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Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

#961
dukeorock said:
That seems to be the verb of choice for synths...I’m still on the fence on a couple things, like normal :)
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The ghost setting alone is totally worth it. Of course, it is fairly expensive. Also, when switching presets the tails don’t really transition well between presets. There is a beta software update I need to load and try. They claim it helps a little bit.

Today, I’m going to try the cab sim that is built-in. From the presets listed in the manual, the 4 options seem fairly guitar oriented.

I tried some of the modulated settings, and I was able to get a really nice chorus sound on the bass for doing some Sisters of Mercy type stuff.
 
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#962
monsterthompson said:
The ghost setting alone is totally worth it. Of course, it is fairly expensive. Also, when switching presets the tails don’t really transition well between presets. There is a beta software update I need to load and try. They claim it helps a little bit.

Today, I’m going to try the cab sim that is built-in. From the presets listed in the manual, the 4 options seem fairly guitar oriented.

I tried some of the modulated settings, and I was able to get a really nice chorus sound on the bass for doing some Sisters of Mercy type stuff.
Click to expand...

Very cool!

For some reason, I’ll spend money on a bass or a synth or sampler, but $500 for a pedal always scares me for whatever reason. By the end of the year I’ll have a couple nicer pedals though!
 
#964
monsterthompson said:
I’m finding the empress a little harder to work with when using the 4003. I enjoyed it with the fretless, and it seemed OK with the P bass. Time to work on some settings.
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Good to know! I’m supposed to be getting a 4003 in December!
 
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#965
Made my first visit to Perfect Circuit today on our way to the gig in Anaheim. Boy, that’s a dangerous place for the wallet! So many things in there that are on ‘the list.’
Was fairly certain I was going to get a Bastl Thyme going in, but walked out with an Elektron Octatrack MK2 For well over twice the price...dangerous place!
AAED45CD-6E8E-4B5D-8CEA-553FB1142635.jpeg
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#966
dukeorock said:
Made my first visit to Perfect Circuit today on our way to the gig in Anaheim. Boy, that’s a dangerous place for the wallet! So many things in there that are on ‘the list.’
Was fairly certain I was going to get a Bastl Thyme going in, but walked out with an Elektron Octatrack MK2 For well over twice the price...dangerous place!
View attachment 3125406 View attachment 3125407
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How long are you in SoCal?
Where’s your gig?
 
#967
monsterthompson said:
How long are you in SoCal?
Where’s your gig?
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We’re just here for the day. Playing the Doll Hut in Anaheim tonight. So I’ll be at a rockabilly bar reading an Elektron manual tonight :)
Hope I didn’t make a mistake. The learning on these things is a bear
 
#968
dukeorock said:
We’re just here for the day. Playing the Doll Hut in Anaheim tonight. So I’ll be at a rockabilly bar reading an Elektron manual tonight :)
Hope I didn’t make a mistake. The learning on these things is a bear
Click to expand...

11:15 on a school night might be a stretch. I just did a leg-day, too. Let’s see how I feel after diner. I might creep out from Hollywood, but it’s a long shot.

That drive from Burbank to Animalheim is brutal.
 
#969
monsterthompson said:
11:15 on a school night might be a stretch. I just did a leg-day, too. Let’s see how I feel after diner. I might creep out from Hollywood, but it’s a long shot.

That drive from Burbank to Animalheim is brutal.
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It sure can be! Been pretty smooth sailing so far for us, but I totally get it!
 
#972
monsterthompson said:
@dukeorock - So what was the deciding factor in the Octatrak purchase? Did you RTFM yet?
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I was so on the fence about this machine for about a year now, but it has some functionally that makes a lot of sense for what I want to do. It also reportedly has a brutally steep learning curve if you want to use it to its potential. But it does have a lot of things going for it as a live performance tool. It’s different internal ‘machines’ provide a whole lot of flexibility. I won’t really get a chance to sit with it and dig in until I get off the road next week, so I’m just reading the manual and watching tutorials for now :)

Saw a potentiallly cool looper ‘daw’ today. Kinda neat
 
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#973
I spent most of today getting the hang of making seamless, endless audio loops in Ableton. I’ve tried before, but usually ended up with clicks and pops, and the volume didn’t quite work out when the loop would start back around. Now that I’ve got the hang of it, I don’t know why it was such a hard thing for me to figure out. This is going to save me tons of CPU when I create background drones for live performances.
 
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#974
Holy stereo, Batman!

I was messing around with my rig for my show next week. I am changing up the signal path since I acquired an Empress Reverb. I was running
0-Coast (synth) > Phat Phuk B > Pigtronix Echolution > Duncan Studio Bass > Nyx (synth with amazing reverb)

I started with:
0-Coast (synth) > Pigtronix Echolution Empress Reverb > Nyx (for the reverb)
The Empress has a cab sim and some EQ control, so the Duncan and Phat Phuk could be eliminated. Yes, I'm running a verb into a verb. The Empress is an effect-y pad like sound, and the Nyx reverb is a "mix glue" and also makes a big pad-like sound at extreme settings.

Then I decided to to try stereo. The Nyx has a mono out, but the Echolution and Empress can do stereo. So, I skipped routing the 0-Coast/Pig/Empress into the mono Nyx, and just popped the stereo 0-Coast/Pig/Empress into a separate mixer channel. I tried this earlier, but didn't get a result I liked (no idea why). This time, I was using headphones, and I could hear the mix open up like a whole new world. The mono reverb sounded dull and congested, in contrast (not what you want from a $400+ pedal). I was blown away. I also ran the Pig Echo in ping-pong, and it was lovely to hear the bouncing sound.

I was still running the Nyx as a droning pad with its reverb, which is wonderful, in the background. However, hearing the other synth with a stereo presence over it was lush and gorgeous. It was late, so I couldn't fire up the PA, but I will do that later today.

It was such a gorgeous sound, I'm considering flipping the Pigtronix for the Empress Echosystem (15% weekend prices...). I'm going to spend the day listening to demos. I just realized the Empress will let you run two parallel delay engines at once. I'm not sure that can be done or mimicked on the Pigtronix.
 
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#976
Ugh. The Empress "dual engine" functions are really tempting. Running series or parallel opens up options. I might have to get it and sell my Pigtronix.
Other advantages - top jacks, and 9v operations, and smaller.
The Pigtronix has deep on-screen programming, and MIDI in/out is 5pin, so no adapter needed, which is nice, but maybe not enough to offset the Empress advantages.
 
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#977
monsterthompson said:
I spent most of today getting the hang of making seamless, endless audio loops in Ableton. I’ve tried before, but usually ended up with clicks and pops, and the volume didn’t quite work out when the loop would start back around. Now that I’ve got the hang of it, I don’t know why it was such a hard thing for me to figure out. This is going to save me tons of CPU when I create background drones for live performances.
Click to expand...

FYI, or anyone else's I, that might be interested :

If you want to make seemless ambient loops, make a hard cut right in the middle of the sound, then switch the order of the first, and second halves, and crossfade the two together, so that there is a smooth transition.

The hard cuts at the beginning, and end may seem counterintuitive, but as they were previously a continuous piece of audio, when it loops, they will butt up perfectly.

If this still sounds confusing, there are probably videos on YouTube, demonstrating how to make ambient loops for gaming audio.
 
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#980
Wood and Wire said:
FYI, or anyone else's I, that might be interested :

If you want to make seemless ambient loops, make a hard cut right in the middle of the sound, then switch the order of the first, and second halves, and crossfade the two together, so that there is a smooth transition.

The hard cuts at the beginning, and end may seem counterintuitive, but as they were previously a continuous piece of audio, when it loops, they will butt up perfectly.

If this still sounds confusing, there are probably videos on YouTube, demonstrating how to make ambient loops for gaming audio.
Click to expand...

That’s exactly what I did. You don’t need to cut in the middle. You can snip near the end, as long as the tail has a bit of length.

When I tried this before, it didn’t work well. I found there were some issues with how the DAW saves vs exports the stems, depending on certain settings (and DAW).
 
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