source audio c4

[NicJimBass]

Looking to duplicate a few patches from my Manta on the C4. I see there are some controls named the same on both, but, there are also a bunch more on the C4. Does anyone know which controls on the C4 duplicate what's on the Manta?

 

[rsmith601]

Looking to duplicate a few patches from my Manta on the C4. I see there are some controls named the same on both, but, there are also a bunch more on the C4. Does anyone know which controls on the C4 duplicate what's on the Manta?

The Manta had limited knobs, so we needed to either fix things or combine knobs. We had no choice but to make things different. There are some Manta presets in Neuro, I believe and I am sure there will be more. In theory, all Manta sounds can be recreated on the C4 and Spectrum.

 

[NicJimBass]

The Manta had limited knobs, so we needed to either fix things or combine knobs. We had no choice but to make things different. There are some Manta presets in Neuro, I believe and I am sure there will be more. In theory, all Manta sounds can be recreated on the C4 and Spectrum.

I have a few specific presets I'd like to recreate, and I'm getting close, but I think it would be much quicker/easier if I knew what buttons on the C4 controlled the same parameters as on the Manta. Is there any way to know what's what?

 

[doran.dragic]

I should be getting the C4 one of these days. Here's a question:

I own a Boss ES-8 and a Source Audio Reflex.

Do I still need to get the hub to use the MIDI with the C4 or can I send the MIDI from the ES-8 to the C4 using the Reflex? The Reflex has a sensor output.

 

[rsmith601]

I have a few specific presets I'd like to recreate, and I'm getting close, but I think it would be much quicker/easier if I knew what buttons on the C4 controlled the same parameters as on the Manta. Is there any way to know what's what?

Well, there are some things that map directly and are obvious. Freq, Res., Mix, Vol, Speed, Effect, etc. But the depth knob is trying to cover both the up and down sweep of the filter. Can you do that in Spectrum? Yes, clearly. Is it in one knob? No, that makes no sense on Spectrum where there are unlimited knobs. The LFO controls and shapes and the envelope shapes are also different. Instead of one knob doing 4 things, we have all separate controls. Manta was designed for a world of really limited knobs. Spectrum was designed to put the critical stuff on the 4 knobs and the ALT, but then put everything on the editor with its own control so it is as easy as possible. Creating a Spectrum editor for Manta users would have been really expensive and of very limited use. While going from Manta to Spectrum takes a bit of time.....I will say this: Manta is one of the best BEF's of all time. Spectrum is the best BEF of all time. The journey is worth it.

 

[arctur]

I will say this: Manta is one of the best BEF's of all time. Spectrum is the best BEF of all time. The journey is worth it.

Roger, you are causing me trouble, man. My wife just surprised me with a BEF Pro a couple weeks ago. Now I'll have to sell it and get the C4... You wanna help me explain that to her, maybe?

 

[Emanuel]

Really excited about the C4 but I’m waiting for some clips that demonstrate sounds us bass players actually want (and have spent so much time and money trying to cop).
You know what I mean, 99% of us bass players just want to move booties the way only a great synth bass line can!
And why (sorry about the rant) do most demos highlight the weirdest, wackiest “patches”? Why so often do manufacturers bake those silly patches into their products?
OK I know that this pedal is truly a game changer. I know that the A.S. Community is going to make it super easy to burn great sounds with little effort or have fun creating your own. I realize that our search for great synth bass sounds without luging a keyboard may very well be over and that we’ll be able to do some cool ambient stuff as well (thinking looper here). But I would love to see a demo that has a stanky drum beat and a bassist doing some staccato keyboard-esque lines with some quick fills that demonstrate the tracking. In fact Audio Source would do well to put something like that on their site.
It’s early days I know and sorry again if I sound angsty. I really want to buy this pedal, heck it’s got two 16 step sequencers! Imagine the booties!

 

[Emanuel]

Opps make that Source Audio and Source Audio Community. My bad

 

[BurningSkies]

Really excited about the C4 but I’m waiting for some clips that demonstrate sounds us bass players actually want (and have spent so much time and money trying to cop).
You know what I mean, 99% of us bass players just want to move booties the way only a great synth bass line can!
And why (sorry about the rant) do most demos highlight the weirdest, wackiest “patches”? Why so often do manufacturers bake those silly patches into their products?
OK I know that this pedal is truly a game changer. I know that the A.S. Community is going to make it super easy to burn great sounds with little effort or have fun creating your own. I realize that our search for great synth bass sounds without luging a keyboard may very well be over and that we’ll be able to do some cool ambient stuff as well (thinking looper here). But I would love to see a demo that has a stanky drum beat and a bassist doing some staccato keyboard-esque lines with some quick fills that demonstrate the tracking. In fact Audio Source would do well to put something like that on their site.
It’s early days I know and sorry again if I sound angsty. I really want to buy this pedal, heck it’s got two 16 step sequencers! Imagine the booties!

Some of the patches listed on the 'community' page have sound samples, if that helps.

In spending a few hours with the pedal, a bass and the Neuro Desktop last night I can report that there ARE some patches that are useful/usable. If you're a OC-2 fan, you'll find about 15 variants that would stop someone from keeping the OC-2 on their board. There's a bunch of stock synthy bass patches that I would classify as being sort of 'mainstream' go-to bass synth sounds.

I found at least one envelope that I installed in one of the 6 'preset' spots because it's pretty damn close to one of the envelopes I use regularly live, and another couple that were at least interesting & fairly standard envelope 'colors'.

I found a number of 'chord' patches that were good and could be something, and a few of the arpeggiators were decent. I also found a few phaser/tremmish stuff that are functional.

...That said, these pedals are sort of in a 'patch infancy' right now. There's a ton of people who have gotten their hands on the pedals/editors and are now just doing stuff to do it. Yeah, you can build a patch that plays Mario-themes...and it's a fun 'look what I can do' but you probably will never use it in a real context ever. But I get people doing the 'let me see if I can...' thing. Some of the levels and FR of patches are problematic as they stand, so be careful when you go through patches...I found one or two that at volume would tear speakers and one or two that were just hugely loud (or really quiet)...so volume adjustments will be needed.

I believe that as people spend more time with it in their hands more truly functional patches in a pragmatic sense will rise to the top.

That said. It tracks really well and quickly. It handles a certain level of sloppiness that other synth pedals glitch and choke on.

 

[Bassheart365]

Really excited about the C4 but I’m waiting for some clips that demonstrate sounds us bass players actually want (and have spent so much time and money trying to cop).
You know what I mean, 99% of us bass players just want to move booties the way only a great synth bass line can!
And why (sorry about the rant) do most demos highlight the weirdest, wackiest “patches”? Why so often do manufacturers bake those silly patches into their products?
OK I know that this pedal is truly a game changer. I know that the A.S. Community is going to make it super easy to burn great sounds with little effort or have fun creating your own. I realize that our search for great synth bass sounds without luging a keyboard may very well be over and that we’ll be able to do some cool ambient stuff as well (thinking looper here). But I would love to see a demo that has a stanky drum beat and a bassist doing some staccato keyboard-esque lines with some quick fills that demonstrate the tracking. In fact Audio Source would do well to put something like that on their site.
It’s early days I know and sorry again if I sound angsty. I really want to buy this pedal, heck it’s got two 16 step sequencers! Imagine the booties!

I feel your pain....more usable bass synth presets please. For BASS guitars.

 

[Emanuel]

Thank you for the intel BurningSkys, good to hear!
It should be known that I lack programming skills (and patience). I have a tendency to pick instruments, amps and pedals that have a voice I like right away and ignore the rest.
I use overdrive in various amounts on just about everything, just a little break up mostly. I tend to use effects just to “widen” my sound when needed, I like time based effects with a mix knob because I don’t want to be like “hey everybody I just stepped on a flanger!” That’s one of the great things about this type of unit, the flexibility. It occurs to me that this little box could cover some of the effects I use to “widen” as well as providing the synth sounds I crave.
I’ll be paying attention as things develop.
Other than the synth stuff I’m wondering:
Can it replace my Micro Pog?
Can I drop tune? (Eb etc.)
Leslie effect? (Really fun to solo with)
Can I use it in stereo? (Ric-O-Sound)
From what Ive read it seems that the C4 would have some of that capability. I’m just curious. A great synth is enough especially at that price and in such a small pedal!
Regardless I can only see myself grabbing stuff from the S.A. Community and tweaking to suit my needs so hey, thanx in advance!

 

[Hoss Groovealot]

Has anyone made a HOT Hand Bass Wobble setting for C4?

 

[rsmith601]

Thank you for the intel BurningSkys, good to hear!
It should be known that I lack programming skills (and patience). I have a tendency to pick instruments, amps and pedals that have a voice I like right away and ignore the rest.
I use overdrive in various amounts on just about everything, just a little break up mostly. I tend to use effects just to “widen” my sound when needed, I like time based effects with a mix knob because I don’t want to be like “hey everybody I just stepped on a flanger!” That’s one of the great things about this type of unit, the flexibility. It occurs to me that this little box could cover some of the effects I use to “widen” as well as providing the synth sounds I crave.
I’ll be paying attention as things develop.
Other than the synth stuff I’m wondering:
Can it replace my Micro Pog?
Can I drop tune? (Eb etc.)
Leslie effect? (Really fun to solo with)
Can I use it in stereo? (Ric-O-Sound)
From what Ive read it seems that the C4 would have some of that capability. I’m just curious. A great synth is enough especially at that price and in such a small pedal!
Regardless I can only see myself grabbing stuff from the S.A. Community and tweaking to suit my needs so hey, thanx in advance!

I really like some (but not all) of the tones in the video. Just in case you missed it.

It cant replace the Micro Pog, but it can replicate many of those sounds.
No on the drop tune.
It is stereo in - independent stereo processing - and stereo out. I cant think of another true independent stereo envelope filter pedal, for example.

 

[Emanuel]

Roger your absolutely right. That video starts with a thick synth bass tone and a beat. It also shows the sequencer(s) employed to great effect. Boy I could really ham it up hammering one note and letting the sequencer do it’s thing!
Thank you for the answers regarding some of the functionality.
I’ve pretty much narrowed my board down to pedals that I really love/use anyway and it’s not huge (although the Ric-O-Sound thing, when employed gets pretty deep in the weeds).
This pedal will be a not-so-subtle synth and subtle d-tune for a harmonizer “widening” effect. 6 presets will probably work me and I can keep my pedalboard Pedaltrain Jr. size.
Thank you again, Manny

 

[WorktheWood]

At this point I think I'm going to return the C4. It's cool but for my purposes it's more of a toy or novelty. Plus, when switching between presets I occassionaly get weird blasts of digital noise that can't be good for my or the PA speakers. I was hoping to at least eliminate my filter and octave pedals but so far through much tweaking I still prefer my analog equivalents. I may pick up another some time in the future but for now it just doesn't meet any of my needs.

 

[doran.dragic]

At this point I think I'm going to return the C4. It's cool but for my purposes it's more of a toy or novelty. Plus, when switching between presets I occassionaly get weird blasts of digital noise that can't be good for my or the PA speakers. I was hoping to at least eliminate my filter and octave pedals but so far through much tweaking I still prefer my analog equivalents. I may pick up another some time in the future but for now it just doesn't meet any of my needs.

These blasts of noise sound like a problem. How often did that happen? Did you contact Source Audio about it? Is it something that only happens to your unit or does this happen to all C4s?

I'm asking because I still can't use my switcher to switch the presets (I don't own a Neuro hub) and this was the biggest selling point for me personally.

I kind of agree with you - some sounds I use sounded better when I was using my Xerograph Deluxe, but I hate the fact that you can't save and recall presets on the XD which becomes a problem for me live. So for me the sound quality and especially variety of possible sounds was a good enough reason to keep the unit. But if the switching really is noisy I don't think I want to keep it.

 

[rsmith601]

At this point I think I'm going to return the C4. It's cool but for my purposes it's more of a toy or novelty. Plus, when switching between presets I occassionaly get weird blasts of digital noise that can't be good for my or the PA speakers. I was hoping to at least eliminate my filter and octave pedals but so far through much tweaking I still prefer my analog equivalents. I may pick up another some time in the future but for now it just doesn't meet any of my needs.

This makes no sense to me.
1) we take great care to be sure random blasts of noise don't happen. Switching presets how, exactly?
2) which filter pedals were you unable to capture?
3) which octave pedals? The OC-2 presets were given lots of attention.
There are many things the C4 does no do well. These 3 things it should be doing really well.

 

[rsmith601]

These blasts of noise sound like a problem. How often did that happen? Did you contact Source Audio about it? Is it something that only happens to your unit or does this happen to all C4s?

I'm asking because I still can't use my switcher to switch the presets (I don't own a Neuro hub) and this was the biggest selling point for me personally.

I kind of agree with you - some sounds I use sounded better when I was using my Xerograph Deluxe, but I hate the fact that you can't save and recall presets on the XD which becomes a problem for me live. So for me the sound quality and especially variety of possible sounds was a good enough reason to keep the unit. But if the switching really is noisy I don't think I want to keep it.

The XD is a digital pedal. Someone should create some specific presets. I don't think that has been done yet.

 

[WorktheWood]

The random blasts would happen when I use the toggle and switch between presets. It most commonly occurred when switching from an envelope filter or simple octave type sound to something that has several combined sounds for a very synth like sound. It was unpredictable and annoying. As for my preference for my existing analog pedals, I think it just comes down to the difference between digital and analog effects. There's just a warmth and fullness that I perceive with the analog pedals that I don't hear with digital, though I will say the C4 is probably the closest to capturing that sound I've heard out of a digital pedal. I think the C4 is a nice piece of equipment at a very fair price. It's just that, for me personally, it just doesn't do what I want well enough to justify taking up a spot on my pedal board.

This makes no sense to me.
1) we take great care to be sure random blasts of noise don't happen. Switching presets how, exactly?
2) which filter pedals were you unable to capture?
3) which octave pedals? The OC-2 presets were given lots of attention.
There are many things the C4 does no do well. These 3 things it should be doing really well.

 

[doran.dragic]

The XD is a digital pedal. Someone should create some specific presets. I don't think that has been done yet.

I don't care about analog/digital really, I don't even notice the difference. What I tried to say is that I tried to recreate the sounds I was using with the combination of fuzz+XD with the combination of that same fuzz with the filter section of the C4 and I preferred the sound of the XD, but it wasn't drastic.