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Markbass Super Synth

#642
Getting control of the filter is key to subtle sounds. The SS tends to overcook the filter cutoff control so that it is always open. I wrote some instructions to fix this a few pages back.

Edit: here it is again...

Phagor said:
The pedal has two sources of modulation; one is the level of the notes you play on the bass, and the other is the attack and release envelope. On the Super Synth, these two signals are added together. This often means that the filter is fully open all the time, and doesn't make that "bwah" sound.

So - turn the Amp Dynamic and Filter Dynamic knobs all the way down. Now your playing volume won't affect the synth. This sounds like a limitation, but many old synths like the Minimoog were the same - the keyboard was not velocity sensitive.

Now, set the Cutoff to 9 o'clock, Resonance all the way up. Next turn the Attack and Release to 12 o'clock. Finally set the Envelope knob all the way up.

Now you should get a nice wet squelch as the envelope opens and closes when you play a note. You can control the amount the envelope changes the filter with the Envelope knob.

If you like, you can now add some of the Filter Dynamic knob back in to add some of your playing dynamics to the sound - but notice that as you turn it up too much, the filter stays open all the time.
Click to expand...
 
#643
Phagor said:
Getting control of the filter is key to subtle sounds. The SS tends to overcook the filter cutoff control so that it is always open. I wrote some instructions to fix this a few pages back.

Edit: here it is again...
Click to expand...

I gave this a spin and still am not having much luck- actually the tracking got worse. I tried turning of some of the oscillators even.

Not sure if this is quite what I was looking for. I'm gonna check out the EHX BMS shortly and see if it's more manageable.
 
#646
I have two basses---a Stingray 5 (active) and an active/passive Hohner B Bass VI. The tracking definitely depends on the bass and the pedal settings. The tracking CAN be very good but you may need to tweak it.
 
#647
Depends what you mean by tracking. I find that the pitch detection is spot on and tracks notes all over my various basses.

There is a bit of a delay for low notes, but the sound starts straight away at the previous pitch, then changes once the new note is detected.

However the triggering of notes on / off is a bit trickier. I find myself tweaking the Note On Level / Note Off Level controls for each song to get the best results
 
#648
Phagor said:
Depends what you mean by tracking. I find that the pitch detection is spot on and tracks notes all over my various basses.

There is a bit of a delay for low notes, but the sound starts straight away at the previous pitch, then changes once the new note is detected.

However the triggering of notes on / off is a bit trickier. I find myself tweaking the Note On Level / Note Off Level controls for each song to get the best results
Click to expand...

That's a good point, that's my experience too. Also highlights the frustration that comes from needing to connect to a computer for full editing capabilities.
 
#649
havent used my supersynth in forever since im too lazy to bring it to gigs but still think its capable of a ton of stuff. you just really have to be willing to find sounds and adapt to playing the pedal. you cant just decide your going to play how you play and get the best out of it. for some sounds i want i have to set the oscillator to an octave below and play up an octave on the bass because that tracks and responds better than playing in the right register on the bass and having the oscillator at 0.

as long as i can get my snoop dog impression im not selling it!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
#650
Gone deep with the SS all day. I studied up online about synth programming and talked to my keyboardist a bit.

I came up with some usable tones for a madonna's "Like a Prayer". There's a bass guitar that comes in on the later bridge/coda section with an octave pedal so I made two presets and can switch to the other later in the tune.

Looking forward to trying it out this weekend on some gigs.
 
#652
Hi, all... I finally got my MB-SS, have gone through this entire thread and have a few questions...

1. Is there any way to tweak the Note ON and OFF levels on the built-in presets or is it just for the user-created ones? I suspect it's the latter.

2. I'm kind of unclear as to how the cutoff functions on the pedal... if I set the cutoff for my preset, that's what's on the pedal, right? But if my cutoff knob is somewhere at a different spot, that doesn't affect it if I move it, right? I saw some post on here that kind of alluded to that, but I wasn't sure.

3. What about the factory presets? If I go through them, does it matter where the cutoff knob is set, or will it always go back to the original cutoff for the preset? The knob thing is the only thing that's really confusing me here.

4. I've grabbed all of the shared presets on this thread... anyone know of any other places where people share 'em?

Thanks in advance!:D
 
#653
There are only 9 presets, and none of the factory presets are set in stone---you can overwrite all of them. So if you find a factory preset you like except for note on/off, you can definitely tweak it and save it that way.

Regarding any of the presets, you will get the preset in spite of where the knobs are set as long as the knobs stay stationary. If you switch to a preset THEN move the knobs, you've now altered the current state---whether it's tone (the oscillators), the cutoff, etc. I think the only thing that DOESN'T work like this is the gain---that's a universal control that cannot be saved in a preset, the gain on the pedal is the gain you're working with.

lordradish said:
Hi, all... I finally got my MB-SS, have gone through this entire thread and have a few questions...

1. Is there any way to tweak the Note ON and OFF levels on the built-in presets or is it just for the user-created ones? I suspect it's the latter.

2. I'm kind of unclear as to how the cutoff functions on the pedal... if I set the cutoff for my preset, that's what's on the pedal, right? But if my cutoff knob is somewhere at a different spot, that doesn't affect it if I move it, right? I saw some post on here that kind of alluded to that, but I wasn't sure.

3. What about the factory presets? If I go through them, does it matter where the cutoff knob is set, or will it always go back to the original cutoff for the preset? The knob thing is the only thing that's really confusing me here.

4. I've grabbed all of the shared presets on this thread... anyone know of any other places where people share 'em?

Thanks in advance!:D
Click to expand...
 
#654
Adamixoye said:
There are only 9 presets, and none of the factory presets are set in stone---you can overwrite all of them. So if you find a factory preset you like except for note on/off, you can definitely tweak it and save it that way.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your speedy reply. So basically... the default cutoff is in place, regardless of where the knob is, and it's only tweaked once I move the knob?

So you CAN overwrite the factory presets (not just the USER) ones? Every other post I've read on here say you can only store ones in the user slot. I'm confused.
 
#655
lordradish said:
Thanks for your speedy reply. So basically... the default cutoff is in place, regardless of where the knob is, and it's only tweaked once I move the knob?
Click to expand...

Yes.

lordradish said:
So you CAN overwrite the factory presets (not the USER) ones? Every other post I've read on here say you can only store ones in the user slot. I'm confused.
Click to expand...

There are two different things going on. There are only 12 PRESETS---9 synth and 3 octaver. You can overwrite ALL of these. (Though you can reset the unit to get back all of the factory ones if you wish.)

However, there are 8 TONES (basically, combinations of oscillators---maybe just a single oscillator, or an octave combination, or a detuned combo, etc.). This is just one of the many parameters for the synth (in addition to cutoff, envelope, etc.). There are 7 factory and one user TONE. The factory TONES cannot be overwritten. The user TONE---that can be whatever you want (you adjust the oscillators), and it doesn't get saved EXCEPT as part of a preset. So you can have as many different user tones as you have presets, but if you want to repeat the same user tone that you have created, you have to do that manually.
 
#657
Had it for two weeks, LOVE it. Great for getting the sounds I needed to play with, and my situation is I DON'T want to mess with any knobs while playing, I want to cut on a preset and play and have it do it's thing without interaction from me and then cut it off. The EHX BMS didn't work for me for that very reason.

Question, I'm basically redoing certain presets so that I can get more low end to deal with the low end drop off, how do you guys deal with that? IE, what is the recommended method for dialing in more bass? And also, kicking up the volume would be great but my level is always maxed. My bass has the j-retro pre so it's hot as nuts, and if I turn the gain up past twelve o clock I see the blue light constantly.
 
#658
I'm more or less doing the same thing... I think, for what I'd use this for, 8 preset slots is fine... I'm just trying to make the most useful sounds I can for some various scenarios... I play in a funk band, so there's only so many kinds of sounds that would work.

As to your low-end drop off (mind you, I've only had mine for about a week, so there could be other answers), what I did is when I set up the preset, go into the oscillators and make sure you add some of the lower octaves into your sound. Use the "amp" setting on the oscillator for just the right balance.

lamarjones said:
Had it for two weeks, LOVE it. Great for getting the sounds I needed to play with, and my situation is I DON'T want to mess with any knobs while playing, I want to cut on a preset and play and have it do it's thing without interaction from me and then cut it off. The EHX BMS didn't work for me for that very reason.

Question, I'm basically redoing certain presets so that I can get more low end to deal with the low end drop off, how do you guys deal with that? IE, what is the recommended method for dialing in more bass? And also, kicking up the volume would be great but my level is always maxed. My bass has the j-retro pre so it's hot as nuts, and if I turn the gain up past twelve o clock I see the blue light constantly.
Click to expand...
 

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