Deep Impact, when do YOU use it?

Originally bought mine a while back so the band could cover "Hella Good" (by No Doubt) when that hit big in the States. The Akai comped those bass effects very believably.

Nowadays, another song it gets used for is "Feel Good Time" (by Pink; "Charlies' Angels" movie), as well as lots of old skool funk lines.

Unfortunately, the skimpy "manual" doesn't give you any setting diagrams to show you how to dial up the classic effects it does best (besides those you create);

- BassBalls
- Minimoog
- Mu-Tron

Even for lines that you don't want to sound tripped-out, I've found it useful to create a preset with a modest amount of sub-octave where the notes sort of "smear" or "melt" into each other.

Personally, I wasn't all that crazy about the factory presets. They don't display what the unit is capable of very well. The values all seemed to be set close to the middle and I pushed them more to the extremes.
The "Note On" "Note Off"/envelope controls that universally control all the presets are critical.

It took a lot of trial and error, and a slow learning curve, to configure about 6 of the presets to where they were useful, satisfying, sounds for my ears. Since then, it has paid for itself many times over for me. Used in conjunction with the overdrive on my SansAmp Bass Driver and EBS UniChorus, it can sound pretty wild.

 

Geoof - Sorry, I never aimed for nailing Roger Waters' sounds.

But I think it will give you loads of cheese without much tweaking of the parameters. As "Bass Player" mag noted in its review of the unit, "Bottom Line: Take a Trip Back to the 70's" and all their ratings were "4's" out of "5" except for "Sound" where they gave it a "5".

Personally, I think your imagination is the only limitation. I'd really like to have a good reverb effect with it.

However, I found that simple lines work better with the Akai than complex, notey, lines.....not because it doesn't track well, (hell, it can track a B string all the way down!). But simple lines seem to let the unit really come through by allowing the envelope sufficient time to open and close more fully.

 

i just got mine last night. nice little unit and i was wondering the same, when can i use it.

i just had to get it for the price

 

I also have one on order. Maybe we could start an online database of sorts spelling out the knob settings for various effects.

Tom.

 

I just got mine yesterday and was playing with it today at lunch time through the headphone amp. Mmmm, mmm. I'm going to use it for 2 things:

#1 - where I was using a synth effect from my cheesy Zoom BFX-708 multieffect:
- Hella Good by No Doubt
- Lady Marmalade (we kind of meld the La Belle recent versions)
- anything else we do that I decide I want synth on

#2 - songs that cry out for drop-D or lower (I'm a dedicated 4-stringer and have decided not to use Hipshots any more)
- Song 2 by Blur
- Just Like a Pill by Pink
- Stand By Me by Ben E. King


My problem now is I'm wondering what it would sound like to get a Unibass and combine it with the Deep Impact to get both an octave below (Deep Impact) and an octave above (from the Unibass). Maybe even split the signals if possible and process them differently . . .

 

well if you like jambands, you probably know that mike gordon occasionally throws on a synth (syb-3 i believe ) during certain jams. it actually fits in very well.

 

RickBass, I came across this posting, in which you apparently used a Deep Impact to get the sound for No Doubt's Hella Good. I'm a keyboard player with a Fantom X7; I'm looking to replicate on it the 3-note metallic synth bass-like repetitive drone that runs through most of the song. If this is one of the sounds you made on the Deep Impact, could you tell me what parameters you used or tweaks you made to get your sound? I know the DI is nothing like the X7; nevertheless I was hoping that I could get some kind of leg up on tweaking my rig by comping (in my system) the kind of things you did on your system.

Thanks.

rob

 

hey, where are you guys finding these "at a good price" ?? i want one but am hesitant to drop 4 bills on one, how do they compare to the Korg synth?

 

the original post in the thread was from 2003, when MF were blowing them out for $99 each.

 

I use mine most of the time

 

I use mine on Ozzy's "No More Tears" in the middle when there is a keyboard/synth solo. We don't have a keyboard player so this fills in very well.

 

Whaaaat?!!

Hilarious...

Joe

 

Yeah...I remember when they first came out. They listed for $199.00 and Musicians Friend sold them for $149.99. When Akai discontinued them MF was blowing them out for 99 bucks. I almost bought one but figured at the time they probably were no good since they decided to disconitue them - HA!

 

Just bought one (new) from a guy in Taiwan. He said he shipped it today. It is new in the box with bubble wrap, so I guess I paid a little extra for that.

I paid $400.00 and could have gotten it for WHAT??? How long ago???

 

Nope, non supporting members may NOT list items for sale.