getting that prrrrt tone

[lyralain]

please leave your brown note jokes at the door, but I am after getting a 'farty' tone

I really, really love this kind of timbre, especially on the low notes-

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Currently bassless & unable to try things as I'm still waiting on a replacement bass to arrive Saturday, but here's my guess on how to approach things-
1. Muted source (flatwounds, right pickup choice, tone roll-off)
2. distortion / saturation to add in those lower harmonics (pedal, amp, fx etc.)
3. mute tone on distortion / add a lowpass filter to remove the abrasive upper frequencies the distortion added

Is that the way? Would a little bit of an octave/sub-octave effect aid it? What particular distortions would you choose?

 

[odarellmc]

please leave your brown note jokes at the door, but I am after getting a 'farty' tone

I really, really love this kind of timbre, especially on the low notes-

(0:33)

(0:30)

(1:52)


Currently bassless & unable to try things as I'm still waiting on a replacement bass to arrive Saturday, but here's my guess on how to approach things-
1. Muted source (flatwounds, right pickup choice, tone roll-off)
2. distortion / saturation to add in those lower harmonics (pedal, amp, fx etc.)
3. mute tone on distortion / add a lowpass filter to remove the abrasive upper frequencies the distortion added

Is that the way? Would a little bit of an octave/sub-octave effect aid it? What particular distortions would you choose?

This is dance music most likely using a synth, that would be easier to try. With a bass your guess is as good as mine...

 

[el murdoque]

The first thing I would toy around with would be an envelope filter with as many knobs as possible.

 

[DosiYanarchy]

Definitely sounds like a synth in all those tracks (great tone too). Although I've not tried it, i think a good place to start might be the Boss Sy-1. It's on the more budget friendly side of synth pedals but has quite a few options that hopefully can get you where you need to be.

Alternatively, the Source Audio C4 has been highly recommended around here, as has the Panda Midi Future Impact. I believe both the C4 and the FI allow you to do alot of editing via an app or computer software so you can tailor your sounds further.

 

[Beej]

Synth pedal maybe, but those are not keyboard tracks, they are all bass tracks. OP it's worth recognizing these are studio tones and i doubt you'd get the feel and tone in a live setting that would mirror these, but rolling off the treble, a little bump in the gain, playing closer to the bridge and getting really clean in your fingers will help. I've got a few synth pedals and don't know how much that would help out, but you could certainly play with filters to get that slightly burpier tone.

For what it's worth, I love these tones and there's nothing farty about them.

 

[Killing Floor]

There's a lot of compression too.

 

[lyralain]

This is dance music most likely using a synth,

Definitely sounds like a synth in all those tracks

Synth pedal maybe, but those are not keyboard tracks, they are all bass tracks.

So, I'm of the opinion that these did have an electric bass in their origin at some point in time. Being french-house though, it was probably resampled later or from a sequenced virtual instrument, pitched up/down, sped-up, compressed even more than the original signal was, layered with a synth tone, etc. which makes it sound more synthetic. Still believe it's possible to get something similar right out of a bass though.

As far as pure synthesis goes, I've got similar tones from very simple additive FM synthesizers- layering the first few harmonics over the main note, modulating it by an oscillator an octave down, running it through some gentle distortion. Which makes me think if I had a particularly sinusoidal bassline for input (flatwound/tone down), I could FM the bass by a pitch-tracked synth for a similar warble/groan, then put it through the gentle saturation & lpf as mentioned before.

OP it's worth recognizing these are studio tones and i doubt you'd get the feel and tone in a live setting that would mirror these

I'm seeking this kinda sound for studio productions actually, I don't perform live at present.

 

[RJ]

A ton of compression, some overdrive, and a filter could get you close. You won't get exactly there because, as other have said, the original tracks are a synth but you might get close and have some fun in the process.

Also, FWIW, Daft Punk used the Digitech Bass Synth Wah a lot. That would be a great place to start.

 

[JimmyM]

A ton of compression, some overdrive, and a filter could get you close. You won't get exactly there because, as other have said, the original tracks are a synth but you might get close and have some fun in the process.

Also, FWIW, Daft Punk used the Digitech Bass Synth Wah a lot. That would be a great place to start.

I have one and I agree, although it isn't the only thing you can use.

 

[6-3-2]

Subscribed, because I LOVE this bass tone. The group Justice also has a similarly punchy bass tone, and the grooves are also fantastic.

 

[BarfanyShart]

There's this effect model on my Fender Studio/Stage amps called "Sustain" which tries emulates a specific old compressor pedal (MXR M-183?) that used a super short attack and huge crush of compression. It makes this kind of sound, with a touch of envelope filter and distortion. I use that sound to emulate the bass sound I hear on a lot of hip hop tracks.

 

[perfektspace6]

Regarding your checklist, perhaps consider play style as well. Seems like this tone would lean heavily to the bridge p/u and you would want to play finger style over or slightly behind the bridge p/u and really dig in to get that staccato-fart distortion. Might need to boost lows in that playing position to keep things fat and super-clean at the same time. I think where and how you play is going to be just as important as getting the effects and EQ right. Also, sounds like a noise gate is clipping the notes off exactly where they want to in order to get the short attack/declination.

The tone on those tracks sounds like something Jeff Berlin would conjure if he was playing through some mix of compression/overdrive/and magic sauce. There is so much post-production going on (guessing) in those tracks that this will be a challenge to achieve but I think it's doable to get close. Curious to see what you come up with. It's a cool tone.

 

[220_Hz]

Subscribed, because I LOVE this bass tone. The group Justice also has a similarly punchy bass tone, and the grooves are also fantastic.

I get close to the justice tone with a dirty boost into an SVT-style preamp, but the gain has to be pretty much dimed on both

 

[sunbeast]

The Daft Punk track is the only one that really sounds like it was played by a bass to me (or bass layered with a synth), but it could just be that the other two are so compressed/gated/filtered that they lose the string sound. I think some flatwounds, fairly heavy compression, and a sub-octave pedal into some EQ would go a long way towards copping these kinds of tones. I've actually been playing around with an Ovnilab Smoothie comp (with the EQ filter rolling off some highs on the compressed signal) into a Boss OC-2 into a DOD Meatbox (using the OC-2 for the dirty analog sub-octave mixed with some clean tone and the Meatbox to just add some deep sub frequencies) and can get some tones in this general wheelhouse with the right bass into the right preamp or interface. The Daft Punk song has some audible filtering that comes in too, and a low-pass filter could help with all of these (though with the right bass and sub-octave I think the basic tone may not need a filter per-se). I think there is some side-chain compression happening on parts of all of the songs as well that have the bass pulsing with the beat.

 

[sonojono]

Get a Bass Station II and you're in business

 

[6-3-2]

I get close to the justice tone with a dirty boost into an SVT-style preamp, but the gain has to be pretty much dimed on both

Oh, I'm gonna try that. I got close with an Aguilar fuzz (blend at like 25%, fuzz at like 70%, tone maxed) and a touch of chorus. Maybe the SansAmp I have could give me that crunch/growl that I wasn't quite getting with just fuzz as my only dirt.

 

[Reedt2000]

Synth pedal maybe, but those are not keyboard tracks, they are all bass tracks. OP it's worth recognizing these are studio tones and i doubt you'd get the feel and tone in a live setting that would mirror these, but rolling off the treble, a little bump in the gain, playing closer to the bridge and getting really clean in your fingers will help. I've got a few synth pedals and don't know how much that would help out, but you could certainly play with filters to get that slightly burpier tone.

For what it's worth, I love these tones and there's nothing farty about them.

Agreed

Not a "farty" tone at all, just punchy. Playing closer to the bridge and trying to find a spot in the low mids to boost a little to get that mix-cutting but still bassy tone should get you close.

 

[lyralain]

I love these tones and there's nothing farty about them.

Not a "farty" tone at all, just punchy.

Hadn't meant it in a negative way. But I used that word to highlight a sort of guttural quality to the tone. There's that warble/rumble to the sustained notes that's real organic. The more staccato notes are like lil blorps.

 

[lyralain]

Subscribed, because I LOVE this bass tone. The group Justice also has a similarly punchy bass tone, and the grooves are also fantastic.

Justice are great! But I'd say their tones are pretty different. Lots more high frequency info in them. The similarity is that both are in the genre of french house and they're both super compressed. But coming from an electronic production world I'm used to everything being really compressed and in your face.

I doubt much of Justice is unedited live bass- a lot of has to be stuff that was tracked in the way you would record any bass, which was *then* chopped up into an electric arrangement & compressed/distorted/processed even further. Kinda how I intend to approach things- recording a lotta improv then cutting out the good bits to make something entirely different.

 

[thewildest]

Its potato