Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[ugly_bassplayer]

Any of you have any input in regards to the differences between the MK1 and MK2 of the Octatrack??
(yes I did a Google search, but info here is really reliable)
@dukeorock maybe can share?
(hope your doing ok my friend in these hard times , thoughts go out buddy, it isnt much but hey.....)
Im getting rid of some gear ant the MK1 has finaly dropped low enough so I could "maybe" afford one if I clear enough stuff and sell a kidney.

 

[JES]

Here is my haul (so far). No accounting for taste, etc. etc. Always happy to hear recommendations.

Seriously on the exchange rate, but whatever. For once I'm not working my *ss off on Friday, so I actually took some time to listen to stuff.

On some of the Leyla McCalla, it sounds like she's fingerpicking a cello like a guitar. Gives me some interesting fretless bass ideas.

 

[JES]

Any of you have any input in regards to the differences between the MK1 and MK2 of the Octatrack??
(yes I did a Google search, but info here is really reliable)
@dukeorock maybe can share?
(hope your doing ok my friend in these hard times , thoughts go out buddy, it isnt much but hey.....)
Im getting rid of some gear ant the MK1 has finaly dropped low enough so I could "maybe" afford one if I clear enough stuff and sell a kidney.

I have a very early Mk1.

Mk2 is laid out a little better IMO. Supposedly the convertors are a little better and the inputs are balanced. According to Elektronauts, some people have strong feelings about the buttons, etc. Mk1 is a steal of a deal now. If you were down the street, I'd just loan you mine to try out. It's super fun but not intuitive -- the trick is to try and do something with it and not "learn it all" because nobody ever could. People complain about the effects but that's because there are no presets. If you want them to sound good, you have to mess around with them to find out what you like. My complaint about my own playing on it is I get too busy for my own taste in sampled music.

 

[steubig]

@JES that's quite a haul. i'm still struggling to get through things that i bought years ago—feels like i don''t have time to listen attentively these days.

 

[JES]

I try and buy to support musicians. And I’ve missed the last few Bandcamp Fridays. Occasionally I’ll buy something and forget about it and discover it later. Also, classes are over, so I expect all will get a careful listen in the next 4 weeks.

 

[Starthief]

Checking out the recommendations.

Here was mine for the day -- a bit less than usual, I wound up dropping 6 things off my wishlist without actually buying. I've been culling my collection somewhat and am planning to buy a bit less from now on. Except maybe to shore up my road trip playlists because my collection leans really heavily toward ambient and weird stuff that doesn't work well with road noise and doesn't necessarily keep me alert for 10 hours at a time.

Anyway.

Lonely, sparse, lap steel ambient:


70s psychedelic occult rock-adjacent stuff (this one would work for driving):


Noisy ambient weirdness featuring the Soma Lyra-8 and odd acoustic instruments:


Slightly less weird live studio synth performances:


(I like Nathan Moody a lot, but on first listen I would say these two albums are neither his most accessible nor his best material... which doesn't mean they're bad I'd rank my favorites of his as Blue Box and Red Box for pure synth stuff, and The Damage Diary and The Right Side of Mystery for more spooky soundtracky stuff.)

 

[Bob_Ross]

if I really wanted to scratch the ABG itch I could just wander into the local Guitar Center and buy some POS that was maybe only a third as good as an Emerald, but 1/8th the price.

Boy, do I know myself or what? Just grabbed this yesterday:

It's a [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Does exactly what I wanted an ABG for: Makes sounds that I can hear when I pick it up and start plunking. And absoutely nothing more.
But just in case, it does have a pickup, so I expect to be making some hellacious ambient post-rock textural noises with it ...just as soon as I can get my stompboxes back to Arizona. (First World Problems: Too many residences, not enough pedals.)

 

[JES]

Thanks for the recs! As an experiment I posted a request for recs, with no genre specifications, on Mastodon and Facebook. That’s how I found Layla McCalla, which is far outside what I would say I liked if I was talking in genres (“singer-songwriter” is not my vibe 99% of the time—and I prefer instrumental music or where vocals aren’t the main thing). There were definitely misses doing it that way too but it was worthwhile. I will do it again.

In more concerning news, I feel a cold coming on. Which normally isn’t a big thing except that now I have to wonder if it’s a cold or another kind of coronavirus.

 

[JES]

Boy, do I know myself or what? Just grabbed this yesterday:

It's a [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Does exactly what I wanted an ABG for: Makes sounds that I can hear when I pick it up and start plunking. And absoutely nothing more.
But just in case, it does have a pickup, so I expect to be making some hellacious ambient post-rock textural noises with it ...just as soon as I can get my stompboxes back to Arizona. (First World Problems: Too many residences, not enough pedals.)

NICE. Unlike @ugly, I really like ABGs.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

27026600[/URL], member: 37282"]NICE. Unlike @ugly, I really like ABGs.

my right plucking arm hurts just looking at it.
looks freakin cool though.

@JES just because i’m not particularly fond of ABG doesnt mean no cool music was done on some.
And who cares what I think anyways?

I think my aversion towards abg have to do with the physics of bass sound waves. Big waves cant sound “big” on such a small resonance cavity. (ok, this is interweb science here, my acoustic physics book is buried somewhere I dont want to dig out)
played many straight ahead gigs on both Upright and ABG and it was always a real struggle to make the ABG “fit” in the bamd mix, compared to the upright. So I ended up using whatever electric bass I had with dead strings and foam to play those gigs without a pickup truck to haul the Doghouse.
they always sound tiny and “compressed” compared to Uprights but man are they better to carry around!!!
@Bob_Ross hope you have some awesome spontaneous ideas pop up when picking it up, always have your phone or some other recording device to capture ideas, losing such things are a major pain in the @$$.
maybe have it moded to fit the Blooper, Habit, Mood trio installes inside the big body of that thing. Pedal problem solved ( ok stupid pre coffee joke, sorry)

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Been in a rut for quite a while so I took @JES compliment about me and my SP404 and did just that.
All sounds are from the SP FX (you can actually generate sound from nothing on the sampler)or the internal MIC.

Meant as an exercise in creativity , its my "making beats" kind of thing.
Treating sampler as a "tape machine" with asynchronous loops technique here.

Cheers

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[steubig]

Boy, do I know myself or what? Just grabbed this yesterday:

It's a [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Does exactly what I wanted an ABG for: Makes sounds that I can hear when I pick it up and start plunking. And absoutely nothing more.
But just in case, it does have a pickup, so I expect to be making some hellacious ambient post-rock textural noises with it ...just as soon as I can get my stompboxes back to Arizona. (First World Problems: Too many residences, not enough pedals.)

first-world solution:

BUY MORE PEDALS

 

[steubig]

about the abg: maybe the problem is trying to get it to replace other bass instruments rather than be its own thing—specifically create music around it.

that being said, even though i’ve liked it for some projects, i haven’t really used mine in quite a while.

 

[Bob_Ross]

about the abg: maybe the problem is trying to get it to replace other bass instruments rather than be its own thing—specifically create music around it.

It's funny, I've seen so many bassists talking about how they're struggling to find the right strings to use on their ABG "so that it doesn't sound like a big low acoustic guitar"

...and here I'm thinking, "whoa, how cool would it be to have a big low acoustic guitar?!?!"


Oh, btw: I also bought a (normal) acoustic guitar yesterday. First time I've owned one since 1979.

 

[steubig]

It's funny, I've seen so many bassists talking about how they're struggling to find the right strings to use on their ABG "so that it doesn't sound like a big low acoustic guitar"

...and here I'm thinking, "whoa, how cool would it be to have a big low acoustic guitar?!?!"


Oh, btw: I also bought a (normal) acoustic guitar yesterday. First time I've owned one since 1979.

totally.

for me, it comes down to asking myself the question of how could i *use that sound*. i had a band that was built around it, but then the original drummer left town for nyc, the replacement drummer was a pita and i moved on to other projects. i've used it on a few odd gigs (duo improv with pipa, that sort of thing).

that being said, my particular abg is a 6-string and is a bit bright for my taste.

 

[JES]

I always wanted “low guitar” and not “tiny double bass.” I did some coffee shop gigs with a Martin BC-15e backing a singer-songwriter about 10 years ago. It was fun and had a certain vibe. I’ve also done living room jams with acoustic guitar and acoustic bass.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

27027012[/URL], member: 234523"]It's funny, I've seen so many bassists talking about how they're struggling to find the right strings to use on their ABG "so that it doesn't sound like a big low acoustic guitar"

...and here I'm thinking, "whoa, how cool would it be to have a big low acoustic guitar?!?!"


Oh, btw: I also bought a (normal) acoustic guitar yesterday. First time I've owned one since 1979.

27027472[/URL], member: 37282"]I always wanted “low guitar” and not “tiny double bass.” I did some coffee shop gigs with a Martin BC-15e backing a singer-songwriter about 10 years ago. It was fun and had a certain vibe. I’ve also done living room jams with acoustic guitar and acoustic bass.

My favourite strings on ABG are nylons, very warm and good fundamentals. Flats are ok, but they actually had too much “thud” on ABG instruments, even “overly percussive” and killed all the “harmonic colors” of notes.
I like dead strings so the usual bronze ones where a no go.
I also get the “the ABG” is its own thing and should not be in competition with other tools.

But again, who cares what like? As long as you play and create, its all good with me.
Major bonus as you previously mentioned, pick up play, nuff said.

 

[monsterthompson]

Been traveling. Time to catch up on things tomorrow.

I was kinda eyeing the Erica Synths Perkons when I stumbled on the Syntrx II which was announced at Superbooth a few months back. Oh man.
Invalid Link Removed

 

[dukeorock]

Any of you have any input in regards to the differences between the MK1 and MK2 of the Octatrack??
(yes I did a Google search, but info here is really reliable)
@dukeorock maybe can share?
(hope your doing ok my friend in these hard times , thoughts go out buddy, it isnt much but hey.....)
Im getting rid of some gear ant the MK1 has finaly dropped low enough so I could "maybe" afford one if I clear enough stuff and sell a kidney.

Many say there’s very little difference between the MK1 and mk2. I’ve only ever owned the MK2. If you get a chance to try either one, do it, assuming you have any walls left for awhile
I’m still in pretty bad shape and find making music difficult, but I did manage an OS update on my Syntakt today and started a kinda crappy jam
Going on vacation to Holland Christmas week because the holidays tend to be extra brutal. At least thanksgiving was. Hopefully this trip to Nijmegen will help

 

[steubig]

Many say there’s very little difference between the MK1 and mk2. I’ve only ever owned the MK2. If you get a chance to try either one, do it, assuming you have any walls left for awhile
I’m still in pretty bad shape and find making music difficult, but I did manage an OS update on my Syntakt today and started a kinda crappy jam
Going on vacation to Holland Christmas week because the holidays tend to be extra brutal. At least thanksgiving was. Hopefully this trip to Nijmegen will help

did i miss (forget?) that you got covid again?