EHX Mono Synth: completely useless? Please tell me otherwise...

[sloppy_phil]

What changes to your playing did you make?

There are no guarantees, but in general there are a few tips/tricks for getting the best out of tracking-type pedals:

- If it's a two-pickup bass, either solo or favour the neck pickup

- Roll the tone knob down (perhaps even all the way), or on an active preamp, reduce the treble band

- Play with your fingers, not a pick, as close to the fretboard as feels comfortable

- If it's an octave pedal, or something that does sub-octave tones, generally speaking you want to play higher up the neck. Most notes below a B or even C tend to get pretty muddy. And likewise, for whatever reason, most octave pedals don't like notes below the 7th fret on the G-string of any bass I've tried, if you want to hold/sustain a note. Perhaps that's just me, but it seems to be a consistent trend I've encountered over many years.

- Make sure you don't have multiple notes/strings overlap with each other; come to a complete stop between each note, even if it's just for a split second. This is a big one! Multiple notes will "confuse" the pedal, since it won't know which note to track. Make sure to mute the other strings to make sure you are only cleanly playing one single note at a time.

- You don't have to baby it completely, but mellower attack generally helps the pedal latch on well to each note as it happens. And play as evenly in terms of strength as you possibly can to get consistent attack.


On that last point, some people also like putting compression before these pedals to help get even attack. But I've never personally found that necessary, even with "notoriously glitchy" pedals like the OC-2.

If these are things you knew already, then apologies for regurgitating a bunch of information that wasn't needed! But hopefully some of that is a little helpful

 

[Ritter667]

There are no guarantees, but in general there are a few tips/tricks for getting the best out of tracking-type pedals:

- If it's a two-pickup bass, either solo or favour the neck pickup

- Roll the tone knob down (perhaps even all the way), or on an active preamp, reduce the treble band

- Play with your fingers, not a pick, as close to the fretboard as feels comfortable

- If it's an octave pedal, or something that does sub-octave tones, generally speaking you want to play higher up the neck. Most notes below a B or even C tend to get pretty muddy. And likewise, for whatever reason, most octave pedals don't like notes below the 7th fret on the G-string of any bass I've tried, if you want to hold/sustain a note. Perhaps that's just me, but it seems to be a consistent trend I've encountered over many years.

- Make sure you don't have multiple notes/strings overlap with each other; come to a complete stop between each note, even if it's just for a split second. This is a big one! Multiple notes will "confuse" the pedal, since it won't know which note to track. Make sure to mute the other strings to make sure you are only cleanly playing one single note at a time.

- You don't have to baby it completely, but mellower attack generally helps the pedal latch on well to each note as it happens. And play as evenly in terms of strength as you possibly can to get consistent attack.


On that last point, some people also like putting compression before these pedals to help get even attack. But I've never personally found that necessary, even with "notoriously glitchy" pedals like the OC-2.

If these are things you knew already, then apologies for regurgitating a bunch of information that wasn't needed! But hopefully some of that is a little helpful

This is true...

Also in terms of synth pedals in general, regardless if they are monophonic, polyphonic, offers great tracking or not, you really need to play to the sound/effect.

As an example pad type effects, like a strings pad for instance or whatever, won't sound good if you play a flurry of notes right after each other in fast succession, you need to give the synth pad effect time to actually happen and unfold.

Other synth sounds/effects might work best with staccato type playing, and so on, depending.

This is mostly a matter of feel, and happens instinctively to me as soon as I hear the sound coming out I adapt to the sound, and adjust what and how I play to that, but might not be as obvious to everyone.

You need to remember that you are actually in terms of sound and musical feel practically playing a synth, not a bass anymore, as soon as you transform your signal into a synth type sound/effect.

So the individual sounds/effects got a natural, inherent, limitation for what they respectively can be used for musically, but on the other hand also opens up new possibilities.

 

[Billyears IV]

This is true...

Also in terms of synth pedals in general, regardless if they are monophonic, polyphonic, offers great tracking or not, you really need to play to the sound/effect.

As an example pad type effects, like a strings pad for instance or whatever, won't sound good if you play a flurry of notes right after each other in fast succession, you need to give the synth pad effect time to actually happen and unfold.

Other synth sounds/effects might work best with staccato type playing, and so on, depending.

This is mostly a matter of feel, and happens instinctively to me as soon as I hear the sound coming out I adapt to the sound, and adjust what and how I play to that, but might not be as obvious to everyone.

You need to remember that you are actually in terms of sound and musical feel practically playing a synth, not a bass anymore, as soon as you transform your signal into a synth type sound/effect.

So the individual sounds/effects got a natural, inherent, limitation for what they respectively can be used for musically, but on the other hand also opens up new possibilities.

Good points and worth adhering to.

I would add though, that (for me) part of the extra dimension of using bass guitar + synth pedal vs synth keys, is the actual character of the guitar. The added envelope of the string Pluck gives additional expression. The ability to be extra dextrous with strings - to bend, slide, hammer etc is a plus.

Yes, play cleanly and to the style of the particular synth mode, but.... Messing with string Pluck can be extra interesting. Light playing might not generate the full envelop of the synth - only a partial (or none at all) bit of the sound, mixed with clean bass. Some synth sounds may glitch more than others, some of that glitch maybe more usable/musical than others.

It's all in the fingers! Some playing technique adjustments required but some 'mistakes' can be really interesting.

This only applies to my own dabbling with C4..... Ymmv!

 

[charlie ford]

There are no guarantees, but in general there are a few tips/tricks for getting the best out of tracking-type pedals:

- If it's a two-pickup bass, either solo or favour the neck pickup

- Roll the tone knob down (perhaps even all the way), or on an active preamp, reduce the treble band

- Play with your fingers, not a pick, as close to the fretboard as feels comfortable

- If it's an octave pedal, or something that does sub-octave tones, generally speaking you want to play higher up the neck. Most notes below a B or even C tend to get pretty muddy. And likewise, for whatever reason, most octave pedals don't like notes below the 7th fret on the G-string of any bass I've tried, if you want to hold/sustain a note. Perhaps that's just me, but it seems to be a consistent trend I've encountered over many years.

- Make sure you don't have multiple notes/strings overlap with each other; come to a complete stop between each note, even if it's just for a split second. This is a big one! Multiple notes will "confuse" the pedal, since it won't know which note to track. Make sure to mute the other strings to make sure you are only cleanly playing one single note at a time.

- You don't have to baby it completely, but mellower attack generally helps the pedal latch on well to each note as it happens. And play as evenly in terms of strength as you possibly can to get consistent attack.


On that last point, some people also like putting compression before these pedals to help get even attack. But I've never personally found that necessary, even with "notoriously glitchy" pedals like the OC-2.

If these are things you knew already, then apologies for regurgitating a bunch of information that wasn't needed! But hopefully some of that is a little helpful

I definitely noticed that muting between each string was helpful, even for the tiniest split second.

Thank you though! Those are some good tips!

Good points and worth adhering to.

I would add though, that (for me) part of the extra dimension of using bass guitar + synth pedal vs synth keys, is the actual character of the guitar. The added envelope of the string Pluck gives additional expression. The ability to be extra dextrous with strings - to bend, slide, hammer etc is a plus.

Yes, play cleanly and to the style of the particular synth mode, but.... Messing with string Pluck can be extra interesting. Light playing might not generate the full envelop of the synth - only a partial (or none at all) bit of the sound, mixed with clean bass. Some synth sounds may glitch more than others, some of that glitch maybe more usable/musical than others.

It's all in the fingers! Some playing technique adjustments required but some 'mistakes' can be really interesting.

This only applies to my own dabbling with C4..... Ymmv!

Absolutely with the attack/pluck of the string, I'm generally a light touch player so I found I have to dig in a lot more with that.

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I'm definitely still liking my syb3 more, so I'll probably get the SYB5 for synth stuff but I won't sell this pedal yet, or at least in a hurry. Maybe there's something to be found in it.