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source audio c4

#3,121
boing said:
Is the C4 tolerant of dead spots? My pbass has serious dead spots on the G string in the usual places, and my MXR octaver chokes badly on them.
Click to expand...

Naahh... I have the C4, SY-1, BSW and Future Impact (and sub n up mini + analogue EBS OctaBass). The C4 is the lowest performer for accurate trigging. Below C on the A string on my short scales, it plays not 8, but 8.5 notes below original note...
So a played B generates a Bb one octave below. Super annoying.
Also for weak/dead spots, it is worse than the FI and BSW. SY-1 is even more reliable, but the sound is not that good, IMHO.
OctaBass CAN be glitchier, but has no latency, and generates sub octave with more lows, especially below C on the A string. The digital ones seem to have a HPF on the output, preventing much slam deeper than a regular five string bass.
 
#3,122
AlexanderB said:
Naahh... I have the C4, SY-1, BSW and Future Impact (and sub n up mini + analogue EBS OctaBass). The C4 is the lowest performer for accurate trigging. Below C on the A string on my short scales, it plays not 8, but 8.5 notes below original note...
So a played B generates a Bb one octave below. Super annoying.
Also for weak/dead spots, it is worse than the FI and BSW. SY-1 is even more reliable, but the sound is not that good, IMHO.
OctaBass CAN be glitchier, but has no latency, and generates sub octave with more lows, especially below C on the A string. The digital ones seem to have a HPF on the output, preventing much slam deeper than a regular five string bass.
Click to expand...

Interesting. The tracking on all of my basses (fretted, fretless and 5 strings) is amazing. No problems at all. I just adjust the sensitivity and the kind of tracking I need and that's it.
 
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#3,125
MrFunk said:
That may be the issue. I don't use stock presets. "I do my own stunts" hehe. I will download it again and try it, and tweak some knobs. I will let you know.
Click to expand...

There are a few good community presets out there too. I have no issue with it. In fact is pushed a vintage OC2 off my board - the sound was right there and I've had zero tracking issues.
 
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#3,126
AlexanderB said:
Naahh... I have the C4, SY-1, BSW and Future Impact (and sub n up mini + analogue EBS OctaBass). The C4 is the lowest performer for accurate trigging. Below C on the A string on my short scales, it plays not 8, but 8.5 notes below original note...
So a played B generates a Bb one octave below. Super annoying.
Also for weak/dead spots, it is worse than the FI and BSW. SY-1 is even more reliable, but the sound is not that good, IMHO.
OctaBass CAN be glitchier, but has no latency, and generates sub octave with more lows, especially below C on the A string. The digital ones seem to have a HPF on the output, preventing much slam deeper than a regular five string bass.
Click to expand...
Definitely not my experience- I find the C4 to be on par with my Future Impact as far as tracking, though they both have different ways of dealing with tracking and latency (the FI for example slides into faster played notes to hide the tracking latency). If you are getting a half step off with tracking I would suspect something from the bass or technique unless your particular pedal is somehow defective. I’ve never had any tracking pedal make those kinds of tracking mistakes, 99% of the time it’s a matter of mistakenly tracking the harmonics of a note (so playing a note an octave or rarely a fifth up from the desired sound) but to track a half step off would be a whole other issue entirely that I’ve never experienced while using any of a large number of note tracking effects.

In any case with a bass it’s always been my experience that playing notes farther up on the neck where there is a higher proportion of fundamental in the timbre gives the most solid tracking (so playing your B on the 7th fret of the E string as opposed to the 2nd fret of the A string). I’m so accustomed to playing to the quirks of analog octavers like my OC-2 that I rarely even consider trying to play synth-bass using notes in the low register like that and the C4 reacts pretty similarly to my current OC-2 (which is a particularly nicely tracking example of an OC-2) when using monophonic patches IME (maybe slightly better than the OC-2, and definitely tracks a few notes lower if I play cleanly)
 
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#3,128
sunbeast said:
Definitely not my experience- I find the C4 to be on par with my Future Impact as far as tracking, though they both have different ways of dealing with tracking and latency (the FI for example slides into faster played notes to hide the tracking latency). If you are getting a half step off with tracking I would suspect something from the bass or technique unless your particular pedal is somehow defective. I’ve never had any tracking pedal make those kinds of tracking mistakes, 99% of the time it’s a matter of mistakenly tracking the harmonics of a note (so playing a note an octave or rarely a fifth up from the desired sound) but to track a half step off would be a whole other issue entirely that I’ve never experienced while using any of a large number of note tracking effects.

In any case with a bass it’s always been my experience that playing notes farther up on the neck where there is a higher proportion of fundamental in the timbre gives the most solid tracking (so playing your B on the 7th fret of the E string as opposed to the 2nd fret of the A string). I’m so accustomed to playing to the quirks of analog octavers like my OC-2 that I rarely even consider trying to play synth-bass using notes in the low register like that and the C4 reacts pretty similarly to my current OC-2 (which is a particularly nicely tracking example of an OC-2) when using monophonic patches IME (maybe slightly better than the OC-2, and definitely tracks a few notes lower if I play cleanly)
Click to expand...

No issues with my technique. For Fender Mustang P/J and Longhorn Pro, the issue is dead predictible from second fret on A down to second fret on E.
Issue can very rarely happen on FI plus Mustang combo.
Perfect attack, sustained note, pitch remains consistently off.

By the way, coming back to the C4 makes me aware how sluggish the triggering feels after BSW, FI and SY-1...
 
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#3,129
AlexanderB said:
No issues with my technique. For Fender Mustang P/J and Longhorn Pro, the issue is dead predictible from second fret on A down to second fret on E.
Issue can very rarely happen on FI plus Mustang combo.
Perfect attack, sustained note, pitch remains consistently off.

By the way, coming back to the C4 makes me aware how sluggish the triggering feels after BSW, FI and SY-1...
Click to expand...
Are you maybe playing presets which have the tracking range set for guitar rather than bass? I ask because the other day I was showing my second FI to another bassist and he had a weird thing happen where notes below low A were all spitting out the same pitch. It stumped me for a bit until I remembered that the second unit had been set to guitar mode when a friend borrowed it to play clarinet through it.
 
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#3,131
Quatschmacher said:
Are you maybe playing presets which have the tracking range set for guitar rather than bass? I ask because the other day I was showing my second FI to another bassist and he had a weird thing happen where notes below low A were all spitting out the same pitch. It stumped me for a bit until I remembered that the second unit had been set to guitar mode when a friend borrowed it to play clarinet through it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. Bought the pedal new, and I have not changed any settings. In fact, the pitch issue was the from day one, and is still there. Maybe I will try to verify it during the weekend.
 
#3,133
AlexanderB said:
Thanks for the input. Bought the pedal new, and I have not changed any settings. In fact, the pitch issue was the from day one, and is still there. Maybe I will try to verify it during the weekend.
Click to expand...
The tracking behaviour is set per patch so it’s worth checking each one.
 
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#3,135
AlexanderB said:
Thanks!
Question: I assume there is no way to change this without hooking up to an external unit, ie phone or laptop?
For the EDM swell and OC2 clone, I run the sounds 100% stock.
Click to expand...
Correct (unless you assign the range and type controls to a MIDI CC, but you’d still need to connect to the desktop to do that before a MIDI controller will work).
 
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#3,136
C4 arrived & first chance to play with it.....oceans of fun and potential

Few quick initial testing qq:

1. The small green LED does not light when pedal is powered - either with adapter supplied, nor using power block on my board - 9v up to 500mA. It flickers a bit initially but goes off. But pedal seems to work OK. Main LED comes on with footswitch applied. Is this abnormal? Should I send it back to replace?
UW light does remain on (but then I noticed it went off after a while when left idle)
I have both C4 & UW cabled up to laptop running Neuro Desktop) and exp pedal connected to C4.

2. The input calibration process - Im using an active bass, but the LED only blinks red when turned a fair bit to left - near 3 o'clock. My passive bass blinks red at 11 oclock. I do have the output dialed down by half on my active bass, so that might explain it.
But after the calibration, does a varying signal have any negative impact on the C4?
Is it underperforming (eg tracking) with lower levels/high levels?? Either plucking v lightly or with other gain stages in my chain going on/off - higher inputs....
I find some presets a bit erratic with dynamic levels. Might need tweaking for sensitivity etc.

3. How can I set a 'blank canvas' with the C4 engaged - to learn building up various parameters?
Do I have to have at least 1 voice to get some sound?
So with everything off, just voice 1 on>mono input>direct output for destination >mix 1 on (voice 1 output1)......this sounds like a clean 'bypass'? Correct?

4. Some presets sound clear and well balanced with headphones (via amp xlr > interface > ableton DAW > headphones. But straight out of amp (Fender Rumble) speakers can sound erratic on dynamics.....is there more to consider with your rig set up? The amp is flat EQ

5. with using a 4 string bass, is it ALWAYS best/optimum to set pitch detector low/high note to E and G string?

Many thanks for any feedback!
 
#3,138
Input sensitivity: set your bass vol where you normally have it, set input gain in the c4 and note it. Best to find the setting for each of your basses and then aim to use that input gain in patches that you’ll use that bass with.

When trying out patches from others, set the input gain to your value and save. Then you can Bypass / engage and play around with tweaking the output volume. That’ll get you most of the way volume wise, but be prepared to play around with both when you get in a room with other instruments… a proper (so for iPhone, the lightning to usb adaptor and then your usb cable) data cable between phone and pedal is good during eg rehearsals.

Re: point 3 blank canvas. Yeah that’s pretty much it. Set it with your input gain value. No mileage in having a blank preset during live use really, but handy as a starting point at home for sure.

Point 4: there’s a LOT of sub bass possible with a C4. A lot. Frequencies that are wasted on 90% of all speakers. A limiter and/or high pass filter at end of chain before amp is an excellent safeguard.

Point 5: yeah, set the tracking to suit what you’re using. I play a five string but for some patches (like an octave down where no way I’ll be going below open A ever!) I tweak to suit the range I’m playing. Some patches will care, some won’t!

Be prepared to get good at muting to get cleanly triggering sounds. Rolling off treble on the bass can help some patches.

It’s SUCH a good pedal.
 
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#3,139
moley6knipe said:
Input sensitivity: set your bass vol where you normally have it, set input gain in the c4 and note it. Best to find the setting for each of your basses and then aim to use that input gain in patches that you’ll use that bass with.

When trying out patches from others, set the input gain to your value and save. Then you can Bypass / engage and play around with tweaking the output volume. That’ll get you most of the way volume wise, but be prepared to play around with both when you get in a room with other instruments… a proper (so for iPhone, the lightning to usb adaptor and then your usb cable) data cable between phone and pedal is good during eg rehearsals.

Re: point 3 blank canvas. Yeah that’s pretty much it. Set it with your input gain value. No mileage in having a blank preset during live use really, but handy as a starting point at home for sure.

Point 4: there’s a LOT of sub bass possible with a C4. A lot. Frequencies that are wasted on 90% of all speakers. A limiter and/or high pass filter at end of chain before amp is an excellent safeguard.

Point 5: yeah, set the tracking to suit what you’re using. I play a five string but for some patches (like an octave down where no way I’ll be going below open A ever!) I tweak to suit the range I’m playing. Some patches will care, some won’t!

Be prepared to get good at muting to get cleanly triggering sounds. Rolling off treble on the bass can help some patches.

It’s SUCH a good pedal.
Click to expand...


Hey thanks for prompt response, appreciated. Great advice.
I'm certainly watching my technique, although some presets, especially with the UW, seem to benefit with less tight 'string control' ?!

I've been gassing for this pedal for months.....now its finally here :hyper:
 
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#3,140
Yeah it’s trial and error with muting and how staccato you need to play. Will depend on what’s going on per patch. Which is normally a lot with these pedals. Everything and two kitchen sinks. Honestly, the C4 is wasted on me. I get as far as a nasty saw tooth synth and sit playing that for hours grinning like the village idiot :D
 
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