Help! Need that Classic 80s Bass Synth Sound (e.g. Madonna, New Order, etc)

jpbiggs · #1 01-29-2012, 01:27 PM

Since joining an 80s cover band, I've trying to recreate that 80s synth sound I hear on so many of the songs in our set. Examples:

Madonna - Material Girl
Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Round
New Order - Blue Monday

I've tried a number of bass synth pedals: DOD Bass Synth Wah, Ibanez SB7, Behringer BS6000. The closest I've gotten is using my Boss GT6-B. Part of the problem I'm having is that none of my pedals have enough parameters to tweek. The bass sound in those songs seem to have a lot of attack and a fast filter sweep high to low. I'm not sure if I'm hearing a bit of a square wave in there or if it's more of an envelope filter. I'm thinking of trying the Electroharmonix MicroSynth next.

Does anyone have any experience in recreating that sound? If so, please advise. Thanks!

moles · #2 01-29-2012, 03:25 PM

Try some deep chorus after the BSW maybe? I find that fattens up 'synthy' tones quite a bit, and actually can make them sound more authentic. It's a bit hard to cop real synth sounds on the bass and nail them 100% depending on what the sound is like.
On Blue Monday, are you trying to get the sound for Peter Hook's bass part? Or the synth bass doing the octaves...? Kind of the same question for the Dead Or Alive track (man, I loved that album...

) There is some slap bass mixed in with a synth sound on that one, as far as I've been able to hear. Maybe some filter mixed in with the dry bass too - so try that.

odin70 · #3 01-29-2012, 03:28 PM

Thats like trying to sound lika a sax with a banjo. Why not play it on a synth?

WJGreer · #4 01-29-2012, 03:32 PM

This is the white whale of many bassists. The short answer, in my opinion, is that the synth bass in those songs was made by Yamaha DX-7s and other digital synthesizers from that era, and isn't accurately copied by anything in the bass effect pedal world.

The closest I've been able to get has been with a Boss SYB-5, which isn't a really popular pedal around here. This demo gets close to the tone I think you're thinking of. Listen at about 2:30.

Most of the good bass synth effects technology, to my ears, does a better job of emulating trippy 70s analog sounds.

EDIT: I don't think the EHX Micro is going to do it for you either; that really is a '70s copier in my opinion. Ed Friedland did a fantastic demo of one where I think he got just about every usable tone out of one in five minutes.

Downunderwonder · #5 01-29-2012, 03:50 PM

Material girl sounds like it's doubled with a higher synth at the start and an actual bass popping the funk into the last chorus.

Before I got into pedals I would have just played it on bass with a reggae tone and called it good. Nobody would have called me out on it. Now you got me wondering what I might be able to cook up along those lines.

And I don't do real synth either.

jpbiggs · #6 01-29-2012, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moles

Try some deep chorus after the BSW maybe? I find that fattens up 'synthy' tones quite a bit, and actually can make them sound more authentic. It's a bit hard to cop real synth sounds on the bass and nail them 100% depending on what the sound is like.
On Blue Monday, are you trying to get the sound for Peter Hook's bass part? Or the synth bass doing the octaves...? Kind of the same question for the Dead Or Alive track (man, I loved that album...

) There is some slap bass mixed in with a synth sound on that one, as far as I've been able to hear. Maybe some filter mixed in with the dry bass too - so try that.

I'll experiment with the deep chorus as you suggested. That sounds like a good tip

For Blue Monday/Dead or Alive, I'm referring to the synth bass sound. Admittedly, I just slap octaves when we perform Spin Me Round sounds good enough, but I'd really like to get that synth sound for use of on other songs. We play a lot of Madonna and it would be nice to get as close to that sound as possible. Also, I agree that some dry signal needs to be mixed in. I had been experimenting with that as well.

Per other comments, I understand to really get it to sound accurrate I'd need an actual synth keyboard, but I don't want to buy and lug a synth to shows so that's not a good option for me. I understand that using a bass guitar, it won't be 100% dead on, but if I could at least approximate it in a satisfactory way (i.e. not cheesy for starters), I'd be happy.

Maybe to be a little more specific, should I even be using a square wave as a the waveform? Or maybe just use a touch of fuzz and focus on tweaking some sort of (envelope) filter?

jpbiggs · #7 01-29-2012, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WJGreer

Most of the good bass synth effects technology, to my ears, does a better job of emulating trippy 70s analog sounds.

EDIT: I don't think the EHX Micro is going to do it for you either; that really is a '70s copier in my opinion. Ed Friedland did a fantastic demo of one where I think he got just about every usable tone out of one in five minutes.

This is good know. I had a feeling that was the case.

fokof · #8 01-29-2012, 05:17 PM

"Since joining an 80s cover band, I've trying to recreate that 80s synth sound I hear on so many of the songs in our set."

This is the primary reason I bought a VB99. Didn't want to buy 50 pedals and I am not a good dancer to switch sounds so I went straight to a VB99.

I could nail those lots of those '80 sounds with some tweeking.

Zero latency down to lowB.
Almost perfect tracking.
Polyphonic

Downunderwonder · #9 01-29-2012, 09:09 PM

Roland V-Bass VB-99/GK-3B | Sweetwater.com

For $1600 you can buy a lot of pedals. I rate my dancing over my Space Shuttle Launch Controller skillset.

fokof · #10 02-12-2012, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Downunderwonder

I rate my dancing over my Space Shuttle Launch Controller skillset.

DeltaPhoenix · #11 02-12-2012, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpbiggs

Maybe to be a little more specific, should I even be using a square wave as a the waveform? Or maybe just use a touch of fuzz and focus on tweaking some sort of (envelope) filter?

Most all of the time Octave>Fuzz>Filter Gets you into square wave zone.
MarkBass SuperSynth does saw waves, I think. It can do a more modern sounding synth. It has clean coming through too. It also has an octave that you can use seperately (not at the same time though). I have tried a lot of the more current synth pedals and I just got another MB SS. I also own a Roland GR-55 (about half as much as the VB99), but that is a pain to try and use with my band because of all the other pedals I use. I use it for my solo stuff.
No pedal will be perfect. So it's really about what can you live with. The MB SS has it's ups and downs. I figure between it and my Source Audio BEF Pro that I can cover enough ground.

moles · #12 02-12-2012, 10:21 AM

The growing Zoom B3 thread reminded me how cool the B2 synths sounded, for what they were. Someone posted samples of the B3 synth sounds too.
For $100 for the B2, or $200 for the B3 - they might be worth checking out to see if they can cover what you need, even if you don't like the rest of the sounds in the box.