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Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread
- Thread starter ttasselm
- Start date
Of note for the Tensor...I and others I've spoken to were ready to flip the Tensor after a day or two....but if you keep with it you'll fall madly in love with it.
Wow, thanks folks. These recent posts certainly push me towards the MOOD. I somehow completely missed that it's always recording, which gives it a huge edge.
Just to be clear, the Tensor does this as well.
I should have mentioned it before, but have you looked at a Tomkat Cloudy?
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They aren’t common so it might be tough to find one used.
Thanks. That sounds great, but is missing reverse delay (I think).
Today in free.
MATRIXSYNTH: The Full Bucket Fury-800 - Free Korg Poly-800 Soft Synth
Although, candidly, I think the original was a crap synth, so your mileage may vary.
MATRIXSYNTH: The Full Bucket Fury-800 - Free Korg Poly-800 Soft Synth
Although, candidly, I think the original was a crap synth, so your mileage may vary.
Damn, you slow, boy, I put that up last week.
I don't know if I agree with this. While I will agree that most of US (who post in this thread) are looking for something different from the normal bassplayer, most musicians I come into contact with (particularly bassists) are looking to play other people's music (even if that means their buddy down the street who has a nice voice and writes nice songs). Most of the musicians I come into contact with want to play songs...and they get distressed when someone takes creative liberties with the music. I generally seek out musicians who are more open to creative ideas and it is a hard find.
I own all 4 of those and without a question, Tensor is hands down the choice I'd go with. I love them all...and am eager to check out the new Count to 5 firmware (I actually ended up taking the route of getting a 2nd Count to 5 since I dig the original firmware so much), but I think the most usable and versatile of that crew is the Tensor (with the only exception being that Particle can give you normal delays in addition to weirdness, but if you aren't looking for something to handle regular delay duties as well, it's gotta be the Tensor).
i think most people who take up an instrument are interested in playing “creative or challenging music” of some sort. for a lot of ebass players that meant being turned on by people playing in bands or hearing people playing on records, that sort of thing.
i think very few started out with the thought, “i’m gonna play in casinos, holiday inns, etc.” later on being a “working musician” becomes a thing. i’ve seen more than a few who make a living and end up hating music.
that’s what i was trying to say.
After reading all the other posts since @smperry asked, I should note that:
- I agree 150% w @remcult about having a hard time bonding with the Particle 2. It is such an incredibly versatile pedal, but I find I leverage it more for traditional uses than pushing it towards it weirdness boundaries. I have explored some of them, and am set up to use MIDI for this pedal so I have patches made on my ES-8 to be able to sweep params and change modes on the fly and it is extremely fun, but the workflow isn't such that it draws me in.
- Agree w what @emjazz said about the Tensor and the honeymoon period. Tensor has a reverse honeymoon. I almost listed it for sale within 10 minutes of plugging it in...and I wavered for about a week until I started to get along with it and now it is my desert island pedal. I'm set up for MIDI for it and I leverage it as a looper, a live rewind, a pitch shifter, a glitcher, and so much more. I also used the 4 button switch before I got MIDI setup (and I still have it connected to the 4 button for looper control - I used to use it for 2 presets and a replacement for the 2 buttons). If you search on the Tensor, you'll find post after post from me praising it. I am pretty passionate about the Tensor. The thing that sets it apart for me is the 2 foot switches and the options with each. Latch or momentary on both and the ability to use one as a tempo control for your glitches makes a handful of different sounds available at your stomp without having to twist a knob. Not only that but if you do decide to twist a knob, just crank that random knob up and boom...there ya go. Crank it down to get back to where you were.
- Count to 5 is a pedal I invested time in. I really explored it and learned how it works, including all hidden functions. It isn't that hard to control once you know how it works, but most people can't/aren't willing to try to get their head around what it can do and end up writing it off or using it with the mix low to just do weird things in the background. It's super powerful though and can deliver everything from ring mod type sounds to straight delay to reverse delay to granular looper to 3 voice looper. The new firmware is really impressive and probably the kind of thing that most people will go to and never come back from since demos really show it off as much more usable and advanced than the original firmware.
- M o o d - this is the newest kid on the block for me. I LOVE it immediately and can make beautiful sounds come from it fairly easily, but I have NO IDEA what I'm doing with it. I will say that the effects side from OBNE is really excellent. It's been mentioned but the reverb and delay on that are really tasty and the micro looper is Drolo...I just have no idea what it's doing but it's feeding back over on itself in all sorts of beautiful ways. Seems that it is easy to sound great with, but hard to make the same sound twice (but over time I hope to get a better handle on it).
- Cloudy - I have this one as well - it's essentially the pedal version of the popular Clouds module. It's a cool one for sure, but I don't consider it in the same league as the others mentioned. It's more of an adverb if the others are verbs.
--- other worthy mentions - Drolo - Stamme[n] - that's my other favorite glitcher. Anything by Drolo is probably worth looking at, but hard to get ahold of. Pladask Elektrisk also makes some worthy contenders...I'm a big fan of BAKFRAM. I'd also recommend having a look at CooperFX Outward v2...more of an ambient machine than a glitcher, but I found that one to be very approachable. Bananana Mandalla also has a few decent glitch modes and with the momentary footswitch option can make some cool glitchy bursts.
Those professional cover gigs made me hate music in a way I thought never possible. (Add the fact on many of those gigs I doubled as the sound guy.....double puke.)
You had to have the right look, know the right people. Add to that have a fake personality to « please » the right « contacts ». You had to suck up to make the $$$$. F&*# that.
It was total BS. I quit those overnight. I came to terms that I’d rather play alone in my basement than play « insert overplayed BS cover of your choice ». Bye Bye « pro bass player life ».
I had to work hard to find ways to play music after that, but it was much more « enlightening » and just plain made me happier.
But some love that, one of the dudes I studied with is the touring bass player for an international official Tribute production and does only cover gigs when he’s not on that gig. He’s a very nice guy but I would never hang out with that dude. (Zzzzzzz) guess he was born to play covers.
@steubig you think a casino is weird....try playing at a grocery store opening party playing Muzak style jazz standards. I was plain embarrassed and felt like a circus clown on that one.
My 2 cents.
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Yes, x 10. Look at any of the fluff 'top threads' on TBL every day and see how people still think AC/DC is exciting.
They are.
Man. I keep trying to write them off as a band with a few simple gimmicks, but I can’t. They had a solid formula and the right energy for it. When I was younger I couldn’t get into the Bon Scott material as much. But looking back, particularly at live show footage, and thinking of the social context and time they were in, those guys were just incredible.
Okay, at the risk of sounding like a pretentious ass (like that ever stops me), I'm just, at 49, done with cock rock. I just can't deal with the lyrics, the whole nine yards. I still think Angus has one of the best tones, ever, but, nope, can't do it. I'm just sick of most blues-based things, at this point in my life. Done to death.
I'm just an old fart who would rather just listen to some weird 45 minute drone, I guess.
