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Peavey Cyber Bass vs. Midi Bass

#3
I don't know if this is any indication, but I downloaded both manuals from the Peavey site and it looks like the Cyber Bass might be newer. The last page of the manual shows a publish date of 1996, whilst the Midi Bass manual shows 1993.

Does anyone here use either? Can you vouch for the fabled 'zero-latency' that this bass is supposed to provide?
 
#4
The Cyberbass replaced the MIDI Bass, so yes, it's newer. For some reason, it sticks in my head that there were some software/EEPROM upgrades, as well, but it seems like those could be retrofitted onto the MIDI Bass--fundamentally, they're the same, and I believe the name change came about because of a trademark conflict with a bass synth module.

Mike
 
#9
I've got a Midibass. I think the Cyberbass was mostly a name change for copyright purposes. The latency is indeed low, but you've got to learn to alter your playing style a bit. If your right hand technique has fingers coming to rest on the string below the one you've just plucked you can get a little "bump" as the synth tries to track it.
 
#10
jondog said:
I've got a Midibass. I think the Cyberbass was mostly a name change for copyright purposes. The latency is indeed low, but you've got to learn to alter your playing style a bit. If your right hand technique has fingers coming to rest on the string below the one you've just plucked you can get a little "bump" as the synth tries to track it.
Click to expand...

Tell me more, I'm looking to get a Cyberbass setup. I would like to know anything important before making a decision. Thanks.
 
#11
As far as what I recall, the latency is GREATLY reduced by the fact that the "pickup" is really only tracking envelope and dynamics. The pitch is determined by the wired frets, along with any "increased pull" information from the bridge/sensor/thing. What I always wanted to know was what happens to the note if you bend it PAST the little joint in the fret, so, for instance, your A note on the 14th fret of the G string, which has just been bent up to like a C, is now on the fret/sensor for the D string.... I wasn't into pyro-bending when I last played a midibass. I was working at a PV dealer, and as I recall, the things were very cool....
 
#12
Josh Curry said:
Tell me more, I'm looking to get a Cyberbass setup. I would like to know anything important before making a decision. Thanks.
Click to expand...

It's cool! Bends can actually go pretty far. The thing to watch out for is that these are ancient technology that nobody will be able to repair. There's a whole computer inside the bass and ton of switches built into the neck, that's a lot of things to go wrong.

I use the Roland V-Bass for gigging. No it does not get perfect pianos, organs, etc. like the midibass can, but it does do great synth modeling and effects and you can mount the pickup on any bass.
 
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#13
jondog said:
It's cool! Bends can actually go pretty far. The thing to watch out for is that these are ancient technology that nobody will be able to repair. There's a whole computer inside the bass and ton of switches built into the neck, that's a lot of things to go wrong.

I use the Roland V-Bass for gigging. No it does not get perfect pianos, organs, etc. like the midibass can, but it does do great synth modeling and effects and you can mount the pickup on any bass.
Click to expand...

Have you ever used it as a midi controller for a soft-synth app like Project5, Reason, or Fruity Loops? One of the main reasons I want a midi bass is to be able to record what I play as midi data in various applications.
 
#17
bassturtle said:
Stay away from that one! Did you see the starting bid :eek: :eek:

:D
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Actually, I've you've ever priced out a midi pickup, a pitch-to-midi converter, a tone module, and of course a cheap bass to put it on, you wouldn't think that was so bad. Sure, there are cheap ways to go, but I'm more concerned about the zero-latency. You can spend 2K on a phat midi-bass setup and you will still have nasty latency. The Peavey setup is the only way to get around that, too bad it's a ghetto bass. But I'm probably only going to be using it in the studio anyway, so nobody will see me playing it ;)
 
#18
Josh Curry said:
Have you ever used it as a midi controller for a soft-synth app like Project5, Reason, or Fruity Loops? One of the main reasons I want a midi bass is to be able to record what I play as midi data in various applications.
Click to expand...

No, I've never tried that. The Cyberbass on the bay is good looking, the Midi Basses are just plain with no pickguard.

The latency with other systems is limited to the low notes. For midi/software controller purposes, I would go with a Roland GK pup and the converter (GI-20?). If you get any latency, just play the same lick an octave up and then transpose it w/ the software.
 
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#19
I had a chance to play the cyberbass back when they came out. I found the latency acceptable for most sutff i played and I loved the choir, organ, symph string hits etc. However, you really do get confused when you play faster, becuz the notes just lag- feels like your playing in a huge hall and your not hearing what your playing for a good 500milliseconds, but if you adapt your playing it can work in most scenarios.
That said, it was a great concept placed onto a subpar instrument, i thought the bass as an instrument was poor. Anyway, for what it did, its was a great leap.
As for pricing one out now a-days. yes i have. If you stick w/ all roland stuff, it will cost similar, to what your seeing on Ebay (most of the time these things go for 1000-1200 used). if you decide to go w/ an axon unit as your controller it will cost you more. Assuming you already have a Midi-equipped bass, if you don't consider getting a piezos bridge w/ a 13pin out. As of this minute thats a great price on the unit
The roland V-bass does not produce midi... It is strickly a modeling device. The Gk-2b, or 3B p'ups can be used in combo w/ a GI unit to convert to midi singals, so you can use it to drive a GI-20 converter or the roland GR-20 guitar synth which will allow you to do what you describe. However if your just transcribing i suspect things will be fine, if you want to drive synth racks, you'll be back to lag time. John tunrer uses a axon unit and feels its acceptable for his playing
 
#20
Firstly, +1 to the above post. The advantage of the MIDI domain is that with decent sequencer software (Sonar!) you have awesome editing capabilities, so that difficult or fast passages are easily played in at half-time and brought up to speed, while still retaining all the expression and nuance. It's workable but not current state of the art. My MidiBase served me very well through a number of scoring and soundtrack projects, and was useable for live work if responsive samples/patches were chosen carefully. Can't say it's one of my favourite instruments to play though....

Also, some info tidbits... one of the reasons for the switch to the Cyber was to give the bass a more traditional p/j look, versus the MidiBase. The innards are the same system that was originally used in the Wal basses, until the deal with Peavey came about. Anyhow, that system has managed to stand the test of time for reliability.

Oh, here's a pic of my MIDI setup:

MidiBase.jpg
 
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