Let's Hear Your Complete Synth Saga! New Club Perhaps?

[jufros]

First off, there has been an absolute explosion of synth bass threads in this forum over the last few months and I thought it would be fun if all of us synth bassists chimed in and shed some light on their musical background, history, interests, etc. I'll definitely keep a close watch on this thread, try to respond to everything, and maybe get some sense of synth bass community going.

I would love to have more threads with titles like "Seeking Feedback on Current and Future Synth Rig" instead of "Which Pedal Will Make me Funky, Hairy, Wobbly, and Stuart Zender" ones. There's a lot of excellent scattered information on this topic in these forums but I think most will agree that the best advice is that which is specific to your personal situation and needs

So without further ado....


-How did you get into bass synth in the first place?

-How has your setup has evolved and why?

-Do you have an "ultimate" setup that you're building towards?
-What's in your setup now?

-Why is there? What sort of concept are you realizing?

-What sorts of occasions, gigs, etc. do you bring your synth rig for?

-What types of mental puzzles have you had to piece together?

-Have you ever been victimized by the insatiable urge to sketch a routing diagram on a napkin while out to dinner with your girlfriend and allowed yourself to do amidst a barrage of passive aggressive commentary from your significant other that you didn't really wind up hearing anyway?

-Last not but not least, general thoughts about the entire undertaking?

[kaputsport]

-How did you get into bass synth in the first place?

Interesting tone I had to dupe for cover acts. Trying to take a three piece and make it sound larger than life is hard without synth...

-How has your setup has evolved and why?

I have a lot more pedals now. I use a few signature synths, and a few octave/fuzz setups.

-Do you have an "ultimate" setup that you're building towards?

Mostly, I am already there. I have a few expensive and rare pedals, some one trick ponies, and a board that I want to build revolving around Eventide...

-What's in your setup now?

-Pedulla Rapture RB5/5 single pickup basses
-Marshall DBS 7200/7400 heads
-Marshall 4x10 and 1x5 running 4 ohms for the 7200, one marshall 2x10 running 4 ohms for the 7400
-Akai Deep Impact
-Human Gear Animato
-Digitech BSW
-Ibanez IB7
-Boss OC-2
-Line 6 FM4
-EHX Russian Big Muff
-HBE Hematoma
-DOD FX25
-Boss ME-8B

-Why is there? What sort of concept are you realizing?

I am realizing as with any effect, you can use the same tone more than once, stacked with others to make a new effect.

-What sorts of occasions, gigs, etc. do you bring your synth rig for?

I bring it everywhere...

-What types of mental puzzles have you had to piece together?

Ways to stack effects with clean tone, while allowing no extra board space taken up. The BOSS LS-2 allows this for my needs.

-Have you ever been victimized by the insatiable urge to sketch a routing diagram on a napkin while out to dinner with your girlfriend and allowed yourself to do amidst a barrage of passive aggressive commentary from your significant other that you didn't really wind up hearing anyway?

Nope. She is cool to the idea. Normally she is asking questions, or ignoring me completely.

-Last not but not least, general thoughts about the entire undertaking?

Totally worth it. I can dupe keyboards, and other studio sounds with my bass, while providing an interesting take on things...

[jufros]

That's a really nice live rig and I bet it sounds great in the studio too. I only played a Deep Impact once but if you like PLAY, yeah man it's completely worth it. It tracks everything absolutely perfectly.

Have you ever considered getting a 2nd LS-2? I had a double LS-2 setup once and it was pretty much the beefiest. If you put the 2nd LS-2 in one of the loops of the first one, you can get really crazy (I started an inane thread about this a long time ago). If you're into clean blending, you could do something like...

LS-2 #1
Loop 1: LS-2 #2
Loop 2: Empty

LS-2 #2
Loop 1: Pedals
Loop 2: Mo Pedals

Some possible parallel combos:

Deep Impact / OC-2 / Clean

OC-2->Muff->FM4 / DI / Clean

OC-2->FX25 or just FX25 / Clean / anything that needs deep lows

OC-2->FX25->Muff or HGA / BSW / Clean (I love this combo, FX25 before dirt can be really dark and full, definitely a good texture for layering)

Deep Impact / ME8B / Clean (ingredients courtesy multiple Jamiro bassists)

[Jared Lash]

I only seriously considered a synth setup when a drummer from one of my bands and I both wanted to try some live electronica.

I believe my rig from that time included the following:

Boss OC-2, Wooly Mammoth Clone, Chunk Brown Dog, Catalinbread Heliotrope, Subdecay Noisebox, Moog LPF, Moog Ring Mod, Maxon PH-350, Empress Tremolo and a borrowed DL-4. I ordered a Brain Freeze from Robot Factory but the project fell apart before it arrived. And while I created a few very cool sounds, I didn't have the time to really get really good at the whole bass & pedals emulating modular synth vibe.

These days my board isn't actually built around synth sounds (outside of the Deep Impact) but by coincidence I have a lot of pedals that allow me to throw in some of those sounds when appropriate.

My current pedalboard: OC-2-->Brown Dog-->00Funk-->Deep Impact-->Moog LPF (maybe Brain Freeze)-->Holy Fire-->Reverberator-->Headrush-->Squeezebox

[kaputsport]

My rig is laid out like this...

Pedulla> Boss LS-2

Chain A: Boss OC-2> Human Gear Animato> Big Muff> Hematoma> Return
Chain B: Digitech BSW> Akai DI> FM4> Return
Out to Peterson Strobostomp>To marshall

the other pedals are in queue waiting for the board.

[JohnDavisNYC]

-How did you get into bass synth in the first place?

I was 21, producing a lot of IDM and dance stuff at home, interning at a studio and tired of playing straightahead jazz in nyc, when I got referred for the Nerve gig with Jojo... I replaced Tim Lefebrve, and kinda just dove head first into making synth sounds with bass... I had NO experience with PLAYING this music when I got the gig, but I had a ton of experience making it, and lots of experience with analog and modular synthesis, so it came pretty easily for me... Jojo had a duffel bag full of pedals, and sort of showed me Tim's basic recipe, and then I took it from there, taking the stuff I didn't like out of the rig, and adding my own stuff until I felt like I was building a synth... We got together and played a few sessions at Tak's house, and then some gigs, and then... still at it, 7 years later!

-How has your setup has evolved and why?

My setup grew out of Jojo's bag of pedals and the basic 'seed' of how I built my rig comes from Tim's concepts... I just kept looking for different flavors of fuzz, waveshaping, modulation, filtering... etc... and keeping only the stuff that REALLY worked for me and didn't break on tour, etc...

-Do you have an "ultimate" setup that you're building towards?
-What's in your setup now?

I have some stuff in mind... will probably implement a line6 M9 soon, and have some custom pedal ideas to expand on the modular synth aspect and make the whole thing more organic and expressive... for me it is getting close to being an instrument in itself, but there are a few things missing for me in terms of being able to really be expressive like i can on acoustic bass... trying to explore and discover ways that i can make these sounds with a dynamic, expressive, 'acoustic' concept...

-Why is there? What sort of concept are you realizing?

See above... I don't want to be limited by genre with my synth concept... ideally it would be something so organic and natural i could play a piano trio gig with it, not just raging dance clubs and parties. I want to take it beyond emulating a synth, and have it really be it's own organic extension of the bass.

-What sorts of occasions, gigs, etc. do you bring your synth rig for?

These days I pretty much only gig with Nerve, or similar electronic/dance acts around brooklyn, so everything gets the pedals right now.

-What types of mental puzzles have you had to piece together?

Hmm... dunno... can't remember. I figured out the stuff that works years ago, and the new stuff i can't really articulate yet... so i'm still staring at the puzzle, i guess...

-Have you ever been victimized by the insatiable urge to sketch a routing diagram on a napkin while out to dinner with your girlfriend and allowed yourself to do amidst a barrage of passive aggressive commentary from your significant other that you didn't really wind up hearing anyway?

No, but i have been driving my wife crazy constantly drawing and talking about the custom mixing console i want to build out of our console at the studio with some new discrete parts and a sidecar... but she is awesome and supportive and doesn't give me **** about it!

-Last not but not least, general thoughts about the entire undertaking?

Everyone else should quit so that there is less competition! just kidding... i think it's great, and i think that sonic exploration is the most uncharted territory in bass-dom today... i'll never play funk like Jamerson, fretless like Jaco, upright like Patitucci or Edgar Meyer...

but NONE of them can sound like a synth...

john

[Gashaponcito]

-How did you get into bass synth in the first place?
Muse was the tone that changed my perception of bass

-How has your setup has evolved and why?
I started with a Little Big Muff and now I have 5 pedals including a "Synth Pedal" (Octavius) and Octave Down (OC2) but now I starting to think "modular" I'm planning of getting a LPF some Expression Control, Gated Fuzz and more stuff but I need to get funds...

-Do you have an "ultimate" setup that you're building towards?
I don't know if I'll be satisfied with my ultimate setup but I'm using all the knowledge I've got form the forum, there are some pretty experienced dudes posting here and I'm happy to read everything they post

-What's in your setup now?
Octavius Squeezer
OC-2
CE-2B
BF-2B
Stereo Memory Man w/Hazarai

-Why is there? What sort of concept are you realizing?
Well the heart of the pedalboard its the Octavius all other pedals just work with the sounds I get from it

-What sorts of occasions, gigs, etc. do you bring your synth rig for?
Some rehearsals of my main band & always with my occasional Funk/Blues/Jazzy band

-What types of mental puzzles have you had to piece together?
Compressors, crossover, technique for analog octavers, filters, how all Synths work and stuff like that

-Have you ever been victimized by the insatiable urge to sketch a routing diagram on a napkin while out to dinner with your girlfriend and allowed yourself to do amidst a barrage of passive aggressive commentary from your significant other that you didn't really wind up hearing anyway?
Not really she its pretty cool with my obsession, maybe one of these days she will surprise me with a pretty good pedal =D

-Last not but not least, general thoughts about the entire undertaking?
I've learned a lot from this, I love when I make a sound even my band mates can't believe came out from just some pedals and my bass, thanks to all the Synth gurus in the forum

[Kenny Allyn]

It started simple enough ...


Goofing around with an old Big Muff at rehearsal one night just trying to get some fill in my three piece band when the guitar player went to solos. I play in a Blues/Blues Rock trio and most bass players in that genre use no effects.

The Big Muff just cut too much bass, so enter the Roger Mayer Voodoo Bass (search over) everything from faint OD to over the top gated Fuzz in one unit. It filled in well enough, but it just seemed like I needed more, how many times have you heard that?

It was then I decided to chase the elusive tubey organic moan of a B3 and Leslie cab or at least strongly hint at that kinda vibe, rather than an electronic sounding synthy thing. I tried various phasers and flangers MXR phase 90s EBS etc: and settled on the Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe (Univibe clone) for a long time. It was then I knew it was gonna take a polyphonic device to help give me what I was looking for. I tried the Boss OC-2 and OC-3 but the EBS Octabass was the one for me, and it works best being fed a strong steady signal so I feed it with a Multicomp. I was getting a pretty good low register grind with that setup, but was still missing the higher register, enter the EHX POG set only for octave up. That worked great, but now I was missing a fast Leslie sweep to go with it, as I had the Micro Vibe set for only a slow sweep. The older version Option 5 Destination Rotation 24 volt with its dual speed effect was the ticket, it has major headroom and a very convincing Leslie sound, and it replaced the Micro Vibe, a VT Bass pedal was added to tame some of the POGs digital sound when needed but it’s usually just a stand-a-lone effect. Does the system work … YES and it is GAS free complete. The only issue was adding the 24 volt transformer, but I got that worked out. It goes straight to the amps input with no split or side chain.

I find it works best with a passive Jazz Bass usually my 73 Fender strung with TI flats, and the amp I usually use is a Mark Bass LMII and sometimes a Mesa Big Block 750. The cabs vary, from two Mini 10s to a custom dual 410 rig with a sealed cab on top and ported under, but as of late a sealed custom 210 over a ported 1x15, is what I use most, all of my own design.





... Here is what it looks like on a Pedaltrain Jr.

[FreaqyFrequency]

Whoa! I never knew Option 5 had released an earlier version of the DRS. Looks like an incredible combo of sounds there.

[Happynoj]

I wouldn't call myself a 'synth bassist' as such, but I do use synthy sounds.

Originally Posted by jufros

-How did you get into bass synth in the first place?

The usual - Jamiroquai and Muse mainly. Recently I have been getting into more electronic-based music, like dupstep and hip hop.

Originally Posted by jufros

-How has your setup has evolved and why?

Ideas for the setup are changing all the time. I guess it has evolved from the first ever pedal I owned, which was a Zoom 506II multi-effect. I have gradually changed and upgraded things to work towards the sounds I hear in my head.

Originally Posted by jufros

-Do you have an "ultimate" setup that you're building towards?

Not especially. I'll know the ultimate set up when I find it.

Originally Posted by jufros

-What's in your setup now?

The synth sounds are basically OC-2 and fuzz (courtesy of Muffs and DS-1). Also have a BSW. Clean blends everywhere. I'm currently working on a solution to the clean blend being an octave too high when I'm using the OC-2.

Originally Posted by jufros

-Why is there? What sort of concept are you realizing?

Fat synthy fuzzy goodness.

Originally Posted by jufros

-What sorts of occasions, gigs, etc. do you bring your synth rig for?

Everything. I'm only in one band at the moment.

Originally Posted by jufros

-What types of mental puzzles have you had to piece together?

Clean blends are the biggest issue, and the octave up issue mentioned before. LS-2s currently fill my thoughts.

[speak_onion]

Originally Posted by jufros

-How did you get into bass synth in the first place?

I made electronic music before I ever played bass. I had an octave pedal and a filter, and it just happened, and I refined it from there.

Originally Posted by jufros

-How has your setup has evolved and why?

It refined as I played different stuff. The only project I'm playing bass in now is just me and a dude with a machinedrum who yells, so I had to sound that much bigger than when I was in a full band. Also stereo. So that led me to parallel filters and also more delay and more different waveshaping options.

Originally Posted by jufros

-Do you have an "ultimate" setup that you're building towards?
-What's in your setup now?

I feel like my current setup is ultimate. bass->tuner-->nocto-->FX70C-->1-bit ringmod-->bent PDS-20/20-->bent FX72-->Rusty Box-->Warp9 and RS3 in parallel-->echo park.

It's the ultimate setup for me that is truly portable. I mean, I'd love to add an M9 instead of my delay pedal, but that makes it too big for the subway.

Originally Posted by jufros

-Why is there? What sort of concept are you realizing?

?

Originally Posted by jufros

-What sorts of occasions, gigs, etc. do you bring your synth rig for?

Recording with Thermometerometer. We don't really gig at all because the other guy and I are both pretty busy with other projects, but maybe that will change. For now, we're ok with being jam/studio only.

Originally Posted by jufros

-What types of mental puzzles have you had to piece together?

Most recently was how to configure everything in a portable way. Building the tiny mini-rack to get the rack units facing up at me from the floor and in a portable box was awesome. Also the 1-in-2-out parallel blender for them was pretty fun.

Originally Posted by jufros

-Have you ever been victimized by the insatiable urge to sketch a routing diagram on a napkin while out to dinner with your girlfriend and allowed yourself to do amidst a barrage of passive aggressive commentary from your significant other that you didn't really wind up hearing anyway?

bwahahahaha

Originally Posted by jufros

-Last not but not least, general thoughts about the entire undertaking?

When you sit down with a setup with no other goal other than to see what sounds you can make and hours pass and you have this poo-eating grin on your face, that's the right setup. Stop messing with it right then.

[rnilson]

Cool Thread Idea:

-How did you get into bass synth in the first place?

I wanted to play the Drum'n'Bass I was producing live.

-Do you have an "ultimate" setup that you're building towards?

I really am pretty happy with my current rig it hasn't changed for quite a while. I do think of down sizing from time to time. A PT 2 seems like a nice size to carry, my current board is a beast.

Current Rig:

Philosopher's Tone>OC2>GEB7>LS2>(Loop A: Moog LPF)(Loop B:Woolly Mammoth>Moog FB>Heilotrope>MS-20 Clone>Small Stone> Bassballs) I use a Moog MP201 for CV controls on Filters and FB.

What sort of concept are you realizing?

When I started I was trying to do more insane types of Nuerofunk Reece Bass/Sub Stuff Like Nosia, Ed Rush, Spore ect... I realized that it is just not doable with pedals, at least to the extent I wanted to achieve. It is better to just leave that to the midi-controller.

Now I am just trying to create good tone and interesting bass lines more like the liquid funk stuff Klute, Juju, really anything on Break Beat Science.
I am also really inspired by John Davis great tone and great bass lines.

-What sorts of occasions, gigs, etc. do you bring your synth rig for?

I have two gigs that I use my board for. Disco Classic is a Drum'n'Bass duo I do, and Mixed Method is a Nu-Jazz, Jazz'n'Bass, quintet. Since we added a live drummer I have been playing mostly upright with that group though. It is hard to convince yourself drag out all your gear for one or two songs.

-What types of mental puzzles have you had to piece together?

What sounds to use where is always a challenge for me. When I started I wanted to do the craziest synth sound on every tune. That is fine for your basement, but it doesn't fit what the music needs. Some times just a fat sub is all you need.

-Have you ever been victimized by the insatiable urge to sketch a routing diagram on a napkin while out to dinner with your girlfriend and allowed yourself to do amidst a barrage of passive aggressive commentary from your significant other that you didn't really wind up hearing anyway?
Yes, my wife calls my gear "the girlfriend"

-Last not but not least, general thoughts about the entire undertaking?
At some point you have to just be happy with what you have. Spend time with your gear and use it to it's fullest. After a couple months if you still need that next pedal then get it but obsessing over gear is not as important as listing to music and playing.

God I feel like a cheese-ball for writing that.

[rottenramone]

-How did you get into bass synth in the first place?

my drummer came back from the collective in nyc and showed me a whole new world of playing electronic music live. before that i thought ableton and reason was the way to go.

-Do you have an "ultimate" setup that you're building towards?

maybe a kickass amp and cab. but over here in my country, its not very practical.

Current Rig:

rmc fk-1 comp, oc2-noisebox(loop1), octavius squeezer (loop2), pitchfactor, adrenalinn2, mxr phase90, moog lpf.

What sort of concept are you realizing?

reese bass previously, now a decent sub with timelocked vcf and vco

-What sorts of occasions, gigs, etc. do you bring your synth rig for?

practically all my gigs are with my band, breakbeat theory

-What types of mental puzzles have you had to piece together?

creating bass sounds on reason subtractor, then trying to reverse engineer it with pedals.

-Have you ever been victimized by the insatiable urge to sketch a routing diagram on a napkin while out to dinner with your girlfriend and allowed yourself to do amidst a barrage of passive aggressive commentary from your significant other that you didn't really wind up hearing anyway?

she helps me carry my gear around. she's a sweetie.

-Last not but not least, general thoughts about the entire undertaking?

talkbass: good for info, bad for wallet.

merry christmas all!

PS- hi jufros: the philosopher's tone hasn't arrived yet. must be the delay over the holidays i think.

[bigchiefbc]

Originally Posted by jufros

-How did you get into bass synth in the first place?

I've always been a fan of techno/electronica/trance/trip-hop/etc. And you just look a lot cooler playing a bass than a keyboard.

-How has your setup has evolved and why?

Started off with an EHX Bass Micro Synth. But then I realized that its more of a funk/lead type sound than a real techno-style synth. So I picked up a Behringer BSY that I'm using for the real techno-esque stuff for now.

-Do you have an "ultimate" setup that you're building towards?

I eventually want to have my bass trigger midi on a full synth. But none of the midi pickups/trackers work as well as I want them to. So I'm probably going to end up making my own. And then for lead tones, I'm almost to the signal chain I want.

-What's in your setup now?

Pigtronix Philosopher's Tone -> Behringer BSY-600 -> Mid-Fi Glitch Computer -> Devi Ever Improbability Drive -> Devi Ever OK -> Alesis Bitrman -> Boss DD-20 -> EHX Flanger Hoax -> EHX Stereo Electric Mistress -> EHX Bass Micro Synth -> Alesis Ampliton

Also, Yamaha P-60 triggering a Nord Lead 2 Rack. Eventually, I want my bass to trigger the Nord.

-Why is there? What sort of concept are you realizing?

Techno arpeggiation + Screaming jet-plane leads + industrial metallic clang + fuzz/bit-crushed crunch

-What sorts of occasions, gigs, etc. do you bring your synth rig for?

Just studio stuff so far. But I'm planning on us starting to gig next summer, so I'll let you guys know how it goes.

-What types of mental puzzles have you had to piece together?

The signal chain literally took over a year to piece together exactly like I wanted it.

-Have you ever been victimized by the insatiable urge to sketch a routing diagram on a napkin while out to dinner with your girlfriend and allowed yourself to do amidst a barrage of passive aggressive commentary from your significant other that you didn't really wind up hearing anyway?

No, my wife is very understanding. She basically just smiles and nods.

-Last not but not least, general thoughts about the entire undertaking?

I really think that synth is the next great frontier for effects. Fuzz/Overdrive and delay have basically been done to death, and the only places left for real innovation are modulation and synth. I'm hoping to eventually fill that niche myself with my stored up circuit ideas. We shall see.

[JimmyM]

used to borrow keyboards occasionally to play synth bass in the early 80's. never did it on electric. got an syb-3 recently but i leave it on envelope filter. that's about the extent of it.

[RickenBoogie]

I used to own a Little Phatty, still have a Korg X-50, and will once again have another all analog synth. But, for bass, my synthy good times are generally for my own amusement, and I use the multiple pedals to create a single sound method, MXR Bass Octave, Mastotron fuzz, Menatone filter, and sometimes topped off with some Maxon modulation, chorus or flange. Oh, for icing sometimes, MXR again, for delay.

[warwick.hoy]

I'm not a synth bassist yet,....but once I get my new computer and put some recording and drum machine software on it,....lookout. Unfortunately I'm having trouble finding a drummer around town that wants to play live D'n'B. Probably for lack of trying.

Originally Posted by jufros

-How did you get into bass synth in the first place?

I was in a band where the singer used a Mo-8 for piano parts. It was sort of a DCFC influenced piano pop rock band called The Back Row Kings. One of the members of the band (whom I still jam with in How Men Used to Die always wanted him to do synthy stuff, but he wasn't into it,...so I started working on putting together a synth pedal rig. How Men Used to Die is sort of the natural progression of our collaboration in The Back Row Kings I also used My love for 80's music as an excuse to start working on a synth pedalboard.

I also really like Live D'n'B, Jambands, and music that makes people dance. I need to be able to create different sounds when jamming. Unfortunately it's been a little tuff finding a drummer who wants to do that sort of rhythm section with me.

Also having a MicroKORG and watching videos of vintage Moogs really educated me on sounds and gave me an insight into the vernacular.

-How has your setup has evolved and why?

I'm still a fledgling at this. When I drunkenly stumbled into the TBFX subforum I new I wanted to have a pedalboard, I already had a Sansamp that I was using as a preamp to push poweramp, but I was seduced to the the darkside once I poked my head in here. Pop open a PYPB thread (I think it was 7 at the time) and here were all these wonderful boards with all these knobs and buttons...so I started scouring craigslist and started acquiring pedals without any direction. Trade a Q-tron with whacky voltages for a BSW here,...drive 30 minutes to buy a crappy sounding cheap chorus there. Then I started paying attention to what people in here were saying,....reading up on stuff and gaining insight. I found myself buying my first heavily researched pedal,...an EA Supercollider. Even though it was a muff and I intended it for aggressive wall of sound stuff that pedal eventually changed my perception on how you can create a synth rig and really solidified the direction I was going in. Shortly thereafter I got an OC-2 which is pretty much the cornerstone for my budding synth rig. Add filters and distortion and you can cop a pretty convincing square or saw wave sound. Take away the distortion and you've got hip hop bass tones.

-Do you have an "ultimate" setup that you're building towards?

I'm working on it, but I'm pretty satisfied with my little pedalboard. I'm not that picky and I find myself more working with what I have rather than trying to nail the sounds that I hear in my head. There are some additions for sure. I'd like a gated fuzz and would love to add some more MoogerFoogers to my lineup. I also want to add another cab to my rig and start using my Pre/Poweramp setup again.

-What's in your setup now?

Check my sig for Basses and Amps, but additionally I have a Yamaha PB-1 preamp and Ampeg SVP-1500 poweramp that I use for louder applications.

Pedalboard: Bass => Tu-2 => Ls-2 => Supercollider => Bass MuRF with exp pedal to control the LFO (still need a tap tempo Footswitch) => Amp.

Loop 1: (Synth Loop) OC-2 => SD-2(Dual Overdrive) => Tonefactor 442 Red. This is where I'd like to add Fuzz although I think I'd be satisfied with a footswitch to toggle between the crunch and more fuzzy sounding lead channel on the SD-2.

Loop 2 is 3Leaf Groove Regulator. I use this loop to push a little more level with the GR,...without it; the GR gets sort of buried in the mix. I like it for that clean filter sound.

I leave the MuRF and the Supercollider in line so that I can use them with both loops,...

-Why is there? What sort of concept are you realizing?

To make people shake their asses.

-What sorts of occasions, gigs, etc. do you bring your synth rig for?

All rehearsals, auditions, and jams. I don't really have a use for the MuRF in Yes Man! Yes! but all the other stuff goes with.

-What types of mental puzzles have you had to piece together?

Should I get a single channel TBP switch for my MuRF with a tap tempo and latching switch or wait until I get more MoogerFooger since the bypasses on those are garbage. Should I just have a TBP mod done to the MuRF or have a better buffer put on it?

-Have you ever been victimized by the insatiable urge to sketch a routing diagram on a napkin while out to dinner with your girlfriend and allowed yourself to do amidst a barrage of passive aggressive commentary from your significant other that you didn't really wind up hearing anyway?

No, usually that sort of stuff occurs when I'm typing an epic (long winded) replay to a thread about epic (long winded) synth sagas. Then my wife is all like,...are you coming to bed,....EVER!!!!!????

-Last not but not least, general thoughts about the entire undertaking?

It's been a fun ride so far. I feel like I've gotten to know some good folks through this site and check out their bands and their projects. I've found inspiration and a niche that gives me a unique and individual voice. The audience might not appreciate it but a lot of the people I jam with,...do.

[squarewave]

Excellent thread bump.

[Wud]

I went from playing Bass in my teens, to producing Techno in my 20's and now combine both Live audio and sequenced elements in my audio pursuits.

I have to say my old Korg MS-20 mono synth, with its external signal processor and semi modular architecture is by far and away my favorite Bass Synth provider.

Check out the fun to be had with external inputs etc -

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?im...26tbs%3Disch:1

then there is the rest of the synth fun as seen here -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/scotlands..._korg_ms20.jpg

Or Here -

http://www.sequencer.de/pix/korg/korg_ms20_mod.jpg

Joyous Chaos Maximus

[gumtownbassman]

I have always been interested in synth bass, since i left school i had an interest in synths, those Roland synth guitars looked pretty cool (at the time in the early 80's) but took up bass and played in rock/punk bands.
First i got a Boss Delay/Pitchshifter pedal in 1989, and found if you moved the pitch off by a few cents and cranked up the feedback, you could get a cheesey organ sound.
Shortly after that i got an A.R.T SGE mk II multi effects, but the cheesey pitch shifting still sound cheesey.

Then i moved to another band where i was the keyboardist, playing alsorts of samples and synth sounds with a Roland D10 midi'd to a computer with a sampling card (soundblater AWE32 + win95), i soon began to hate using/depending on computers for live performances.

Then back to bass in another band (first band reformed) and i purchased the Boss GT-6B, atlast some proper synth sounds.
Then i got the Boss GT-10B, even better overall, but the synth sucked.
Now this week i got a Roland GR-20 guitar/bass synth and the GK3B pickup installed on my MIA Fender Jazz deluxe V. Now i am totally blown away by what this thing can do, i have it midi'd together with the GT-10B, it is a perfect match.
Now i can either play any type of synth sound i want (even acoustic wood bass), play any VST softsynth from my laptop via the GT-10B USB audio, or play my normal rock bass lines while an ambiant synth pad is also playing.

TOTALLY STOKED WITH MY CURRENT GEAR!!!!