Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[ugly_bassplayer]

Having a modular is kind of like having an orchestra to conduct. A pedalboard can’t really do that. I guess looping is similar.

Suzanne Ciani’s work would likely be impossible to do without her big buchla system

I like both modular and pedal set ups.
The more variety the better.

I’ll still cheat and sample stuff.

 

[lordradish]

I like stomp boxes because in the end I am still a bass player, and I can use them with my bass. My synths are along for the ride.

Ya know, up until this year I would have said that about myself (I've been playing bass for 36 years), but the synths are getting equal time in my whole thing, now, and I musically think in terms of synth as much as bass. INteresting shift for me.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Ya know, up until this year I would have said that about myself (I've been playing bass for 36 years), but the synths are getting equal time in my whole thing, now, and I musically think in terms of synth as much as bass. INteresting shift for me.

I just think we "evolve" and learnto use different tools to express the ceative beast inside.

The last few weeks I've been using these other tools much more than bass to create. They make me think "outside" the traditional bass player box.

 

[HotelX]

Nowadays I pretty much only play bass when I’m playing with a band. Ever since I got the easel a year ago I’m almost all synth at home.

 

[hieronymous]

Isn't a pedalboard basically the same as a modular setup? I know it clearly isn't but the options open to us now have surely closed the gap by a bit?

Probably not the best example, as I am not a close follower of the world of modular music but I saw the recording of Billy Corgan doing the modular set against the reading of Siddartha and the thought came that I could probably make music that annoying with stuff I already have.

I mean, I'm most likely missing something. Is there perhaps an iconic piece that could only have been created with a modular rig or is it more a case of different paths leading to the same goal?

My only near-excursion into modular was with the Moogerfoogers. I got the MF-101 low-pass filter and MF-103 phaser in 2002 (before Bob Moog got the rights to the Moog name back, so the company they were initially produced under was called Big Briar). I didn't really know what I was getting, I thought they were just effects, but the manuals had a great intro to modular synthesis, and within a couple of years (and after acquiring the CP-251 control processor and MF-104 analog delay) I was making boops and beeps just with those four units connected to each other. Isn't that kind of the crux of the biscuit? If your effects can be used to control each other via control voltage (CV) then they can be kind of a pseudo-modular system, but if each effect is only doing its thing internally, then it's not. (Of course there's more to it than that but it's one basic way to look at it)

@ugly_bassplayer inspired me to delve back into some "weirder" sounds recently, so yesterday I used the smoothed-out sample & hold from the CP-251 to control the low-pass filter frequency in my Frostwave Resonator that was being fed fretless bass through a Mastotron fuzz. I might try again - the frequency range was a little too wide, so I might try again but using an attenuator in the CP-251 to reel it in a bit. Not super-modular, but I don't have any pedals to do random sweep of the filter frequency, so it's fun to use moogerfoogers to control it. I've also used the LFO of the MF-103 phaser to control filter frequency - the CP-251 has spitters too so I can take the LFO and split it to two filters and sweep them separately.

I need to take a big picture of my Big Briar stuff!

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

My only near-excursion into modular was with the Moogerfoogers. I got the MF-101 low-pass filter and MF-103 phaser in 2002 (before Bob Moog got the rights to the Moog name back, so the company they were initially produced under was called Big Briar). I didn't really know what I was getting, I thought they were just effects, but the manuals had a great intro to modular synthesis, and within a couple of years (and after acquiring the CP-251 control processor and MF-104 analog delay) I was making boops and beeps just with those four units connected to each other. Isn't that kind of the crux of the biscuit? If your effects can be used to control each other via control voltage (CV) then they can be kind of a pseudo-modular system, but if each effect is only doing its thing internally, then it's not. (Of course there's more to it than that but it's one basic way to look at it)

@ugly_bassplayer inspired me to delve back into some "weirder" sounds recently, so yesterday I used the smoothed-out sample & hold from the CP-251 to control the low-pass filter frequency in my Frostwave Resonator that was being fed fretless bass through a Mastotron fuzz. I might try again - the frequency range was a little too wide, so I might try again but using an attenuator in the CP-251 to reel it in a bit. Not super-modular, but I don't have any pedals to do random sweep of the filter frequency, so it's fun to use moogerfoogers to control it. I've also used the LFO of the MF-103 phaser to control filter frequency - the CP-251 has spitters too so I can take the LFO and split it to two filters and sweep them separately.

I need to take a big picture of my Big Briar stuff!

I’m more than flattered

 

[Spectrum]

Isn't a pedalboard basically the same as a modular setup? I know it clearly isn't but the options open to us now have surely closed the gap by a bit?

Probably not the best example, as I am not a close follower of the world of modular music but I saw the recording of Billy Corgan doing the modular set against the reading of Siddartha and the thought came that I could probably make music that annoying with stuff I already have.

I mean, I'm most likely missing something. Is there perhaps an iconic piece that could only have been created with a modular rig or is it more a case of different paths leading to the same goal?

There are some key differences between a modular synthesizer and a fancy pedalboard.

One is that a pedalboard is not an instrument (despite my videos looping pedals on their own); it's a bunch of modifiers of a signal produced by an instrument, such as a guitar or a bass or a keyboard or whatever. An actual synthesizer has its own oscillators and is the source of its own signal. The oscillator for your pedalboard is the vibrating strings on your bass.

Another key difference in my mind is that a modular (or even a non-modular) synth has three things going on: an audio signal path, a control signal network, and timing clock signal network. In contrast the connections between pedals are usually only audio paths.

That's my take on it. Some pedals do have control signal inputs now, I suppose, and some like the Digitech Sdrum and JamMan pedals can sync up clock signals, but by and large pedals are meant to be stand-alone audio signal modifiers used in series, and few are able to communicate with one another the way that synth modules are designed to do.

 

[steubig]

An actual synthesizer has its own oscillators and is the source of its own signal. The oscillator for your pedalboard is the vibrating strings on your bass.

for a long time (dunno 15 years?), i've thought of my pedals as basically a modular synth with the bass being the oscillator(s).

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

for a long time (dunno 15 years?), i've thought of my pedals as basically a modular synth with the bass being the oscillator(s).

 

[HotelX]

There are some key differences between a modular synthesizer and a fancy pedalboard.

One is that a pedalboard is not an instrument (despite my videos looping pedals on their own); it's a bunch of modifiers of a signal produced by an instrument, such as a guitar or a bass or a keyboard or whatever. An actual synthesizer has its own oscillators and is the source of its own signal. The oscillator for your pedalboard is the vibrating strings on your bass.

Another key difference in my mind is that a modular (or even a non-modular) synth has three things going on: an audio signal path, a control signal network, and timing clock signal network. In contrast the connections between pedals are usually only audio paths.

That's my take on it. Some pedals do have control signal inputs now, I suppose, and some like the Digitech Sdrum and JamMan pedals can sync up clock signals, but by and large pedals are meant to be stand-alone audio signal modifiers used in series, and few are able to communicate with one another the way that synth modules are designed to do.

Pretty good explanation

 

[HotelX]

for a long time (dunno 15 years?), i've thought of my pedals as basically a modular synth with the bass being the oscillator(s).

You are missing the control voltage though so it really is not quite the same.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

You are missing the control voltage though so it really is not quite the same.

Have you heard the dude play??
@steubig is a killer. He gets tones out of that bass the will make your head spin.
He posted vids of his trio while back.

If he thinks of his pedals and bass that way, there is a reason for it. It's another way of approaching tools to express oneself.

I even think there is a CV controller finger on his right hand.

Modular... not modular....who cares. I just care about self expression.
Use whatever tools you want IMO.
Smash a concrete slab with 2x4 if it works for you.

 

[HotelX]

Have you heard the dude play??
@steubig is a killer. He gets tones out of that bass the will make your head spin.
He posted vids of his trio while back.

If he thinks of his pedals and bass that way, there is a reason for it. It's another way of approaching tools to express oneself.

I even think there is a CV controller finger on his right hand

yeah he is a top notch player but that has nothing to do with it. Pedals are not the same as modular synths. There are some similarities but many differences. I’m not saying one is better than the other. It is apples and oranges.

 

[lordradish]

yeah he is a top notch player but that has nothing to do with it. Pedals are not the same as modular synths. There are some similarities but many differences. I’m not saying one is better than the other. It is apples and oranges.

I would agree. Personally, for me, pedals are a lot easier to understand and get what I want out of them.

 

[HotelX]

I would agree. Personally, for me, pedals are a lot easier to understand and get what I want out of them.

I know what you mean. I just bought some new modules and I’m having to do a lot of experimenting to see what works. Definitely a steep learning curve.

 

[steubig]

i didn’t say they were the same, i said i thought of the pedals in that way. it’s a way for me to codify my intent.

i understand it’s semantics on a certain level.

*for me* i think the biggest problem that *i would have to overcome* would be a feeling of lack of control, as i think the modular would have too much autonomy from what i want to do in the moment. (i feel the same way about certain pedals.)

too teutonic at heart.

 

[HotelX]

i didn’t say they were the same, i said i thought of the pedals in that way. it’s a way for me to codify my intent.

i understand it’s semantics on a certain level.

*for me* i think the biggest problem that *i would have to overcome* would be a feeling of lack of control, as i think the modular would have too much autonomy from what i want to do in the moment. (i feel the same way about certain pedals.)

too teutonic at heart.

You can make the control voltage do what you want. Or you can embrace randomness which is often what I do. Buchla even has a module called Source of Uncertainty.

But whatever makes you happy. I’ve gotten addicted to modular and am lucky I have the ability to afford it. But, looking at some of the pedalboards I see here, I’m pretty sure some of them cost as much as a modular synth.

 

[steubig]

re cv, it’s for controlling things like filter resonance or a myriad of other activities right? triggering synth functionality. some of that is sequencing, which doesn’t really interest me for bass (it’s kind of how i view looping, which i do use).

so, if i’m using expression pedals to cover certain pedal functionality, doesn’t it get a bit closer?

 

[dukeorock]

Seems like most here are correct

A. CV and playing bass through pedals has way more differences than similarities.

B. Do what helps you express yourself and who really cares?

 

[steubig]

hi,

my guess is that i owe folks an apology. i made an offhand joke about modular being "trendy," which seemed to drive us down this road a bit.

i'm old enough to have seen bunch of different things (and taken part in or liked more than a few of them) that i've considered trendy. just chalk it up to an old curmudgeonly dude muttering to himself.

now get off my lawn.