Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[steubig]

@JES

here’s how i do it.

soundcloud for show-and-tell and proof-of-concept stuff

bandcamp for digi-releases that are more ep/album like

these guys make fun od me, but i also still put out compact discs

dinosaur

 

[emjazz]

Most all devices are imperfect. The question is how do you interface with it and does it allow you to express your ideas.

This was the key to most everything for me. I obsessively went through different basses for years. Truth is nothing is "perfect" or perfect for everything (case in point..Steuart's bass collection of all functional works of art, all for different purposes). I tried to sell my main bass twice (when I think about this I'm beyond grateful that I never did). It's like any relationship in life. There is no perfection, there is only our perception and our choices. Now I work with what I have, because in the end, it's me I'm working on, not the bass.

Same with pedals (another long, expensive lesson.. ). Distortion pedals....yikes. so many. Began going through that recently with reverb pedals. Guess what? There isn't one pedal that does everything that I want. In the end I save money by accepting that and buying two or three to make it all work, instead of buying and selling many different ones over time.

Learning to work with what I have has given me a much happier experience over all in music and in life.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Learning to work with what I have has given me a much happier experience over all in music and in life.

Atta BOY!!!!!!

 

[steubig]

i’ve known guys who were serial daters when it came to basses, they went through in four more basses than i own.

i guess i’m a polygamist. stay married to many.

 

[emjazz]

i’ve known guys who were serial daters when it came to basses, they went through in four more basses than i own.

i guess i’m a polygamist. stay married to many.

Hahahahahaha.....tell that to my next girlfriend!

 

[steubig]

lol

 

[monsterthompson]

Speaking of loopers, Aeros finally got most of the kinks out of their software, so the seamless looping works good, now. Did this one last night on the six-string as I was checking out the update... 3 loops - two different Enzo sounds, some delays and verbs and the Mel 9 for the creepy mellotron stuff.
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That swell around the 1:40 mark is great.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

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Damn.
Can that thing beam me up Scotty?

 

[monsterthompson]

Damn.
Can that thing beam me up Scotty?

Set your phasers on fun!

 

[lordradish]

That swell around the 1:40 mark is great.

Yeah, that's the Mel 9.

I'm finding that too often, I fall back on my stock sounds that I get very easily out of my board setup, as I haven't changed it, much, and don't plan to. But finally having the looper working like I need it to, I'm starting to realize how many OTHER sounds I can still get out of this setup with a little more imagination and work. I'm getting to the point on some things where it sounds like I'm playing a complex poly synth instead of a bass, and that's what I've been shooting for, because I can still express myself on bass much better than on a synth. I don't want to get to the point where I'm always feeling I have to add another pedal. I just need to branch out, more.

 

[lordradish]

Damn.
Can that thing beam me up Scotty?

It makes an excellent cole slaw, and it did build my deck and paint my house.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

It makes an excellent cole slaw, and it did build my deck and paint my house.

I was hopping for a coffe maker in the next update.

 

[mrgittleman]

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Time to re-evaluate signal chain. Green papaya slaw ?

 

[Bob_Ross]

have the main looper before the ditto, start playing the main looper and them start using the ditto to sample the other looping—and mash away at the half speed and reverse
controls while you’re at it. you can get some interesting collages out of it.
i’ve done it with a boomerang 3 going into a boss dd-6 as a mangler and then into the ditto. (might work with a blooper as well.)

+1 Multiple loopers is the schiznit.
I must have described how my loopers are wired up elsewhere in this thread, no? I'm going to see if I can describe this in as few words as possible, so as not to put anyone to sleep:

An Electro-Harmonix 16 Second Digital Delay (reissue) -- which sits downstream from half a dozen other pedals (not including what I can feed it from the VFE Klein Bottle) -- feeds an Electro-Harmonix 16 Second Digital Delay (vintage circa 1980 unit). Which feeds a tc electronic Ditto. So three serial loopers
...except there's also a flip-flop switch in between that allows me to move the Ditto in front of the Electro-Harmonix chain.
So yeah, tons of fun passing loops back and forth, up and downstream, mangling them using the various tools (modulation, reverse, half/double speed) that the two E-H loopers offer.
Wait, did I mention there's another flip-flop switch that allows me to move a POG2 and tc Flashback Mini either before or after the two E-H loopers?
Oh, and ^^^that entire signal path is in one of the channels of a VFE Klein Bottle. In another channel there's a Montreal Assembly Count To 5 (downstream of a couple synth pedals), and in the last channel is a Chase Bliss MOOD feeding a(nother) tc electronic Flashback which spends most of its time in Looper mode. So I can pass a loop from (almost) any gizmo to any other gizmo at any time, all the while incorporating additional signal processing (either from within various loopers or via other stompboxes) and additional live material from the bass.

Yeah, it's messed up

 

[Bob_Ross]

Speaking of loopers...have any of you guys ever used any of the Looperlative products?
I've been jonesing for one of their LP1s ever since I sold off (regrettably) my Oberheim Echoplex Digital Pro a decade ago. But I've never met anyone who's actually used one of their products.

 

[Passinwind]

The new slide bass appliance is coming along nicely and I've been annoying the Scrub Jays for a few days now, which is surely turnabout as fair play. I expect to add holes and knobs in the next week or so, just want to live with the power amp section for a few more days to better understand its wants and needs. Though I was going to go tweeterless 2x15, but I'm not so sure about that after A/Bing with the pictured 15/6/1 cab.

 

[lordradish]

Time to re-evaluate signal chain. Green papaya slaw ?

5 kinds of slaw, sir. I told you, it's got some features.

 

[lordradish]

I was hopping for a coffe maker in the next update.

Actually, the next firmware has an espresso maker and milk-frother.

 

[steubig]

+1 Multiple loopers is the schiznit.
I must have described how my loopers are wired up elsewhere in this thread, no? I'm going to see if I can describe this in as few words as possible, so as not to put anyone to sleep:

An Electro-Harmonix 16 Second Digital Delay (reissue) -- which sits downstream from half a dozen other pedals (not including what I can feed it from the VFE Klein Bottle) -- feeds an Electro-Harmonix 16 Second Digital Delay (vintage circa 1980 unit). Which feeds a tc electronic Ditto. So three serial loopers
...except there's also a flip-flop switch in between that allows me to move the Ditto in front of the Electro-Harmonix chain.
So yeah, tons of fun passing loops back and forth, up and downstream, mangling them using the various tools (modulation, reverse, half/double speed) that the two E-H loopers offer.
Wait, did I mention there's another flip-flop switch that allows be to move a POG2 and tc Flashback Mini either before or after the two E-H loopers?
Oh, and ^^^that entire signal path is in one of the channels of a VFE Klein Bottle. In another channel there's a Montreal Assembly Count To 5 (downstream of a couple synth pedals), and in the last channel is a Chase Bliss MOOD feeding a(nother) tc electronic Flashback which spends most of its time in Looper mode. So I can pass a loop from (almost) any gizmo to any other gizmo at any time, all the while incorporating additional signal processing (either from within various loopers or via other stompboxes) and additional live material from the bass.

Yeah, it's messed up

View attachment 3958670

you need more stuff.

 

[steubig]

The new slide bass appliance is coming along nicely and I've been annoying the Scrub Jays for a few days now, which is surely turnabout as fair play. I expect to add holes and knobs in the next week or so, just want to live with the power amp section for a few more days to better understand its wants and needs. Though I was going to go tweeterless 2x15, but I'm not so sure about that after A/Bing with the pictured 15/6/1 cab.

View attachment 3958680

what’s the little cab that looks like a mini audiokinesis something?