Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[Colum]

That drove me crazy about Peaks. It pushed me to switch to Ornament & Crime. That one drove me crazy after a while for other reasons and I wound up with analog function generators instead, but didn't learn my lesson about knob-per-function until many mistakes later.

I never had an OG Clouds -- I felt like I'd had enough of granular in VST-land I guess, and I let the stupid meme about "Rings into Clouds" convince me I shouldn't get one. By the time I changed my mind, I wound up with a Supercell instead, found it was kind of overkill, and was about to switch to a Typhoon when Emilie invited me to the Beads beta.




I had an 0-Coast for a while. It's a very neat little synth in a fun package. I'd have kept it, but I was picky about the wavefolder and LPG which were less to my tastes than some other options out there, and I was otherwise duplicating its features in my Eurorack case anyway. On the other hand, the Strega and 0-Ctrl are nearly perfect for me.

Thanks I'll look into those also.
If you didn't already have a Eurorack case would you have been inclined to hang on to it?

 

[steubig]

It will be mostly interacting with the computer. I would like it to do a few things well aside from the experimental stuff. Space is at more of a premium for me than cash (which still is obviously) so I like any hardware I add to be somewhat utilitarian and cover a bit of ground sonically. It’s why I mostly work in the box. I do design work in the same space as music and I need a clear headspace for it. The cables always start taking over and stressing me out without realizing.

My workspace at its tidiest:
View attachment 5012945

tbh, looking at what you have and what you say you want to do, i'd look at a small keyboard synth that has a mono (for bass, etc.) capability, good polyphony, standard midi ports, and a decent keyboard. that would also have the advantage of being good for live use.

(you all know what i'm going to say) you could probably get a used hydrasynth explorer for about the same money as the 0 coast and it would be more versatile . . . and less likely to lead you to the dark side of modular.



or just use the computer and be happy.

(but the hydra will interface with the computer and have the benefit of giving some of your parts a handmade feel.)

my 2¢

ps: if you really want a semi-modular, i’d look at the pittsburgh modular taiga. some of the things are lacking, but it’s probably a bit more self-patchable than the 0 coast. also has three oscillators. ime, the tuning range is not as great as the 0 coast.

it costs more, but might suit you better.


might be worth exploring. both the loopop and sarah-belle reid demo vids are good; one shows more normal stuff and one shows more experimental stuff.

 

[Colum]

tbh, looking at what you have and what you say you want to do, i'd look at a small keyboard synth that has a mono (for bass, etc.) capability, good polyphony, standard midi ports, and a decent keyboard. that would also have the advantage of being good for live use.

(you all know what i'm going to say) you could probably get a used hydrasynth explorer for about the same money as the 0 coast and it would be more versatile . . . and less likely to lead you to the dark side of modular.



or just use the computer and be happy.

(but the hydra will interface with the computer and have the benefit of giving some of your parts a handmade feel.)

my 2¢

ps: if you really want a semi-modular, i’d look at the pittsburgh modular taiga. some of the things are lacking, but it’s probably a bit more self-patchable than the 0 coast. also has three oscillators. ime, the tuning range is not as great as the 0 coast.

it costs more, but might suit you better.


might be worth exploring. both the loopop and sarah-belle reid demo vids are good; one shows more normal stuff and one shows more experimental stuff.

Thanks I’ll have a look at those.
Yeah I think semi modular is what I’m after. Something fun and inspiring to play with that can add analogue tones.
The second hand market here in Ireland isn’t what it is over there and the Hydrasynth is a good bit more. I already have Serum and Pigments for wave table synthesis too so for home use it may not be worth it for me.

Used Deepminds crop up for cheap all the time, here for polyphonic analogue synths but for now I’m fine with soft synths. I should probably learn to play piano properly first as it would have more of an impact on my recording!

 

[steubig]

Thanks I’ll have a look at those.
Yeah I think semi modular is what I’m after. Something fun and inspiring to play with that can add analogue tones.
The second hand market here in Ireland isn’t what it is over there and the Hydrasynth is a good bit more. I already have Serum and Pigments for wave table synthesis too so for home use it may not be worth it for me.

Used Deepminds crop up for cheap all the time, here for polyphonic analogue synths but for now I’m fine with soft synths. I should probably learn to play piano properly first as it would have more of an impact on my recording!

the explorer is the smallest one and lists for less money.

i can’t really play piano at all.

 

[monsterthompson]

No specific questions really. I’ve looked at all the specs.
More a general opinion or if there’s anything better now?
I figure it would be great for the experimental stuff but tone wise is it a good monosynth for tracking?
Bass sounds, melodies etc

It’s tough to say what might be as good/better/worse. If you want the wave folding West Coast style sound design, then it’s pretty good for the money. For East Coast filter sounds (including resonant peak) it’s not going to be the right tool. It’s a triangle VCO, so you aren’t going to get saw and/or super saw sounds. You aren’t going to get PWM sounds, if that’s what you’re after. However, if you want weird stuff and Krell Patch sounds then it might be the ticket.

 

[Colum]

It’s tough to say what might be as good/better/worse. If you want the wave folding West Coast style sound design, then it’s pretty good for the money. For East Coast filter sounds (including resonant peak) it’s not going to be the right tool. It’s a triangle VCO, so you aren’t going to get saw and/or super saw sounds. You aren’t going to get PWM sounds, if that’s what you’re after. However, if you want weird stuff and Krell Patch sounds then it might be the ticket.

I’ll make him an offer I think. I haven’t gotten any negative feedback about it, just different perspectives, which is as good as you can hope for.

I do like all the demos I’ve heard.

I could get a Behringer Model D for the rest further down the line. They crop up 2nd hand here quite a bit too. Desktop synths suit me as I can just use the midi keyboard I have on sliders under the desk to save on space.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

I’ll make him an offer I think. I haven’t gotten any negative feedback about it, just different perspectives, which is as good as you can hope for.

I do like all the demos I’ve heard.

I could get a Behringer Model D for the rest further down the line. They crop up 2nd hand here quite a bit too. Desktop synths suit me as I can just use the midi keyboard I have on sliders under the desk to save on space.

Behringer D is notorious for bad tuning and pitch drifting.
look it up, plenty of forums, reviews etc…..

 

[Colum]

Behringer D is notorious for bad tuning and pitch drifting.
look it up, plenty of forums, reviews etc…..

I had one for a while and it didn’t bother me. The Minimoog was the same to be fair.

 

[Colum]

Another demo
I don’t really know what this is and it probably won’t go any further or fit with any other tunes I have but anyway….

Violence Because I Love

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

I had one for a while and it didn’t bother me. The Minimoog was the same to be fair.

I stand corrected.

 

[JES]

That drove me crazy about Peaks. It pushed me to switch to Ornament & Crime. That one drove me crazy after a while for other reasons and I wound up with analog function generators instead, but didn't learn my lesson about knob-per-function until many mistakes later.

I never had an OG Clouds -- I felt like I'd had enough of granular in VST-land I guess, and I let the stupid meme about "Rings into Clouds" convince me I shouldn't get one. By the time I changed my mind, I wound up with a Supercell instead, found it was kind of overkill, and was about to switch to a Typhoon when Emilie invited me to the Beads beta.

I think I was one of the first buyers of Clouds in Montreal. Moog Audio had ordered like 2-3 or something because granular synthesis was this esoteric thing that didn’t really happen in hardware and they didn’t know if it would sell.

It definitely didn’t turn out to be what I’d hoped but then it also didn’t turn out to be what Emilie hoped either. Anyway, I’ve had it long enough and performed with it enough that I understand the weird “4 states for one knob” thing.

As for Peaks, I also bought it shortly after it came out, and put it away for similar reasons. I was planning to use it this time as two AD envelopes, but as soon as I got going I was like “I really want a second LFO” and off I went. My big Mutable regret is I once spent some time with a Grids and really liked it, and should have bought it. No interest in the micro variants.

I’ve been enjoying Ornament & Crime though I worry it’s going to wind up selling me more modules rather than just being a Swiss Army knife.

 

[Starthief]

If you didn't already have a Eurorack case would you have been inclined to hang on to it?

I expect so, I was getting pretty good results from it.

Another semi-modular to look at might be Arturia Minibrute 2 or 2S. It's got a bit of both the East and West Coast things going on (since "Metal" on it is a wavefolder and it has a loopable AD envelope and both linear and expo FM), and lots of patching potential without necessarily adding anything else. I don't know what prices are like now, but they were pretty cheap for a while.

 

[pantherairsoft]

A few changes since Jan, so thought I'd post an update. Very happy with this set up at the mo... it's really got my creative juices flowing.

Signal chain for those of you that geek out over that stuff...

Input > Boss OC-5 Octave >
Dr. Scientist Frazz Dazzler >
Source Audio After Shock >
Red Panda Bitmap 2 >
GFI Synesthesia >
Boss SL-2 Slicer >
Dr. Scientist Dusk (+ Moog EP3 Expression Pedal) >
Digitech Whammy Ricochet >
Source Audio Collider (a) >
Source Audio Collider (b) >
TC Electronic Polytune2 > Output

All mounted to a Pedaltrain Classic 2, connected with EBS flat gold patch cables and powered by a CIOKS DC7.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

« Make you music shine »

 

[steubig]

A few changes since Jan, so thought I'd post an update. Very happy with this set up at the mo... it's really got my creative juices flowing.

Signal chain for those of you that geek out over that stuff...

Input > Boss OC-5 Octave >
Dr. Scientist Frazz Dazzler >
Source Audio After Shock >
Red Panda Bitmap 2 >
GFI Synesthesia >
Boss SL-2 Slicer >
Dr. Scientist Dusk (+ Moog EP3 Expression Pedal) >
Digitech Whammy Ricochet >
Source Audio Collider (a) >
Source Audio Collider (b) >
TC Electronic Polytune2 > Output

All mounted to a Pedaltrain Classic 2, connected with EBS flat gold patch cables and powered by a CIOKS DC7.
View attachment 5013744

nice.

i’ll have to look up the gfi.

question: why the tuner at the end of the chain?

comment: interesting that you don’t have a volume pedal, which i think would be really useful in that setup.

 

[pantherairsoft]

The GFI is stunning (though the interface is a bit confusing at first).

Tuner goes at the end to act as a master mute switch on the set up. With so many self oscillating sounds etc. the tuner allows me to mute everything when needed. I have no issues with tuner accuracy at the end of the chain and it takes 5 seconds to run off pedals to tune etc.

I've never found much use for a volume pedal. The core of the set up is the low pass filter, which removes all the harmonic content when needed. Pair that with half decent(ish) playing dynamics and the volume knob on the bass, it just ends up being another (generally very large) pedal I don't use much and don't have the space for.

 

[steubig]

The GFI is stunning (though the interface is a bit confusing at first).

Tuner goes at the end to act as a master mute switch on the set up. With so many self oscillating sounds etc. the tuner allows me to mute everything when needed. I have no issues with tuner accuracy at the end of the chain and it takes 5 seconds to run off pedals to tune etc.

I've never found much use for a volume pedal. The core of the set up is the low pass filter, which removes all the harmonic content when needed. Pair that with half decent(ish) playing dynamics and the volume knob on the bass, it just ends up being another (generally very large) pedal I don't use much and don't have the space for.

i was wondering if you were using the tuner as a mute. makes sense.

interesting, i find a volume pedal to be crucial—especially if i'm trying to do swells or what-have-you into reverbs and delays. but that's just me

 

[pantherairsoft]

i was wondering if you were using the tuner as a mute. makes sense.

interesting, i find a volume pedal to be crucial—especially if i'm trying to do swells or what-have-you into reverbs and delays. but that's just me

I absolutely see the benefit of it, it’s just something I’ve never really been able to justify board space.

 

[Spectrum]

A few changes since Jan, so thought I'd post an update. Very happy with this set up at the mo... it's really got my creative juices flowing.

Signal chain for those of you that geek out over that stuff...

Input > Boss OC-5 Octave >
Dr. Scientist Frazz Dazzler >
Source Audio After Shock >
Red Panda Bitmap 2 >
GFI Synesthesia >
Boss SL-2 Slicer >
Dr. Scientist Dusk (+ Moog EP3 Expression Pedal) >
Digitech Whammy Ricochet >
Source Audio Collider (a) >
Source Audio Collider (b) >
TC Electronic Polytune2 > Output

All mounted to a Pedaltrain Classic 2, connected with EBS flat gold patch cables and powered by a CIOKS DC7.
View attachment 5013744

The Dusk was my other choice for a filter when I was looking for one. I got the Leviathan eventually, plus the guy who built it is local (ish) to me, but the Dusk is still pretty attractive. As with steubig I will have to look up that gfi.

 

[Bob_Ross]

it’s just something I’ve never really been able to justify board space.

fwiw I've been using a Mooer Leveline as my volume pedal for the past several years. I mention this not as an endorsement -- in fact, there are a lot of things about that volume pedal that I absolutely hate, so it's definitely not high on my list of Favorite Volume Pedals by any stretch of the imagination -- but because it is ridiculously compact, and hasn't had any trouble fitting on every pedalboard I've cobbled together no matter how much I've tried to downsize.