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Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

#361
RickenBoogie said:
For those of you that have the Super Ego, I've found that having a modulation pedal in the Ego's internal loop makes for some nice sounds. So far, I've tried several pedals in the loop, with mixed results. By far the worst was an Ehx Frequency Analyzer, (ring mod)- and the good ones have been phasers or flangers. But my absolute favorite is an Ehx C9 organ machine. With the Ego set for a long swell, the organ sounds seemingly come from out of nowhere, and just hang there. Having an EQD Rainbow Machine next in the chain just makes things even more out of this world.
Click to expand...
I want a Superego so bad, have for a while and have just been messing around with other pedals avoiding my destiny. Also, maybe I should give the Rainbow Machine another chance..
 
#362
Yeah, the Rainbow Machine is a bit tricky. I almost got rid of mine shortly after I got it, but kept fiddling around with the knobs until I realized what it can do.
The top center knob is the trick. I have mine set just short of noon, which causes odd trails going downward in pitch, but not too far down.
Magic engaged at full, and tracking to taste, it's an ambient players dream.
 
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#365
I sold my Rainbow Machine the same day I got it, and I know it was a mistake. Superego is otw to me, but since I want to keep it around 8pedals I think I might have to make a compromise somewhere. I love my Polytope, but I want a Xerograph Deluxe eventually.

I might flip the Polytope for a Rainbow Machine.
 
#366
Anybody ever use that Sarrafim reverb/echo/delay ish pedal? Got a 40 second run through from an acoustic guitar player on one of my Worship Teams at one of the Churches I play at that thing had ambient written all over it!
 
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#367
Great thread! I was lucky to get involved with Dean DiBenedictus (Surface 10) and a project called Stratos Ensemble playing Ambient soundscapes. I currently play with Dean and Coco Roussel (former drummer for Happy The Man). I'm new to Ambient Downtempo and Psybient music (2years) but mostly play Jazz, Fusion and Funk, but these new sounds and effects (and loopers!!) have me hooked! I also invested in an Ableton Push w/Suite so I can produce my own soundscapes, just learning to use it. Thank you for this thread and your soundscape examples! Very inspiring, I look forward to hearing more from such talented musicians. Keep this thread going!!
 
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#368
RickenBoogie said:
For those of you that have the Super Ego, I've found that having a modulation pedal in the Ego's internal loop makes for some nice sounds. So far, I've tried several pedals in the loop, with mixed results. By far the worst was an Ehx Frequency Analyzer, (ring mod)- and the good ones have been phasers or flangers. But my absolute favorite is an Ehx C9 organ machine. With the Ego set for a long swell, the organ sounds seemingly come from out of nowhere, and just hang there. Having an EQD Rainbow Machine next in the chain just makes things even more out of this world.
Click to expand...
Curious.... if you were to put the C9 after the SE, instead of in the loop, does it sound any different, and if so, how? I've never used the loop on my SE, and is it more a functionality thing or a tone thing?
 
#370
CHILDISHGAMBINO said:
I tried to get a little ambient on the track in my sig. It's really just a short recording of an idea that I would like to eventually expand on. It was all done with the Zoom B3. There's 2 tracks the ambient track was a patch I made called swirl and the synth track was one called VAG. Both patches are on my google drive share. Let me know what you guys think.
Click to expand...
Hi dude, what is the link?
 
#373
Bump and subscribed. :)

Long time prog head, mostly in the vein of Rush, Porcupine Tree, etc.

Finally have my long awaited Rick 4003 after liquidating virtually all of my gear a few years back. Basses, mics, Apollo, everything. Going two years sans Jazz and fretless has been rough.

Funny thing happened during my sabbatical tho -- got heavily into ambient and post rock (discovered mostly, I think, via PT's Steven Wilson side project, Bass Communion).

Hammock, Explosions in the Sky, Stars of the Lid, Oceansize, Failure... way too many bands to list that have been firing up my inspiration lately.

Will post clips as soon as I start feeding my new pedal addiction. :)
 
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#374
A question for you fine folks.... I'm going to have an open space on my board, once I sell my Polypus pedal. (OPEN SPACE ON MY BOARD - music to our ears, right)?

I'm at a loss for what to fill that space with... Although I have my rig set up to run in series or parallel (with a blender), here's what have, in order...

MXR Bass Octave
EHX Superego
Eventide H9
EQD Dispatch Master (for when I'm running in parallel)
ENO Fuzz
Supa Puss
Strymon DIG
EQD Grand Orbiter (phase)
TC HOF Verb

I primarily do a lot of ambient/textural/soundscape stuff, and am looking for something that will give me a new sound (I can get a lot out of this lineup, esp w the H9). I'm not looking for distortion/glitch, as I'm not really into the more abrasive/aggressive sounds. Any suggestions? Something kind of unique? Thanks.
 
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#375
Cool somebody bumped this thread. I just joined an ambient, doom band. We are not pure ambient and have an edge or hard sound along with Quieter parts influences are Swans and GYBE. I will go over this to see what effects can give me the ambient vibe. I have fuzzes , flanger and reverb need a delay maybe octive pedal?
 
#376
bassbully said:
Cool somebody bumped this thread. I just joined an ambient, doom band. We are not pure ambient and have an edge or hard sound along with Quieter parts influences are Swans and GYBE. I will go over this to see what effects can give me the ambient vibe. I have fuzzes , flanger and reverb need a delay maybe octive pedal?
Click to expand...

It pretty much depends on what the role of the bass guitar will be. In my previous band we were mostly a straight up rock band but the job of weird sound effects and spacey sounds fell on me, so for these passages my main tools were a Digitech Bass Synth Wah and an analog delay. Also I used a phaser pedal for some stuff and of course my "always on" pedal was my b3k overdrive for standard rock bass duties. I have a bunch of other pedals but those were the main ones.

But if you're looking for an "ambient bass starter's kit" I guess I would start with a delay, a phaser/flanger, and some sort of organ/octave/sustain hold type of thing, which for me is the EHX Superego. Also common are reverb pedals and synth pedals.
 
#377
Spectrum said:
It pretty much depends on what the role of the bass guitar will be. In my previous band we were mostly a straight up rock band but the job of weird sound effects and spacey sounds fell on me, so for these passages my main tools were a Digitech Bass Synth Wah and an analog delay. Also I used a phaser pedal for some stuff and of course my "always on" pedal was my b3k overdrive for standard rock bass duties. I have a bunch of other pedals but those were the main ones.

But if you're looking for an "ambient bass starter's kit" I guess I would start with a delay, a phaser/flanger, and some sort of organ/octave/sustain hold type of thing, which for me is the EHX Superego. Also common are reverb pedals and synth pedals.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the help. My bass playing has a unique role. The band in fact has two bass players ,one guitar, drums and keys will be added soon. My role is laying down the bottom with lots of chording and more sustaining notes.
To this I add fuzz, reverb and trem which lays low in the mix. The other bassit plays more leads or follows the guitar riff. It an interesting concept and I am in charge of more pedals and effects. I'm thinking the ambient tones I could play would be our backing tracks between songs. We use pre recorded loops right now.
 
#378
bassbully said:
Thanks for the help. My bass playing has a unique role. The band in fact has two bass players ,one guitar, drums and keys will be added soon. My role is laying down the bottom with lots of chording and more sustaining notes.
To this I add fuzz, reverb and trem which lays low in the mix. The other bassit plays more leads or follows the guitar riff. It an interesting concept and I am in charge of more pedals and effects. I'm thinking the ambient tones I could play would be our backing tracks between songs. We use pre recorded loops right now.
Click to expand...

Sounds interesting. Bring us some clips when you feel comfortable.
 

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