source audio c4

[Hummergeist]

It’s fantastic and really easy to oversee and navigate; Jesse’s done great work.

STOP TEASING US!

 

[DrHooper]

STOP TEASING US!

Pretty please?

 

[Real Soon]

While adjusting some patches for tone, unity gain, & extra expression pedal control (built-in volume pedal, anyone?), I was running into a problem that, at first, I thought might have been going on with the C4. (spoiler: it wasn't the C4)

My DMC-8 v3 is a robust MIDI controller, but apparently can build up a bit of... static? over time. I was using the expression pedal with the C4, Meris Mercury7, and a couple other things, and was getting audible clicks for every step of the 0-127 expression-via-MIDI travel. Disco'd the C4, nothing... disco'd another MIDI connection, nothing... until all four were unplugged. Then I plugged them all back in to start troubleshooting.

But then? Glorious silence (when I wanted it)!

This is really about a quick thing I learned about the DMC controller, and not the C4 itself.


...although, to stay on topic, my new startup cover band heard me whip out the C4 Pony patch a couple weeks ago, and now, that's what we're using for our short band-into interlude. I'd done some tweaking on it to get it to my idea of really matched, and tonight just worked on the level, input gain, and bass EQ, + adding the volume exp control for fadeout purposes.


We're doing, among other things, Electric Feel by MGMT... and the production process for that track is esoteric to say the least. So, I just thought I'd have fun by blending a little bit of the double-foldover distortion with a mono pitch-shift track (set to, I think, +1 oct & +7 st... might be +2 oct + 7st though), and setting them both pretty deeply beneath my clean signal. Somehow the two give this richness with a bit of extra punch on the attacks, and while it's not a studio match by any means, it's colorful and adds a bunch of depth. Very simple, made from scratch, and highlights the C4's versatility as a sonic presence pedal.

 

[Real Soon]

Having a good time recently with my lil C4 in a very fun cover band. For one... my adapted/tweaked Pony patch made the cut, and we're using it during the band intro I wouldn't have had any idea it was even possible to make that sound!! The community is incredible, I can never overstate.

But tonight, I got a nice lil rising sawtooth sweep with chords sort of like a house music/EDM synth ducking sound, for Ylvis - The Fox (What Does The Fox Say?). It's hilarious to play live already, and with this extra layer freeing up our keyboard player to hit some of the more intricate riffs, I think it's gonna bring even more epic tomfoolery. We'll find out tomorrow!

Also, my Electric Feel "bass fattener" patch adds some aggression that makes a P bass still a P bass, but an angrier one that can get away with some Chili Peppers sounds. What a powerful box, and man.... v2 is coming? Jeez lol

 

[noahw1]

I’ve had this pedal for 6 months or so, yesterday I hooked up a disaster Area micro pro and now a number of my presets aren’t working. Some are working while most aren’t. When I unplug the micro to use the pedal alone they don’t work either and the light flashes green/red when I play a note.

Any ideas?
I’m thinking factory reset may be in order?

 

[StormJH1]

I’ve had this pedal for 6 months or so, yesterday I hooked up a disaster Area micro pro and now a number of my presets aren’t working. Some are working while most aren’t. When I unplug the micro to use the pedal alone they don’t work either and the light flashes green/red when I play a note.

Any ideas?
I’m thinking factory reset may be in order?

I can't say exactly what's going on, but yeah, if you could keep track of which presets you had and keep some backups, I'd try a factory reset. I have a Disaster Area MIDI Baby 3, and sometimes the MIDI fails to "talk" properly to the C4 with that unless I do a reset, but it's usually not the fault of the C4 itself.

 

[StormJH1]

Question about the C4 that I'm sure has been addressed in some manner before, but I'll give it a try anyway. Given that (real) synths have much different frequency ranges than guitars, if I'm running the C4 as the only pedal fed into the front end of a Helix Stomp, should I be using a bass cab/IR, guitar cab/IR, or no cabinet simulation at all (direct)?

Yes, I've experimented, but I'm still not sure which is best. What I'd ideally like to have is a dedicated patch that I have as reference point for all C4 presets. But, of course, the C4 is capable of a wide array of sounds. The ones I'm most interested in pitch my guitar down an octave to turn it into a bass synth. I've tried some patches that use bass amps/cabs, but I feel like the "cleanest" representations of those patches come from clean guitar amp models that retain some degree of low end. In my case, the models are based on a Fender Twin and a Roland JC120.

Any thoughts on this? Even if I used a "direct patch", I would still probably throw a studio compressor/limiter in there to keep things from getting too crazy.

 

[rsmith601]

I’ve had this pedal for 6 months or so, yesterday I hooked up a disaster Area micro pro and now a number of my presets aren’t working. Some are working while most aren’t. When I unplug the micro to use the pedal alone they don’t work either and the light flashes green/red when I play a note.

Any ideas?
I’m thinking factory reset may be in order?

Email to [email protected]. ?

 

[sunbeast]

Question about the C4 that I'm sure has been addressed in some manner before, but I'll give it a try anyway. Given that (real) synths have much different frequency ranges than guitars, if I'm running the C4 as the only pedal fed into the front end of a Helix Stomp, should I be using a bass cab/IR, guitar cab/IR, or no cabinet simulation at all (direct)?

Yes, I've experimented, but I'm still not sure which is best. What I'd ideally like to have is a dedicated patch that I have as reference point for all C4 presets. But, of course, the C4 is capable of a wide array of sounds. The ones I'm most interested in pitch my guitar down an octave to turn it into a bass synth. I've tried some patches that use bass amps/cabs, but I feel like the "cleanest" representations of those patches come from clean guitar amp models that retain some degree of low end. In my case, the models are based on a Fender Twin and a Roland JC120.

Any thoughts on this? Even if I used a "direct patch", I would still probably throw a studio compressor/limiter in there to keep things from getting too crazy.

Is your Stomp being fed into an actual amp or going direct into a PA or recording/headphone interface when you're listening to it? Most bass cab IRs in the Stomp (and in reality) are pretty strongly "voiced", so I'd probably avoid using a bass cab IR from the Helix selections if you aren't specifically seeing that kind of voicing. Better off just using EQ to sculpt out any of the harsher frequencies in my opinion as you can get far more specific.
It sounds like you are also asking about amp models though as opposed to just cab sim. I haven't personally tried the JC120 IRs in my Stomp, but my old band used a JC120 for a synth amp and it worked pretty well IMO. The speakers weren't great for deep bass, but the package had a nice punchy midrange that really cut through. A Fender Twin is also a fairly bass-friendly preamp/amp as well until you get to the speakers- the preamp/amp topology was pretty close to the Fender Dual Showman, which was one of the more popular bass amps back in the day (but the speakers wouldn't be ideal for bass). I don't see any point in using any amp simulation unless it adds something specific that you like and simplifies things for you. A compressor and EQ blocks could ultimately be more versatile for clean tones if you are willing to put the time in to dial them in. In any case (using guitar or bass models) I'd avoid relying on just the straight presets that come on the Helix as most of them are not flat to begin with and will need some tweaking for transparency

 

[StormJH1]

Is your Stomp being fed into an actual amp or going direct into a PA or recording/headphone interface when you're listening to it? Most bass cab IRs in the Stomp (and in reality) are pretty strongly "voiced", so I'd probably avoid using a bass cab IR from the Helix selections if you aren't specifically seeing that kind of voicing. Better off just using EQ to sculpt out any of the harsher frequencies in my opinion as you can get far more specific.
It sounds like you are also asking about amp models though as opposed to just cab sim. I haven't personally tried the JC120 IRs in my Stomp, but my old band used a JC120 for a synth amp and it worked pretty well IMO. The speakers weren't great for deep bass, but the package had a nice punchy midrange that really cut through. A Fender Twin is also a fairly bass-friendly preamp/amp as well until you get to the speakers- the preamp/amp topology was pretty close to the Fender Dual Showman, which was one of the more popular bass amps back in the day (but the speakers wouldn't be ideal for bass). I don't see any point in using any amp simulation unless it adds something specific that you like and simplifies things for you. A compressor and EQ blocks could ultimately be more versatile for clean tones if you are willing to put the time in to dial them in. In any case (using guitar or bass models) I'd avoid relying on just the straight presets that come on the Helix as most of them are not flat to begin with and will need some tweaking for transparency

Thank you for the response! The answer to your question is that I play with headphones most of the time (family and volume control reasons), but also have a 12" Alto PA when want to play with a speaker. So it should be FRFR.

I agree with what you are saying - the only reason the question bears asking is that this is a guitar (or bass) pedal, which means that 90%+ of the users (especially ones that don't dwell on message boards) are just going to run this into a guitar or bass amp, which of course provides coloration based on the speaker, power awp, and even the preamp (unless you run the C4 in the loop).

But running into a modeler gives you the option to listen with headphones or use a FRFR speaker and hear the "pure" signal coming from the C4. I tried this last night, and it was actually quite good (but also different). Now I just need to learn how to program patches so I can come up with a few go-to presets for different types of guitar -> bass sounds.

 

[jasonmitsch]

Question about the C4 that I'm sure has been addressed in some manner before, but I'll give it a try anyway. Given that (real) synths have much different frequency ranges than guitars, if I'm running the C4 as the only pedal fed into the front end of a Helix Stomp, should I be using a bass cab/IR, guitar cab/IR, or no cabinet simulation at all (direct)?

Yes, I've experimented, but I'm still not sure which is best. What I'd ideally like to have is a dedicated patch that I have as reference point for all C4 presets. But, of course, the C4 is capable of a wide array of sounds. The ones I'm most interested in pitch my guitar down an octave to turn it into a bass synth. I've tried some patches that use bass amps/cabs, but I feel like the "cleanest" representations of those patches come from clean guitar amp models that retain some degree of low end. In my case, the models are based on a Fender Twin and a Roland JC120.

Any thoughts on this? Even if I used a "direct patch", I would still probably throw a studio compressor/limiter in there to keep things from getting too crazy.

I have the Stomp and C4 with Hub in my midi chain. I set a button on the Stomp to turn the C4 on/off and also turn the Amp/Cab On/Off. Took some tweaking to get the volumes right, but this is working for me. No tap dancing, I don't have to touch the C4 at all.

 

[MascisMan]

I have noticed a markedly improved tone since swapping out the knobs on my C4

 

[GMC]

....Given that (real) synths have much different frequency ranges than guitars.....

Just saying...the Source Audio C4 IS a (real) synth. It just doesn't have keys and it has a monophonic note detector so it can track anything...including keys.

 

[sunbeast]

Thank you for the response! The answer to your question is that I play with headphones most of the time (family and volume control reasons), but also have a 12" Alto PA when want to play with a speaker. So it should be FRFR.

I agree with what you are saying - the only reason the question bears asking is that this is a guitar (or bass) pedal, which means that 90%+ of the users (especially ones that don't dwell on message boards) are just going to run this into a guitar or bass amp, which of course provides coloration based on the speaker, power awp, and even the preamp (unless you run the C4 in the loop).

But running into a modeler gives you the option to listen with headphones or use a FRFR speaker and hear the "pure" signal coming from the C4. I tried this last night, and it was actually quite good (but also different). Now I just need to learn how to program patches so I can come up with a few go-to presets for different types of guitar -> bass sounds.

Most recorded synths are just run direct, if that matters to you. I’ve heard big Moog bass through SVT rigs used as a flavor, but for the most part the synths you are used to hearing aren’t put through the flavoring of amps and cabs the way the guitar and bass has been for decades. I would guess a lot of issues people have with C4 sounds are a result of what they are running it into, both because of coloration and lack of headroom (synth can have alot more spikey transients and sustain than a typical guitar or bass is capable of, both of which expose headroom issues in different types of guitar/bass amplifiers)

 

[GMC]

Thank you for the response! The answer to your question is that I play with headphones most of the time (family and volume control reasons), but also have a 12" Alto PA when want to play with a speaker. So it should be FRFR.

I agree with what you are saying - the only reason the question bears asking is that this is a guitar (or bass) pedal, which means that 90%+ of the users (especially ones that don't dwell on message boards) are just going to run this into a guitar or bass amp, which of course provides coloration based on the speaker, power awp, and even the preamp (unless you run the C4 in the loop).

But running into a modeler gives you the option to listen with headphones or use a FRFR speaker and hear the "pure" signal coming from the C4. I tried this last night, and it was actually quite good (but also different). Now I just need to learn how to program patches so I can come up with a few go-to presets for different types of guitar -> bass sounds.

Synths are usually recorded as cleanly and full range as possible, so no amp or speaker colouration. Unlike bass that often sounds nice with a little colour. So if you are using your C4 in a bass context (ie bass patches, like octave, filter, trem, dirt etc) then I would use your normal / fav amp & speaker IR’s. However, if you are making Juno like stabs or swells, I would run it into a chorus (it’s a Juno!) and then direct with no IR’s. But that’s me, your mileage might vary.

 

[Diegombass]

Hi,

Why not a white noise oscillator? Could it be possible?

On the other hand, my mobile through USB to my C4 is not working very well. I have to test it again, but my mobile doesn't get info from the pedal in spite of showing MIDI on the little icon of the pedal.

 

[Quatschmacher]

Why not a white noise oscillator? Could it be possible?

You can approximate white noise using the FM capabilities. If you modulate both FM sources/destinations with each other it creates noise. See link below for search using “noise” as keyword.

Neuro Community by Source Audio

check The Hook’s and my presets.

 

[speedball3]

I’ve been casually eyeing the EHX Bass Micro Synth for a while and its used prices are ridiculous now (and its new price has always been high). What’s the general consensus of the C4 as a BMS replacement? Does it hit all the lows and massive walls of sound the same ways? Looking to use it (BMS/C4) as a “big sound machine” ala Bethel Worship (@MascisMan asked before). Yes I realize the C4 can do waaaay more but that’s mostly icing on the cake for how I’d like to use it.

 

[Diegombass]

I’ve been casually eyeing the EHX Bass Micro Synth for a while and its used prices are ridiculous now (and its new price has always been high). What’s the general consensus of the C4 as a BMS replacement? Does it hit all the lows and massive walls of sound the same ways? Looking to use it (BMS/C4) as a “big sound machine” ala Bethel Worship (@MascisMan asked before). Yes I realize the C4 can do waaaay more but that’s mostly icing on the cake for how I’d like to use it.

I had a BMS years ago, the big one. It was very easy to set and the sound of the filter and distortion was great. The vintage octaver is better in the C4, sound and tracking.
Lately, I was trying to set the start and stop freqs on my C4... very tedious.

 

[bassbrad]

I’ve been casually eyeing the EHX Bass Micro Synth for a while and its used prices are ridiculous now (and its new price has always been high). What’s the general consensus of the C4 as a BMS replacement? Does it hit all the lows and massive walls of sound the same ways? Looking to use it (BMS/C4) as a “big sound machine” ala Bethel Worship (@MascisMan asked before). Yes I realize the C4 can do waaaay more but that’s mostly icing on the cake for how I’d like to use it.

As much as I still love my BmS the C4 has got it beat easily and indeed it can deliver as a big sound machine massively.