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Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

There was a guy on TB a few years back who was running his bass through a full size 1/4" rack system, looked like an old 70s Moog rig. He had all kinds of filters and stuff. Don't think he ever posted any sound clips but I used to goggle at his equipment.

That sounds fun! I’ve heard people playing bass through synths and the results were pretty hit and miss. I’m thinking of primarily playing into the granular samplers first, then taking the signals from there into filters and whatnot. Sounds awesome I’m my head, but I’ve yet to test the theory :)
 
I think you might like this album, it's not ambient, but have a lot of similar types of sounds:



and he makes ambient tracks sometimes:



Finally got around to putting this on in the background today. WOW! LOVE IT! Thanks for sharing. This is VERY much along the lines of what I'm *trying* to eventually do. So Squarepusher!!!
 
There was a guy on TB a few years back who was running his bass through a full size 1/4" rack system, looked like an old 70s Moog rig. He had all kinds of filters and stuff. Don't think he ever posted any sound clips but I used to goggle at his equipment.

That sounds fun! I’ve heard people playing bass through synths and the results were pretty hit and miss. I’m thinking of primarily playing into the granular samplers first, then taking the signals from there into filters and whatnot. Sounds awesome I’m my head, but I’ve yet to test the theory :)

For fun, I run my Alembic Series 1 into my Buchla and I get some interesting results. The Alembic has an individual output for each pickup and I can treat them both differently in the Buchla. For example, patch one signal through what is essentially a tremlo that has a S&H instead of an LFO and the other through the Spectral processor, share some of the same modulation and/or rhythmic controls and it is unique parallel processing that integrates well together.

These are some weird things I did by running a bass through a CocoQuantus (two lofi delays, with CV controlled "tape like controls" - direction, speed etc + a quint oscillator thing for modulation or sound generation that is basically alive because each oscillator modulates the next).


 
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For fun, I run my Alembic Series 1 into my Buchla and I get some interesting results. The Alembic has an individual output for each pickup and I can treat them both differently in the Buchla. For example, patch one signal through what is essentially a tremlo that has a S&H instead of an LFO and the other through the Spectral processor, share some of the same modulation and/or rhythmic controls and it is unique parallel processing that integrates well together.

These are some weird things I did by running a bass through a CocoQuantus (two lofi delays, with CV controlled "ape like controls" - direction, speed etc + a quint oscillator thing for modulation or sound generation that is basically alive because each oscillator modulates the next).




I really like these sound clips
 
I’m digging back in with NI Maschine. I spent too much time trying to make it a DAW, which really isn’t its strong suit. Now I’m thinking of it more as a sampler and trying to use it as it was intended; to mangle and remix audio clips. This week, my goal is to sample some bass guitar and try building a beat around that audio.

Preliminary testing says distorted Low B on my Dingwall D-Bird sounds pretty decent sampled with plenty of distortion, but the sample engine starts making things wonky if I trigger the sample +/- 3 semitones from the original pitch. I’ll try the other sample engines to see if they stretch better than the default one. Though jumping way up in pitch does start to create some artificial synth like sounds which could be useful.

Next step is to play something and blast it with effects.
 
something about bowery electric reminded me of a project i was in way back when. it's on my bandcamp page, but it was a collective. we were gonna release a disc, but bands . . . oy.

anyway. kinda shoe-gaze-y? all improv (this in the studio). the arpeggiations are me on 6-string bass (so i go between two ideas) and the guitar player is doing all the atmospherics.

 
something about bowery electric reminded me of a project i was in way back when. it's on my bandcamp page, but it was a collective. we were gonna release a disc, but bands . . . oy.

anyway. kinda shoe-gaze-y? all improv (this in the studio). the arpeggiations are me on 6-string bass (so i go between two ideas) and the guitar player is doing all the atmospherics.



great stuff! I quite like this.
 
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I bought myself a Reverbirthday present.
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Plugging in later tonight.
 
First attempt at playing bass into the Make Noise Morphagene, then into a Michigan Synths Monsoon, which is basically a Clouds. Nothing special, just a simple riff then patching stuff randomly since I don’t know how to use this stuff!
 
beautiful sounds

I was pretty excited trying it in the wee hours after a gig last night. It’s powerful for sure, but it remains to be seen if it can be directed. It’s a tad random so far, which can be nice at times. It’s a loaner so I’m deciding whether I want to buy one or not. I also have a Nebulae, which is similar. I am in deep enough to believe the modular thing can be a really powerful for solo bass, improve type gigs. Jury is still out on whether I have the goods to pull it off :)
 
@dukeorock based on your dive, what do you think about a system like the Make Noise System Cartesian? I'm hesitant to jump right in and those aren't all the modules I'd want, but it seems like a decent start for a "reasonable" price. I think the Black and Gold is bigger and more expensive than I want to go out of the gate, but the extra rack space seems like a nice idea.
 
@dukeorock based on your dive, what do you think about a system like the Make Noise System Cartesian? I'm hesitant to jump right in and those aren't all the modules I'd want, but it seems like a decent start for a "reasonable" price. I think the Black and Gold is bigger and more expensive than I want to go out of the gate, but the extra rack space seems like a nice idea.
I certainly get the temptation and they’re right at $2k, correct? Pretty good bang for the buck. It’s also everything you’d need to get cracking. Make Noise stuff tends to hold its value very well.
There’s several good reasons to do that, but here are some reasons I wouldn’t, personally.

1. Experienced eurorack folks will pretty much always advise starting with a bigger case and fewer modules. They’re absolutely right and I wish I would’ve taken that advice more seriously as I wasted a few hundred bucks the way I went about it.
2. I have that same Make Noise 3U 104HP case and it works fine, but for some applications, MN cases have a reputation for being a bit underpowered.
3. Intellijel makes an awesome 7U 104HP case for $650, new. Way more connectivity and power. 28 internal power plugs as opposed to the 10 in my MN case. Also has a lid that allows you to transport the case with everything still patched. Search out used modules or sales and you’d get a great starter rig for the same price or less than the Cartesian system and still have 4U left over to grow.
4. As much as I love MN (and I really do), their stuff can be so frustratingly cryptic to use. I tend to prefer as much knobs per function as possible and like labels that say what each knob actually does. MN love making up new words and terms. Morphagene is just one example. Cryptic layout, gotta remember a fair amount of button combos that aren’t explained anywhere! Even their manuals are kinda vague and weird :)
All that said, every module in the Cartesian system is a slam dunk, I think. Rene is by far the most popular sequencer in eurorack. I doubt I’d ever get one, but it’s appeal is obvious.
I may hang onto my MN 3U case because my 7U is filling up fast :)
 
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