~James

[bigchiefbc]

Originally Posted by warwick.hoy

I was researching the Moogerfooger Bass Murf.

I really like that (not sure if it is the right term) arpeggiation that I here on their website sound samples.

http://www.moogmusic.com/moogerfooge...product_id=215

What kind of filter is this. I saw "resonance" mentioned; is that what I'm looking at here.

The MURF is basically 8 band-pass filters centered about the frequencies stated. It then runs your signal through each of the filters (one at a time) in different patterns. The Bass Murf takes all of the center frequencies, and shifts them down an octave.

I have a little trouble justifying spending that much money at the moment however. I saw between $350 used, and $450 new.

In my research I of course searched talkbass effects forums and a few other units came up.

The Line 6 FM-4 came up which is more in my price range and that sparked my interest. Also the Akai MFC-42 which appeared and that seems to be a rack mount unit.

Can I get some elaboration on those two units?

Perhaps some soundclips.

I'm assuming the Line 6 is a digital modeler of such FX. Any drawbacks to that. I would be using it a writing tool so I don't think I need a whole ton of control over the arpeggiation.

It will be a moment before I buy something like this as there are other things more pressing. Should I just save up my pennies for the Moog?

Thanks in advance for you comments.

~James

I'm not sure about the Akai or FM4. The only similar things I can think of are the Boss Slicer, and maybe the Subdecay Prometheus in sample-and-hold mode.

[scotch]

Originally Posted by warwick.hoy

I was researching the Moogerfooger Bass Murf.

I really like that (not sure if it is the right term) arpeggiation that I here on their website sound samples.

~James

"Arpeggiation" isn't quite right... The MURF employs a sort of analog "sequencer". There are a set number of patterns that the sequencer uses that step through the various frequencies. Each of these resonant frequencies are represented by the sliders on the device & can be mixed to taste. Using various expression pedals & remote switches it is also possible to manually "step" through each resonant frequency by using your foot (not very practical in performance, though...).

The MURF manual explains it all better - I'm sure you can find a pdf online.

A similar "frequency-sequencing" pedal is the ZVex Seek-Wah, but the Seek-Wah is voiced more for guitar and nowhere near as flexible as the MURF. The Xotic Bass Robotalk is also sort of similar, but has less control options...

The MURF is powerful, baby! It has a lot of capability and flexibility, but there is a bit of a learning curve to it!

[newbold]

I've heard some really great tones come out of an FM4.
If you don't mind going digital, that's a great tool to get...but you will probably want a good phaser or tremolo...

I really dig what the Slicer can do. I already have synth and would really dig a Slicer. It also has 40 seconds of looping capabilities on the pedal which might help your writing.

I don't know how a MURF would help with writing...

best of luck!

[scotch]

Originally Posted by newbold

I've heard some really great tones come out of an FM4.
If you don't mind going digital, that's a great tool to get...but you will probably want a good phaser or tremolo...

I really dig what the Slicer can do. I already have synth and would really dig a Slicer. It also has 40 seconds of looping capabilities on the pedal which might help your writing.

I don't know how a MURF would help with writing...

best of luck!

For me the MURF is great for writing. In my opinion, the sheer complexity of sound available from the MURF is very inspiring & the "reactivity" of the device sort of encourages you to "play to the pedal". It's really more of an instrument in and of itself....

Different Strokes for Differnt Folks, right?

[warwick.hoy]

Originally Posted by newbold

I don't know how a MURF would help with writing...

best of luck!

By writing I mean using it to come up with usable basslines with witch to build songs on top of.

[newbold]

Composing? Arranging?
To me 'writing' means songwriting.

'playing to the pedal' was always an approach to brainstorming with me, and that's different than writing.

[Jared Lash]

Originally Posted by scotch

For me the MURF is great for writing. In my opinion, the sheer complexity of sound available from the MURF is very inspiring & the "reactivity" of the device sort of encourages you to "play to the pedal". It's really more of an instrument in and of itself....

That was pretty much my experience with the Bass MuRF too. It wasn't really a pedal (like a phaser or chorus) that you would kick on to add some texture to an existing line. It's really a pedal that you write basslines around. Guitar players can use it for texture for chords (my guitar player bought mine from me) but as a bass player I found that I pretty much used it as a writing tool itself.

I have experience with some of the other units mentioned in this thread. I haven't tried the Slicer or the Akai, but I have used the FM-4 (borrowed from my old guitar player), the Robotalk (currently on my board) and the Prometheus (just returned it) so I can offer some basis for comparison.

All three of those units do "sample & hold" which can sound a bit like what the MuRF does, but is really a different effect altogether. Bongo (I think) explained how S&H works in the past, but I don't really remember the specifics. But sound wise, it is a pretty random sound with little bleeps, bloops and thumps thrown in as opposed to the MuRF which follows any one of a number of defined patterns as it steps through the filters.

Of those three, the Line 6 was the most predictable, but didn't sound as good as the other two IMO. The Prometheus is far and away the most tweakable and is a lot of fun.

None of them do what the MuRF does and vice versa.

[dubsymmetry]

sample and hold works like this:

a constantly changing value is put to hault at a certain time and frozen. this gets repeated at a certain tempo. the result is one kind of randomness.

think of it like this: you wait for a train in the station. the train comes in, you see all the rail cars that all have different colors. you get on the rail car that´s blue and stay there till you have to get off. everything is blue for you, though the rest of the train is red, yellow, black and so on. then you wait for your connecting train. there you get on a red rail car.

so back to the application in effects: this value (blue or red) can be applied to any parameter the manufacturer of the effect unit thinks is necessary. I don´t know the fm4 but with my moog gear I can have things like low pass filter cutoff frequency, ring mod frequency, amount of modulation and many other things controlled by s&h. this can happen like a sequencer (controlled by a lfo) or when I want to (by using an expression pedal: everytime I change the position of the pedal, a new value gets spit out).

as others mentioned before, the murf is not random, there is a number of patterns to choose from.

apologies for my bad english, but maybe this explains the s&h.

[scotch]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread...

I love my Bass MURF, but it does have a tendency to pick up rf in certain locations. I just did a simple foil shielding job on the interior of the wooden 'wings' & it's really a lot quieter now (in those environments).

Just a quick update!