Breakdown on Synth Pedals

[Wait what]

Hey, everyone.

I've been using TalkBass as a resource to learn more about pedals this past year and to see what all these discerning ears have to think about certain ones. I joined yesterday because although there's a wealth of information here, there's one thing I haven't really been able to find:

A bare-bones, tweakable synth pedal/series of pedals.

I've searched most of the forum and keep getting criticism of pedals such as:

"That one can't change the waveforms."
"The such-and-such isn't a true oscillator."
"That's just an octave with fuzz."
"You can't mix the dry signal!"

Is there (even in existence) a pedal or sequence of pedals that would allow for complete tweakability? I'm not necessarily going for a specific tone or decade, which I realize can make answering this question hard. I just find it hard to justify buying pedals when it seems like there's always one little thing missing on each pedal. I started with the Digitech Bass Synth Wah, but it is all wet, all the time, as well as sweeping all over the place. I'm afraid there's very little subtlety in that pedal.

I've been looking at the EHX Bass MicroSynth and the MarkBass SuperSynth. The Markbass has been attracting my attention with its extreme, perfectionist tweakability through a computer, but it seems silly that they haven't an option to switch waveforms, and it isn't helping that some people have commented on the limits of the wet/dry mix.

I'm sure that, ultimately, I would need a chain of optimized, single-effect pedals to ensure the customizing I want. However, there's nothing quite like stepping into an internet forum and asking for advice. Please, give me an earful.

If there is any online FAQ or article about what truly constitutes synth (exactly how oscillators work, depictions of the waves, et cetera), that would also be interesting to check out.

Thanks, everyone.

[chokeslam512]

Check out the Behringer BSY600. Cheap, tweakable, and cheap

[wshines1892]

The term synthesis can cover such a broad spectrum of "What does it do?" In most uses in regard to a synth pedal, people are referring to square wave with octaves and possibly some type of envelope effect. essentially it's a multi effects that includes a small variety of things that would lend themselves to making a "synth bass" sound.

I've you're going for a cover all, I've heard great things come out of a EHX bass microsynth. Just give The Dead Weather a listen, I believe all their bassist uses is a Fulltone Bassdriver and a pair of Microsynths.

[chokeslam512]

I see now that my answer was not the response you were looking for.

[Floridabwoy]

Personally, I have given up on pedals for synth. I now use a Wooly Mammoth -> Chicken Salad.....

or my Alesis Micron (which you can also nerd out to with a computer VST to edit patches) A lot cheaper solution than buying $2356 in pedals.

[Swimming Bird]

I use a Pigtronix Mothership, an Eventide Pitchfactor, and a Boss SYB-5 all of which have oscillators or wave generators for several wave types.

The Mothership doesn't get a lot of love around here, mainly due to tracking issues and the cost. Apparently the early run of them was not at all suited for bass, but the current version has a few different tweaks here and there that make it work. I ended up buying an older version and was able to get it modded -- it tracks very well now. It's great except that you can't tweak input gain or any sort of ASDR features (probably because they want you to buy a Philosopher King). I love that it has separate sub octave and ring mod switches, and I enjoy both waveforms. The clean blend is nice, but it gets super compressed with my active basses.

The Synthonizer function of the Pitchfactor works pretty well. Waveforms are a touch quiet, but the new software update lets you control pitch volume. It also has some new waves (organ sounds) as well as triangle, sawtooth, and sine (for channel A), while square wave and clean are always available to mix. There is some filter control as well as attack and reverb. The waves I've tried lack a bit of punch (they're very bare-bones), but serve as an excellent base for a complex synth sound.

The SYB-5 (and Behringer equivalent) have been talked about a lot, but again, I like the wave forms. Tracking is an issue at times, and it's worst when you first hit a note (it typically gives me a very loud glitch before settling into the correct note). Three wave types (square, sawtooth, and pulse) and all of them have their uses. Clean blend is nice for covering up some tracking issues. The filters work pretty well and are fun with an expression pedal.

"Complete tweakability" is up to you.

[gastric]

The new Roland GR-55 seems to be the most promising all-in-one synth effect, though it too comes with limitations of one sort or another (as, I'm assuming, so do actual hard/soft synths ). But you certainly get the biggest possibility of synth features possible - tons of voices to choose from, blending 2 in a variety of ways, fully editable parameters from pitch to filtering to amp (volume) and on and on.

Downside is it's expensive, requires a special pickup, and still requires clean playing for good tracking.

[markjazzbassist]

for moog, arp, prophet type sounds from the 70's, EHX bass micro synth is it. i love mine. it's technically not a synthesizer in that it doesn't use oscillators to create the sound, it's filters and varying levels of distortion, but don't let that fool you into thinking it's a dirt box. its not, i own a moog little phatty and can cop it's tones to the T. also it's analog which has a richer sound character (In my opinion).

[gastric]

Originally Posted by markjazzbassist

for moog, arp, prophet type sounds from the 70's, EHX bass micro synth is it. i love mine. it's technically not a synthesizer in that it doesn't use oscillators to create the sound, it's filters and varying levels of distortion, but don't let that fool you into thinking it's a dirt box. its not, i own a moog little phatty and can cop it's tones to the T. also it's analog which has a richer sound character (In my opinion).

But it can really only do a couple of sounds, primarily differentiated by the filter sweep. And is a PITA to get the settings just right. And costs $200 used for just that limited functionality. But I agree, it's probably the one single hardware synth pedal type effect I personally owned that sounded genuinely good. Note you can modify it's sound to some degree based on the signal fed to it (feed it gated fuzz instead of clean, different EQ, etc.)

[markjazzbassist]

Originally Posted by gastric

But it can really only do a couple of sounds, primarily differentiated by the filter sweep. And is a PITA to get the settings just right. And costs $200 used for just that limited functionality. But I agree, it's probably the one single hardware synth pedal type effect I personally owned that sounded genuinely good. Note you can modify it's sound to some degree based on the signal fed to it (feed it gated fuzz instead of clean, different EQ, etc.)

i completely disagree. i listened to all the markbass sound samples and videos, IMO it's a one trick pony. that fuzzed out buzzy synth tone is evident in each clip. trust me i'm a pedal nut and LOVE synthesizers (like keyboard ones), so i wanted so badly to by the MB SS, but it just doesn't impress me.

yes the BMS doesn't do presets, but how many synth patches a show are you using?

the BMS does wet chameleon, big filter sweeps, keyboard bass tones, and the buzzy saw fuzz synth type thing. what people don't realize is that 30 minutes of exploration isn't enough, the sliders are all very interactive and it takes a while to understand what they do to each separate part of the signal (sub, direct, oct up, square). the more i explore the more i realize how great a pedal it is.

oh yeah it's analog too, digital just sounds thin and sterile to me.

[kevteop]

My two favourites are the EHX BMS (the original design) for '70s synth bass sounds and gnarly long up-sweeps, and the Octavius Squeezer for '90s hip-hop bass synths and nerdy noises, plus its ADSR VCA can get some '80s-sounding percussive sounds. I also like the Boss OC-2 for '80s reggae casio bass sounds.

The 'attack synth' in the Line 6 M9 is pretty nice too, tracking is excellent but it doesn't sound as good as a well-tweaked Chunk O.S.

There isn't one synth pedal to rule them all, but there is probably one (or four) out there that will produce the sounds you want.

[Wait what]

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone. Greatly appreciated. If nothing else, I now have more pedals to waste my time feeling conflicted about. Hopefully drooling over, but probably still feeling conflicted. Pedals are not cheap.

EDIT: Great, now I've fallen in love with the Octavius Squeezer. Just when I settled on the 300~ range of the BMS and MBSS. Thanks again, everyone.

[rottenramone]

was just about to say octavius squeezer. ultimate in tweaky tones. once u get past the tracking and the user interface.

i did some patches on the os. if u want u can have it. drop me a pm to share!

[The Lurker]

I like the BMS, and I also use combinations of pedals-- Boss octaver followed by other stuff.

I've been toying with the idea of putting my tremolo in front of the BMS to see what will happen-- it does square and triangle waves, maybe it'll have an effect similar to a VCO.

[gastric]

Trem in front of filters can be used to provide precise control over the filter performance. The trick is getting them beat synced to your music. In that regard a playing triggered slicer effect is often much more usable since it's beat locked but you can control when it triggers VS a free running trem which can often drift off the beat.

But do experiment with trem, slicer, stereo panners fed mono into a filter (same effect as trem), and any other volume controlling effect as it will control the filter behavior for both envelope based filters and triggered ADSR type filters.

I can't recall how well the BMS responds to trem/slicer in front. But should likely reset the filter sweep with each cycle of the trem.