source audio c4

[Phagor]

@Phagor I run my C4 within the loop of a HX Stomp, thus I have the potential to use pre and post processing. Do you feel this would alter the situation? Do you have a preset for as far as you got or some advice for a newbie on the C4?

I didn't get closer to that classic DX7 E.BASS 1 sound unfortunately, but the Stomp adds some flexibility for compression, EQ etc. I didn't like the extra latency of using the effect loop, so have taken the C4 back out for now.

One approach to getting classic FM sounds would be to download the free VST “Dexed” and study how the original patches were made.

I spent some time doing this with Dexed. The patch is in ROM3A, E.BASS 1. As you say @Quatschmacher, it uses 6 operators, but I found by turning operators off, I could get the essence of the sound with 3. The main thing is an operator with a short decay at f=5, modulating an operator with a longer decay at f=0.5. I tried to replicate this with the C4 using octave 4 plus 24 semitones from the sequencer with one step. I then used various other oscillators to thicken the sound. Tweaking the envelopes was tricky.

Ultimately, I had a lot of fun, but didn't get anywhere close to the classic DX7 bass sound. Not close enough for me to upload to Neuro. You can get all sorts of clangy, metallic, unique sounds with the C4's FM though.

I haven't tried any of the other ones in the Neuro library - they might work for you.

 

[joshofbass]

Hi all

I have a few questions... I'm reading my way through the whole thread but these two would be good to have answered before I spend money.

I've joined a band and will be touring in 2023. They have a few albums recorded already and there are a lot of synths doubling the bassline. I don't wanna be playing bass karaoke so I'm building my pedal rig to be able to take care off all the bass.

This pedal looks like its going to be able to do the sounds I need but I don't want to be using a laptop to control patches.

How good is the midi control? I won't need any other midi control for other pedals (unless I get the ultrawave, too). Can I access 10 or more presets via some kind of midi controller?

How reliable is the patch memory. I'll be setting all the sounds up in the studio. If something went wrong how hard is it to reload everything? I'm thinking I'll be using my phone to do anything like that on the road.

If the pedal went missing or was damaged, how quickly can I re set up a new one to be exactly the same?

Thanks

 

[teopatl]

Hi all

I have a few questions... I'm reading my way through the whole thread but these two would be good to have answered before I spend money.

I've joined a band and will be touring in 2023. They have a few albums recorded already and there are a lot of synths doubling the bassline. I don't wanna be playing bass karaoke so I'm building my pedal rig to be able to take care off all the bass.

This pedal looks like its going to be able to do the sounds I need but I don't want to be using a laptop to control patches.

How good is the midi control? I won't need any other midi control for other pedals (unless I get the ultrawave, too). Can I access 10 or more presets via some kind of midi controller?

How reliable is the patch memory. I'll be setting all the sounds up in the studio. If something went wrong how hard is it to reload everything? I'm thinking I'll be using my phone to do anything like that on the road.

If the pedal went missing or was damaged, how quickly can I re set up a new one to be exactly the same?

Thanks

Good on ya for reading through. It's worth it; lots of deep insight from various contributors (including SA devs), particularly on midi control.

Can't speak to specifics myself, as I haven't taken the leap yet, but the C4 (and indeed all the SA One Series pedals) supports not just access and changes of all 128 patches, but parameter and control changes as well. Worth a peek at the table in the manual for a flavor. TBers tend to endorse DMC and Morningstar midi controllers, and I believe both have SA-dedicated tutorials. In your case, if you just need to advance to the next patch along with a setlist, you may be able to get by with a DMC midi baby.

Patch memory is solid. Make sure you have set the pedal to preset or standard (default) mode--not WYSIWYG--for reliable recall. With a Neuro account, you're able to save your patches in the app for offline reload ("My library"), so if the pedal comes up missing, you should be able to re-burn all the saved patches to a new pedal (one by one, but waaay better than the alternative).

 

[MrFunk]

Hi all

I have a few questions... I'm reading my way through the whole thread but these two would be good to have answered before I spend money.

I've joined a band and will be touring in 2023. They have a few albums recorded already and there are a lot of synths doubling the bassline. I don't wanna be playing bass karaoke so I'm building my pedal rig to be able to take care off all the bass.

This pedal looks like its going to be able to do the sounds I need but I don't want to be using a laptop to control patches.

How good is the midi control? I won't need any other midi control for other pedals (unless I get the ultrawave, too). Can I access 10 or more presets via some kind of midi controller?

How reliable is the patch memory. I'll be setting all the sounds up in the studio. If something went wrong how hard is it to reload everything? I'm thinking I'll be using my phone to do anything like that on the road.

If the pedal went missing or was damaged, how quickly can I re set up a new one to be exactly the same?

Thanks

Hi!
First of all, you will need a MIDI controller with a display so you can view the patch numbers or names. Mine has a display but not true to the patch numbers... it's almost a decorative panel, so I trust my ears and my memory... oh and my first switch which recalls the first patch, so I can count over again.

The memory is reliable. No problems at all.
You can back up your patches on your laptop or even upload them to the cloud and then re-install them.

You will be very pleased with the pedal and its sound capabilities but just a few reminders: The real estate on your pedalboard will be considerably high if you add the MIDI controller, and more so if you (like me) forget to use a proper MIDI Host device, which leads to the necessity for another MIDI thingy occupying even more space. And if you're tempted to add the Source Audio foot controller (volume, speed, etc) it's almost certain it will be on the floor instead of on the board. But if you (also like me) remove all the redundant pedals (octaver, filters, ODs, etc), there will be more available space in your board. Check the picture below for more details.

Feel free to ask anything. Good luck with your endeavor.

 

[joshofbass]

Good on ya for reading through. It's worth it; lots of deep insight from various contributors (including SA devs), particularly on midi control.

Can't speak to specifics myself, as I haven't taken the leap yet, but the C4 (and indeed all the SA One Series pedals) supports not just access and changes of all 128 patches, but parameter and control changes as well. Worth a peek at the table in the manual for a flavor. TBers tend to endorse DMC and Morningstar midi controllers, and I believe both have SA-dedicated tutorials. In your case, if you just need to advance to the next patch along with a setlist, you may be able to get by with a DMC midi baby.

Patch memory is solid. Make sure you have set the pedal to preset or standard (default) mode--not WYSIWYG--for reliable recall. With a Neuro account, you're able to save your patches in the app for offline reload ("My library"), so if the pedal comes up missing, you should be able to re-burn all the saved patches to a new pedal (one by one, but waaay better than the alternative).

I'm in China. As soon as you mentioned the source audio account my brain starts thinking "I'm gonna need a VPN for a pedal aren't I"

Hi!
First of all, you will need a MIDI controller with a display so you can view the patch numbers or names. Mine has a display but not true to the patch numbers... it's almost a decorative panel, so I trust my ears and my memory... oh and my first switch which recalls the first patch, so I can count over again.

The memory is reliable. No problems at all.
You can back up your patches on your laptop or even upload them to the cloud and then re-install them.

You will be very pleased with the pedal and its sound capabilities but just a few reminders: The real estate on your pedalboard will be considerably high if you add the MIDI controller, and more so if you (like me) forget to use a proper MIDI Host device, which leads to the necessity for another MIDI thingy occupying even more space. And if you're tempted to add the Source Audio foot controller (volume, speed, etc) it's almost certain it will be on the floor instead of on the board. But if you (also like me) remove all the redundant pedals (octaver, filters, ODs, etc), there will be more available space in your board. Check the picture below for more details.

Feel free to ask anything. Good luck with your endeavor.


View attachment 4910533

Thanks, man these days we all have pedal boards huh, last time I played we just did cable mess. I like the idea of the expression pedal. This is gonna hurt me isn't it.

 

[Quatschmacher]

Using MIDI to change presets is fine.

Presets stored in the cloud so no chance off loss.

I’d recommend doing a full pedal back which allows you to load a single file which recovers all the presets and MIDI map assignments that were on the pedal at the time of saving. This is a file that you need to create and load via the desktop app.

 

[MrFunk]

Oh yes...

 

[foldyman]

Hi all

I have a few questions... I'm reading my way through the whole thread but these two would be good to have answered before I spend money.

I've joined a band and will be touring in 2023. They have a few albums recorded already and there are a lot of synths doubling the bassline. I don't wanna be playing bass karaoke so I'm building my pedal rig to be able to take care off all the bass.

This pedal looks like its going to be able to do the sounds I need but I don't want to be using a laptop to control patches.

How good is the midi control? I won't need any other midi control for other pedals (unless I get the ultrawave, too). Can I access 10 or more presets via some kind of midi controller?

How reliable is the patch memory. I'll be setting all the sounds up in the studio. If something went wrong how hard is it to reload everything? I'm thinking I'll be using my phone to do anything like that on the road.

If the pedal went missing or was damaged, how quickly can I re set up a new one to be exactly the same?

Thanks

Since an HX Stomp is something that features on many a pedalboard, worth mentioning that this can make a good MIDI controller for the C4 too (if you have a Neuro Hub as well).

I used to have it setup so the HX would switch to various presets on the C4 as you switch presets on the HX. Using the insert on the HX, you can also decide where you want the C4 to be in the signal chain as part of the HX preset.

Whatever the MIDI controller, I've found it useful to have something with a tap tempo, then that can feed MIDI clock to the C4's LFO.

Another thing worth mentioning is (as you've probably figured out), is that there's no conventional MIDI on the C4 alone. You either need something that can act as a MIDI host (I think a lot of peeps here use Disaster Area), or a Source Audio Neuro Hub.

If you have a hub, you can have your MIDI controller on your board doing whatever you want, then it frees up the C4 MIDI port to also plug your computer in and fiddle about in the editor at the same time.

 

[jam.majors]

I'm in China. As soon as you mentioned the source audio account my brain starts thinking "I'm gonna need a VPN for a pedal aren't I"

I lived in china for a couple of years and laughed out loud at this!

 

[Coach Rich]

I might be trying to cram a square peg in a round hole but anyone know if there's a delay or reverb sound that's already created?????

 

[sunbeast]

I might be trying to cram a square peg in a round hole but anyone know if there's a delay or reverb sound that's already created?????

There are no delay/reverb capabilities in the C4.

 

[Quatschmacher]

I might be trying to cram a square peg in a round hole but anyone know if there's a delay or reverb sound that's already created?????

You could possibly fudge a very rough approximation of short reverb/delay by creating two almost identical sounds on the two processors but having the envelope attack time slower on one so it comes in a bit after the other. Better to just get a Collider instead though.

 

[odarellmc]

Since an HX Stomp is something that features on many a pedalboard, worth mentioning that this can make a good MIDI controller for the C4 too (if you have a Neuro Hub as well).

I used to have it setup so the HX would switch to various presets on the C4 as you switch presets on the HX. Using the insert on the HX, you can also decide where you want the C4 to be in the signal chain as part of the HX preset.

Whatever the MIDI controller, I've found it useful to have something with a tap tempo, then that can feed MIDI clock to the C4's LFO.

Another thing worth mentioning is (as you've probably figured out), is that there's no conventional MIDI on the C4 alone. You either need something that can act as a MIDI host (I think a lot of peeps here use Disaster Area), or a Source Audio Neuro Hub.

If you have a hub, you can have your MIDI controller on your board doing whatever you want, then it frees up the C4 MIDI port to also plug your computer in and fiddle about in the editor at the same time.

When you say it frees up a midi port on the c4 by using a controller how? There's no midi port on the c4 besides the trrs midi. I'm not sure what you're referring to. Can you clarify?

 

[Derek Williams]

When you say it frees up a midi port on the c4 by using a controller how? There's no midi port on the c4 besides the trrs midi. I'm not sure what you're referring to. Can you clarify?

He is referring to the USB port. The USB port supports USB MIDI, if plugged into a USB host, but then you can't use it to plug into a computer at the same time.

 

[odarellmc]

He is referring to the USB port. The USB port supports USB MIDI, if plugged into a USB host, but then you can't use it to plug into a computer at the same time.

Got it thanks.

 

[Gsnorgathon]

I might be trying to cram a square peg in a round hole but anyone know if there's a delay or reverb sound that's already created?????

You might try playing around with the sequencer to see if you can get something delay-ish enough to satisfy you.

 

[Gsnorgathon]

You can also get delay-ish effects by messing around with the LFO, especially set to square wave.

 

[Diegombass]

Hi,
I am enjoying my C4 for a year now, and I am wondering: why does it have 11 envelopes instead of 1 ADSR and 1 envelope follower (AR) with full control over the parameters?
Thnx

 

[Quatschmacher]

Hi,
I am enjoying my C4 for a year now, and I am wondering: why does it have 11 envelopes instead of 1 ADSR and 1 envelope follower (AR) with full control over the parameters?
Thnx

Because no one listened to me! :-D

 

[Quatschmacher]

Ooh, don’t know why I have only just thought of this but I’m going to map a CC to filter cutoff and use the ADSR envelopes in the MORTRIX controller to show what C4 could sound like with full ADSR control. It’ll be a bit of a fudge as I’ll have to manually trigger the envelopes with my foot or from the MIDI clock but I’ll see how it goes and will report back/post clips. Might be able to combine clocked envelopes with the C4’s own sequencer as C4 cannot be driven from a MIDI note sequencer.