Markbass Super Synth

[Adamixoye]

I'm looking for a few new sounds, can you post your settings on this?

so i went ahead and bought one and am super impressed. if you spend some time coming up with sounds, learn how to play the pedal and which areas of your bass trigger the synth the best, you can come up with some pretty dope stuff.
heres a couple of different sounds ive been having fun with

 

[Adamixoye]

As in my above post, this was nice...can you post the settings?

Here is an example maintaining quality tracking with a quick action style. I got carried away and it is a bit hard to here what I meant to be a quick lead.

ALL tracks except the drums were recorded: Bass>SS>DI>Audiobox USB>Studio One

 

[Franz Jr.]

subbed, one is on the way

 

[OhulahanBass]

As in my above post, this was nice...can you post the settings?

I'm not sure, it was a borrowed unit from Funkinthetrunk, who helped my filter addiction while I was unemployed by letting me test his.

I remember the two important parameter to mess with were those in control of tracking response. After that I would just set the Octave voicing to whatever I was going for, octave ups for leads, down for earth shaking bass, detuned (only slightly fine) for hugeness, and detuned by semitones for three tone Detroit Electro style chords, 1-5-b7, 1-3-5, 1-5-8, 1-4-5.... From there it was all fun with the freq cutoff knob and a battle with the so so envelope.

Now that I'm employed with a real job this is the first synth or filter pedal I will acquire to fill the void of my old setup. I sold all but my Mutron during tough times.

I didn't like many of the stock settings but with the software this beast is a full on synth, more powerful fore huge sounds than the Octavius or Boss synth and clones.

Cheers!

Edit: I also liked to kill the envelope using only the LPF and run a Mutron or SA BEF pro after it. The way the BEF reacted to three big voices has me praying SA comes out with a Bass Synth Pedal.

 

[eric9353]

I don't recall seeing this in the thread when I read it last month, but is there a way to bring back a preset that you've replaced? Realizing now that I should have saved all the factory presets in the "Preset Files" section before tweaking / fixing files. Specifically, preset 3. It was too over the top for me on a song, so I did some tweaking, but now it's too tame. Was hoping to start from "Go" again, instead of trying to get back that way. Anyone?

Gotta say the more I get into messing with the software on this, the more I see the tracking issues folks talk about. Still love the pedal, plan on keeping it as it's part of a few songs, but could see a Super Synth 2 being a good idea for Mark Bass to improve on what was a great start.

 

[Adamixoye]

Yes, there is a way to bring back the factory presets. I forget exactly how, but I believe you hold down one of the buttons while you power on. The screen on the synth gives you a confirmation message. You can always read the current presets from the synth. So the process would be:

(1) Read your current presets from the synth
(2) Rename the files to avoid future conflict
(3) Reset the synth "at the box"
(4) Read the factory presets from the synth
(5) Save those
(6) Tweak and store new presets

I don't recall seeing this in the thread when I read it last month, but is there a way to bring back a preset that you've replaced? Realizing now that I should have saved all the factory presets in the "Preset Files" section before tweaking / fixing files. Specifically, preset 3. It was too over the top for me on a song, so I did some tweaking, but now it's too tame. Was hoping to start from "Go" again, instead of trying to get back that way. Anyone?

Gotta say the more I get into messing with the software on this, the more I see the tracking issues folks talk about. Still love the pedal, plan on keeping it as it's part of a few songs, but could see a Super Synth 2 being a good idea for Mark Bass to improve on what was a great start.

 

[Adamixoye]

On another note, I was wondering if anybody would be interested in a pair of PERL scripts that read and write all of your files into/from a master CSV file.

The idea of the "read" script would be that you quickly convert all of your existing presets (factory and user---anything saved in your preset directory) into a CSV file of all of your values, sans all of the nasty XML code.

The idea of the CSV file is that you can compare values of a large number of presets at a glance, get a sense of what the difference is, change file names, write comments, simultaneously edit things you might all want to be the same for all presets, like the master Level or the Pan settings on the oscillators. Or to blindly create presets on a whim. Or to share with others. And you can do this without opening up the software, which is fine for tweaking but I find a little annoying for mass editing---it would function much better on a tablet, I don't like having to use my mouse to manually "turn" all of the knobs. Obviously, with a CSV file you could edit it in Excel or something like that.

The idea of the "write" script would be to take that master CSV file and write the files to a new batch of presets. So if you've edited them, you overwrite the files. If you've added new lines to the file, you now have your new presets ready to go, and you just have to load and save them to the box.

I already have mostly written the "read" script and I'm working on the "write" one.

 

[narud]

I'm looking for a few new sounds, can you post your settings on this?

ill go back and check the settings, but ive found that settings can be kind of personal and very dependent on the player. these settings only really work with certain basses where i set my action low and with my attack. ive found playing different basses with higher action has more dynamic range and i can easily get sounds that i wasnt intending if im not careful. ive also let other guys play my own bass with those settings and with their attack, they couldnt get the pedal to react.

 

[Adamixoye]

Okay guys, as mentioned above, this might be hyperspecific and only I'm interested in it, but here are two PERL scripts I wrote to handle mass read/write of the Markbass Super Synth presets.

For each of them, you may want to delete the .txt extension---I had to do that to get them uploaded (though they are just text files). Though they will probably still work that way.

For a Mac, go to /Library/Application Support/Markbass/Markbass Pedal Controller/Presets/ but NOT into the child directory Synth/. Run the PERL script from the command line, and all of your presets will be stored in a file named presets.csv.

Edit this CSV file however you like (in a text editor or spreadsheet program), with the filenames in the left column (in the format Synth/filename), and all of the values in the remaining columns.

The mbsswrite program you use the same way, only it takes presets.csv and writes it back out as new preset files. It WILL overwrite files if the filename in the CSV matches what's in your Synth/ directory. If you deleted that line from the CSV file or changed the filename, the original file in the directory will be left alone. You could also add as many new filenames (i.e., rows) as you like, just be sure to fill in all the cells.

I envision this as being useful if you want to mass edit, for example, all of your files to have the same volume, synth mix, or oscillator pan settings. Or perhaps you want the same envelope/dynamics settings but try a bunch of different oscillator combinations; this will be probably be easier than using the editor software and turn all of those knobs. At the end of the day you'll still need to use the editor software to load these onto the pedal.

Not responsible for lost data! But this works perfectly for me. If you have more questions about how to run a PERL script on your Mac, I can hopefully answer those. I don't see any reason these wouldn't work on a PC, I just don't know where the Super Synth presets are stored or anything about running PERL scripts on a PC.

I can only upload two files, I'm going to post again with my current presets.csv file, but I'll have changed the extension to .xls so it will upload (this board has restrictions on which file extensions can be uploaded).

 

[Adamixoye]

Here is the CSV file. Change the extension from .xls to .csv, this was just a work-around to let the message board upload it.

 

[eric9353]

I had a part using present #2 on the synth side of this pedal, but I'd swear when I wrote it, there was a note an octave down under the high synth when I played. For instance, when I played the E on the 7th fret of the A string, there was a low E beneath the usual tone. But when I play it now, I just hear the high synth part.

Assuming this isn't just my hearing going, how would I add a lower note under that synth setting? I've tried to mess around using "User Tone" so I can play with the oscillators, but before I even change an oscillator, the synth sounds completely different.

Any ideas?

 

[Phagor]

Unfortunately, when you switch from the factory tones to the user setting, it changes the oscillator knobs, so there's no way to match them easily, except by experimenting by ear.

To start from scratch, I recommend going to the user tone, and setting all the oscillator knobs to 12 o'clock. Then turn down the Amp knobs 2 & 3. Now you have just one oscillator working.

Next, turn Detune knob 2 to "20: -12", and turn up Amp knob 2. This will give you the octave below.

For a fatter sound, turn up Amp knob 3 and turn the Detune Fine knob 3 a little bit, maybe "34: + 3.12", to give you a bit of movement to the sound. Hope that helps!

 

[Robin Ruscio]

I am playing in a band where I could use some synth sounds here and there and this might be just the trick. I am tight on pedalboard space and cash though, but I was just thinking that maybe I could sell my Boss OC-2 and replace it with this. A little financial upgrade and a little room on the board.

My question is, how is this the SS as just an octave pedal if need be?

It would make sense to have some synth sounds if i could still get a dry octave pedal that works well.

 

[Adamixoye]

One of the footswitches changes between synth/octaver. There are nine synth presets and three octaver presets. The octaver has controls for -2, -1, dry, and +1 that you can edit with the computer connection.

I am playing in a band where I could use some synth sounds here and there and this might be just the trick. I am tight on pedalboard space and cash though, but I was just thinking that maybe I could sell my Boss OC-2 and replace it with this. A little financial upgrade and a little room on the board.

My question is, how is this the SS as just an octave pedal if need be?

It would make sense to have some synth sounds if i could still get a dry octave pedal that works well.

 

[DeltaPhoenix]

I have both an OC-2 and the MBSS on my board. the MBSS Octaver is decent and can do the trick if you don't have to have the exact tone as the OC-2. The MBSS is actually more verstile and tracks a bit better. I still love that OC-2 tone though. Just an FYI, the Eventide PitchFactor can do a real close approximation of the OC-2, If I had to get rid of my OC-2 I would use my PitchFactor but that is even more expensive than the MBSS.

 

[Robin Ruscio]

I have both an OC-2 and the MBSS on my board. the MBSS Octaver is decent and can do the trick if you don't have to have the exact tone as the OC-2. The MBSS is actually more verstile and tracks a bit better. I still love that OC-2 tone though. Just an FYI, the Eventide PitchFactor can do a real close approximation of the OC-2, If I had to get rid of my OC-2 I would use my PitchFactor but that is even more expensive than the MBSS.

I think I might be willing to compromise a bit on the OC2 tone in exchange for the synth tones. I like the way the OC2 lets your tone come through clearly without overwhelming it with the lower octaves, so if I can dial in something close with the MBSS I think it's a go. Seems like the programability should let me get their if the presets aren't already.

I guess I can safely say I'm in the market for a used MBSS if anyone is contemplating letting their's go.

 

[Grimoire]

I have one, and am selling it. I cant sell it through TB until I pay for supporting membership, which I am about to do with the express purpose of selling a couple of pedals. So keep an eye on the classifieds! (And don't send me a pm regarding this, I have no intention of getting banned )

 

[Robin Ruscio]

I have one, and am selling it. I cant sell it through TB until I pay for supporting membership, which I am about to do with the express purpose of selling a couple of pedals. So keep an eye on the classifieds! (And don't send me a pm regarding this, I have no intention of getting banned )

Supporting membership FTW. This place has always been worth supporting!

 

[Grimoire]

Ok, now I can sell it

 

[Robin Ruscio]

Got one of these today.

I have to get in there in dial in some 80's synth tones for some Madonna, Devo, and Psuedoecho covers my band plays.