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Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

#22,101
ugly_bassplayer said:
you’re joking right?
at that price, the company sells an oscillator module that can’t effin calibrate?
:banghead:
Click to expand...

It came as part of the system I bought. I should’ve returned it for a warranty/replacement but I waited too long and swapped in a different OSC that worked so I kinda forgot for a while. That same system had a malfunctioning mixer/output (line level & headphones) module and I got that exchanged under warranty without a problem (thanks Perfect Circuit).
 
#22,102
monsterthompson said:
It came as part of the system I bought. I should’ve returned it for a warranty/replacement but I waited too long and swapped in a different OSC that worked so I kinda forgot for a while. That same system had a malfunctioning mixer/output (line level & headphones) module and I got that exchanged under warranty without a problem (thanks Perfect Circuit).
Click to expand...
10lbs sledgehammer time
 
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#22,103
ugly_bassplayer said:
10lbs sledgehammer time
Click to expand...

I occasionally think I’ll try the calibration process again but it’s a huge trial and error PITA. I also have visions of using it as a FM source or for drones or atonal work. But I’ve already gif the rack pretty full with oscillators I like, and I have one or two I should sell or put to use.

I figured I’d make a few mistakes and unnecessary purchases along the modular path. And I did :)
 
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#22,105
JES said:
Lots to catch up on here. I'll say more tonight. But the hot news from last night is my wife and I went to catch Russian Circles at a local venue. It was a fun show. But the opening band, Rezn, from Chicago, had an actual modular synth player. I've only ever seen that with Om in the heavy music world.

At first he could only be heard between songs but then the corrected this mix midway through. It seemed to be mostly drones, and I couldn't tell if he was sampling the band or just using pre-selected samples, but it worked with the music. He doubled on bari sax on a couple songs, which also strangely worked.
Click to expand...

reminds me of the band Minsk… they pulled out the sax a few times which worked.
Would love to have seen Russian circles - they’re on my list but hard when no one comes to aus anymore :(
 
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#22,106
Time for catchup. This thread's been busy! I've been busy with other stuff.

First, props to @lucas303 for dropping the acoustics knowledge. Did not previously grok your high level of sound nerdery (probably because you're self-deprecating about synth stuff), a quality which I always appreciate (nerdery; don't care about self-deprecation one way or the other). Anyway, I always thought the main tone of bass notes came from the first harmonic plus overtones, which means if you're playing super downtuned, maybe you're getting more of the lower first harmonic? In any event, less bass on stage is always better, even if there's lots happening in the audience.

On oscillators and tuning. I find it so much more annoying than tuning a stringed instrument, and I have no idea why. BUT I really like the simple guitar tuner on my Implexus, and the A tone on my Perfourmer. And I find I'm tuning a bit more by ear these days. In any event, I kind of expect to have to retune an analog oscillator after about 5 minutes or so if I start playing right away.

lucas303 said:
"Recorded in July of 2021 at Earth Analog in Tolono, IL ...

Our deepest gratitude to Matt Talbott..."

Hum connection is a good sign...I'll have to check them out.
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theunknowndude said:
Would love to have seen Russian circles
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For your sake I hope they start coming back to Aus. I'd like to catch more bands from down under over here. I was too tired to attend Tropical F*** Storm but my wife dug it.

The Matt Talbott connection is definitely audible when you compare the first released track on the upcoming record with older stuff. The older stuff has that "clean modern metal" thing and the Earth Analog recording is much dirtier sounding--in a good way. We are huge Hum fans, probably because we lived in Urbana-Champaign during the heyday, so caught them in lots of small local venues.

On thumb technique and the low B, I'd love to hear more about that. The only low B I ever felt I could play like an E string was on a Dingwall. When I was doing a lot of drop tuned stuff on my 4-string, I would tend to move my right hand closer to the bridge when playing the E (now C) string.

On the new setup: I'm really liking it. The Perfourmer may get rack ears and a rack at this rate. It's super accessible high up, and the modular is much more accessible low down. Hope to get some more serious time with it this weekend.
 
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#22,108
JES said:
26968432[/URL], member: 37282"]When I think of doing violence to equipment, I think of you.
Click to expand...
For real, i’m honoured.
I haven’t smashed many, but when I did, the satisfaction level was quite high.
: pays virtual drink of choice.)

I think the last one as the defective VT bass a f@khead sold me, I posted the post sledge hammer pics here I believe………..
Before that it was a Presonus interface about 6 years ago, it had a sudden collision with a concrete wall after crashing one too many times tracking drums.
Never destroyed a bass though my friend did it a few times when he got a little too tipsy with his heavy rock biker type band, think motorhead meets ac/dc.
At one gig he failed miserably, the bass won and would not break. When he got off the stage I told him how much of a wuss he was for failing such an easy task.
:roflmao:
Hey, thats what friends are for!!
 
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#22,109
JES said:
On oscillators and tuning. I find it so much more annoying than tuning a stringed instrument,





On thumb technique and the low B, I'd love to hear more about that. The only low B I ever felt I could play like an E string was on a Dingwall. When I was doing a lot of drop tuned stuff on my 4-string, I would tend to move my right hand closer to the bridge when playing the E (now C) string.
Click to expand...

i like making atonal/microtonal chords and diads, so tuning irregularities are a feature, not a flaw. :)

imo, fingertips pulling away from pickups and main resonant part of the body are going to create less solidity on the low B.

i often think that low strings are a game of force—think of the power needed to move the waveforms. (apparently i’m not on the gary willis let the amp do the work team.)

i was thinking about this a little further. some of it may have to do with more surface area activating the string (side of thumb vs. fingertips). also, if you play upright, you’re generally not using your fingertips, you’re using the sides of your fingers, when playing pizz—so more meat hitting the string. in fact, there are some styles of walking where i change the angle of my hand so i can approximate the angle i’d have on upright.
 
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#22,114
The new setup works way better with the iPad at the centre of it. I think I just got lucky and accidentally waiting for AUM to be able to do everything I needed. I've got the Cosmos on a send, a plate reverb AUv3, and the rest is hardware. Everything seems to be able to talk to everything. Now I have to figure out how I want to fine tune my Linnstrument for the sensitivities of the Perfourmer and Implexus. And of course get composing a little more.

 
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#22,115
JES said:
The new setup works way better with the iPad at the centre of it. I think I just got lucky and accidentally waiting for AUM to be able to do everything I needed. I've got the Cosmos on a send, a plate reverb AUv3, and the rest is hardware. Everything seems to be able to talk to everything. Now I have to figure out how I want to fine tune my Linnstrument for the sensitivities of the Perfourmer and Implexus. And of course get composing a little more.

Click to expand...

What’s your audio interface hardware used with the iPad?
 
#22,117
JES said:
The new setup works way better with the iPad at the centre of it. I think I just got lucky and accidentally waiting for AUM to be able to do everything I needed. I've got the Cosmos on a send, a plate reverb AUv3, and the rest is hardware. Everything seems to be able to talk to everything. Now I have to figure out how I want to fine tune my Linnstrument for the sensitivities of the Perfourmer and Implexus. And of course get composing a little more.

Click to expand...


impressive
 
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#22,118
JES said:
I kinda liked it, honestly, and the floppy low note works well for certain kinds of sounds.
Click to expand...

I gotta admit, I really like ultra-floppy downtuned strings as a way to get away from playing conventional "bass parts" and to treat the instrument more as some bouncy-house clown-sound rubber band machine...and yet I've never gone down the path of trying to play quote-unquote legit Drop-X bass parts. The latter seems too tied up in very genre-specific sounds. I have very little...I almost said interest in, but really I have very little exposure to... (e.g.,) Djent type sounds, but I love what guitarists such as Eugene Chadmourne and Fred Frith will do with a floppy slack-tuned string.
 
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#22,119
Bob_Ross said:
I gotta admit, I really like ultra-floppy downtuned strings as a way to get away from playing conventional "bass parts" and to treat the instrument more as some bouncy-house clown-sound rubber band machine...and yet I've never gone down the path of trying to play quote-unquote legit Drop-X bass parts. The latter seems too tied up in very genre-specific sounds. I have very little...I almost said interest in, but really I have very little exposure to... (e.g.,) Djent type sounds, but I love what guitarists such as Eugene Chadmourne and Fred Frith will do with a floppy slack-tuned string.
Click to expand...
Michael Manring does some interesting floppy bass string stuff especially interesting when he applies it on any. I have been experimenting with that some myself.
 
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#22,120
JES said:
26971251[/URL], member: 37282"]The new setup works way better with the iPad at the centre of it. I think I just got lucky and accidentally waiting for AUM to be able to do everything I needed. I've got the Cosmos on a send, a plate reverb AUv3, and the rest is hardware. Everything seems to be able to talk to everything. Now I have to figure out how I want to fine tune my Linnstrument for the sensitivities of the Perfourmer and Implexus. And of course get composing a little more.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Click to expand...
Any latency issues with the IPad as the mixer of the set up?
I’m still a caveman with analog mixers, crappy ones to boot. With some “features/bugs/broken” issues I need to work around.
Fun times in the lab!!
:)

re: flabby strings
They are crazy hard to control, way to hard for me.
I would definitely need some time in the woodshed if I landed a gig that required that particular set up
 
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