All your basses are belong to me...

[tastybasslines]

Originally Posted by FretlessMainly

"MechBass: a robotic bass guitar that sounds fantastic."

See, the thing is, it doesn't. It sounds like electronicadisco.

Which is to say, fake-o, crap-o.

Yeah, but it keeps perfect time, a key component of bass playing.

And it sounds electronica disco because the song is largely electronica.

[Musicman20]

Sounds dull, but fascinating technology none the less.

[thunderstation]

Is that the best bass for playing metal?

[Vincent P]

It could never replace us bassists as it must follow the 3 laws:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

[Spectrum]

Originally Posted by Vincent P

It could never replace us bassists as it must follow the 3 laws:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Unless it was built by Cyberdyne Systems and has a T-series model number.

[smcd]

Technology notwithstanding, that thing sounds terrible. Like a cheap synth. I kept having to press the pause button to determine if that really was the sound being played.

[wvbass]

Originally Posted by smcd

Technology notwithstanding, that thing sounds terrible. Like a cheap synth. I kept having to press the pause button to determine if that really was the sound being played.

"That robot is amazing, but his tone sucks.". It probably just means you hate the sound of a lightwave bass played with a pick.

I would say that, with properly positioned magnetic pickups and a randomization factor in the milliseconds range, this would be indistinguishable from a human. Heck, with just the randomization factor, this is probably true.

I am fascinated by this robot's palm muting technique. It is the third piece of bass playing - fretting, picking, and muting.

[smcd]

Originally Posted by wvbass

"That robot is amazing, but his tone sucks.". It probably just means you hate the sound of a lightwave bass played with a pick.

I have a Lightwave bass, and it sound great played with a pick. Nothing at all like the automated device in the OP's video.


The title of the article says that this contraption "sounds fantastic". It doesn't. An old Fender Rhodes piano bass sounds a million times better. Could this robot thing sound good? Maybe. But it doesn't in that video.

[wvbass]

Originally Posted by smcd

I have a Lightwave bass, and it sound great played with a pick. Nothing at all like the automated device in the OP's video.

The title of the article says that this contraption "sounds fantastic". It doesn't. An old Fender Rhodes piano bass sounds a million times better. Could this robot thing sound good? Maybe. But it doesn't in that video.

That is interesting. I wonder what has gone wrong tone-wise, then?

I'd appreciate your thoughts on the lightwave, too. I'd love to try one.

[nutdog]

The nutdogs liked it. Fun for the whole family.

[Clef_de_fa]

Originally Posted by mellowinman

US. That's US.

Anyway, it's cool enough, but someone needs to design something that can dance to it.

It is an old meme from a Sega Mega Drive video games ( which was very badly translated ) named Zero Wing

[Clef_de_fa]

Originally Posted by smcd

Technology notwithstanding, that thing sounds terrible. Like a cheap synth. I kept having to press the pause button to determine if that really was the sound being played.

to me it sounds like the real thing. Maybe you need the inconsistencies of a human playing live to like it. Anyway with all the quantization of today music to make it perfect ... to me it sounds like the recorded version of that song.

[smcd]

Originally Posted by wvbass

I'd appreciate your thoughts on the lightwave, too. I'd love to try one.

I have a Saber VL 4. It's beautifully made, light as a feather (7lbs.), and it plays and sounds great. A little on the bright side, but it has a huge array of tonal options.

[hibachiduck]

As a robotics hobbyist, I think this is awesome. I've done the whole Arduino thing (built a couple small robots with it) and it's cool to see someone use it for something like this. It's pretty funny how many people are getting ticked off about this. It's a university project for crying out loud. Engineering students make all kinds of gadgets for school that don't necessarily have a marketable use. So what? They're supposed to make something for class, why not do something fun? Would it have been better if he made a toaster instead?

The point is to demonstrate his control of multiple components working in unison. Getting the timing and positioning of all these components just right is hard work, and he pulled it off. That was the goal, not to somehow replace bassists or to market a product. I'm sure if someone wanted to market this they would've done it 10 years ago.

As for the sound, I'd like to hear this plugged into an SVT and on a clean song. I think with the right pedals this could've pulled off a convincing Hysteria. He won't switch to magnetic pickups though because of all the crap going on that's sensitive to electromagnetic fields. As a first step though, I think this is pretty cool. I guess Version 2.0 would include a bit of human feel (varying pick strength and timing, straight eights not being so metronomic). It's actually harder to do that than it is to be spot on though due to timing.

[mellowinman]

Originally Posted by rojo412

I'm surprised no one has brought up the band "Captured By Robots"...
It's a "band" of evil robots that enslaved a guitarist and made him play music with them.

In reality, it's one of the most amazing shows I've ever seen, with the enslaved human actually being the guy who makes them all talk and ridicule him.
And the "robots" are all sequenced, with servo motors on just about everything. They were all built by the guy who does the show and it blew my frickin' mind.

Don't know if the act still tours, but it's 100% awesome and an amazing show to see.

That is the most god-awful thing I have ever seen or heard.

[kanonfodr]

I don't get why everyone's so pissy about the tone of the machine, bring it back into the mix it would probably sit perfectly.

Otherwise I'm really impressed, and I can honestly say that there are some folks out there who would readily have something like this for themselves to put on stage and play with, so they don't have to deal with another human's ego in the work.

Peace,
Greg

[bassbenj]

Originally Posted by kanonfodr

I don't get why everyone's so pissy about the tone of the machine, bring it back into the mix it would probably sit perfectly.

Otherwise I'm really impressed, and I can honestly say that there are some folks out there who would readily have something like this for themselves to put on stage and play with, so they don't have to deal with another human's ego in the work.

That's exactly why so many are so ouchy. I mean, everbody knows that a lead guitarist is never going to be replaced by a robot (even a robot wearing leather pants), but hey ANY failed guitarist or even a machine can play bass. Even worse, the machine actually keeps perfect time in the groove, plays a fretless in tune and as you note does not instigate drama in the band.

[FretlessMainly]

Originally Posted by tastybasslines

Yeah, but it keeps perfect time, a key component of bass playing.

A key component of music is the human element that keeps excellent time. Perfect is not good; it sounds fake.

[smcd]

Originally Posted by kanonfodr

I don't get why everyone's so pissy about the tone of the machine,

Because the tone is awful.

Originally Posted by kanonfodr

Otherwise I'm really impressed, and I can honestly say that there are some folks out there who would readily have something like this for themselves to put on stage and play with, so they don't have to deal with another human's ego in the work.

If you know folks who would readily have something like this replacing their bass player, why aren't they doing it? Reasonably priced synth technology has been out there for 30 years that can do the exact thing this robot is doing.

As a science project, this robot is a clever piece of engineering. As a replacement for a live bassist, it's ludicrous. Not because it's mechanized, but because it will cost an absolute fortune. And it sounds bad.

[pkstone]

Originally Posted by FretlessMainly

A key component of music is the human element that keeps excellent time. Perfect is not good; it sounds fake.

It's hard to fake that "not-perfectness", too, because the way that "not perfectness" comes out is what determines groove, pocket, swing, touch -- the intangibles that make good bass. You can't just randomize the timing a little to make it "sound human".

I still love this machine, though. Imagine it with sliding, vibrato, different tuning systems...