Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread
- Thread starter ttasselm
- Start date
Awesome, like the Canyon in size and multi function. My Canyon only lasted a few months unfortunately before dying for no apparent reason, but I loved it.
For anyone interested, this is a brief bit of the music from the show I just did on May 26th. No bass playing 
I spent a bit of time on the whole production, and we won't be performing it again, so I wanted to share it somewhere. Ya'll seem like a group who would appreciate it
I spent a bit of time on the whole production, and we won't be performing it again, so I wanted to share it somewhere. Ya'll seem like a group who would appreciate it
Yes indeed. I’ve heard stories of higher than average infant mortality with EHX boxes. Never happened to me personally with anything I’ve owned made by the guys in NY. But I know people it’s happened to, so that’s always a little concerning since EHX cranks things out in quantity. Fortunately I’m told they’re pretty good about replacing defective products.
Guess the best bet is to get one from someplace like Sweetwater who gives you a two-year warranty on most things they sell and have excellent customer service.
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
That’s a shame...I have a Canyon and it’s pretty good, occasionally really good
For anyone interested, this is a brief bit of the music from the show I just did on May 26th. No bass playing
I spent a bit of time on the whole production, and we won't be performing it again, so I wanted to share it somewhere. Ya'll seem like a group who would appreciate it
Nice! Like the tribal thing a lot
Thanks. The loop library in Komplete is a rabbit hole. So much good stuff in there for inspiration. Stuff I'd never think to, or be able to, create on my own.
I’m also still waiting on the TCE Aeon (an EBow alternative) I preordered.
That should be interesting, although the bowed cello effect they were getting with the Oceans 11 is pretty much what I wanted the Aeon for.
Anybody own or had a chance to try out an Aeon yet? I’ve had mixed success with an EBow and I’m hoping TC’s new entry may be a little less fussy in actual use.
That should be interesting, although the bowed cello effect they were getting with the Oceans 11 is pretty much what I wanted the Aeon for.
Anybody own or had a chance to try out an Aeon yet? I’ve had mixed success with an EBow and I’m hoping TC’s new entry may be a little less fussy in actual use.
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
Haven’t had a chance to try one yet, but am very interested in them based on a couple clips I’ve seen
For anyone interested, this is a brief bit of the music from the show I just did on May 26th. No bass playing
I spent a bit of time on the whole production, and we won't be performing it again, so I wanted to share it somewhere. Ya'll seem like a group who would appreciate it
Like it! Got a little Gustav Mahler symphonic vibe going for it in the beginning. No bad thing that. Then adding the drum bit further in really did it for me. Nicely done!
Bravo!
Like it! Got a little Gustav Mahler symphonic vibe going for it in the beginning. No bad thing that. Then adding the drum bit further in really did it for me. Nicely done!
Bravo!
Thanks. It was originally supposed to be all drone and some rhythmic elements. However, it became evident the characters in the production should have musical themes. For the “devil” character, I thought about and tried all sorts of synth ideas. Ultimately, I had an idea for a tuba line, and doubling cellos over it seemed give the theme more cut. Then I started developing distinct tuba and cello parts. It wasn’t how I usually think about composing/writing/developing, so it was a bit of a challenge.
The nature of the string-section bowed sounds has me interested in that TC sustainer for bass. I like the slow, swelling attack, but I’m not a fan of how volume pedal swells achieve that sound.
Makes two of us. Rocking a volume control has its place. But that’s more of an organ swell than a bowed sound.
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
More or less got my looper and iPad to sync with the Digitakt today
Come up with a little jam using two iOS apps, the looper all controlled by the Digitakt
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Come up with a little jam using two iOS apps, the looper all controlled by the Digitakt
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Man! Stuff like that is so above my pay grade it isn’t even funny. I never even heard of a Digitakt before.
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
Man! Stuff like that is so above my pay grade it isn’t even funny. I never even heard of a Digitakt before.
It’s a really fun machine for mangling and sequencing sound. I love it a lot for my purposes. I only use my bass to make sounds, so I’ve made life way too difficult on myself! With the Digitakt I can play a single bass note into the sampler and mangle it into enough different sounds to make a song. It comes with a learning curve, but nothing horrible
I know!!! I never do emails or texts on my iPad, yet I always forget to turn off notifications
Wow ... love that.
The reason I hang about in this thread is mostly to learn about looping technologies ... 'ambient' music not so much ... so I don't always expect to enjoy the music that's posted. That track, I not only enjoyed, but I'm not sure I'd call it 'ambient' .... 'funky' seems more appropriate and I'd have been extremely happy to have produced that myself.
Coupla questions.
1) That growly bass sound (the one that actually plays the role of bass, comes in about 0:33) ... do you remember how that was produced ?
2) What you've said about how the track was produced suggests to me (again) that the digitakt is less suited to live performing and more suited to offline composition and effects, followed by live performance. Is that fair ?
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
Hey! Glad you liked the jam!
Regarding ‘ambient’ music...there’s certainly a lot of ambient music I enjoy, like Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith’s modular synth, evolving drone kind of stuff, but most of what I do isn’t something I’d call ambient, outside of a few pieces here and there. I love this thread because most everyone here is interested in music, structures and techniques that are a bit outside of the norm. That’s what drew me in.
Like you, I stumble onto this thread because I was looking for more info on how folks use loopers for solo performance. I’ve still not found a looper for live work that I love. Every one of em seems to come with a caveat of some sort. I went with the EHX 95000 mainly because you can do 6 independent loops, plus the stereo mix down track, loop storage and midi clock. But it’s far from perfect. I mean, far from perfect! Gotta just take it for what it is. IMO, the best live looper by far is Ableton, but it comes with a very steep learning curve and you have to run a laptop live. Maybe I’ll change my mind down the line, but at the moment, I’m trying to step away from computers for music making.
Regarding your questions-
The growly bass sound came from me playing a clean whole note into an iPad app called Samplr. I mangled the sound inside Samplr and played a simple bass part on its keyboard while the rest of the track was going...then looped a few variations into the 95000.
Very good question regarding the Digitakt. I think your description fits the way I currently use it, but it’s meant to be a live performance instrument. For example, there’s no song mode or pattern chaining. You gotta do that yourself. I do little exercises where I sample one note into the Digitakt and see how quick I can turn that sample into a believable song. The best I’ve done is getting something kinda cool from scratch in 20 minutes, so obviously there’s a lot of practicing I need to do
Zoobiedood
Commercial User
- Sep 1, 2015
- 869
- 744
- 56
- Disclosures
- Writer/Ambassador/Artist/Resident Bass Expert for Seymour Duncan
As far as loopers for solo performance, none does what an Exchoplex Digital Pro does. I've been doing ambient music on guitar & bass for years using it (and tying a ton of other loopers) and none really compare if you looping is the improvisational kind.
Excellent composition. Question for you. Would you see any benefit moving to a full sized laptop with a lot of different IO ports? I know even Apple has scaled back on the ports they're offering. I'm thinking about buying an older 15" Macbook Pro laptop because it has everything, even a DVD burner built in. I'm currently using a Dell Windows 7 17" laptop but I'm very disgusted with Windows 10 and its very intrusive way it handles everything. Constant pop-ups and "reminders" and "suggestions." I don't want or like a computer constantly "interacting" with me. I want it to shut up and do what I tell it to. Sorry about the rant, but that's why I'm looking at an older larger Macbook laptop.
