Notice you are using a Cosmos...is that the "center piece" of your sound design? How do you like it?Take your pick:
Note that the pedalboard in the first photo is configured such that the octave box (Electro-Harmonic POG2) can be switched between being before, or after, or in between (!) the various looping delays, allowing for some wonderfully dynamic, evolving ambient sounds, especially if I use the different octave voice sliders like a mixing console in realtime.
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Anyone using ambient effects pedals on bass?
- Thread starter joshua127
- Start date
I love the Cosmos…but it is absolutely *not* the centerpiece. I find that it has to be used selectively and judiciously, otherwise it can take over and dominate the soundscape.
Also, you have to “play” the Cosmos proactively; if you just turn it on and let it do its thing, the results can often have an undifferentiated sameness. Best to use it in small doses, and force it to do more jagged/serrated textures rather than the default meditative swamp fog.
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If there *is* a centerpiece to my ambient sound design, it’s probably the two nested flip-flop switchers (silver LoopMaster boxes with just a single foot switch and LED on the left side of the big board), because those allow me to move audio back and forth between various looping delays, and/or move the polyphonic octaver and Flashback delay in front of or after those looping delays.
I strongly disliked the Cosmos. It was one of my fastest returns ever. I didn’t find it intuitive to play and it definitely dominated when given too much room to run. I’m sure it’s a good tool to have for players with the right mindset, but it was not a fit for me and it was too big and expensive to keep around.
TY so much for this.....I would imagine that it would be best to use a series of individual dedicated pedals that do one thing and do it well (i.e. Strymon or Meris dedicated reverb, delay, etc) rather than use a pedal that morphs so many parameters and textures together. I would assume this would give you more control of the sound design. As you mentioned, you have to really be selective and I guess the word is "tweak" the Cosmos so that it doesn't take over and "over process" your sound input...I appreciate your reply!
Well, I don't think the ...um...liability(?) of the Cosmos is that it "morphs so many parameters and textures together" per se; to my mind it really is a pedal that, if you just turn it on and let it Do Its Thing, does one thing and does it well. It's just that that one thing tends to quickly become an undifferentiated morass regardless of what the seed material is.
To avoid that Sameness you have to engage with the pedal; that's what I meant about "playing" it...or, to use your term, you have to "tweak" it ...but you have to do that constantly, so that you're regularly interrupting its default processing, and sending the audio off in different directions before its had a chance to become so uniformly "ambient-ized" as to become the aforementioned undifferentiated morass.
All of that is a preface to my thinking that the Cosmos really lends itself to being a tabletop processor, not a foot-controlled stompbox. I've gotten semi-comfortable doing the tapdance + bend over dance required to continually engage with it, but I think I'd get even more use -- and more unique sounds -- out of it if it were within an arm's reach rather than on the floor.
[btw, all of my comments/observations pertain to the original "Drifting Memory Station" firmware. I've never tried the Metric Looping firmware.]
I use a couple...for bass, keys, guitar, vocals (and even my electronic drum set) in my studio. I prefer multi-effects rather than single purpose ones. Though they both have pedals they strictly operate in desktop mode.
Digitech Vocal 300 and a Zoom B1X FOUR.
Digitech Vocal 300 and a Zoom B1X FOUR.
I posted my small pedal board over on that thread. I don't never play ambient sounds on gigs, but it's fun to mess around.
What I have now is LA Lady for dirt, XS-1 for octave, Swello for faux-arco, TC impulse for resonances, and MS-70CDR+ for everything. Ideally, the Tasty Chips Integral (long-form dual convolution) would have been a part of that board, but it is too unreliable (takes multiple tries to boot up) to put on the board.
What I have now is LA Lady for dirt, XS-1 for octave, Swello for faux-arco, TC impulse for resonances, and MS-70CDR+ for everything. Ideally, the Tasty Chips Integral (long-form dual convolution) would have been a part of that board, but it is too unreliable (takes multiple tries to boot up) to put on the board.
Walrus Fable & Lore go into Dr Scientist Atmosphere. I use them here and there playing live with a metal band. Playing at home I use them quite a lot. I'm thinking of making a video showing their use on bass as I haven't seen many go into detail..Ryan
Interesting selection of pedals, would love to hear them with your bass. That's my biggest concern, using "ambient" effect pedals with a four string bass; I would imagine they are designed to be used with electric guitar. Wondering if they would be effective with the lower pitches of a bass. Thanks for sharing!
