Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[JES]

So awhile back the people who make my gloves started selling ones that work with touchscreens. After my lesson this morning, I fired up my old RME Babyface and connected it to the iPad and it works really well. I really want to use Drambo but right now it only outputs 1 channel. This is in AUM, running through Filterstation on the "dry" channel, and Gauss, a saturator, and Granular (aka, "Clouds") on the wet channel. Nothing earth shattering but it works.



Edit: I got Drambo working inside of AUM. Drambo's stem recording doesn't make sense to me. Complex LFO modulating wave shaped distortion and a filter, and then a channel with granular and another with multitap delay.

 

[JES]

Still hoping to score an analog mixer, but also thinking about the 1010 Music Bluebox, so I can do live to iPhone but also have the ability to manipulate the tracks later...

The video sounds great. As far as the Bluebox, just know it is NOT an audio interface and is unlikely to become one. You would record into it, pop out the card, and then drag the files to your hard drive. I've got one. It works great, but just worth knowing. It also takes a bit of setup if you want to do performance mixing. But it's been super helpful for me just getting stuff done.

 

[monsterthompson]

 

[hieronymous]

The video sounds great. As far as the Bluebox, just know it is NOT an audio interface and is unlikely to become one. You would record into it, pop out the card, and then drag the files to your hard drive. I've got one. It works great, but just worth knowing. It also takes a bit of setup if you want to do performance mixing. But it's been super helpful for me just getting stuff done.

Thanks - I was hoping you'd comment on the Bluebox! I wouldn't use it as an audio interface, I was more thinking to use it simultaneously as a mixer & recorder - take stereo out into my interface (currently Roland GO:MIXER) into phone, but also record so that I could take those tracks and put them in ProTools to manipulate later if needed.

BTW, I noticed that there is a sync issue with the Roland unit - it's off enough to notice - I had to split the audio in iMovie and slide it over a little bit. Disappointing, but the sound is better than the Zoom H6 which had sporadic static pops.

 

[monsterthompson]

I haven't been able to listen to what people have been posting, but I have been experimenting myself. Three live jams with Subharmonicon, DFAM & Sirin - then borrowed a mixer (for that stereo spread), added bass, and voila - what I've been wanting to do for so long:



Still hoping to score an analog mixer, but also thinking about the 1010 Music Bluebox, so I can do live to iPhone but also have the ability to manipulate the tracks later...

Fantastic!

 

[monsterthompson]

This might push me over the edge toward getting the baritone.
This octave pedal might not be what I want on bass, but...

 

[JES]

Thanks - I was hoping you'd comment on the Bluebox! I wouldn't use it as an audio interface, I was more thinking to use it simultaneously as a mixer & recorder - take stereo out into my interface (currently Roland GO:MIXER) into phone, but also record so that I could take those tracks and put them in ProTools to manipulate later if needed.

It will definitely work for that. You need a card reader for your computer, and there are a couple little weird or wonky things to set up on the BB, even though it looks WYSIWYG, so give yourself a little time to get to know it before you do anything mission-critical. Also, if you ever get a recording error, it just means your card is too full, so just delete some stuff.

 

[steubig]

@JES: diptychs (or other groupings of more than one piece) are really cool in my book.

@monsterthompson: thanks for the javelin mention. i was in the sf bay area last weekend and found one used for a good price, so far it's been useful. (and ministry's song "filth pig" is a great example of bass doubled with gnarly baritone [according to a friend who seems to know these things], so that might really push you over the edge.)

great to hear people posting their recent music. thanks.

 

[dukeorock]

Pretty cool

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

@JES
Didn’t you record some stuff with your wife on drums?
Like duo thing?

 

[hieronymous]

Finally going back a couple of pages and trying to catch up on listening!

looking for a little advice. Here's this morning's noodle.



I feel like I'm not letting stuff rest enough, and substituting hand movement for intentional harmonic or melodic development. Noodling where I want intention, I guess?

What I'm going for is actually something sparser and moodier. I feel like when I'm doing stuff with synths I can just let the notes sit and draw out timbres. For instance, here:



But of course with a stringed instrument that's harder to do on a clean sound. I think my problem is I need to simply let stuff sit and then intentionally move to the next thing.

Any suggestions for getting over this hump in my playing? I feel like I've been stuck here for awhile in my solo playing. I mean, I am fine in a band context resting for a verse or just hitting a whole note if that's what's needed. But for some reason with solo stuff I am less likely to let myself just sit if it's on touch guitar.

I listen to tons of minimalist music (in the general sense) where not much happens--I'm a regular purchaser of Room40 recordings, so I get the aesthetic intellectually. I feel like my hands just aren't cooperating.

I was thinking of maybe an exercise where the touch guitar is ONLY sample food/an oscillator so I am never heard just playing. But I'm not going for something that absolute.

EDIT: I also default to C minor too much but that's just the shape of my two primary instruments (Linnstrument and touch guitar). I just need to pick another key each day or something.

On a happier note, I really feel like I've gelled with the Cosmos as a composition partner. I know how to fill it up, turn it over, nudge it, empty it out. I just wish for slightly more control with the granular algorithms.

I liked it. I thought that the drone loop was an integral part - maybe partially the character of the drone might affect your playing? It was very "guitar" - in a good way - the percussive act of the strings sounding - a lot different than the drone in the second piece. What would happen if you did a synth drone and played over that? Might affect your guitar playing. Might inspire ways to affect the guitar to be more legato?

Could I ask too - with the touch guitar, are you playing bass notes with the right or left hand? I only got to play a Stick a couple of times and it just didn't click, though I think the circumstances of the encounter may have affected my ability to really engage with it with the amount of effort involved. I can do bass and bass pedals though! (Kind of at least, and I am realizing I need to put in a lot more work...)

 

[monsterthompson]

 

[steubig]

^^^ouch

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Next gig’s flyer, I think it’s worth sharing this one…

 

[lucas303]

Next gig’s flyer, I think it’s worth sharing this one…
View attachment 4700803

That's awesome. Did you create it?

 

[JES]

Didn’t you record some stuff with your wife on drums?
Like duo thing?

Yes! We still have a couple vocal tracks to finish and then mixing, though it'll be easy to mix compared to other stuff. Besides being my studio, my office is also our vocal booth, and we took everything down in September when the rush of the school year started and now it's...May. Definitely will be finished this summer, release will be pending some artwork from a friend.

with the touch guitar, are you playing bass notes with the right or left hand?

The answer is yes. Touch guitar is a descendant of stick. But instead of playing like a pianist where one hand does low and the other high, I've learned a technique where it's more like one big 8-fingered hand. It's a whole system, so each pair of hands covers 4 intervals/5 notes in a scale. Many sticks are also tuned from the inside out, so the lowest strings are in the middle. Mine is set up like an 8-string bass with narrow spacing, tuned in 5ths.

On playing with synths, I've tried but I find it hard to move back and forth and improvise. I think I will be making synth pieces and touch guitar pieces, at least for now. Though either could hypothetically include samples.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

That's awesome. Did you create it?

It’s one of my buds
He’s a pro graphics artist

 

[saltymonkey]

 

[monsterthompson]

I've been trying to use the Zoia looper function. It is weird and a little tricky to set up. Maybe I'm just spoiled by the Pigtronix looper I have, but the Zoia has some quirks that just seem odd and clumsy compared to what I'm familiar with. I think I can get it to do what I need/want as well as some extra fun stuff, but I haven't quite figured out how to put things together just yet.

 

[monsterthompson]

Ummm. what.