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

[Billyears IV]

Yesterday I got some free time to work on my basic Overdrive patch for my Ultrawave. It's pretty close to my favourite Bass overdrive of all time: "GMC Bass overdrive" on the Aftershock. For me, mapping this on the Ultrawave is another step close to removing the Aftershock from my board and using the Ultrawave as my sole Dirt pedal. But I have mapped it and here it is: "GMC - Bass Overdrive" for the Ultrawave. It's a fairly low gain overdrive, a nice bit of grit. With lots of useful features. A nice trick with this patch is to pull back the volume on my bass, and punch up the level and grit to compensate. It's very dynamic and versatile. I've set the grit and level to suit my bass...yours will be different, so expect a wee re-dial to get it how you like it.

What I like about the Aftershock is that you can stack two engines in series. So what I've been doing is mapping the Aftershock's mix controls for each channel to a pair of CC knobs on my PC4. This allows me to dial in one or both channels. It's a neat trick and it allows me to select a patch with 2 different engines and mix between them. With my Aftershock's Overdrive patch, I have two identical Bass Tube engines in series. This bumps up the grit and output, but also compresses the dirt to sound super saturated, a bit like a tube amp hitting it's rails. So I wanted to replicate this behaviour on my Ultrawave's patch. So I added a 2nd channel with slightly higher grit settings, kicked on the compressor and dialled in some compression similar to what I was hearing from my Aftershock. I got my 2 tones pretty close and then mapped the Sustain knob to Balance, allowing me to cross fade between the two channels (uncompressed and compressed). It pretty much does what I've been doing with my Aftershock's Overdrive patch. The treble control is default, so that's useful for punching up the brightness (for Synth tones) or dulling it down for retro amp vibes. The nice thing about my Ultrawave's patch is that you don't need external expression or a PC4 to mix the two channels. Everything is accessible from the pedal's 4 knobs.
I just need to do the same for one of my Darkglass / gated Muff patches and a Rat patch.

Thanks for this, I'll check it out later. Good detail behind your approach. I've been exploring basic ODs lately with my UW.

 

[Mr. voodoobass]

Putting the UW on my board made me remove all other dirt from my board. Overdrive, distortion and fuzz, I’ve recreated just about everything I’ve used before. I have a combination of drive+chorus on the hx stomp and one on the h9 that is just perfect for that thing. Other than that, it’s all UW for me.
The trick for me, has been to go mono-parallel-mono. Then have clean and compressed on one side, then mix in different dirt on the other side.
And I feel like I’m still just scratching the surface on this thing…

 

[Billyears IV]

Putting the UW on my board made me remove all other dirt from my board. Overdrive, distortion and fuzz, I’ve recreated just about everything I’ve used before. I have a combination of drive+chorus on the hx stomp and one on the h9 that is just perfect for that thing. Other than that, it’s all UW for me.
The trick for me, has been to go mono-parallel-mono. Then have clean and compressed on one side, then mix in different dirt on the other side.
And I feel like I’m still just scratching the surface on this thing…

Just to be crystal clear, you're meaning the mono>stereo>mono routing option?
And using balance control to operate between those 2 channels?

I've had my UW a couple of months now but still learning - spent ages trying to fully get to grips with morphing and control of.....

Thanks

 

[GMC]

Just to be crystal clear, you're meaning the mono>stereo>mono routing option?
And using balance control to operate between those 2 channels?

I've had my UW a couple of months now but still learning - spent ages trying to fully get to grips with morphing and control of.....

Thanks

Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing with this patch and several others. It doesn't work if you are intending on using the Ultrawave fully stereo, but most guys use dirt in a mono capacity.

 

[Billyears IV]

Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing with this patch and several others. It doesn't work if you are intending on using the Ultrawave fully stereo, but most guys use dirt in a mono capacity.

Cool, thanks.

I bought the exp pedal this week and have been using it to blend wet/dry. I can now use it in similar way between 2 channels. Didnt appreciate that so much before having the exp pedal. Things now happening more in real time, as I play - awesome.

I'm not after full blown distortions so much..... love those interesting 'borderline' sounds when clean starts to break up and then being able to dial in a bit more dirt, at certain parts of the song, is great.

Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing with this patch and several others. It doesn't work if you are intending on using the Ultrawave fully stereo, but most guys use dirt in a mono capacity.

 

[rsmith601]

Cool, thanks.

I bought the exp pedal this week and have been using it to blend wet/dry. I can now use it in similar way between 2 channels. Didnt appreciate that so much before having the exp pedal. Things now happening more in real time, as I play - awesome.

I'm not after full blown distortions so much..... love those interesting 'borderline' sounds when clean starts to break up and then being able to dial in a bit more dirt, at certain parts of the song, is great.

It's been fun to watch your fluency with our stuff grow!! .

 

[Billyears IV]

To any folks like myself, not so familiar with Audiosource and considering the Ultrawave as a distortion pedal, I would think of it as a 'supersonic control centre', rather than a stomp and go.

Distortion and OD is SO SO subjective to tastes, style of music, your rig, amp, playing space, how it sits in the mix of other band/guitarists use of distortion etc etc.

I never found a distortion pedal for bass that I liked. Always sounded OTT and more geared to metal.

But after some learning time, YOU are in control of fine tuning the sounds that you need, for the right purpose. The Ultrawave is absolutely above and beyond other pedals, in the fine control regard.

If you're dipping your toe in, then start with the basic OD sounds, over 1 or 2 bands. Then gradually blend in some distortion (either with wet/dry or across 2 channels). So much subtle options to explore here, rather than full gas fuzzy dirge straight off. Try adding some mild compression, EQ
Then I find those 'simple' distortions all give their own character, depending on what amp/cab sim you might use with another bass processor. Some work better than others. I'm building my set. Some are even being used on top of ODs already used on some patches with the Boss GT-1B. But the UW is giving that extra bit of bite/tone. Icing on the cake.

The UW is sold on its weird & wonderful capabilities (nothing wrong with that) but there's tons to be had with the more basic approaches. Took me some time to return to the basics but Im now getting more out of the UW as a result.

 

[Billyears IV]

It's been fun to watch your fluency with our stuff grow!! .

Hey thanks, really digging my new Exp pedal with my UW (wish Id got one in the first place). There were a few times, where I was finding the distortions less than subtle and scratching my head how to get to what I wanted.... but at the same time not knowing what I wanted ...ha ha!!!

I will put my hand up though and say that I still dont get the whole picture/relationship with the envelope/single tremelo/LFO and the controls thereof...... Ive now got the pen and notebook, trying to be methodical, just using clean channels, recording bits but there's something beyond my grasp. Too much to explain right now.

Is there any chance there might be a demo done on this? Similar to how Nathan Nav went through fundamentals of compression on the vid?

I would gladly pay towards such a demo

 

[jaysbass2002]

I have been out of the loop for a few years and getting back into playing a lot more. I have a few One series pedals and the hub. Can I accomplish all editing through the hub and PC windows? I used to be able to with the soundblox but when I plugged in the Aftershock via hub it shows up but I cannot make changes. Is it just me? Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

 

[jaysbass2002]

I connected via USB and made sure all pedals are updated. In desktop app the Aftershock shows up connected via neuro hub and the editor screen shows. When I make changes nothing happens, sound stays same. I know it's me, any help getting over this hurdle would be great. I've looked at videos as well and no help.

 

[gustobassman]

To any folks like myself, not so familiar with Audiosource and considering the Ultrawave as a distortion pedal, I would think of it as a 'supersonic control centre', rather than a stomp and go.

Distortion and OD is SO SO subjective to tastes, style of music, your rig, amp, playing space, how it sits in the mix of other band/guitarists use of distortion etc etc.

I never found a distortion pedal for bass that I liked. Always sounded OTT and more geared to metal.

But after some learning time, YOU are in control of fine tuning the sounds that you need, for the right purpose. The Ultrawave is absolutely above and beyond other pedals, in the fine control regard.

If you're dipping your toe in, then start with the basic OD sounds, over 1 or 2 bands. Then gradually blend in some distortion (either with wet/dry or across 2 channels). So much subtle options to explore here, rather than full gas fuzzy dirge straight off. Try adding some mild compression, EQ
Then I find those 'simple' distortions all give their own character, depending on what amp/cab sim you might use with another bass processor. Some work better than others. I'm building my set. Some are even being used on top of ODs already used on some patches with the Boss GT-1B. But the UW is giving that extra bit of bite/tone. Icing on the cake.

The UW is sold on its weird & wonderful capabilities (nothing wrong with that) but there's tons to be had with the more basic approaches. Took me some time to return to the basics but Im now getting more out of the UW as a result.

I'm right there with you. First impression had me thrown for a loop, but once I took the time to start with the single band stuff - working my way through to multiband - it started to make more sense. I think @GMC was the one who said that was the best starting point. Then I could see how the compressor reacts to each one, start adding in some motion with the tremolo... now toss in the morph with another distortion flavor and tweak that. Need more? You've got the second channel.

My results have vastly improved since using this kind of approach.

EDIT: I finally used the UW live last night with my reggae band. The BL broke a string so the drummer and I went off. I used a little of the Pulsar setting, some of a tremolo dirt I created, and some killer pads & moog sounds from the C4. Our onstage Dub guy was sending rim shots and block hits the drummer did into oscillation, deep verbs and delays.. it was nutty. people weren't expecting that. At all, lol...

 

[Billyears IV]

Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing with this patch and several others. It doesn't work if you are intending on using the Ultrawave fully stereo, but most guys use dirt in a mono capacity

I'm right there with you. First impression had me thrown for a loop, but once I took the time to start with the single band stuff - working my way through to multiband - it started to make more sense. I think @GMC was the one who said that was the best starting point. Then I could see how the compressor reacts to each one, start adding in some motion with the tremolo... now toss in the morph with another distortion flavor and tweak that. Need more? You've got the second channel.

My results have vastly improved since using this kind of approach.

Yeah, there are UW so many goodies in the bag, it's easy to want to suck it all up at once.
I went back to asking myself why I got the pedal in the first place. Basically, because I'd tried several and watched so many demos of OD /distortion pedals but not found one that I really liked. I've got some options in the Boss GT-1B which are OK and thought I'd stick with those, as I don't use it too often.
I sort of stumbled across the UW and thought this is interesting. But getting the Source Audio expression pedal opened up the control on live playing options. Back to really exploring the range of possible basic OD sounds. This is where the UW has recently started to really shine for myself. I can apply it to band use.

The more elaborate stuff, I don't have such a current outlet for. But more recently I do a fair bit in ableton projects, where a more quirky bass groove sound will be useful.....

 

[Billyears IV]

EDIT: I finally used the UW live last night with my reggae band. The BL broke a string so the drummer and I went off. I used a little of the Pulsar setting, some of a tremolo dirt I created, and some killer pads & moog sounds from the C4. Our onstage Dub guy was sending rim shots and block hits the drummer did into oscillation, deep verbs and delays.. it was nutty. people weren't expecting that. At all, lol...

Hey that sounds sick man! Loved to have been there.
I'm only playing in 1 band atm - alt rock /post punk type stuff. Can be quite expressive but no funk/dub stuff, which I love.
I'll get something going along those lines sometime......and unleashe the UW

 

[Nebraska]

So, I have the Aftershock. What is the UW doing that AS cannot? Would it make sense to have both? Or are they different enough flavors?

 

[adube810]

is there a way to set the effects loop on the c4 to still allow pass through of the effects going through input/output 2 even if the c4 is disengaged?

 

[Quatschmacher]

is there a way to set the effects loop on the c4 to still allow pass through of the effects going through input/output 2 even if the c4 is disengaged?

No, however I have made a preset which passes whatever is in the loop.
Neuro Community by Source Audio

 

[Derek Williams]

is there a way to set the effects loop on the c4 to still allow pass through of the effects going through input/output 2 even if the c4 is disengaged?

The effects loop setting is specifically for turning off the loop when the c4 is disengaged. If you don’t need that functionality, just use the normal 2 channel setup (split up the 4 voices as needed), with the first channel before your other effects and the second channel after. Then your signal will always go through the other pedals.

 

[GMC]

So, I have the Aftershock. What is the UW doing that AS cannot? Would it make sense to have both? Or are they different enough flavors?

I have both and I'm a big fan of the Aftershock. I'm slowly mapping / recreating all of my fav Aftershock patches on my Ultrawave. Soon I'm hoping to just have the Ultrawave on my board. Although I have them both, I don't need them both. The Ultrawave is capable of everything the Aftershock is and a lot more. However, if you are familiar with the dirt pedals that the Aftershock is modelling, then it's an easy patch set up. Everyone knows what a muff or a rat is. However, the Ultrawave is more like a modular circuit design. You choose what type of grit source. It's engines are based on the type of clipping, not a particular pedal model. So an overdrive would use "1 Basic Distortion", a Muff would use "2 Hard Clip". The spluttery gated single twin diode fuzzes, such as Woolley Mammoth, Titan II fuzz etc, is an area that the Aftershock doesn't really do so well. The Ultrawave totally nails it with the "Diode hard Gate" distortion type. You've also got Diode, octave, folder...44 types of distortion circuits. Then there's the multiband splits, morphing, multi band trem, 8 band Graphic and the fantastic in built compressor.
So I can re-create (or create new) pedals based loosely on the circuit type, dial in the 8 band EQ, adjust bass / mids / treble, adjust the HPF & LPF's and then dial in compression. It's very flexible...you have 2 independent channels too. It's not such a quick patch set up as the Aftershock, but it's a lot more powerful and can cover a wider range of distortion tones.
A few guys have found it a bit too much, or a bit "over their heads"....but that's what we are here on this forum to help. So far on this forum, we've nailed the very tricky B:assmaster, Mastotron and Your the Doom type of tones. Three that you won't get very close with on the Aftershock. However, you may find that the Aftershock is already hitting your bass dirt sweet spot.

 

[rsmith601]

I have been out of the loop for a few years and getting back into playing a lot more. I have a few One series pedals and the hub. Can I accomplish all editing through the hub and PC windows? I used to be able to with the soundblox but when I plugged in the Aftershock via hub it shows up but I cannot make changes. Is it just me? Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

@Gibs210 - As I recall, there are some limitiations when talking to the One Series via the Hub vs talking to them directly. Is it knob positions that are not reported? It had been a while and I forget these things!

 

[Billyears IV]

As a first time SA user (just the UW), I can sense a mild obsession starting to creep in....

That C4.... is just SO cool to look at.... Find I have to gaze wistfully at it several times a day....