Just play keys on them. Even if you don't play piano the synth bass lines in those songs will be easy. Using a mishmash of pedals never sounds as convincing as people on forums will have you believe IMO.
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A Yamaha DX7 does that perfectly. Of course, that's because in most cases it was the synth being used.
Sorry, I know that's not helpful, but I have one and I just couldn't resist...
Sorry, I know that's not helpful, but I have one and I just couldn't resist...
"Heart of Glass" clearly has bass guitar on it. Listen for the classic "disco" octave walkup riff at 0:56 in the video. So, no pedals for that one. Oh, your bandleader is expecting to you play the synth parts too?
Absolutely, Heart of Glass is all Fender and Nigel Harrison. Any synth you hear is coming from the keyboardist.
Not sure about the sound but for the look, get a steinberger bass and stand next to the keytar player. Get a keytar player if you don't have any 
I am another who plays a synth when the song calls for it. I have a DSI MoPho (great small modern analog synth). In my current setlist I use it for songs like Material Girl, Venus (Bananarama version), Funky Town, etc. Lots of fun.
Later
Rob
Later
Rob
I play in a band that has a synthesizer, the drummer has some electronic drums mixed with the acoustic kit. guitar player has a lot of pedals. Honestly, it is hard to keep up with the low end that comes from the synthesizers. I found that an octave (oc2 is what i have) envelope filer, overdrive/distortion and some modulation or time based effects like a delay, chorus/flanger, phaser helps.
I'm surprised no one has suggested the 3 Leaf Audio Proton/ Wonderlove pedals. You're probably seeing an ad for it here on TB it gets lots of great envelope filter sounds and is designed for bass. The ad is for the new version but the last V sounds great too.
+1 on this advice. If you really, really nail those lines, and as suggested play staccato, maybe with a pick, and/or with muting, with a kind of stiff, quantized but still funky driving groove, you're going to be 95% there.
You're looking for that wonderfull 80s percussive synth bass sound. With the EHX Bass Micro Synth you can nail that sound (ok, with an actual synth you can nail it 100%...), just add some chorus. Resonance on a quarter, start freq 50-75%, stop freq 10-25%, rate 0-50%, lots of octave down or guitar and a little square wave or octave up.
Check this demo on youtube, to my knowledge this is the only one where the pedal is used for percussive synth:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek9BQS2TlwI
+1
100% doable with a EHX BMS. I might have to play this later. Love '80s pop stuff like this.
Yamaha FB-01 (module)
Kawai K1, K3, K5
Yamaha DX7
Roland Juno 1 (best for the price, midi, and most 80's sound).
Kawai K1, K3, K5
Yamaha DX7
Roland Juno 1 (best for the price, midi, and most 80's sound).
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Wow! So many people didn't listen to the clips.
Madonna, synth bass
Blondie, bass guitar
Romantics, bass guitar (most likely, IMO, I'd be surprised if it's synth)
Even if the Romantics' tune isn't a bass guitar you can get super close to that sound. For the Madonna song, you can get close enough for live performance.
As already mentioned:
Octaver
Chorus
Touch of dirt (preferably GATED)
and/or a synth pedal.
OR instead of the Commodore64Bass...
SH101!
Came in Red, Blue, White and Grey.
Madonna, synth bass
Blondie, bass guitar
Romantics, bass guitar (most likely, IMO, I'd be surprised if it's synth)
Even if the Romantics' tune isn't a bass guitar you can get super close to that sound. For the Madonna song, you can get close enough for live performance.
As already mentioned:
Octaver
Chorus
Touch of dirt (preferably GATED)
and/or a synth pedal.
OR instead of the Commodore64Bass...
SH101!
Came in Red, Blue, White and Grey.
And add some chorus.
In the 80's when I played some of these songs I used a pick, muted with my palm and added heavy chorus. It wasn't exactly the same, but it was close enough.
Ok - I'm from the camp that says play keyboards if you're looking to truly replicate the sound. I owned an SYB-3, I dig the Deep Impact and the EHX Micro-Synth but these are all their own thing and don't really sound like a real synth bass.
My recommendation for doing this on the cheap is picking up a good synth app for your iPad/iPhone (assuming you have one). If so, you can get a mini keyboard for $100 or under and a decent synth app (of which there are MANY) will run you $0 to $10 depending on what you go with. There's a DX7-ish clone in the app store that has great reviews. I own the iSEM (Oberheim model), the iMini (Moog model) and the iProphet (Sequential Circuits model) amongst others and they all sound amazing. They are fully programmable, so you can dial in the sound you want plus alter it on the fly if you have a midi controller keyboard with knobs.
Good luck on your search!
My recommendation for doing this on the cheap is picking up a good synth app for your iPad/iPhone (assuming you have one). If so, you can get a mini keyboard for $100 or under and a decent synth app (of which there are MANY) will run you $0 to $10 depending on what you go with. There's a DX7-ish clone in the app store that has great reviews. I own the iSEM (Oberheim model), the iMini (Moog model) and the iProphet (Sequential Circuits model) amongst others and they all sound amazing. They are fully programmable, so you can dial in the sound you want plus alter it on the fly if you have a midi controller keyboard with knobs.
Good luck on your search!
I would look into some multi effects units that can emulate lots of sounds. I also second the Markbass Supersynth as a viable option.
Fo sho. I've had mine almost a year and I haven't played around with it as much as I should've. So many possibilities. Mostly just use it for Moog-type sounds in a few Police songs.
The BMS also sounds really rad with a Phase 90 or a really short delay.
I can get pretty believable synth sounds with a gated fuzz into an envelope filter. A little chorus helps too.
