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Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

I'm serious here:
Take a 2x4 or any hollow wooden box, 2 nails and take any springs you want and stretch em between the nails.

Add contact mic and plug into pedals of your choice.

In this case an EQ pedal feeding a reverb....

Contact mics are awesome. Crank sturgeon makes some crazy variations of contact mics. Even some that go underwater

I get where you're coming from, but my interest is in generating a digital model of the physical thing. I don't really need the thing, but I want to see if I can model it and learn something in the process.
 
i think it's good to change your thing up now and then. give your ears a rest and recharge to do something else.

and, since i seem to be on this tip today, i think it's interesting to see what kinds of sounds you can get from different right-/left-hand techniques and as well as using other implements, etc.
I remember meeting Skuli Sverrisson at his place in NY when he was still there (I hardly said a word..I was so nervous to meet him...hahaha). I went down to hang and have a lesson. He told me to look at every stringed instrument around the world and see how they are playing their instruments, and see how I could implement that on the electric bass. It was the first time I began to think outside the box with the bass.
 
I remember meeting Skuli Sverrisson at his place in NY when he was still there (I hardly said a word..I was so nervous to meet him...hahaha). I went down to hang and have a lesson. He told me to look at every stringed instrument around the world and see how they are playing their instruments, and see how I could implement that on the electric bass. It was the first time I began to think outside the box with the bass.
Wasn't Skuli the guy with the "cells of sound"
concept with different textures he produced on his bass??
 
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Any recommended listening by him?
Oh boy...um...everything he's ever played on. His own records, Seria and Seria II are in a category all their own. Gorgeous writing. He has two duo records with the great Oskar Gudjonsson that are beyond words...the writing is sublime, and the playing is like nothing else. (I personally feel that Skuli is the greatest musician to ever play the bass guitar). Some of my favorite playing of his is on Jim Black's Alasnoaxis records, on a couple of Chris Speed records, with Pachora, and anything he did with Ben Monder.
 
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What?!!
Care to elaborate on that.
Cuz I'm clearly confused by that statement.

Traditional synths meaning ones w keys that correlate to specific notes. I keep getting deeper and deeper down this rabbit hole of these kinds of sounds and when I poke my head up to take stock on next steps I am finding I am more drawn to devices that fall into the synth category (drone synths, desktop synths, noise gardens, etc) that dont have the traditional keys to play notes...but rather knobs that let me squeak through all nuances of pitch amd sound, not just half step increments that land on tuned notes.

I think I am more after exploring and crafting music from instruments in the synth family instead of just a synth. Its a ton of fun to create a weird nose, capture it in a delay or looper and then transform it...a synth seems like your one stop shop to work w the sound...not sure if thats where my head is at. I really love that moffenzeef msg noisemaker and the drone synths Ive been playing w. That might be enough for me? That said, I am sure if I raise enough to bring a hydrasynth home that will be the plan.
 
Traditional synths meaning ones w keys that correlate to specific notes. I keep getting deeper and deeper down this rabbit hole of these kinds of sounds and when I poke my head up to take stock on next steps I am finding I am more drawn to devices that fall into the synth category (drone synths, desktop synths, noise gardens, etc) that dont have the traditional keys to play notes...but rather knobs that let me squeak through all nuances of pitch amd sound, not just half step increments that land on tuned notes.

I think I am more after exploring and crafting music from instruments in the synth family instead of just a synth. Its a ton of fun to create a weird nose, capture it in a delay or looper and then transform it...a synth seems like your one stop shop to work w the sound...not sure if thats where my head is at. I really love that moffenzeef msg noisemaker and the drone synths Ive been playing w. That might be enough for me? That said, I am sure if I raise enough to bring a hydrasynth home that will be the plan.

do you have an ipad? if so there are some apps that are more gesture oriented than keyboard oriented.

tc-11, samplr in particular come to mind immediately (i know i'm missing some)

nave and some of the ppg stuff also make use of the x-y capabilities, so you can hit a note (on a keyboard, but it can be pretty wacked) and you can drag along the key to make the notes distort and fragment . . .

the cool thing about hydra is the pads on the module have poly aftertouch and you can do configure them so it's not "piano-y" . . . i think something like the sensel morph or linnstrument would be very cool with it.
 
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Traditional synths meaning ones w keys that correlate to specific notes. I keep getting deeper and deeper down this rabbit hole of these kinds of sounds and when I poke my head up to take stock on next steps I am finding I am more drawn to devices that fall into the synth category (drone synths, desktop synths, noise gardens, etc) that dont have the traditional keys to play notes...but rather knobs that let me squeak through all nuances of pitch amd sound, not just half step increments that land on tuned notes.

I get this and I like to blend the two, "notes-type" synths and "noise-type" synths, to come up with cool pieces that are both musical and soundscape.

Also, I think Tangerine Dream was already doing this on the Phaedra and Rubycon albums, and I really wish they had done a few more albums like those. There was more to explore there.
 
do you have an ipad? if so there are some apps that are more gesture oriented than keyboard oriented.

tc-11, samplr in particular come to mind immediately (i know i'm missing some)

nave and some of the ppg stuff also make use of the x-y capabilities, so you can hit a note (on a keyboard, but it can be pretty wacked) and you can drag along the key to make the notes distort and fragment . . .

the cool thing about hydra is the pads on the module have poly aftertouch and you can do configure them so it's not "piano-y" . . . i think something like the sensel morph or linnstrument would be very cool with it.
Maybe One of these......

‎SynthScaper
‎SoundScaper
‎Borderlands Granular
 
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Proof of concept on the Zoia.
This is a feedback machine that takes the hum from a cable plugged in one input, then feeds it back on itself. Pitch shifting and pass filtering get in the mix, and it all routes through the Ghost Reverb on Zoia.

I'd like to get the granular module involved and some stereo panning. But for now, this is what I've got.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I didn't even blow out my speakers in the development process.
 
Proof of concept on the Zoia.
This is a feedback machine that takes the hum from a cable plugged in one input, then feeds it back on itself. Pitch shifting and pass filtering get in the mix, and it all routes through the Ghost Reverb on Zoia.

I'd like to get the granular module involved and some stereo panning. But for now, this is what I've got.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I didn't even blow out my speakers in the development process.
920x920.jpg
 
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Proof of concept on the Zoia.
This is a feedback machine that takes the hum from a cable plugged in one input, then feeds it back on itself. Pitch shifting and pass filtering get in the mix, and it all routes through the Ghost Reverb on Zoia.

I'd like to get the granular module involved and some stereo panning. But for now, this is what I've got.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I didn't even blow out my speakers in the development process.

Nice bit of Lovecraftian soundscape there.
 

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