Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[steubig]

do you have any go-to mechanisms for variations? do you ever think "I'm using C as a root for this theme, so let me figure out how to make a consonant call/response in F, or modulate to C# for a juxtoposed breakdown/bridge"? I find slower material can avoid sounding monotonous riding on a single root/chord, as long as there is some melodic movement. I've been trying to be mindful of chord shapes where you can change one or two notes and get a chord changes/inversions, without having it feel like an obvious change (like when a guitarist uses barre chords to go from a C to an F.

my comments are based on my understanding of classical forms . . .

afaik, the key changing is not literally a variation. a lot of times it could be changing from major to minor, or vice versa (or doing a different mode still based on the same root).

most of the time it's using the "skeleton" of the theme and then doing things to it. say you have a melody in quarter notes (C-E-D#-G) and you do it as triplets (C[C-C]-E[E-E]-D#[D#-D#]-G[G-G]); (keeping the triplets) sometimes it would be doing the melody with filigree (C[B-C]-E[F#-E]-D#-G[Ab-G]). it can also be elongation—A/A prime sort of stuff (C[B-C]-E[F#-E]-D#-G[Ab-G] + (C[B-C]-E[F#-E]-D#-G[Ab-G]-F-F#[F#-F#]-E[D#-D#]).

you could also take a busy melody and take it down to its highlights (C[B-C]-E[F#-E]-D#-G[Ab-G]-F-F#[F#-F#]-E[D#-D#]) becomes (C-E-G-F-D#) in long tones/rhythmically placed in the same timeframe (things that would be repeated quarters becomes halves or dotted halves)

augmentation (make the quarters above into halves—twice as slow) and diminution (quarters become eighths‚twice as fast) are also good

Do you find yourself writing in variations of 4/8/16 bar sections? I find myself writing in 5/4 time to break away from the familiar 4/4 feel, even if it isn't the most natural sounding thing I could do.

yeah, it's hard to break away from that sort of thing, particularly in any sort of groove music. i like to break away from the 1. but i also will add a 2-bar phrase in at times.

I also find the Rule Of 3 pops up in my writing. I really gravitate to having three sections, or three variations on a theme, or some other use of three in the underlying architecture of the composition.

contrast is good. proportion is also super important. three sections is sort of verse/chorus/bridge, of course (so is sonata form). (nothing wrong with that, it's time-honored.)

 

[dukeorock]

Looks like my 0-Coast gets here on Monday, and I've got a gig with it in Tijuana on the 23rd. I need to figure out what and how I'm going to pull things off. I'm collaborating with a guy in San Diego, and I'm in Los Angeles. We don't have much time to set up and tear down, so I'm not sure what rig I'll bring and how I'll link it all. I just know we have a 60 minute window, and the only structure I know is that everything will be at 180 BPM. I'm thinking of the Novation Circuit and Pigtronix Infinity as samplers and loops. I want to plug my bass in and fuzz it out.
...Okay brain, start working.

Thankfully, the 0Coast is normalized, so you don’t need a bunch of complex patches to make it sound cool, especially if you’re pressed for time. A buddy of mine loans me gear to try out all the time. He owns stacks of cool stuff, but only writes with 2-4 machines at a time. His current jams are made with an Elektron Octatrack MK2, Elektron Digitakt, Novation Peak and Elektron Analog Heat...often with a few cool guitar pedals thrown in. He typically plays lap steel over the whole thing. Super cool stuff. All that to say, he hasn’t been able to make the 0 Coast part of his workflow, so he asked me if I’d like to borrow it...sure, twist my arm

Thanks! I'm having the same problem with Beatmaker 3 but I'm going to keep at it. I think I'm finally getting the Scene, Pattern and Song thing and I really think it's going to work well for this type of stuff. Auria is great. It was super-intuitive for me and pretty much no learning curve. If you're familiar with Logic, I think you will like it and find it easy to use. The best part though are the FabFilter plug-ins for a fraction of the price. I just checked FabFilter's website and the Pro-R is $199, but as an add on to Auria is was something like $30-40, and it has all the features. I ended up purchasing a lot of them, and while it does add up for an ipad app, it is nothing compared to buying the full suite as a stand alone.

That’s very useful info...THANK YOU!!!
Honestly, when considering my next purchase for a noise making machine for my solo bass stuff, I’ve often considered upgrading my iPad to an iPad Pro instead of the MPC Live or Elektron Analog RYTM MK2...still on the fence though. Just not sure I see myself using an iPad live. Really love hardware boxes these days

No, but it is pretty sweet!!

Been eyeing Hologram Electronics Infinite Jets and Dream Sequence lately..

Man, I demo’d a Dream Sequence a few weeks ago and couldn’t make heads or tails of the damn thing...apparently you gotta dig pretty deep to get anything out of it. Kinda soured me on the idea. The Chase Bliss Thermae is pretty high on my list of pedals to try

 

[dukeorock]

my comments are based on my understanding of classical forms . . .

afaik, the key changing is not literally a variation. a lot of times it could be changing from major to minor, or vice versa (or doing a different mode still based on the same root).

most of the time it's using the "skeleton" of the theme and then doing things to it. say you have a melody in quarter notes (C-E-D#-G) and you do it as triplets (C[C-C]-E[E-E]-D#[D#-D#]-G[G-G]); (keeping the triplets) sometimes it would be doing the melody with filigree (C[B-C]-E[F#-E]-D#-G[Ab-G]). it can also be elongation—A/A prime sort of stuff (C[B-C]-E[F#-E]-D#-G[Ab-G] + (C[B-C]-E[F#-E]-D#-G[Ab-G]-F-F#[F#-F#]-E[D#-D#]).

you could also take a busy melody and take it down to its highlights (C[B-C]-E[F#-E]-D#-G[Ab-G]-F-F#[F#-F#]-E[D#-D#]) becomes (C-E-G-F-D#) in long tones/rhythmically placed in the same timeframe (things that would be repeated quarters becomes halves or dotted halves)

augmentation (make the quarters above into halves—twice as slow) and diminution (quarters become eighths‚twice as fast) are also good



yeah, it's hard to break away from that sort of thing, particularly in any sort of groove music. i like to break away from the 1. but i also will add a 2-bar phrase in at times.



contrast is good. proportion is also super important. three sections is sort of verse/chorus/bridge, of course (so is sonata form). (nothing wrong with that, it's time-honored.)

Great observations!

 

[monsterthompson]

...

Been eyeing Hologram Electronics Infinite Jets and Dream Sequence lately..

You are terrible.

 

[dukeorock]

Just wanted to show something about the Digitakt. This is a live jam done with a single sample of a whole note on bass. I’m still a beginner with the Digitakt, so I have no illusions that this jam is ‘impressive’ but it does show the mangling capabilities of the machine to some extent

 

[BayingRidge]

Just wanted to show something about the Digitakt. This is a live jam done with a single sample of a whole note on bass. I’m still a beginner with the Digitakt, so I have no illusions that this jam is ‘impressive’ but it does show the mangling capabilities of the machine to some extent

Very cool!!

That’s very useful info...THANK YOU!!!
Honestly, when considering my next purchase for a noise making machine for my solo bass stuff, I’ve often considered upgrading my iPad to an iPad Pro instead of the MPC Live or Elektron Analog RYTM MK2...still on the fence though. Just not sure I see myself using an iPad live. Really love hardware boxes these days

Man, I demo’d a Dream Sequence a few weeks ago and couldn’t make heads or tails of the damn thing...apparently you gotta dig pretty deep to get anything out of it. Kinda soured me on the idea. The Chase Bliss Thermae is pretty high on my list of pedals to try

I have the pro but only use it at home or during the commute on the train. I don’t know if I’d want to use it out live. While it’s amazing what it can do, it still gets a little glitchy sometimes especially with multiple apps running that eat up a lot of processing power. On occasion I’ll have to just close out all the apps and reopen them. It’s definitely getting there, but don’t think I’d use it live. Maybe the next iteration.

Good to know about the Dream Sequence, thank you! Chase Bliss Thermae looks interesting...

You are terrible.

I try my best, hahaha!

 

[dukeorock]

Very cool!!




I have the pro but only use it at home or during the commute on the train. I don’t know if I’d want to use it out live. While it’s amazing what it can do, it still gets a little glitchy sometimes especially with multiple apps running that eat up a lot of processing power. On occasion I’ll have to just close out all the apps and reopen them. It’s definitely getting there, but don’t think I’d use it live. Maybe the next iteration.
!

That’s been my experience with iPad apps in general...I love mine iPad for coming up with ideas or mangling sounds, but once I get a loop or two that I like, I usually put it into Logiccor my sampler to finish the song

 

[steubig]

i use two ipads (v2) live for synths, samplers (samplr, reslice) and treatments (sector, borderlands) sometimes things get looped, sometimes not. in addition to basses plus effects. all stereo, with live panning.

would love to have the scratch for an ipad pro.

 

[dukeorock]

i use two ipads (v2) live for synths, samplers (samplr, reslice) and treatments (sector, borderlands) sometimes things get looped, sometimes not. in addition to basses plus effects. all stereo, with live panning.

would love to have the scratch for an ipad pro.

I’m sure some of it depends on what you’re asking of the iPad...I’m gonna start integrating mine more into my live jams at home and see if it’s able to be consistent enough to try live for me

 

[steubig]

I’m sure some of it depends on what you’re asking of the iPad...I’m gonna start integrating mine more into my live jams at home and see if it’s able to be consistent enough to try live for me

of course.

i'm not doing tunes that needed to be locked up. in the case of what i mentioned, i'm doing all live improv.

it depends what you're trying to achieve.

a friend is going down the road of trying to use the iPad pro with flux efx as one of his live guitar effects engine. we'll see how that works.

 

[monsterthompson]

Pigtronix Echolution ordered

 

[alaskaleftybass]

Just wanted to show something about the Digitakt. This is a live jam done with a single sample of a whole note on bass. I’m still a beginner with the Digitakt, so I have no illusions that this jam is ‘impressive’ but it does show the mangling capabilities of the machine to some extent

I dug it! Good job!

 

[alaskaleftybass]

Pigtronix Echolution ordered

View attachment 3034903

Doing the same thing as we speak!

 

[dukeorock]

I dug it! Good job!

Thanks!

 

[monsterthompson]

Now that I’ve ordered the Pigtronix Echolution...
Has anyone tried the Seymour Duncan Andromeda?

 

[Zoobiedood]

Well, I've tried the Andromeda, but actually not on bass. It is a really trippy ambient machine on guitar, though.

 

[dukeorock]

One more live jam I did today. I (more or less) got my EHX 95000 looper to sync up to my Digitakt. Not terribly ambient...more like robots covering the Velvet Underground

 

[40Hz]

Looks like EHX might have released an ambient players dream box with their Oceans 11 multi-reverb pedal that’s due out this month for just $149.

Check it out:

 

[monsterthompson]

Looks like EHX might have released an ambient players dream box with their Oceans 11 multi-reverb pedal that’s due out this month for just $149.

Check it out:

Ooh. Quick jump through the vid makes it seem pretty good.

 

[40Hz]

Ooh. Quick jump through the vid makes it seem pretty good.

It sure got me. I’ve put one on preorder after watching that a few times. Seems like they incorporated their Freeze pedal’s functionality into it with the infinite option. And the flanging sweeps were pretty cool too.

Can’t believe they’re only asking $149 for it with that much under the hood.