Struggling with C4/aftershock

[eddododo]

Hello all,

i’m finding myself simultaneously blown away and frustrated by the C4 and Aftershock pedals.

other people have sung their praises, and I think echo the sentiment.. first off they sound great The various building blocks are distinct and powerful, and I think they made some smart choices in what they gave and withheld in terms of control…

but that’s the thing, there is too much. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that the spectrum of *massive tweakability* versus *simple but good-sounding character and control* is a matter of taste.. but it’s not the overwhelming options, so much as the lack of baseline that’s getting me. It’s less of a problem on the aftershock, but on the C4, it takes a ton of time and attention and effort to take it from input to waveform to usable synth bass sound.. and a lot of ways to make it sound very bad along the way

but here’s the rub- it’s really easy to spend hours making sounds that sound amazing at home, and then you try to use them at practice and they sound terrible and the levels aren’t scaled well.

OK, no problem, you’re resourceful, so you get back into the editor, and you cleverly assign useful parameters to the knobs, and maybe you go all out and have an external switch and exppedal, and all of this is just to tweak the sound and get it right, perhaps you can take the live adjustments and make them concrete in the preset afterwards.

okay so there’s a new problem- first you have to choose- Do I want it set up where you a) Stomp the switch and the knobs are ignored, with preset setting favored? Or b) the knobs are ‘read’ and override the preset for those settings. Okay, ‘a)’ sounds good- OOPS. I want to switch ‘modes’ on the pedal for this next song. Shoot, I lose all of the careful tweaking I did on sound ‘a’

I think at that point you can save the preset on ‘a’ before switching; but then you lose your homecrafted preset for that channel.


And it’s just this constant back-and-forth between trying to spend some time making creative sounds, and then being frustrated when I try to use them.. and even if you get it dialed in for practice, it may not play nice at the next gig, and especially the C4 can be SUPER overwhelmingly powerful too, so I need a limiter and other considerations just to be able to run that pedal and not blow something out.


The aftershock has been a little easier.. using basically the stock settings for any of the voice engines, maybe boosting the bass, has worked well, and I even have a couple really unique sounds that make the pedal worth keeping alone.. and if I was more annoyed I could add an expression pedal for the volume and dial everything in. But the C4 has been a real beast.. it’s so powerful, but I wish there were either WAY MORE or WAY LESS parameters to control.. I find if I try to approach it like synthesis, that it’s just frustrating and limited. If I try to use it like an encapsulated ‘octave->clipping->filter’ pedal, it kinda falls short and is hard to make sound good, and then if I try to really go from the ground up, there are a thousand things along the way that can make it sound unusable that aren’t very apparent out of a mix, and many of them simply can’t even be addressed very well.

it’s worth keeping for me JUST for swell synth, some quacking, and the dry bass with swell.. but it’s just crazy that I can’t seem to get a nice usable ‘mono synth bass’ nimble round chewy voicing.



I know I suck at this, but man, what are y’all doing to tame this thing and get more out of it??



edit- I know you can use the phone to use the app on the go.. but a) my super cool phone has no headphone jack and b) I don’t know, that sounds kinda terrible and tedious. I guess I have no right to complain if I don’t at least try it..

 

[Col Pruse]

I can't offer any assistance, but after a few tries, I've learned I don't jive with these super pedals from TC and Source Audio.

Way too many options for me to want to deal with. I have a multi mod pedal I really like that has a 3 way switch. I use two and switch back between phaser and Flanger. Playing live I'd forget to flip the switch half the time.

I currently have a Source Audio Spectrum but obviously haven't gelled with it. Ready to move it on.

 

[sunbeast]

Hello all,

i’m finding myself simultaneously blown away and frustrated by the C4 and Aftershock pedals.

other people have sung their praises, and I think echo the sentiment.. first off they sound great The various building blocks are distinct and powerful, and I think they made some smart choices in what they gave and withheld in terms of control…

but that’s the thing, there is too much. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that the spectrum of *massive tweakability* versus *simple but good-sounding character and control* is a matter of taste.. but it’s not the overwhelming options, so much as the lack of baseline that’s getting me. It’s less of a problem on the aftershock, but on the C4, it takes a ton of time and attention and effort to take it from input to waveform to usable synth bass sound.. and a lot of ways to make it sound very bad along the way

but here’s the rub- it’s really easy to spend hours making sounds that sound amazing at home, and then you try to use them at practice and they sound terrible and the levels aren’t scaled well.

OK, no problem, you’re resourceful, so you get back into the editor, and you cleverly assign useful parameters to the knobs, and maybe you go all out and have an external switch and exppedal, and all of this is just to tweak the sound and get it right, perhaps you can take the live adjustments and make them concrete in the preset afterwards.

okay so there’s a new problem- first you have to choose- Do I want it set up where you a) Stomp the switch and the knobs are ignored, with preset setting favored? Or b) the knobs are ‘read’ and override the preset for those settings. Okay, ‘a)’ sounds good- OOPS. I want to switch ‘modes’ on the pedal for this next song. Shoot, I lose all of the careful tweaking I did on sound ‘a’

I think at that point you can save the preset on ‘a’ before switching; but then you lose your homecrafted preset for that channel.


And it’s just this constant back-and-forth between trying to spend some time making creative sounds, and then being frustrated when I try to use them.. and even if you get it dialed in for practice, it may not play nice at the next gig, and especially the C4 can be SUPER overwhelmingly powerful too, so I need a limiter and other considerations just to be able to run that pedal and not blow something out.


The aftershock has been a little easier.. using basically the stock settings for any of the voice engines, maybe boosting the bass, has worked well, and I even have a couple really unique sounds that make the pedal worth keeping alone.. and if I was more annoyed I could add an expression pedal for the volume and dial everything in. But the C4 has been a real beast.. it’s so powerful, but I wish there were either WAY MORE or WAY LESS parameters to control.. I find if I try to approach it like synthesis, that it’s just frustrating and limited. If I try to use it like an encapsulated ‘octave->clipping->filter’ pedal, it kinda falls short and is hard to make sound good, and then if I try to really go from the ground up, there are a thousand things along the way that can make it sound unusable that aren’t very apparent out of a mix, and many of them simply can’t even be addressed very well.

it’s worth keeping for me JUST for swell synth, some quacking, and the dry bass with swell.. but it’s just crazy that I can’t seem to get a nice usable ‘mono synth bass’ nimble round chewy voicing.



I know I suck at this, but man, what are y’all doing to tame this thing and get more out of it??



edit- I know you can use the phone to use the app on the go.. but a) my super cool phone has no headphone jack and b) I don’t know, that sounds kinda terrible and tedious. I guess I have no right to complain if I don’t at least try it..

Well you have to decide if that "tedious" step is worth it ultimately- without the app, setting up the C4 is always going to be frustrating unless you are lucky enough to find the perfect Community patches that already do exactly what you want with just simple tweaks of volume and input gain. I am unaware of any other pedal that does everything the C4 can directly through onboard menus either- you are essentially programming an entire synthesizer the size of a relatively small FX pedal, that's just the reality (compare the Future Impact for example which has similar deep capabilities, and has a bit more rough onboard control but also no option at all for on-site editing without a full-on computer and MIDI interface). If you want something more basic without all the editing that the C4 requires then you might check out the big Boss SY unit (but in that case you pretty much only get to tweak limited existing presets rather than building anything from the ground up). I also don't jive well with computer editing compared to having everything I need directly on a knob, but I also don't want a pedal the size of a synthesizer on my pedalboard so I am willing to make the compromise!

I think using the app with the C4 is fairly vital to getting patches dialed in for the band, at least for more involved patches (simple things like a basic envelope filter or octave patch can be made at home with enough control assigned on the pedal to tweak to taste for me, YMMV). Once you've done that level of tweaking with the band for the more involved patches then knob assignments help for the few parameters that might need quick adjustment at a gig- if you use "Preset" mode, then when you do adjust parameters on the pedal you can hold the button down and it will resave the preset with the adjustments recorded. I assume you use an iPhone? If so, a Lightning port to 1/8" female adaptor is all you need to make up for the lack of headphone port, though the current update that allows for 2-way communication when using the Camera Adaptor dongle through the C4 USB port is far more powerful.

 

[bassbrad]

There is a huge potential with all the Source Audio pedals and that is part of the challenge and the fun to me. I looked at all the switching options and such and went with an inexpensive laptop that I added to my gig rig along with a USB hub so I can access Neuro for all my SA pedals whenever needed. It works much better than the phone app or a midi switcher which I could never figure out. Having a computer screen and a mouse is so much simpler than trying to use the phone app for my bass player fingerz.

It does take time to master Neuro, I honestly still have not and seem to discover something new all the time.
My process for getting sounds is:

Audition sounds from the Neuro Cloud, when I find one I like or is close I will start to make adjustments for my style/sound. I'll then save it to my Cloud and C4 and may tinker for a few days until satisfied. Once I am with the band we will sound check any new sounds I have and make adjustments. I have my C4 set up with a big knob for output volume that I can adjust on the fly everything else is in preset mode.

The SA & Zoom pedals are all connected to a USB Hub and there is a Neuro Hub hiding under the board.

 

[slimefuzz]

I don't have the answer, but it's like learning a whole new instrument, so it
might take a few thousand hours ;}
I love the C4. Try starting with a single voice with pitch tracking filter set to 1 octave on
the clean sound, then add another with square and or triangle wave and play with
the mixture. assign the filter frq to knob or exp and test.

 

[PollyDahl]

I've auditioned the Aftershock and, very recently, the c4. Both pedals, but ESPECIALLY the c4, were frustrating to the point that after an hour or so of tweaking I couldn't stand the idea of playing them. They literally made me not want to play music. Both were returned. I thought the Aftershock had some totally decent sounds in available, but nothing too impressive compared to my favorite analog pedals. The SA software editor is a nightmare in my experience. I really don't understand how a gigging musician with friends, family, job and any kind of social life can find the time to sit and fiddle with it but hey...a lot of people love em. I also don't love the idea that in order for these units to really be useful in a live setting you need to buy additional SA gear.

By comparison the Future Impact synth pedal was a breeze to get good sounds out of right on the pedal itself with no editor required. That said the FI's software editor is more intuitive than SA's in my opinion. At a certain point you just have to be able to play and not spend hours adjusting parameters on your gear. For me SA's pedals made playing and enjoying music almost impossible and the whole experience was pretty miserable.

 

[tonymcbony]

I relate to this experience a lot.

They are jack of ALLLLL trades, master of none pedals.

Aftershock just never really sounds particularly good no matter how hard you tweak - I don’t think the dirt engines are there and I say that having made the most ‘s community preset on there.

C4 sounds are really good but there’s no great stock presets, and you’re scrolling for ages taste testing community patches or being overwhelmed by vast amount of options available.

I think their real issue is 1) they don’t have really useable, awesome stock presets for people to bounce off from 2) their UX is either too simple (box controls only) or kitchen sink. If they kept the current editor as “advanced” mode and had a simplified UX/UI mode that maybe squished options together so that people could tweak with guard rails on, they’d have solved the problem.

it’s kind like how a Marshall amp’s controls aren’t a graphic eq - they have three knobs that gently effect the sound so you can’t ever sound really bad.

 

[sunbeast]

I relate to this experience a lot.

They are jack of ALLLLL trades, master of none pedals.

Aftershock just never really sounds particularly good no matter how hard you tweak - I don’t think the dirt engines are there and I say that having made the most ‘s community preset on there.

C4 sounds are really good but there’s no great stock presets, and you’re scrolling for ages taste testing community patches or being overwhelmed by vast amount of options available.

I think their real issue is 1) they don’t have really useable, awesome stock presets for people to bounce off from 2) their UX is either too simple (box controls only) or kitchen sink. If they kept the current editor as “advanced” mode and had a simplified UX/UI mode that maybe squished options together so that people could tweak with guard rails on, they’d have solved the problem.

it’s kind like how a Marshall amp’s controls aren’t a graphic eq - they have three knobs that gently effect the sound so you can’t ever sound really bad.

I think the main issue with the C4 from your perspective is that you just want a pedal that emulates specific sounds that you’ve heard before (ie- a “presets” type of synth like a Yamaha DX7 or something which is a synth that most users don’t try to create anything from scratch on, but on the other hand you’ve heard the same sounds countless times as a result). If you read about the conception of the C4, it was made instead to emulate a modular synth setup- and anyone who has played with actual modular synthesis can attest to the fact that recreating specific tones twice can be a bit of a struggle due to the sheerly endless tweakability available. The funny thing is that due to the lack of processing power, the C4 actually exists somewhere in between a simplified presets type instrument and a truly modular type instrument. You see this in the “preset” ASDR envelopes (no actual ASDR knobs), limited voice options, limited routing options, etc. To me, it is a fairly dumbed-down synth engine in some ways compared to what inspired it, though also in some ways more powerful than just about anything else for mono-synth tones in pedal form (the Future Impact is comparable). It is frustrating having to rely on a computer or phone (and sometimes glitchy interface with the pedal) in order to do that deep modular tweaking stuff though- the beauty of a hardware modular synth is having controls for every function accessible at arms-length (which also means a giant rack-sized jumble of knobs, switches and cables by necessity).

Just depends on your expectations really. As SA have frequently pointed out, they left the preset design to the user community- which is genius in the sense of variety of takes available, but also means an ultimately unlimited set of sounds to dig through (not all of them particularly good) if you don’t want to start from scratch- I’ve had the best luck scrolling with the list ordered by “most-popular” and tweaking sounds I find interesting from there (ends up being not unlike scrolling the factory presets on a hardware synth when you approach it that way)

 

[HelpImaRock]

Option paralysis is why I've stuck with the Multiwave Bass Distortion over the Ultrawave. I'm sure I'd really like the Ultra. But I get what I need now.

 

[JRMK]

@GMC OP issues sound like your calling

 

[landrybass]

I’ve given my spectrum pedal so many chances. It’s been on and off and back on and off and back on my board and still kinda meh. I experience the same thing. Finally got a good sound! And then play with a band. Levels are always off, especially playing different basses with different outputs. Still searching for that envelope filter to scratch the itch.

 

[aprod]

I’ve given my spectrum pedal so many chances. It’s been on and off and back on and off and back on my board and still kinda meh. I experience the same thing. Finally got a good sound! And then play with a band. Levels are always off, especially playing different basses with different outputs. Still searching for that envelope filter to scratch the itch.

This is my experience also. I went back to my MXR82.

 

[Killing Floor]

Don’t forget what the function controls are for on your C4 patches. Sometimes that’s where I’ve goofed from home to loud.

Also, not to sound like (me) but build your settings at gig volume. Just like any pedal from any brand.

There are a lot of resources within TB for SA users.

 

[tonymcbony]

26725917[/URL], member: 76474"]I think the main issue with the C4 from your perspective is that you just want a pedal that emulates specific sounds that you’ve heard before (ie- a “presets” type of synth like a Yamaha DX7 or something which is a synth that most users don’t try to create anything from scratch on, but on the other hand you’ve heard the same sounds countless times as a result). If you read about the conception of the C4, it was made instead to emulate a modular synth setup- and anyone who has played with actual modular synthesis can attest to the fact that recreating specific tones twice can be a bit of a struggle due to the sheerly endless tweakability available. The funny thing is that due to the lack of processing power, the C4 actually exists somewhere in between a simplified presets type instrument and a truly modular type instrument. You see this in the “preset” ASDR envelopes (no actual ASDR knobs), limited voice options, limited routing options, etc. To me, it is a fairly dumbed-down synth engine in some ways compared to what inspired it, though also in some ways more powerful than just about anything else for mono-synth tones in pedal form (the Future Impact is comparable). It is frustrating having to rely on a computer or phone (and sometimes glitchy interface with the pedal) in order to do that deep modular tweaking stuff though- the beauty of a hardware modular synth is having controls for every function accessible at arms-length (which also means a giant rack-sized jumble of knobs, switches and cables by necessity).

Just depends on your expectations really. As SA have frequently pointed out, they left the preset design to the user community- which is genius in the sense of variety of takes available, but also means an ultimately unlimited set of sounds to dig through (not all of them particularly good) if you don’t want to start from scratch- I’ve had the best luck scrolling with the list ordered by “most-popular” and tweaking sounds I find interesting from there (ends up being not unlike scrolling the factory presets on a hardware synth when you approach it that way)

I totally agree with what you’re saying, particularly with the C4.

Contrary to what might be picked up from my earlier post, I really liked mine and had fun kicking about making weird noises - the experimentation is really fun although I think there is a learning curve of having to work out how synths build their sound.

I would get another, but it’s definitely a pedal that you need to sit down and understand and it doesn’t give up the goods until you get the theory of what you’re up to. If you go in with the expectation that you’re going to basically loop a bass line and then go nuts twiddling knobs for an afternoon, you’ll have a great time.

 

[sunbeast]

I totally agree with what you’re saying, particularly with the C4.

Contrary to what might be picked up from my earlier post, I really liked mine and had fun kicking about making weird noises - the experimentation is really fun although I think there is a learning curve of having to work out how synths build their sound.

I would get another, but it’s definitely a pedal that you need to sit down and understand and it doesn’t give up the goods until you get the theory of what you’re up to. If you go in with the expectation that you’re going to basically loop a bass line and then go nuts twiddling knobs for an afternoon, you’ll have a great time.

Totally- it is capable of some very crazy and potentially inspiring stuff, but obviously potentially problematic for the faint of heart who get "option paranoia" easily. I think its tough for some people to intentionally avoid excess complication- for example, with the Spectrum you can program 4 parameters plus have the always-available Volume/Blend/Sensitivity/Input Gain which is more control than the vast majority of envelope filters without needing to ever open the app again once you've chosen your basic starting point sound or preset. And using "Preset Mode" you can change those parameters and resave at will without the app.

Obviously when you dig into more complicated sounds, and particularly on the C4 which only has 2 programmable parameters (vs the 4 on the Spectrum) then you might indeed run into issues that you need the app to adjust the first few times you try them in a mix. Of course that is the price to be be paid for having such extensive options available in such a small and fairly affordable pedal (I imagine a Strymon Timeline or HX Stomp type interface in a C4 with onboard access to every parameter via screen menus would likely at least double or even triple the pricetag and size of the pedal)

 

[Swamp_Ronin]

I thought I would be an exception to the large group of people who feel like the c4 is overwhelming. I am not. Too many parameters. I can get most of the synth sounds I want from 4-5 other pedals. Glad some of you have mastered the C4 though. It is powerful

 

[groove pump]

I thought I would be an exception to the large group of people who feel like the c4 is overwhelming. I am not. Too many parameters. I can get most of the synth sounds I want from 4-5 other pedals. Glad some of you have mastered the C4 though. It is powerful

Same here. Got one several months ago and tried to wade into things, but it knocked me on my keester. Once my summer endeavors slow down and I get time to take another dive, I'll try to get a few useful sounds together for the more funky material that the band is adding to our catalog.

But I could easily see myself moving on and eventually ending up sort of like you with a small array of other pedals.

 

[kevmac]

Hello all,

i’m finding myself simultaneously blown away and frustrated by the C4 and Aftershock pedals.

other people have sung their praises, and I think echo the sentiment.. first off they sound great The various building blocks are distinct and powerful, and I think they made some smart choices in what they gave and withheld in terms of control…

but that’s the thing, there is too much. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that the spectrum of *massive tweakability* versus *simple but good-sounding character and control* is a matter of taste.. but it’s not the overwhelming options, so much as the lack of baseline that’s getting me. It’s less of a problem on the aftershock, but on the C4, it takes a ton of time and attention and effort to take it from input to waveform to usable synth bass sound.. and a lot of ways to make it sound very bad along the way

but here’s the rub- it’s really easy to spend hours making sounds that sound amazing at home, and then you try to use them at practice and they sound terrible and the levels aren’t scaled well.

OK, no problem, you’re resourceful, so you get back into the editor, and you cleverly assign useful parameters to the knobs, and maybe you go all out and have an external switch and exppedal, and all of this is just to tweak the sound and get it right, perhaps you can take the live adjustments and make them concrete in the preset afterwards.

okay so there’s a new problem- first you have to choose- Do I want it set up where you a) Stomp the switch and the knobs are ignored, with preset setting favored? Or b) the knobs are ‘read’ and override the preset for those settings. Okay, ‘a)’ sounds good- OOPS. I want to switch ‘modes’ on the pedal for this next song. Shoot, I lose all of the careful tweaking I did on sound ‘a’

I think at that point you can save the preset on ‘a’ before switching; but then you lose your homecrafted preset for that channel.


And it’s just this constant back-and-forth between trying to spend some time making creative sounds, and then being frustrated when I try to use them.. and even if you get it dialed in for practice, it may not play nice at the next gig, and especially the C4 can be SUPER overwhelmingly powerful too, so I need a limiter and other considerations just to be able to run that pedal and not blow something out.


The aftershock has been a little easier.. using basically the stock settings for any of the voice engines, maybe boosting the bass, has worked well, and I even have a couple really unique sounds that make the pedal worth keeping alone.. and if I was more annoyed I could add an expression pedal for the volume and dial everything in. But the C4 has been a real beast.. it’s so powerful, but I wish there were either WAY MORE or WAY LESS parameters to control.. I find if I try to approach it like synthesis, that it’s just frustrating and limited. If I try to use it like an encapsulated ‘octave->clipping->filter’ pedal, it kinda falls short and is hard to make sound good, and then if I try to really go from the ground up, there are a thousand things along the way that can make it sound unusable that aren’t very apparent out of a mix, and many of them simply can’t even be addressed very well.

it’s worth keeping for me JUST for swell synth, some quacking, and the dry bass with swell.. but it’s just crazy that I can’t seem to get a nice usable ‘mono synth bass’ nimble round chewy voicing.



I know I suck at this, but man, what are y’all doing to tame this thing and get more out of it??



edit- I know you can use the phone to use the app on the go.. but a) my super cool phone has no headphone jack and b) I don’t know, that sounds kinda terrible and tedious. I guess I have no right to complain if I don’t at least try it..

I'd like to have some of the problem you mention.My problem with both (I sold the c4 due to this) is that I can't get to first base.I just want to recall the user presets.I have followed the directions and use the included cable but I don't connect to them.So now I have whatever is included with the controls on the face of it.I like the sounds but it's no different than a generic distortion pedal w/o the extras.I wish it was more like the TC Electronics Tone Works,the one piece of tech I could use right out of the box.In theory the SA stuff is the shizzle.Not so much for me though.

 

[DuluthDank]

I tried a Source Audio pedal but returned it. Spending time tweaking pedals when I could be practicing makes me miserable. I general, sometimes it's easier to be happy when you have fewer options.

 

[el murdoque]

Hello all,

i’m finding myself simultaneously blown away and frustrated by the C4 and Aftershock pedals.

other people have sung their praises, and I think echo the sentiment.. first off they sound great The various building blocks are distinct and powerful, and I think they made some smart choices in what they gave and withheld in terms of control…

but that’s the thing, there is too much. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that the spectrum of *massive tweakability* versus *simple but good-sounding character and control* is a matter of taste.. but it’s not the overwhelming options, so much as the lack of baseline that’s getting me. It’s less of a problem on the aftershock, but on the C4, it takes a ton of time and attention and effort to take it from input to waveform to usable synth bass sound.. and a lot of ways to make it sound very bad along the way

but here’s the rub- it’s really easy to spend hours making sounds that sound amazing at home, and then you try to use them at practice and they sound terrible and the levels aren’t scaled well.

OK, no problem, you’re resourceful, so you get back into the editor, and you cleverly assign useful parameters to the knobs, and maybe you go all out and have an external switch and exppedal, and all of this is just to tweak the sound and get it right, perhaps you can take the live adjustments and make them concrete in the preset afterwards.

okay so there’s a new problem- first you have to choose- Do I want it set up where you a) Stomp the switch and the knobs are ignored, with preset setting favored? Or b) the knobs are ‘read’ and override the preset for those settings. Okay, ‘a)’ sounds good- OOPS. I want to switch ‘modes’ on the pedal for this next song. Shoot, I lose all of the careful tweaking I did on sound ‘a’

I think at that point you can save the preset on ‘a’ before switching; but then you lose your homecrafted preset for that channel.


And it’s just this constant back-and-forth between trying to spend some time making creative sounds, and then being frustrated when I try to use them.. and even if you get it dialed in for practice, it may not play nice at the next gig, and especially the C4 can be SUPER overwhelmingly powerful too, so I need a limiter and other considerations just to be able to run that pedal and not blow something out.


The aftershock has been a little easier.. using basically the stock settings for any of the voice engines, maybe boosting the bass, has worked well, and I even have a couple really unique sounds that make the pedal worth keeping alone.. and if I was more annoyed I could add an expression pedal for the volume and dial everything in. But the C4 has been a real beast.. it’s so powerful, but I wish there were either WAY MORE or WAY LESS parameters to control.. I find if I try to approach it like synthesis, that it’s just frustrating and limited. If I try to use it like an encapsulated ‘octave->clipping->filter’ pedal, it kinda falls short and is hard to make sound good, and then if I try to really go from the ground up, there are a thousand things along the way that can make it sound unusable that aren’t very apparent out of a mix, and many of them simply can’t even be addressed very well.

it’s worth keeping for me JUST for swell synth, some quacking, and the dry bass with swell.. but it’s just crazy that I can’t seem to get a nice usable ‘mono synth bass’ nimble round chewy voicing.



I know I suck at this, but man, what are y’all doing to tame this thing and get more out of it??



edit- I know you can use the phone to use the app on the go.. but a) my super cool phone has no headphone jack and b) I don’t know, that sounds kinda terrible and tedious. I guess I have no right to complain if I don’t at least try it..

There is a learning curve to building a synthesizer from scratch. The C4 is a pedal that lets you build a synthesizer from scratch. But you don't have to.

I started off by simply browsing presets with my mobile phone and putting them into the pedal with the 1/8" to 1/4" cable. Since there are thousands of user made presets, this kept me busy for a while.

The next step was understanding the Neuro software.
Instead of building my stuff from scratch, I started off by tweaking presets to my liking.
I think I had the C4 on my board for well over a year before I made my first synth all on my own, starting from scratch.

How something sounds in your bedroom vs. how it sounds in a mix is an old problem for bassists and it's not
limited to synthesizers. All I can offer in that regard is to find useful playalong tracks (there are many on YT)
and feed them into your mixer at home along with your bass signal.