Roland Announces New V-Bass VB-99 !!!

[greenboy]

Is the "Acoustic Bass" an upright emulation or an acoustic bass more akin to an acoustic guitar?

In the "classic" it's a standup model with a lot of flexibility. There is also an acoustic bass guitar model - also with a lot of parameters. I haven't checked out the VB-99 details for these yet.

 

[SteveFromBerlin]

I think the one in the classic sounded pretty bad and I hope they pushed it a little further - what do you think?

 

[wiro]

I agree. On the other hand if you want an upright sound than play upright. All the endless variations and intonations you can do with those are impossible to get out of a box.

Compare it to the violin sounds out of a synth which is tried for years and years. Despite all the attempts they even don't come close to the real thing from an orchestra.

In general: Forget about acoustic instruments when you go digital.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

I agree. On the other hand if you want an upright sound than play upright. All the endless variations and intonations you can do with those are impossible to get out of a box.

Compare it to the violin sounds out of a synth which is tried for years and years. Despite all the attempts they even doesn't come close to the real thing from an orchestra.

In general: Forget about acoustic instruments when you go digital.

But then if you want a Jazz Bass sound, get a Jazz Bass. Want a P-bass sound, buy a Precision. The whole point of modeling is to get the sounds out of one instrument. Sure, it's not going to sound perfect but if it's not at least close then the model needs to be fixed.

 

[greenboy]

I use fretless basses for my host bass. I can program uprights that work way better than any other alternative, and they have fooled people. Some programming effort and maybe a lot of listening to great players was required to do this. But some of that is also that I imagine it's an upright when I play it. The hands still matter.

 

[seamonkey]

+1
You'll get the most out of modeling by practicing it.
You can be an electric player and walk up to a double-bass and expect to sound any good playing it. Or an double bass player can't expect to pick up a slab and sound great without practice.

The VB is not just a bass modeler, but and amp and cabinet modeler. Looks great. Hope to see it soon.

There's no "Alternate Tunings" ? really?

 

[SteveFromBerlin]

That's really bad - I also wanted the alternate tunings...

 

[brandonwong]

The older V-bass can do pitch shift on individual strings. I'm sure the new one can, hence alternate tunings.

 

[SteveFromBerlin]

Yes but will it be possible to save those settings to the patches so I don't have to "de-tune" for every song if wanted to work that way?

 

[brandonwong]

Yes you can. I have done patches where i take my G and C string up an octave.

 

[Babaluma]

three words:

digital effects, yuck!!!

 

[elros]

The V-Bass can alter the tunings very much indeed. And the new one can do split by playing dynamics (and perhaps other factors too? I haven't read the manual) which should enable you to do dynamic tuning changes.... interesting.

FWIW the synth models carry the same names as the old one, so I would expect them to be basically the same models.

And the old V-Bass does both acoustic bass guitar modeling AND upright modeling.
Invalid Link Removed is an mp3 sound clip with some upright patches demoed.

More sound clips here on my web page, if you're interested in hearing how the original V-Bass can sound.

I'm off to read the VB-99 manual now....

 

[wiro]

Elros: That's the spirit!

Reading instead of immediate barking!
It's a relief to notice that some around here still use their brain.

I've printed the manual allready and will be reading it coming weeks.
More input ....... more input ........

 

[ped]

I am going to print the manual this afternoon... when I have a few hours to spare!!

Cheers
ped

 

[greenboy]

Elros: That's the spirit! Reading instead of immediate barking!
It's a relief to notice that some around here still use their brain.

I've never been able to program a very convincing Fido or Fifi patch.</dry>

I've printed the manual allready and will be reading it coming weeks.

I've glanced at it, and using the original V-Bass for more than 5 years in what I hope is a deep way, I'm realizing that I have an idea of what architectural differences there are. But only hands-on in conjunction with the manual will really make it easy to grasp how it all fits together at the level I am interested in.

More input ....... more input ........

Deep hands-on and some reading will say much more about what is possible. It's still about the player and his resourcefulness ; }

 

[greenboy]

There's no "Alternate Tunings" ? really?

Wow. My reading skills must suck and my experiences using the "classic" to do 5ths tunings, guitars, etc must be illusory ; }

 

[seamonkey]

The VG-99 has clear sections in the Manual on Alternate Tunings.
This is missing from the VB-99 manual.
It wouldn't be the first time Roland introduced a second generation product missing a feature from the first.

 

[SteveFromBerlin]

OK, I double-checked it in the VB-99 editor software and it is cleary possible to save patches with alternate tunings!

Ohhhh yeah!

 

[seamonkey]

Thanks for checking Steve - I hope these make it to the US soon.

 

[greenboy]

Skimmed a few more pages of the manual last night. Damn, the VB-99 is a deep unit! Seems like things are grouped well and some changes in the heirarchy make sense because of the additional things the huge DSP bandwidth makes possible.

This is going to be one scary unit to program for anyone who is poor at making decisions... because in spite of the real smart layout logic the options and parameters number in the gazillions. If one is spineless they will have to live by the efforts of others, as is usual. This time around that should be easier though - thanks to editor/librarian software.