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Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

#16,541
gumtown said:
I have the Boss SY-1000, and that does some really insane stuff, my gigging rig is actually 5 string Bass fitted with Roland GK pickup > GK splitter > Roland GR-55 synth (with Tech21 VtBass in a modded loop) + Boss SY-1000. The GR-55, SY-1000, and also a Boss VE-500 vocal fx are midi inter-connected.

All works pretty well together, just got a Korg Wavestate keyboard synth, and now figuring if I should (or not) incorporate that into the rig.
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Where could we hear this set up?
 
#16,542
steubig said:
dunno.

i look at these things through the lens of orchestral and extended tech.

baroque through clasical it’s mostly pretty standard arco, maybe a bit of pizz. romantic you start getting more pizz, sul ponticello. late romantic /early modern you add col legno, snap pitz, etc. contemporary it can be pretty much anything to make the sound with a string instrument.

much the same for winds and brass.

maybe it’s “making it no longer sound like you *expect* a bass to sound.”

which i find pretty exciting.
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#16,543
ugly_bassplayer said:
Where could we hear this set up?
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I don't have much to offer at the moment, it's always an issue finding time to do a band recording,
all I have recent is this song we did live at a gig, doing encores late in the night and we had only practiced this song once,
and played it live the next night for reasons beyond me.

Nothing much special in it, bass does some wurlitzer type organ sounds during the choruses, and a weird synthy drone from the second verse.
I must take some time to record newer stuff, but here goes.

I will try and record better stuff over the next few weeks.
 
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#16,550
steubig said:
for me it’s always been about “fender spacing” or thereabouts (old guy!). when i first met fodera, that was one of my first questions about their 6-string.
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I pieced together my 6 string measurements by trying lots of basses coming up. I found the nut width of a Modulus 6 string felt right immediately (2"), and then I had an old Ibanez 6 string for a while (the older ones are sooooo good)....that had a wider nut, but it had the 16.5mm spacing at the bridge. When I had a custom bass made with those measurements everything felt right, and I've stuck with that ever since. Definitely a piecemeal situation.
 
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#16,553
Unfortunately for me, the new UDO release is a desktop module.

9ED21E7C-7729-4634-9F7A-C3E6AC93F9C0.jpeg


JES said:
As far as I tell, it’s mostly about more options for keyboardists. Correct me if I’m wrong.

I’m mulling over which desktop unit to get if I want a desktop poly module. And waiting to see if the new UDO release is a module rather than a keyboard.
Click to expand...
 
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#16,557
Okay, report on the bass mountaintop experiment, vol. 1...

So, with fall getting here, I got some work done early on Tuesday, and went and got a lean-to at one of the nearby state parks. I live about a mile from the 2nd largest state forest in VT - I'm really lucky. Got to the shelter, set up a few things, then drove a few miles up the road to climb Big Deer mountain, a pretty small mountain (about 1600 ft, which is small for VT standards, even). But it was a 2.8 mile slog up there, over some bumpy terrain. I brought a small backpack, the Miezo in its gig bag, the Zoia, a battery pack, some good headphones and also a headphone amp.

Since I've been mostly biking and kayaking, I hadn't done much hiking lately. It felt like it. I got up there in about an hour, and had it to myself. The plan was to play into the Zoia, then do some multitracking onto the iPhone with iRig Duo Pro.

It didn't quite work out that way. First off, had the wrong cable to power the Zoia. So that was out. Then, turns out that I forgot to replace the batteries in the iRig before I left, so that died pretty quick. I ended up just jamming out with the Nux headphone amp, through the phone and played along with the moodscaper app, which did some great ambient stuff. Had just a few effects built in to the Nux - verb and my jazz solo tone which is a slightly od and chorus tone, kinda like Scofield or Abercrombie. Still had a blast. Got back to the campsite and prob jammed out for a few more hours by the fire.

So, obviously, I know what I need to put on a checklist. I think I also need to find a way to put the Miezo in a backpack. It bounced around too much when it was on the shoulder strap, and my back was also killing me from doing that. I hadn't hiked this trail in well over 5 or 6 years, and I'd forgotten how rugged parts of it were, so I probably would pick something with a more direct trail, next time.

But here's the rub... remember I mentioned hurting my wrist mountain biking last month? Got it xrayed last week, got the phone call yesterday. I have a FRACTURED WRIST. I thought it was a sprain. I think I've made it worse, as I've had hours of campground jams this month, and have been doing a weekly jazz jam, too. So I guess it's back to keyboards for me for a while. I'm gonna see how well I can play bass with a splint on. Regular 6 string is definitely out of the picture, and the Miezo is, too because ergonomically, that requires even more wrist movement than the regular 6. The five's pushing it. I do have a MIM J bass 4 string, but ugh... might have to play that for a while (it's not a very good one and I haven't really played a 4 in about 20 years). I gotta heal up for a gig in November, as well as for x-c skiing.

Going camping this weekend, looks like it's gonna be the iPad and a Keystep.
image_44.jpg

image_45.jpg
 
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#16,558
lordradish said:
Okay, report on the bass mountaintop experiment, vol. 1...

So, with fall getting here, I got some work done early on Tuesday, and went and got a lean-to at one of the nearby state parks. I live about a mile from the 2nd largest state forest in VT - I'm really lucky. Got to the shelter, set up a few things, then drove a few miles up the road to climb Big Deer mountain, a pretty small mountain (about 1600 ft, which is small for VT standards, even). But it was a 2.8 mile slog up there, over some bumpy terrain. I brought a small backpack, the Miezo in its gig bag, the Zoia, a battery pack, some good headphones and also a headphone amp.

Since I've been mostly biking and kayaking, I hadn't done much hiking lately. It felt like it. I got up there in about an hour, and had it to myself. The plan was to play into the Zoia, then do some multitracking onto the iPhone with iRig Duo Pro.

It didn't quite work out that way. First off, had the wrong cable to power the Zoia. So that was out. Then, turns out that I forgot to replace the batteries in the iRig before I left, so that died pretty quick. I ended up just jamming out with the Nux headphone amp, through the phone and played along with the moodscaper app, which did some great ambient stuff. Had just a few effects built in to the Nux - verb and my jazz solo tone which is a slightly od and chorus tone, kinda like Scofield or Abercrombie. Still had a blast. Got back to the campsite and prob jammed out for a few more hours by the fire.

So, obviously, I know what I need to put on a checklist. I think I also need to find a way to put the Miezo in a backpack. It bounced around too much when it was on the shoulder strap, and my back was also killing me from doing that. I hadn't hiked this trail in well over 5 or 6 years, and I'd forgotten how rugged parts of it were, so I probably would pick something with a more direct trail, next time.

But here's the rub... remember I mentioned hurting my wrist mountain biking last month? Got it xrayed last week, got the phone call yesterday. I have a FRACTURED WRIST. I thought it was a sprain. I think I've made it worse, as I've had hours of campground jams this month, and have been doing a weekly jazz jam, too. So I guess it's back to keyboards for me for a while. I'm gonna see how well I can play bass with a splint on. Regular 6 string is definitely out of the picture, and the Miezo is, too because ergonomically, that requires even more wrist movement than the regular 6. The five's pushing it. I do have a MIM J bass 4 string, but ugh... might have to play that for a while (it's not a very good one and I haven't really played a 4 in about 20 years). I gotta heal up for a gig in November, as well as for x-c skiing.

Going camping this weekend, looks like it's gonna be the iPad and a Keystep.
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View attachment 4407276
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Wow, thanks for the report and the pics - and major bummer about the wrist! Maybe playing the MIM Jazz could be an interesting constraint/challenge?
 
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#16,559
hieronymous said:
Wow, thanks for the report and the pics - and major bummer about the wrist! Maybe playing the MIM Jazz could be an interesting constraint/challenge?
Click to expand...
Yeah, I'm thinking about it. If it weren't for the great jazz jam I've been participating in, I'd just take some time off, but I don't want them calling up another guy. These are great players (one with a sweet B3), and opportunities like this (no stress jazz jam with great cats) doesn't come up too often. I might play around with the 4 string, I just wish it were a decent one.
 
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#16,560
lordradish said:
Yeah, I'm thinking about it. If it weren't for the great jazz jam I've been participating in, I'd just take some time off, but I don't want them calling up another guy. These are great players (one with a sweet B3), and opportunities like this (no stress jazz jam with great cats) doesn't come up too often. I might play around with the 4 string, I just wish it were a decent one.
Click to expand...

sounds like the left wrist?

if you get bored with keys or programing, you could always just work on right hand tech (finger picking, tapping, string crossing, etc.).
 
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