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Dancehall/DUB effects...

#4
juancard said:
anyone have an idea which pedals out there can simulate that keyboard bass synth bass sound found on 80s dancehall records? I'm talkin' bout when engineers started using these cheap old casio keyboards lay down these pre-programed bass loops that provided the subsonic thump for alot of great dancehall reggae...
Click to expand...

I can't remember ever hearing a Dancehall track that used an actual envelope follower, but maybe i'm wrong. One of the only ways to get close using a bass is to use some type of pitch-to-voltage convertor (most commonly found on a Korg MS-20, but also made as a module by Analogue Systems) to trigger an oscillator. You'll most likely need an envelope *generator* to shape the wave (attack/decay, etc) a bit, as well as a decent low pass filter, not necessarily in that order! Also, p-to-v convertors need to see a really strong (and monophonic) signal, so that they don't track incorrectly. Ain't no pedal i've seen that can do all of this, but i'll certainly buy one when there is!!

Some other more dub-related ideas here, which mostly revolve around eq'ing and the occasional mention of the DBX Subharmonic Synthesizer.. http://www.interruptor.ch/dub_bass.shtml
 
#5
endlessbassic said:
I can't remember ever hearing a Dancehall track that used an actual envelope follower, but maybe i'm wrong...
Click to expand...
The idea is that you set the thing to NOT follow - or hardly, anyway. Part of the way a follower usually works is that it incorporates a sharp-cutoff lowpass filter with 'resonance'. This means that if you keep the cutoff freq set (or 'hovering') LOW, you're left with pretty-much the fundamental sinewave of the notes you're playing.

This simulates the sound pretty well.

Joe
 
#6
I found a great dub site yesterday while looking for VST plugins. I downloaded the Dub Siren and an analog delay simulator--very trippy stuff. Here's a link to their bass suggestions page: http://www.interruptor.ch/dub_bass.shtml

Like others have said an envelope filter with the sensitivity set low is a great way to lose the highs (even on bright, roundwound-equipped basses) and pump the lows. I like the Maxon/Ibanez AF-9. Like Bongomania (and Bill Laswell on the dub site) said, the DOD FX-25 works wonders for this purpose. Laswell knows a thing or two about enormous bass sounds.
 
#8
Joe P said:
The idea is that you set the thing to NOT follow - or hardly, anyway. Part of the way a follower usually works is that it incorporates a sharp-cutoff lowpass filter with 'resonance'. This means that if you keep the cutoff freq set (or 'hovering') LOW, you're left with pretty-much the fundamental sinewave of the notes you're playing.

This simulates the sound pretty well.

Joe
Click to expand...
+1. It's not really what the pedal is designed to do-- it's crap, IMO, as a regular envelope-- but people discovered you could use it as sort of an uber-lowpass filter, it filters out most of the upper spectru, but gives you a metric ****-tonne of low end.
 
#10
Nothing beats the boss oc2 at this for me.
turn down the direct volume completely.
boost the octave down volume.
Play up above the 12th fret- anything is just little too low. track very well- it gives you a perfect dub/synth tone.
for a straight out fat sound like an un opened envelope the dod25 and the bass iq track better than the digitechbsw-
 

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