I have a lot of fun with my HX stomp, and can get some pretty unconventional pad sounds out of it. Plus all of the usual conventional stuff, it does that really well.
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Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread
- Thread starter ttasselm
- Start date
I have a lot of fun with my HX stomp, and can get some pretty unconventional pad sounds out of it. Plus all of the usual conventional stuff, it does that really well.
Okay, so I've been complaining for some time about trying to find another pedal that does something my others don't and is complementary to my ambient aesthetic. It's been frustrating,most recently when I spent about 400 on the Microcosm Hologram, which, despite my best efforts, was just an expensive smear machine, there was very little on it in terms of the sounds that I wanted that I couldn't already get. So I didn't want to waste any more money.
One thing I do with my synths is I'll take a sequence/arp, sometimes two concurrent ones for some complexity, then run it through my Eventide Blackhole and smear the crap out of it. Makes a nice, dense wash, that I can also tweak by messing with the wet/dry and all the other synth parameters. It's a big part of a lot of the 'Thorny' sound, at least on my albums.
In my previous two albums, I used this a fair amount to lay some textural bases for my tunes, and although I've done some great smeary washes on the board to great effect, I couldn't really get that dense smeared arp sound... until now.
That's a Bananana Taririra arpeggiator pedal. I'd always wanted some sort of arpeggio pedal, but options are kind of limited. The Meris actually has an arpeggiator, but it's very basic - gives you four notes that it bases harmoinically on what you play. It sounds nice, I use it, but it has its limits. I had thought about the EQD Arpanoid, but I just wasn't really into what it offered... again, kind of limiting. Not so with this one. Got a ton of options, for arps up to 8 notes. You can have them add 5ths, they can hold from whatever sound is going on when you hit the switch, you can randomize, base on scales, lots of flexibility.
I spent hours the other night messing around with it. What I generally do is choose my note/chord that I want to play. I'll trigger that TC Infinite Sustainer (basically a kind of freeze), put the bass down and then run it through the Tarira and then just tweak all of the pedals downstream, a much more synth-like experience. I know it's an overused term, but this was the first game-changer I've had on the board in an awful long time.
Only downside so far... it takes MIDI clock, but it has to be nothing but midi clock. That DAD Smart Clock I use has other data going out of it as well, so it won't pick up on it. The BPM can also be tapped or dialed in quickly, so hardly a deal-breaker.
Good timing on this. There's a musician I've been corresponding a lot with, a really good ambient guitar guy who manages to stay on the Soma.fm charts all of the time. He's featured some of my stuff on his podcast, and even though he lives in MI, he happened to go to Goddard College, which is in my hometown. He proposed collaborating... I'm going to send him about two hours of textures to work with, as well as a few multitrack projects that I just got stuck on finishing, and he's talking about booking some gigs in Philly and some radio show down there that he has connections with, if we're able to make an album, so I'm really excited about that.
New album is just about done, I'm actually doing a final headphone listen as I write this. I'm really psyched about it, it was influenced heavily by the devastating floods we had here last July, and in comparison to my two previous albums, it's a bit more dense and complex. I'm psyched about that, as it shows I'm evolving and progressing. Hoping for a May release, I'll keep ya posted.
Random trivia: the H9 and the Mel9 are the only ones that have never left the board, in the 8 years I've been doing this.
One thing I do with my synths is I'll take a sequence/arp, sometimes two concurrent ones for some complexity, then run it through my Eventide Blackhole and smear the crap out of it. Makes a nice, dense wash, that I can also tweak by messing with the wet/dry and all the other synth parameters. It's a big part of a lot of the 'Thorny' sound, at least on my albums.
In my previous two albums, I used this a fair amount to lay some textural bases for my tunes, and although I've done some great smeary washes on the board to great effect, I couldn't really get that dense smeared arp sound... until now.
That's a Bananana Taririra arpeggiator pedal. I'd always wanted some sort of arpeggio pedal, but options are kind of limited. The Meris actually has an arpeggiator, but it's very basic - gives you four notes that it bases harmoinically on what you play. It sounds nice, I use it, but it has its limits. I had thought about the EQD Arpanoid, but I just wasn't really into what it offered... again, kind of limiting. Not so with this one. Got a ton of options, for arps up to 8 notes. You can have them add 5ths, they can hold from whatever sound is going on when you hit the switch, you can randomize, base on scales, lots of flexibility.
I spent hours the other night messing around with it. What I generally do is choose my note/chord that I want to play. I'll trigger that TC Infinite Sustainer (basically a kind of freeze), put the bass down and then run it through the Tarira and then just tweak all of the pedals downstream, a much more synth-like experience. I know it's an overused term, but this was the first game-changer I've had on the board in an awful long time.
Only downside so far... it takes MIDI clock, but it has to be nothing but midi clock. That DAD Smart Clock I use has other data going out of it as well, so it won't pick up on it. The BPM can also be tapped or dialed in quickly, so hardly a deal-breaker.
Good timing on this. There's a musician I've been corresponding a lot with, a really good ambient guitar guy who manages to stay on the Soma.fm charts all of the time. He's featured some of my stuff on his podcast, and even though he lives in MI, he happened to go to Goddard College, which is in my hometown. He proposed collaborating... I'm going to send him about two hours of textures to work with, as well as a few multitrack projects that I just got stuck on finishing, and he's talking about booking some gigs in Philly and some radio show down there that he has connections with, if we're able to make an album, so I'm really excited about that.
New album is just about done, I'm actually doing a final headphone listen as I write this. I'm really psyched about it, it was influenced heavily by the devastating floods we had here last July, and in comparison to my two previous albums, it's a bit more dense and complex. I'm psyched about that, as it shows I'm evolving and progressing. Hoping for a May release, I'll keep ya posted.
Random trivia: the H9 and the Mel9 are the only ones that have never left the board, in the 8 years I've been doing this.
They keep updating this thing. It tracks really well and you can pretty much control it like you have 8 pedals right in front of you. It's good for the weird stuff, but it's really awesome at the conventional/practical stuff you'd want at a gig.
One other super cool thing about the Tarira that I forgot to mention... those 8 capacitive buttons you see on it can be played like a keyboard of sorts, a ton of fun to tweak.
looking at the XL for a few bucks more.
Ugh. I hate SA digital effects. The Zoia sound quality is decent but not inspiring or particularly interesting. It makes me hesitate. That said, I do like VST sounds, so I’m not opposed to digital emulations, and the amp and cab sim offerings on the Line 6 units has my attention. Time for headphones.
I wouldn't get one that isn't an XL. It just gives you a lot more flexibility in a live environment.
This thing sounds way better than the Zoia. When I had mine, I wasn't really impressed by the quality of most of the sounds. Apart from the learning curve, that had a lot to do with why I got rid of it.
I’ve gigged with the HX stomp as a pedalboard substitute in cramped quarters. Right now, it’s a multichannel audio interface for part of my home setup. Lots of utility in it and the sounds are good. Edit to add that guys video was pretty creative.
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yeah, the interface is a bonus. It's great for if I wanna record some things on the couch and not have to go do the whole studio thing upstairs.
A few days ago on a road trip passing through western North Carolina I decided to make a pilgrimage to Shrine of St. Bob, source of all that is good and analog. The guy running the store/showroom gave a cool 45 minute talk on the history of Moog and demo'd some of the equipment, plus all the gear was turned on and plugged in with headphones for customers to try out.
I absolutely fell in love with the Moog One, a big polyphonic beast with awesome features whose sound made my eyes water, it was sooo good. Good thing there's no room in my house, but then again I'd have to mortgage the house to afford a One!
Sadly the guy informed us that under the new ownership, the factory is moving to a new building somewhere in the Asheville area and the public showroom will close in a few months. So that'll be the end of that. But at least it sounds like they are staying in the area.
I absolutely fell in love with the Moog One, a big polyphonic beast with awesome features whose sound made my eyes water, it was sooo good. Good thing there's no room in my house, but then again I'd have to mortgage the house to afford a One!
Sadly the guy informed us that under the new ownership, the factory is moving to a new building somewhere in the Asheville area and the public showroom will close in a few months. So that'll be the end of that. But at least it sounds like they are staying in the area.
that reminded me of this sign I stumbled upon during a cycling vacation around the Finger Lakes in upstate New York ~6 years ago:
The HX Stomp discussion reminded me to download the latest update for Helix Native as well as HX Stomp. I think I've missed a few updates.
ANYWAY, this big news is that they now allow for dual cabinet IRs with an amp. And at least with their stock IRs they are phase coherent. (think of micing up two cabs, or two mics on one cab--you'd want to start with the two mics the same distance so as not to introduce weird frequency dips--unless that's what you're going for).
For years, my biggest complaint about IR cab sounds is a static ringing around certain harmonics that is especially pronounced with the relatively longer strings of basses, especially with distortion (where you get lots more harmonics). I don't know why it is, but it was pretty universal for me with IR based cab sims, and I always chalked it up to IRs basically being the equivalent of a photograph or a single sample of a moving speaker.
When I got a Fractal Audio FM9, I was shocked to hear how good it sounded in comparison, and that was mostly because you could phase-align two different cab IRs, which is apparently enough to get rid of that static ringing sound for me. (Other people will say it sounds great for other reasons, and it probably does.)
Now the Line 6 stuff has that feature as well and it makes their amp/cab sims MUCH more useable for me. Really delighted. I just loaded up two channels with Helix Native in Bitwig, one with a bass amp running through an SVT cab and a Marshall 4x12, and a guitar channel running through a fender twin and an Orange cab, and it sounded fantastic and fluid up and down the neck of my touch guitar, and took distortion very very well.
ANYWAY, this big news is that they now allow for dual cabinet IRs with an amp. And at least with their stock IRs they are phase coherent. (think of micing up two cabs, or two mics on one cab--you'd want to start with the two mics the same distance so as not to introduce weird frequency dips--unless that's what you're going for).
For years, my biggest complaint about IR cab sounds is a static ringing around certain harmonics that is especially pronounced with the relatively longer strings of basses, especially with distortion (where you get lots more harmonics). I don't know why it is, but it was pretty universal for me with IR based cab sims, and I always chalked it up to IRs basically being the equivalent of a photograph or a single sample of a moving speaker.
When I got a Fractal Audio FM9, I was shocked to hear how good it sounded in comparison, and that was mostly because you could phase-align two different cab IRs, which is apparently enough to get rid of that static ringing sound for me. (Other people will say it sounds great for other reasons, and it probably does.)
Now the Line 6 stuff has that feature as well and it makes their amp/cab sims MUCH more useable for me. Really delighted. I just loaded up two channels with Helix Native in Bitwig, one with a bass amp running through an SVT cab and a Marshall 4x12, and a guitar channel running through a fender twin and an Orange cab, and it sounded fantastic and fluid up and down the neck of my touch guitar, and took distortion very very well.
Also, I have been playing my Take 5 a lot but not recording it. Here's my attempt at a Lyra-8-like drone vibe (doesn't quite get to the Lyra's "mating whales" sound though) with tons of different kinds of modulated distortions and feedback inside the synth. This is all stuff that was more or less impossible to accomplish on the Super 6 and is much more in line with what I actually want from an analog(ish) poly synth.
Ok, that was dope.
Nice texture and « thickness » in them lows.
Grainy without being « high » gain.
Not helping my wallet
I also started looking at interfaces with on board DSP like the Antelope (big sale on them now) but I need to figure out if I’m going to really step up and record more with new hardware/software, or if I can make what I have work.
Of course you can...but do you want to?
Nice weather yesterday, sat outside on my deck and made this.
Sounds great!
In contrast, this sounds terrible, but I annotated it so you can find the part you want to hear. Just click on the timestamps
I can't imagine anyone listening to the whole thing for fun. Purely a document of some experimentation. All sounds from the Take 5. The idea was to take modular-style feedback patching and audio-rate modulation principles and bring them to the Take 5. It's not patch programming but Serge-ish in spirit.
The patch (all mod routings maxed out)
Filter out to filter cutoff, twice
LFO 1 max speed (audio rate, not sure exactly)
LFO 1-->Vintage knob. Twice.
LFO 1--> Reverb pre delay.
Audio out --> LFO 1 rate
Audio out --> Filter 1 cutoff
Audio out --> Vintage knob
DC--> LFO 1 rate
Osc 1 9:00, set to sine
Osc 2 9:00 set to sine
suboscillator off except that I turn it up a little to excite the feedback loop
ENV 2 set to fast attack 100% sustain, slow release.
ENV 1 not even used
Effects slot 1 is distortion, manually tweaking settings.
Also manually tweaking filter drive, resonance, cutoff, reverb mix, size, etc.
You have been warned. Enjoy!
Next time I'll make something nicer.
In contrast, this sounds terrible, but I annotated it so you can find the part you want to hear. Just click on the timestamps
I can't imagine anyone listening to the whole thing for fun. Purely a document of some experimentation. All sounds from the Take 5. The idea was to take modular-style feedback patching and audio-rate modulation principles and bring them to the Take 5. It's not patch programming but Serge-ish in spirit.
The patch (all mod routings maxed out)
Filter out to filter cutoff, twice
LFO 1 max speed (audio rate, not sure exactly)
LFO 1-->Vintage knob. Twice.
LFO 1--> Reverb pre delay.
Audio out --> LFO 1 rate
Audio out --> Filter 1 cutoff
Audio out --> Vintage knob
DC--> LFO 1 rate
Osc 1 9:00, set to sine
Osc 2 9:00 set to sine
suboscillator off except that I turn it up a little to excite the feedback loop
ENV 2 set to fast attack 100% sustain, slow release.
ENV 1 not even used
Effects slot 1 is distortion, manually tweaking settings.
Also manually tweaking filter drive, resonance, cutoff, reverb mix, size, etc.
You have been warned. Enjoy!
Next time I'll make something nicer.
