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Sine wave

O

OhThePeacock

Sep 15, 2007
2,046
3
Wausau, WI
#1
Anyone know of any pedals that can make what your playing sound like a sine wave. I can achieve a similar effect by plucking at the fret an octave up from the note I'm playing but it's pretty hard and unreasonable to play like that all the time. :hmm: Suggestions?
 
#2
The sound you get by plucking an octave up is not what a sine wave sounds like. What you're doing there is accentuating the harmonics of the note you're playing, which is the opposite of a sine wave. A sine wave has no harmonics.

The simplest way to get something like a sine wave is a low pass filter. If you use software effects, Invalid Link Removed will get you an actual sine wave.

However, if you want to achieve something like plucking an octave up with a pedal, I would try a ring modulator with a low carrier frequency and with the blend set so that your clean signal is louder than the ring modulator.
 
#3
Man I feel kinda stupid now but thanks for letting me know, I have a greater understanding.

I take it making your bass sound like a sine wave is what makes it dub like. If thats correct I can get a really similar sound out of an envelope filter with the sensitivity all the way down.
 
#4
Yeah, the envelope filter approach is one good way.

Have you considered an octave pedal of some sort? I mean, since you're already trying to achieve it by plucking... why not try letting a pedal do that for you?

It's not the same as the filter dub, but it'll get you the sound of the same note, played one octave higher/lower (depends on which pedal you get).
 
#5
Nah, you shouldn't feel stupid. I wasn't trying to zing you. The envelope filter dub sound is kind of like a sine wave, yes, but usually there's so much resonance in an envelope filter that you would again be boosting some harmonics. A true sine wave is actually a pretty boring sound on its own. Harmonics are usually what makes a sound interesting.
 
#7
OhThePeacock said:
Anyone know of any pedals that can make what your playing sound like a sine wave. I can achieve a similar effect by plucking at the fret an octave up from the note I'm playing but it's pretty hard and unreasonable to play like that all the time. :hmm: Suggestions?
Click to expand...

A sine wave will give you a pure tone, like a tuning fork would provide. Every musical instrument's tone is a combination of many different harmonics at different intensities with the fundamental generally being the strongest. Trying to eliminate all of those harmonics (overtones) will leave your instrument lacking in character.

If what you are looking for is a more rounded, stronger fundamental tone for dub, the very first step is to try and do what you can with your hands, mostly your plucking hand. Try playing with a lighter touch, right by the neck (or even on the end of the fretboard) and using the fleshy part of your finger or even your thumb.

Effects can help achieve a dub tone (Moog Low Pass or DOD FX25) but the bulk of it comes from technique.
 
#11
OhThePeacock said:
Anyone know of any pedals that can make what your playing sound like a sine wave. I can achieve a similar effect by plucking at the fret an octave up from the note I'm playing but it's pretty hard and unreasonable to play like that all the time. :hmm: Suggestions?
Click to expand...
Probably what you want more than a sine wave is the fundamental and the octave harmonic. Rolling off all the highs you can will put you thereabouts.
 
#14
Hey all,

I am very confused by this thread. Any note you play ALWAYS has sinusoidal variations (sine wave). It is not a pure sine wave, but it is a dampened oscillatory function, as the waves die within the strings, bridge, neck, body, etc. Regardless of how good the instrument is, there are still damping factors, and can never produce a "pure sine wave". It sounds like you want to make your bass sound like a tone generator. It is probably best to achieve this with a keyboard.

If you want to actually hear the oscillations, play a second note (same pitch), just slightly out of tune. The out of phase nature of the waves will create an oscillation in your sound, which will have some given decay, but it will allow you to hear the oscillations.

It would be neat to hear the music you are making with this effect.

imp.
 

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