Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[Phe]

This doesn't belong here, per se, but here we go: I took a path less traveled and quit all my bands. Then I went and bought an alto recorder, a cheap Yamaha. I'll buy a bass recorder soon-ish.
Band life didn't give me anything but anxiety. Now I'm learning an annoying sounding new instrument and I'm loving it. Not gonna quit playing bass for good, though.

This belongs here: tomorrow I'll get OG Gonkulator. We'll see how that goes!

 

[JES]

Wow — big news all around! Congrats @ugly on the Lyra. Everyone I know who has one love it. I will be curious to see where you go with it. You’ll be glad that even people who claim to be synth experts don’t claim to understand it.

and @steubig well done on the Make Noise systems. They do a great job with tutorials. And I have to say: you and @monsterthompson both went into modular the right way: a well conceived single manufacturer system. I did it mixing and matching and at first that caused issues.

 

[steubig]

Wow — big news all around! Congrats @ugly on the Lyra. Everyone I know who has one love it. I will be curious to see where you go with it. You’ll be glad that even people who claim to be synth experts don’t claim to understand it.

and @steubig well done on the Make Noise systems. They do a great job with tutorials. And I have to say: you and @monsterthompson both went into modular the right way: a well conceived single manufacturer system. I did it mixing and matching and at first that caused issues.

you made ugly’s day.

i bonded with the make noise stuff and their design aesthetic and logic made sense to me. i’m not into relearning a bunch of different methodologies. makes it easier for me to have consistency. and it’s a bonus that some of the folks there seem to have similar interests (and some that might be interests of mine in the future).

 

[JES]

The other issue is that Eurorack isn’t really a standard. My first two voices in 2014 were an Intellijel Atlantis and a Mutable Instruments Braids. The tuning range for one was 0-10v and the other was -3 to 7v. You can imagine how confusing that was. Add to that modulation inputs wanting 0-5, -5 to +5, or 0-10v. Lost a lot of time.

But manufacturers tend to be consistent — the Make Noise modulation modules work with the modulation inputs on their sound generation modules. That’s what I should have done....

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

25863473[/URL], member: 37282"]Wow — big news all around! Congrats @ugly on the Lyra. Everyone I know who has one love it. I will be curious to see where you go with it. You’ll be glad that even people who claim to be synth experts don’t claim to understand it.

and @steubig well done on the Make Noise systems. They do a great job with tutorials. And I have to say: you and @monsterthompson both went into modular the right way: a well conceived single manufacturer system. I did it mixing and matching and at first that caused issues.

I'll go where it takes me.
That thing has a life of it's own.
Il need to spend A LOT of time on this thing and record everything.

 

[steubig]

But manufacturers tend to be consistent — the Make Noise modulation modules work with the modulation inputs on their sound generation modules. That’s what I should have done....

and their semi-modular also plays nice.

 

[Felix Lopez]

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[dukeorock]

Arrived one day early.
(Mad scientist laugh)View attachment 4476835

Wow, congrats! Look forward to hearing some stuff.

As well as more modular from @steubig!

Starting next Tuesday I’ll be diving into the Dirtywave M8 tracker during long drives. So far, the learning curve makes the Octatrack seem like the easiest thing ever, so if you hear about a bass player diving out of a bus on the interstate, I’ve enjoyed knowing you fellas

 

[steubig]

bus diving? @dukeorock relives his punk days.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Wow, congrats! Look forward to hearing some stuff.

As well as more modular from @steubig!

Starting next Tuesday I’ll be diving into the Dirtywave M8 tracker during long drives. So far, the learning curve makes the Octatrack seem like the easiest thing ever, so if you hear about a bass player diving out of a bus on the interstate, I’ve enjoyed knowing you fellas

Just punch the front seat instead.
No @dukeorock roadkill svp.

Or....send the tracker flying out on the highway.

 

[dukeorock]

Just punch the front seat instead.
No @dukeorock roadkill svp.

Or....send the tracker flying out on the highway.

Wouldn’t surprise me one bit

 

[hieronymous]

The 1/8" adapters arrived for the Bluebox today. I had a meeting end 40 minutes early. So I got to give it a bit of a workout with my modular. All the effects are Bluebox internal. The reverb is surprisingly useful, though it's a bit fiddly on levels. Both delay and reverb have multiple options and parameters.

I did not mean to make something this dark, it just happened. It is a remarkably well-designed little box and you'd think mixing something on the iPad would be better, but the Bluebox is a closed system and seems to be making a lot of sense, at least so far. I'm running beta firmware and there are a couple small glitches but nothing that won't get ironed out.

I really think me being without a proper mixer for a few years was a dumb idea: my Mackie 1402VLZ from the 1990s gave up the ghost some time back and I should have replaced it. OTOH, this wasn't around until recently and is perfect for my needs.

Only ITB processing is a quick run through Ozone. Hopefully doesn't sound like butt.

I think I missed any earlier discussion of the Bluebox - I looked it up and it looks pretty cool! Not necessarily something I need - the Zoom H6 & my trusty ol' antiquated ProTools rig from 10-11 years ago do me fine for now. But you never know! Have you played bass into it too?

Over on Modwiggler someone was asking about recording 8+ tracks of modular synths, seems like the Bluebox might be a good option - I haven't contributed much over there, but went out on a limb and posted about it.

 

[JES]

Have you played bass into it too?

Just to see if it works, which it does. Plenty of low end if that's the concern. It'll get a heavier workout soon.

I think Bluebox is good if you want to work outside the computer, but if a person wanted to work in the computer, I would probably recommend an 8-channel interface as a more solid investment. Bluebox is not a USB interface like some other digital mixers and I don't know if that's on their development roadmap. (Also I no longer buy on promised functionality.)

While I'm here, a question for @ugly_bassplayer : can you talk a bit about your approach to sampling? Specifically, do you record stuff here and there and somehow "prepare" it and then perform it in the sampler, or do you live sample things you're doing and then mangle them in real time?

I am interested in finding a new way to work with samples. For my granular stuff, I'd dump long recordings--5 minutes or more, surf around in the file to find something good, make a snapshot, do it again, etc.

But if I'm working in a hardware setting, that's not going to work for me anymore. I also have designs on some not-granular sampling as part of my practice eventually. I worked up a whole live performance with the Octatrack back in the mid 2010s, but that was about translating recorded music to live, and I was never fully happy with how I did it.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Just to see if it works, which it does. Plenty of low end if that's the concern. It'll get a heavier workout soon.

I think Bluebox is good if you want to work outside the computer, but if a person wanted to work in the computer, I would probably recommend an 8-channel interface as a more solid investment. Bluebox is not a USB interface like some other digital mixers and I don't know if that's on their development roadmap. (Also I no longer buy on promised functionality.)

While I'm here, a question for @ugly_bassplayer : can you talk a bit about your approach to sampling? Specifically, do you record stuff here and there and somehow "prepare" it and then perform it in the sampler, or do you live sample things you're doing and then mangle them in real time?

I am interested in finding a new way to work with samples. For my granular stuff, I'd dump long recordings--5 minutes or more, surf around in the file to find something good, make a snapshot, do it again, etc.

But if I'm working in a hardware setting, that's not going to work for me anymore. I also have designs on some not-granular sampling as part of my practice eventually. I worked up a whole live performance with the Octatrack back in the mid 2010s, but that was about translating recorded music to live, and I was never fully happy with how I did it.

It would be my pleasure to explain my multiple ways of working with samples.
Busy ATM, will take the time later to answer, promised.

Whats your current process\work flow?

Do you have any specific questions?

 

[JES]

I'm interested in the step between finding stuff to sample (no problem) and performing with it to make music (also probably not a problem but I'm interested to hear what you do).

What do you do to edit/prepare a sample? How many do you prepare before you're ready for a performance or recording?

My old approach was: take a long recording, drag into software granulator of choice (DENSITY for the win), mangle, repeat, profit. Add a second track and some other sounds, finished track.

That's not going to work if I'm playing outside the computer. For one thing, most hardware samplers don't like long samples, and if they do, scanning around in them sucks. For another, I want to make more rhythmically interesting music. My old granular stuff is very drone oriented.

My new approach has to get from long recordings to short recordings as my source material. I've got a few different ways to play back samples outside the computer: Octatrack, iOS samplers, Eurorack module (one sample at a time).

My main concern right now is that I'll never finish "preparing" samples and get to the fun part.

This is not an emergency.

 

[hieronymous]

Just to see if it works, which it does. Plenty of low end if that's the concern. It'll get a heavier workout soon.

I think Bluebox is good if you want to work outside the computer, but if a person wanted to work in the computer, I would probably recommend an 8-channel interface as a more solid investment. Bluebox is not a USB interface like some other digital mixers and I don't know if that's on their development roadmap. (Also I no longer buy on promised functionality.)

Interesting. I definitely utilize my Zoom H6 in a couple of ways - I can use it as a multi-track recorder, whose tracks (WAV) I can then import into ProTools, or if set to mp3, it automatically mixes down to 2-tracks - lately I've been taking that and playing it through my blueSky reverb recording into ProTools (as opposed to importing the tracks) - the problem there is there's no adjusting of individual tracks. It can also be an audio interface, and I use it like that to capture audio while I'm filming with my iPhone, but I found that there are what sound like static pops - apparently it's related to a power issue and I'm very disappointed! So I do want to find a better multi-input audio interface for iPhone. I'm getting sick of devices that are USB-powered - works fine when connected to a computer but not necessarily to (older?) hardware synths and unfortunately not to the iPhone.

In the Bluebox, you can adjust/manipulate individual tracks after the fact, correct? And also overdub? It's basically a self-contained multitrack recorder? Can you also take the files and import them into a DAW if needed?

At this point, I would like a multitrack audio interface for my iPhone. But if my old Mac dies, do I invest in a new system of computer/interface/DAW, or might the Bluebox work for me... Fortunately it's hypothetical at this point!

 

[dukeorock]

My eurorack isn’t really set up for playing live bass into it (want to get back to that). I tended to just use no more than 30 second riffs because granular can make a lot out of a little. At the time I split my live bass signal into a Morphagene and a Nebulae2 at that same time, which was more than enough to get something I was happy with. I sold those things because it was getting kinda samey. The Octatrack is what I use now for live bass looping, which also has its pros and cons

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

I'm interested in the step between finding stuff to sample (no problem) and performing with it to make music (also probably not a problem but I'm interested to hear what you do).

What do you do to edit/prepare a sample? How many do you prepare before you're ready for a performance or recording?

My old approach was: take a long recording, drag into software granulator of choice (DENSITY for the win), mangle, repeat, profit. Add a second track and some other sounds, finished track.

That's not going to work if I'm playing outside the computer. For one thing, most hardware samplers don't like long samples, and if they do, scanning around in them sucks. For another, I want to make more rhythmically interesting music. My old granular stuff is very drone oriented.

My new approach has to get from long recordings to short recordings as my source material. I've got a few different ways to play back samples outside the computer: Octatrack, iOS samplers, Eurorack module (one sample at a time).

My main concern right now is that I'll never finish "preparing" samples and get to the fun part.

This is not an emergency.

Btw @dukeorock is a very good sample guy.
He can most definitely give you some very good info.
He's a million miles ahead of me in regards to sequencing drums.
I quit that and end up using breaks most of the time

 

[dukeorock]

Btw @dukeorock is a very good sample guy.
He can most definitely give you some very good info.
He's a million miles ahead of me in regards to sequencing drums.
I quit that and end up using breaks most of the time

That’s very kind of you to say, thanks
I sucked at drum sequencing for many years. Like, many many years! In the mid to late 90’s, I started to really investigate how the jungle/DnB pioneers were taking drum sequencing to seemingly impossible places. I’m not a huge fan of jungle/DnB (could happily spend the rest of my life without hearing the amen break ever again!), but those folks were using some very forward thinking techniques. That opened the door later for the so called IDM/glitch scene, which I much prefer. The two big tools were tracker software and .Rex files. Very important breakthrough tools. The reason I won’t shut up about Elektron stuff is because they were the first (and still the best for now, IMO) at combining xox/linear sequencing with tracker style sequencing in a way that’s actually musical and performative.

*says the guy who mostly plays bonehead country gigs to avoid being homeless

 

[JES]

In the Bluebox, you can adjust/manipulate individual tracks after the fact, correct? And also overdub? It's basically a self-contained multitrack recorder? Can you also take the files and import them into a DAW if needed?

Yes, absolutely. It takes a little planning (do you record pre or post fader, how do you have the FX send set up, etc) but it works. It's not meant primarily as a portastudio but it can sort of work that way.