Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[ugly_bassplayer]

Well, finally, my Boss SY-1 pedal arrived today, been waiting on it for months. Short version: worth the wait.

I've played through a lot of synth pedals; the Digitech Bass Synth Wah, Behringer BSY-600, the Bananana Matryoshka, the various EHX pedals including the Mel-9, and over the last few years the technology has kept getting better, especially the recent EHX pedals with excellent tracking, but I think the SY-1 beats them all.

In terms of tracking I've never seen another synth pedal do it as well. Matryoshka is decent and the EHX dash-9 series is good, but the SY-1 seems better. Handles bass pretty much all the way down the E string and evens plays chords well.

The pedal works for both guitar and bass, with a switch on the back to switch between the two modes. It also has volume knobs for both dry and wet. I played bass through it in guitar mode and it still worked just fine. It has a ton of different sounds; 9 categories (lead, pad, organ, etc.) and 11 subtypes for each category, plus two knobs to control parameters for each sound. I spent a few hours just tweaking and playing with it, looking for favorite sounds to come back to later. One category is basically just sound effects of various types.


There is an effects loop with send/return jacks, and an expression pedal jack. I tried it with my general purpose expression pedal but it was weird and hard to control; I think you're supposed to use the recommended Boss pedal. It can also use an external switch pedal.

There are no presets, which I know is a turnoff for some people, and it's not one of the cheapest pedals I've bought, to be honest.

I threw down a quick track here. There is a lot of delay and reverb going on, the repeating figure is on a looper pedal, later in the track some flanger, and the sample and hold effect is from the Matryoshka pedal, but this track has 3 different SY-1 sounds on it and was done in one take just for the hell of it. The thunder-sounding thing in the beginning and end is one of the SY-1's sound effects settings.

Ambient stuff at start and end ....awesome.

 

[Spectrum]

Ambient stuff at start and end ....awesome.

And to think that entire thing was recorded using a Rickenbacker with rounds. That tone is definitely not in the fingers lol. (Although the control of the synth pedals absolutely is)

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

And to think that entire thing was recorded using a Rickenbacker with rounds. That tone is definitely not in the fingers lol. (Although the control of the synth pedals absolutely is)

Why would it be out there to play that on a Rick with rounds???

If it works....go with it. Nuff said.

 

[Matt Dean]

I'm not sure if this is really ambient, but it's close. A friend and I made this a couple of nights ago.

 

[monsterthompson]

Went to Perfect Circuit with thoughts of buying the Make Noise microsound skiff. They had a Morphagene and a few other units from that skiff racked up, so I gave it a whirl. Man. Not intuitive for me. The employee working with me mentioned he had a few gripes with how it worked, and that it took him some time to get it all figured out. Ultimately, I didn't do anything that immediately felt connected, so I passed. I figured if I picked up a bass and didn't immediately feel like playing it then I wouldn't buy it, so I should use that logic with this. Plenty of respect for the guys who can make it dance, but that ain't me.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Went to Perfect Circuit with thoughts of buying the Make Noise microsound skiff. They had a Morphagene and a few other units from that skiff racked up, so I gave it a whirl. Man. Not intuitive for me. The employee working with me mentioned he had a few gripes with how it worked, and that it took him some time to get it all figured out. Ultimately, I didn't do anything that immediately felt connected, so I passed. I figured if I picked up a bass and didn't immediately feel like playing it then I wouldn't buy it, so I should use that logic with this. Plenty of respect for the guys who can make it dance, but that ain't me.

I'd really like to go to that store. I get it, if you don't click with a machine .....it just doesn't make the creative going


Slowly making my way towards a harsh noise thing I've been wanting to do for a while. Pieces are coming together.

 

[Spectrum]

Went to Perfect Circuit with thoughts of buying the Make Noise microsound skiff. They had a Morphagene and a few other units from that skiff racked up, so I gave it a whirl. Man. Not intuitive for me. The employee working with me mentioned he had a few gripes with how it worked, and that it took him some time to get it all figured out. Ultimately, I didn't do anything that immediately felt connected, so I passed. I figured if I picked up a bass and didn't immediately feel like playing it then I wouldn't buy it, so I should use that logic with this. Plenty of respect for the guys who can make it dance, but that ain't me.

That's a good attitude to have, cuts down on buying stuff you don't really need or won't use.

I recently purchased a Volca FM synth, after thinking about it for 2 or 3 years. Too much gear to begin with, so I had cut myself off, but I had a gap to fill: I needed a polyphonic instrument and I wanted it to make sounds my analog monosynths could not. The Volca FM fit the bill, as it's basically a cousin to the old Yamaha DX7 that fits in your coat pocket. Since the Volcas all have 5-pin MIDI input jacks, they're easy to work with. I still agonized a bit over it.

Unfortunately, pedals are my weakness when it comes to gear. My collection is vast and I decline to part with them, my little pretties...my precioussssss…..

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

That's a good attitude to have, cuts down on buying stuff you don't really need or won't use.

I recently purchased a Volca FM synth, after thinking about it for 2 or 3 years. Too much gear to begin with, so I had cut myself off, but I had a gap to fill: I needed a polyphonic instrument and I wanted it to make sounds my analog monosynths could not. The Volca FM fit the bill, as it's basically a cousin to the old Yamaha DX7 that fits in your coat pocket. Since the Volcas all have 5-pin MIDI input jacks, they're easy to work with. I still agonized a bit over it.

Unfortunately, pedals are my weakness when it comes to gear. My collection is vast and I decline to part with them, my little pretties...my precioussssss…..

I have a good incentive to not buy too much stuff.
Lack of $$ and kids to feed.



That's why I said slowly piece by piece. I can't buy a huge amount of stuff at a time. I don't mind it's always been like that. I spent my almost my entire formative years, college and university on just one bass.

 

[monsterthompson]

I've reached a point where I'm saturated. I've got no kids and no debt, so cash isn't the biggest barrier for most purchases. Instead, I'm a hobby player and I only have so much daily free time, and I'm running out of closet space. I find myself looking at gear and thinking "when will I play it, and where will I put it?" I'm not ready to get a bigger house or storage unit for more gear if I can't play all the things I already own.

 

[cosmicevan]

That's a good attitude to have, cuts down on buying stuff you don't really need or won't use.

I recently purchased a Volca FM synth, after thinking about it for 2 or 3 years. Too much gear to begin with, so I had cut myself off, but I had a gap to fill: I needed a polyphonic instrument and I wanted it to make sounds my analog monosynths could not. The Volca FM fit the bill, as it's basically a cousin to the old Yamaha DX7 that fits in your coat pocket. Since the Volcas all have 5-pin MIDI input jacks, they're easy to work with. I still agonized a bit over it.

Unfortunately, pedals are my weakness when it comes to gear. My collection is vast and I decline to part with them, my little pretties...my precioussssss…..

Would love to see the collection. I have a weakness for them little buggers. Desperately avoiding modular but very much getting into drone and sample manipulation w the tabletop setup.

I just recently exploded w MIDI.and am digging in on full control over Meris and Red Panda

 

[Spectrum]

Would love to see the collection. I have a weakness for them little buggers. Desperately avoiding modular but very much getting into drone and sample manipulation w the tabletop setup.

I just recently exploded w MIDI.and am digging in on full control over Meris and Red Panda

I'll try to post a pedal collection pic when I get a chance.

Thing is, I have a synth setup that uses pedals, mainly delay and reverb, and then I have a pedalboard that I use for playing bass. I use mostly minipedals with my synths, attached to the platform I built for the synths. As a result I have several delays and reverbs. That way I don't have to constantly move them back and forth.

And it's an excuse to have more pedals. Because more pedals.

 

[steubig]

i'm at a different place than all you guys, just got a novation peak and have a hydrasynth on order. getting back to hardware synths after years of ios stuff. real keys. complex, closed voice chords. gotta get my (virtually nonexistent) keyboard chops up!

and perfect circuit, a lot of options anxiety walking in the door there (and wallet anxiety, too).

 

[dukeorock]

i'm at a different place than all you guys, just got a novation peak and have a hydrasynth on order. getting back to hardware synths after years of ios stuff. real keys. complex, closed voice chords. gotta get my (virtually nonexistent) keyboard chops up!

and perfect circuit, a lot of options anxiety walking in the door there (and wallet anxiety, too).

The only time I've ever been to Perfect Circuit, I went in to buy a somewhat expensive pedal and walked out with an Octatrack that was 3x as expensive as the somewhat expensive pedal. Very dangerous place indeed.

As for monster's comment on the Morphagene...it's hot and miss for sure, BUT with eurorack it's never about one module, but how a well designed system works together. That Make Noise system you were looking at is super amazing, but the learning curve is steep. The Mimeophon is one of the best purchases I've ever made. Just saying

 

[monsterthompson]

The Mimeophon is one of the best purchases I've ever made. Just saying

Really? I want to believe it but it wasn't intuitive, and the shop guy wasn't super helpful at selling the morphogene, so I didn't ask about it. I got it to do a few things, but I wasn't inspired. The skiff I'm looking at also has the QPAS which hasn't grabbed my interest. Maybe I'll come back to it later.

I did go back to Reaktor Blocks tonight. Man, they posted some update recently and it made it so the virtual patch cables only show up in "Racks" and Racks can only work with NI designed and approved Blocks... except that the NI Blocks aren't being recognized on my laptop, so the faceplate virtual cables that made Blocks awesome are now unusable until I figure out what update I need.

Not my day for music. I should just go to bed and start again tomorrow. I might end up selling everything on Reverb and starting over.

 

[steubig]

Not my day for music. I should just go to bed and start again tomorrow. I might end up selling everything on Reverb and starting over.

i've had that feeling. about 3-4 times a year for the last 30 years.

persevere.

 

[monsterthompson]

i've had that feeling. about 3-4 times a year for the last 30 years.

persevere.

Fair point.
It's primarily physical-pain driven. I recently damaged my already damaged neck. It makes it challenging to find a comfortable way to produce any kind of music. I'm sure I'll flip around when the body feels better.

 

[steubig]

Fair point.
It's primarily physical-pain driven. I recently damaged my already damaged neck. It makes it challenging to find a comfortable way to produce any kind of music. I'm sure I'll flip around when the body feels better.

understood. sorry if i seemed flippant about it. forgot you had physical challenges in this regard.

hope you can find some relief.

 

[monsterthompson]

understood. sorry if i seemed flippant about it. forgot you had physical challenges in this regard.

hope you can find some relief.

You didn't. No worries.

I'm in PT right now. It's helping but it's not magical. Fortunately, I'm really not in much pain at all, but that changes if I push too hard for too long.

Part of me wants to dive into something new like an Octatrack or a Make Noise skiff and just start building new ideas from scratch. But that's at war with the part that sees all the gear I've got on the shelf.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

You didn't. No worries.

I'm in PT right now. It's helping but it's not magical. Fortunately, I'm really not in much pain at all, but that changes if I push too hard for too long.

Part of me wants to dive into something new like an Octatrack or a Make Noise skiff and just start building new ideas from scratch. But that's at war with the part that sees all the gear I've got on the shelf.

Don't give up my friend. There will always be good and bad days.

And about the gear, just give yourself a challenge to get those creative juices going

My last challenge cost me 50¢.... finally learning to play with a pick after 25 years of bass playing. Huge challenge, very rewarding.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

And it's an excuse to have more pedals. Because more pedals.