Don't get me wrong, I appreciate technicality and virtuosity, but as they said in another era; "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing."
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread
- Thread starter ttasselm
- Start date
Well. I was struggling with my looper tonight. It’s tough to try to not make “music” when looping. It’s easy to fall into melody and harmony, because those things are what I learned when playing time-bound patterns. The other thing I was dealing with was wanting the looper after the delay so I could loop delayed patterns. Unfortunately, the Pigtronix Infinity, along with many other loopers, will have a pop/glitch and make it obvious where the start/end is in the loop. The looper built into the Empress Echo is pretty good, but you can’t fade those loop volumes, only start and stop them. Well, now what? I started exploring the Zoia looper functions. This looks like it has some potential.
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
Trick I picked up from Janek Gwizdala about looping when you are looping stuff with a long tail, start the loop during the tail. Basically pluck the note, and while the tail is there initiate your loop and end your loop when the tail is supposed to be. Better yet, set your looper to go from record to record instead of play.
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
Betcha at some point, the tech will allow most to insert a small cross fade between the start and end of a loop. At this point, no looper does exactly what I wish it would, but the Octatrack comes the closest. Zoia looks really promising there as well
Good suggestions. I’ve seen and thought of some of these before. I just haven’t been able to get a clean execution easily with the signal chain I’m running.
I theory, and the manual, the Infinity has a pop-killer option. The volume dip is noticeable in sparse arrangements. It also can go from an open loop into immediate overdub, which seems okay with using one loop. As soon as I use the second loop the division point becomes noticeable in the reverb/echo tail.
The Empress Reverb and Echo pedals have loops that work really well, but no fade in/out control. I’m hoping the Zoia will allow for this.
I theory, and the manual, the Infinity has a pop-killer option. The volume dip is noticeable in sparse arrangements. It also can go from an open loop into immediate overdub, which seems okay with using one loop. As soon as I use the second loop the division point becomes noticeable in the reverb/echo tail.
The Empress Reverb and Echo pedals have loops that work really well, but no fade in/out control. I’m hoping the Zoia will allow for this.
I used to try to make the equipment do my crazy ideas...as soon as I learned to work within the equipment it opened up tons of new doors for me creatively.
Awesome, curious how that will pan out for you. What you describe is the whole reason I still have a DL4 on my board- hard to beat for sound on sound... for super tight phrase looping with midi sync, I use a Boomerang 3. If the Zoia can do what the DL4 does with extra external switches (loop, one shot, layer, half speed, reverse, delete without having to touch the unit), I'll buy one tomorrow.
I can't help it: every time you post a pic of that Zoia thing it makes me think of this. Those of you who grew up in the 70s or 80s may recognize this...
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Last edited:
I can't hrlp it: every time you post a pic of that Zoia thing it makes me think of this. Those of you who grew up in the 70s or 80s may recognize this...
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
FTW!
Sleestak!! RUN!! 
That was the friendly one from the distant past, can't remember his name (yes I am a total geek).
That was the friendly one from the distant past, can't remember his name (yes I am a total geek).
Sleestak!! RUN!!
That was the friendly one from the distant past, can't remember his name (yes I am a total geek).
Enik. The Sleestaks are descended from his people, but they devolved over time. Enik tries to use the pylons to time travel back to his civilization, just as the humans are. I haven't seen the show in over 30 years but I still remember that much.
Spent a little time out in dead space with my Afterneath and Transmisser over the weekend and made a little phone recording.
I know a lot of people have trouble deciding between these two pedals and wonder whether they work well on bass.
Of the two, Afterneath is the must-have. That pedal is a masterpiece. But when you combine them together you can really do some desolate space traveling on a derelict craft with no hope of ever returning, and you can certainly unlock the best of the Transmisser. The clip I posted is running the Afterneath at 100% Mix into the Transmisser, so the Trans is getting almost no dry signal to work with. This makes it more controllable, I guess because the signal it's processing is much more diffuse than a normal dry one. This enables me to set the mix to about 2:30 on the Transmisser, which would normally be too high, and get a really pronounced effect without it going haywire or having to wait 2 minutes between notes.
I know a lot of people have trouble deciding between these two pedals and wonder whether they work well on bass.
Of the two, Afterneath is the must-have. That pedal is a masterpiece. But when you combine them together you can really do some desolate space traveling on a derelict craft with no hope of ever returning, and you can certainly unlock the best of the Transmisser. The clip I posted is running the Afterneath at 100% Mix into the Transmisser, so the Trans is getting almost no dry signal to work with. This makes it more controllable, I guess because the signal it's processing is much more diffuse than a normal dry one. This enables me to set the mix to about 2:30 on the Transmisser, which would normally be too high, and get a really pronounced effect without it going haywire or having to wait 2 minutes between notes.
Anyone considering the CME special Walrus Delay/Reverb pedal?
Nice. Is it normalized to run in series or do you need to patch the delay into the reverb with a cable?
Working on a few new ideas. Simplifying my Ableton set. Currently working on using a PO Tonic into the Empress Echo and then Reverb. I’m dialing in “weird” settings so it sounds nothing like a drum hit. So far so good. I might pop the Zoia in the chain and use it to mutate the Echo’s output.
No cables needed. It's in series, but you can run additional fx-pedals between reverb and delay. Might even be possible to patch the reverb in front of the delay. But I haven't tried that, yet. Might be worth checking out, though.
Cross post from the Zoia thread...
...and we are back off the fence.
I just figured how to route the expression pedal into the Zoia and back out to a hardware synth (Nyx) for control over the Mod-Wheel command. I also just realized that the LFO adjustment on the Zoia has a bigger range than the LFO built into the hardware, so I'm now using a Zoia LFO to modulate the Mod-Wheel control and I'm able to get really long, slow filter sweeps. This is useful.
...and we are back off the fence.
I just figured how to route the expression pedal into the Zoia and back out to a hardware synth (Nyx) for control over the Mod-Wheel command. I also just realized that the LFO adjustment on the Zoia has a bigger range than the LFO built into the hardware, so I'm now using a Zoia LFO to modulate the Mod-Wheel control and I'm able to get really long, slow filter sweeps. This is useful.
Latest posts
-
-
-
Adding J pup to P bass, should I go 60’s or 70’s spacing?- Latest: Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati
-
-
