Basses with USB/Firewire Ouput

Wild! That's technology for you, I suppose. If you can have a USB coffee mug, why not a USB bass?

Kinda neat in theory, but practically speaking, you can get a USB/Firewire A/D converter for about $300. Then you can plug anything in.

 

Don't some of the Brian Moore guitars and basses do that?

 

Maybe these would help if there were.


They've got your sushi USB drive..


They've got your ducky USB drive..


They've got your bass thumb USB drive..

 

This reminds me of an interview with Kim Deal a while back where she was explaining why she was insistant on recording the latest Breeders album on analog equipment instead of hopping on the protools bandwagon. She was explaining why she doesn't much care for digital recording and sarcastically said "try plugging your bass guitar into your calculator- it's not going to work!"

However, I fear that her words may have been more foreshadowing than she intended for them to be...

 

the line6 variax has a DI and digital output..among other things

variax

 

Hey, remembered this thread from a little while back, and ran across a product announcement today.
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000130071583/

Their USB guitar is out, they hope to have a bass out soon.
I'm sure it'd be trivial to rip out the guts of this thing and put it in a bass that doesn't suck.

Now I'm all curious about what the interface actually is. Is it basically just treated as an audio line-in on the computer, or is it some proprietary thing that only their software will recognize? Definitely an interesting development for small-scale home recording, no more need for audio break-out boxes. Just get a cheap USB hub, plug everyone into it, and jam your hearts out.

 

didn't gibson make some kind of digital output like that for one of their les paul guitars?

 

Yes, they made a Digital LP, with USB and all that stuff.

I don´t care much about "digital" basses, I think only strings, wood and fingers can sound like strings, wood and fingers.

Although, digital recording is a godsend.

 

if battery life weren't such an issue, i always thought a wi-fi bass would be very cool. you could just turn-on and play, and your wi-fi receiver amp would pick up the signal within its broadcast radius.

if bluetooth were hi-fi, i'd support that, too.

i guess it's not that big of a deal to charge your bass. i do it regularly for my cell phone, and i use it quite a lot.

whenever i'm not playing, it's charging. not a big deal, and it sort of removes the fear that the battery will die on a gig.

robb.

 

I don't the original poster was talking about a synth bass. He's thinking in terms of taking the analog audio signal your bass is already putting out, and converting to a digital audio signal, but all onboard.

 

Personally I'm more toward a bass with DI.

How would a bass sound if it has pickup directly link to a built-in Sansamp BDDI?

(changing batteries may be a pain though)

 

coolest woman in rock....ever!

 

Or just buy a mixer for about $30, and a stereo to phono cable ($2), and a decent PC sound card ($20)



Sounds like USB on a bass would be a tad pointless to be honest

 

I thought about that the other week actually, an onboard BDDI would be cool!

However, i plan on just getting a wireless unit and duct taping my BDDI onto a bass

 

it's not that i think you're wrong, but there's more than one approach. or the coarse response is: sounds like buying a bunch of cheaped-out components that take up a lot more space would be pointless. also, your approach assumes desktop (and not notebook) computers.

i mean, there's almost always a cheaper way to do it, but that way usually takes up a lot more effort and a lot more space. an instrument (or DI) with pretty decent ADCs that can USB directly into a computer is a very good idea for those who work "inside the box" and don't need a bunch of mucky-muck in the way. and it's pretty essential if you're using a notebook for your audio work.

robb.

 

+1

I have to agree. I've used sound card good ones for gaming, hi-fi, and home theater. That cost over $200 new on release date. Now that run around $100 retail / $60 online. That I would never ever record with.

If you want to record look for a few things:

1. Product Support.

I.e. creative doesn't have it. When a new version of W!ndb1ow$ comes out. You will have to buy a new card or after market software to stay current. All they will give you are generic drivers for the new O/s. So if you have an upgraded / rated card. You are screwed.


2. Pro Tools

Make sure that it is Pro Tools compitable. I mean like 95%+ of sound studios are good to go on it then. You'll want something that can support atleast 16 tracks also.


3. External

Get one that is firewire. So it's good anywhere you go. You'll want firewire the extra bandwidth will be need for anything more than one instrument or vocal tracks. Usually a firewire device is uprated with. Faster processing and / or more memory. Than a Usb2. generically speaking. More power to handle more bandwidth.


4. Inputs

Figure if it has 5. It can adaquity handle 4. 10 - 8, etc. 80% generically applies to all things in life. Atleast the way I've pushed them. If you max it out one way or another it's maxed out. and the sound quality will rapidly degrade.


5. A good computer.

Not some Dell pos. A power house that well exceeds not only the minmum of standards of the card. But the recommended. You have to figure the good cards come with Pro Tools L.e. (Light Edition) Well down gradeed. It's bare bones, still allot anyone can do with it. And great to learn on. But later on you will want better software. That needs more power, ram, etc.

 

It may be more stuff, but how does cheaper = bad? you are instantly assuming because the USB on a bass is expensive its good?

IMO its just one more thing that can break in a bass

Vapochilled, i agree with what your saying, bar the bit on soundcards, the one i got for £25 is great, beats the hell out of onboard sound and i dont think there will be much of a difference in the move up between soundcards, altho, yeah, the depreciation sucks, my 9800Pro cost a tad more 18months ago than it does now

And protools isnt the only way to go, i tried it, didnt like it much, use NTrack right now, good solid program that does the job!