Source Audio Sorcerers Society (S.A.S.S) Part 3

[Quatschmacher]

I think I'm getting the hang of it. I was able to get some useful sounds out of it. I wish they had programmers put together some pro patches, as most of the user community are still learning...and it shows...

I'd humbly consider my patches to be pretty decent and I know my way around synths and this pedal. Also check out Mark Neary's and The Hook's patches - they are excellent.

 

[sunbeast]

I think I'm getting the hang of it. I was able to get some useful sounds out of it. I wish they had programmers put together some pro patches, as most of the user community are still learning...and it shows...

I recommend sorting patches by “favorites” rather than by date in the community patch list, then find creators like Nathan Navarro (who is a pro patch creator for the C4) or @Quatschmacher above and browse all of their contributions. There are tons of really quality patches available and more being created all the time! Add some of your own once you figure out the platform!

 

[rsmith601]

I think I'm getting the hang of it. I was able to get some useful sounds out of it. I wish they had programmers put together some pro patches, as most of the user community are still learning...and it shows...

I am going to strongly disagree, based on lots of very direct experience. Most "Pro" players have no time to invest in doing proper patches. The one certain exception is Ellie Goulding's bass player, Simon Francis. His patches are EXCELLENT. So are Nathan's. So are @Quatschmacher. So are @fivestringgecko and many others. While you don't seem to think we are very clever (I have been carefully monitoring your situation to be sure you are getting the support you need), I think the traditional approach of paying a handful of "pros" to create a limited set of patches is actually very limiting. I have tried to find "pros" to do such work in the past, and it is very hard to find the right ones. The resulting work is poor. In contrast, with the C4 we now have 1000s of presets developers and 1154 published presets. Some are not great, but some are off-the-charts brilliant. I would never have found this community without creating a tool for them to find us and vice-versa. So, the key is for us to give you tools for searching, and we have. You can to this on the phone, you and do it in the Editor, and you can do it via the web.
Here I have sorted for C4 and by popularity:
Neuro Community by Source Audio

You can also follow these leaders and then get a notification when they create a new sound.​

I know you have gotten off to a rough start for some reason, but this pedal, the tools around it, and the community of people creating sounds for it is completely unique and very powerful. I hope it continues to get better and better. If those here cannot get you the necessary answers, we are happy to help too.

 

[fivestringgecko]

@odarellmc

Respectfully, I'm also going to strongly disagree with a blanket statement that Community members don't know what they're doing. I appreciate the nod from @rsmith601 because I've spent a TON of time learning the C4, and have used it with much success... it's become an integral part of my setup in two gigging (aka professional) cover bands. And while @Quatschmacher may not be what some might consider "Pro," he's been making a ton of killer synth patches since (and probably before) the Future Impact was released, and very much knows what he's doing. There are also many many other presets from other users in the Neuro Community that have been killer as well.

C4 Pro Tip #1
We each have our individual gear setups and play styles, so adjusting patches to your personal setup is a must. Full stop.

As @sunbeast @Matty Koff and @Quatschmacher mentioned, Input and Output should be your automatic first adjustments, quickly followed by the Sensitivity controls. Correct adjustments here are a must on ALL patches, not just Community presets. Input will help adjust for your bass, and some factory presets have a really hot output which will easily overload your interface. Some of my own personal patches have even overloaded my amp on the first tests.

C4 Pro Tip #2
Something I haven't seen anyone mention yet regarding the issues you've been having with the C4:

The C4 is a synthesizer, and behaves much differently than other effects pedals. It's not just altering your bass sound like most other effects do, and our bass signal just triggers the synth oscillators to generate their own sounds.

Because of that, the C4 demands good clean playing technique. This is a must with synth pedals in general, or you'll have the triggering problems you mentioned. You shouldn't need to do any "relearning," but it may indeed take some adjustment. I learned this with my Future Impact, and the lesson has definitely carried over to the C4. Synths need clear definitions of note start/stop in order to know when to trigger and stop generating a sound. Bottom line, you may need to adjust your technique.

I thought I had pretty good technique when I got my Future Impact, but I did have to spend some time working at it. It'll improve you as a player though. Work on things like good muting, clean note attack and cutoff, etc.

A final thought
The C4 isn't a plug and play pedal. It will require some time and work on your part, especially if you're new to synth. If that's not your thing, best move on. But I'll say this... Once you're able to figure things out and get the C4 dialed in, the results are really satisfying.

Good luck!

5sg.

 

[Plastalmonus]

Because of that, the C4 demands good clean playing technique. This is a must with synth pedals in general, or you'll have the triggering problems you mentioned. You shouldn't need to do any "relearning," but it may indeed take some adjustment. I learned this with my Future Impact, and the lesson has definitely carried over to the C4. Synths need clear definitions of note start/stop in order to know when to trigger and stop generating a sound. Bottom line, you may need to adjust your technique.

I thought I had pretty good technique when I got my Future Impact, but I did have to spend some time working at it. It'll improve you as a player though. Work on things like good muting, clean note attack and cutoff, etc.


5sg.

The C4 has indeed highlighted my sloppy, at times, technique. Especially when playing harder.

I take it as a challenge. If I want to sound good whilst playing badly I just kick in my Darkglass

 

[odarellmc]

my apologies I wasnt trying to insult anyone just made an observation. thanks for the input guys i'll check out all the names you guys dropped. Thanks for the assistance! seems theres a balance between the input and mix controls, i think i have a handle on those.

 

[Plastalmonus]

my apologies I wasnt trying to insult anyone just made an observation. thanks for the input guys i'll check out all the names you guys dropped. Thanks for the assistance! seems theres a balance between the input and mix controls, i think i have a handle on those.

To be honest you are probably doing better than me. Synth pedals are always a steep learning curve as they aren't really a "bass effect" in the sense that it inherently and instantly caters for the many and varied dynamics you will get from a string instrument. I've used my C4 with a Kawaii keyboard and it is amazing as the attack and release is very easy to anticipate. Try and play the same thing with my bass and it is a lesson in adjusting for playing style, instrument, output etc etc...

 

[rsmith601]

my apologies I wasnt trying to insult anyone just made an observation. thanks for the input guys i'll check out all the names you guys dropped. Thanks for the assistance! seems theres a balance between the input and mix controls, i think i have a handle on those.

No worries. We are all passionate about this product and want to get you to the fun stage as fast as possible!!!

 

[Quatschmacher]

Here’s the result of a session from yesterday. Managed to make the C4 do pseudo drums. This is a single patch, no multi-tracking. I’ve uploaded this to Neuro.
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[Quatschmacher]

Also managed to get Pony to a place I’m happy with. Did it combining elements from Annette’s patch and from my previous attempt.
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[benthughes]

Just got my C4 on Thursday, I know nothing about synthesizers so I kind of went blank when I opened the Neuro App. I love the community created patches and really like changing them on the fly from my phone, its amazing. Any advice or direction on how to learn more about this subject would be appreciated. Currently , I’m taking presets I like and reverse engineering them to see why and how they sound the way they do.

Also, where are you guys running this on your pedal board? I’m running mine at the end before my DI but am thinking it’d make more sense to put it at the beginning, pre compressor. Thanks in advance.

 

[Quatschmacher]

Just got my C4 on Thursday, I know nothing about synthesizers so I kind of went blank when I opened the Neuro App. I love the community created patches and really like changing them on the fly from my phone, its amazing. Any advice or direction on how to learn more about this subject would be appreciated. Currently , I’m taking presets I like and reverse engineering them to see why and how they sound the way they do.

Also, where are you guys running this on your pedal board? I’m running mine at the end before my DI but am thinking it’d make more sense to put it at the beginning, pre compressor. Thanks in advance.

This is a good place to start:
Learning Synths

 

[rsmith601]

Just got my C4 on Thursday, I know nothing about synthesizers so I kind of went blank when I opened the Neuro App. I love the community created patches and really like changing them on the fly from my phone, its amazing. Any advice or direction on how to learn more about this subject would be appreciated. Currently , I’m taking presets I like and reverse engineering them to see why and how they sound the way they do.

Also, where are you guys running this on your pedal board? I’m running mine at the end before my DI but am thinking it’d make more sense to put it at the beginning, pre compressor. Thanks in advance.

Proton Lenny did a great C4 tutorial. Can someone past the link?

 

[sunbeast]

Proton Lenny did a great C4 tutorial. Can someone past the link?

 

[thabassmon]

I read through this series a few years ago.

It is a good series that explains a bunch of concepts.

Synth Secrets

 

[Quatschmacher]

I read through this series a few years ago.

It is a good series that explains a bunch of concepts.

Synth Secrets

This is also good. Reminds me, I must get around to reading the rest of it.

 

[fivestringgecko]

Also, where are you guys running this on your pedal board? I’m running mine at the end before my DI but am thinking it’d make more sense to put it at the beginning, pre compressor. Thanks in advance.

There are also a lot of great synth tutorials on Youtube as well. I learned a lot from just surfing there and enjoyed the video tutorial format, but that platform isn't as organized as the links that Quatsch and Thabassmon posted. (Which I'm definitely going to work through!).

Re: placement - I learned with the Future Impact that getting my synth as close to the front of my chain works much better. Many in this thread have their C4 as the first effect which I've tried, but I've been running my compressor first and it's been working great as well.

5sg.

 

[sifrancis]

Firstly, many thanks to @rsmith601 for the kind words.
Re: learning to program synth sound, the C4 Editor Deep Dive video above is absolutely golden, and for more general synth sound design I can also really recommend Syntorial: The Ultimate Synthesizer Tutorial
The free trial is probably all that you would need to get started; it's a really effective and intuitive program for ear training on synth.

The community aspect of the C4 also lends itself really well to learning sound design as the ability to browse such a vast array of presets and then compare and contrast similar sounds to see what ideas they share and differ - it can be surprising sometimes the number of different routes there can be to a sound.
I get so much fun out of spending an hour two every week exploring the newly uploaded sounds - so much fun!

Placement-wise, earlier in the chain is generally best, though a compressor before synth pedals can help with longer sustained notes, and an octave/pitch pedal pre-the C4 can allow for some fun octave jumps, dive bombs, and glitches. I also know of a few musicians who swear by some kind of boost or preamp paired with a light treble roll off/static LPF to give synth pedals a louder level, whilst filtering out higher harmonics stronger on the fundamental note (though I have to say I don't feel a need for this with the C4)... ultimately play around and see what works for the results you are going for.

A final thought on what I feel is an often overlooked aspect of the C4 - if you are new to synth pedals and finding the responsiveness of the synth a little uncomfortable or hard to control at first, there is a vast and deep world of sounds to explore simply from playing with the octave tones (-1, -2, and +1) layered together with the drive and fuzz sounds and then the filter.
This kind of setup can be considerably more forgiving and require less of a particular playing technique, and yet allows you to play around with and hear how the different envelope settings respond to playing - this can help hone some of the techniques that can aid in precise triggering of the different waveforms...etc.

I have a few more presets I have been meaning to upload on to the app, but haven't got round to it just yet as they will need re-programming to be of use to others as I now standardly route my C4 Bass > Input 1, Output 1 > Input 2, Output 2 > next pedal in chain... this allows me to introduce some feedback into my sounds (a common trick with a MiniMoog), but it can result in patches that will just sound silent for most the sound is coming out of the wrong output for the average setup.

 

[coyoteboy]

Just sold an LA Lady over on fb!

Finder’s fee?

 

[GMC]

I've been watching some of the new EQ2 you tube demos....loving the volume pedal and wah wah over the expression pedal input...that's a really sweet bonus features for sure!