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Synth Bass - Uprade my BS2 to a Moog?

Sandford

Sandford

May 6, 2015
7
7
Mass
#1
Synth advice needed! (Apologies in advance for the long post)

I’m thinking about trading up my novation BS2 for a Moog Sub Phatty. For those of you who have experience with BOTH of these synths:

1) I have a hard time getting the BS2 to cut through the mix when playing bass specific patches and presets. People seem to think the Moog SP excels at this. Thoughts?

2) I feel like sweeping the filter frequency high on the BS2 knocks out a lot of low end, but maybe this is just with the patches I have dialed in. Does the Moog ladder filter keep low end better during sweeps?

3) The BS2 sub oscillator to me often sounds (in either sine wave or square wave) like a separate tone sitting below the higher oscillators. Even at only 1 octave below. I’d like the sub oscillator to sound more blended with the other oscillators if that makes sense. Is the SP better at this?

4) I thought I’d use the arp and sequencer in the BS2 more than I actually do. The sequencer especially seems clunky to use. Anybody having success with separate hardware sequencers on the SP? The Korg SQ-1 looks interesting.

Like I said, long post but I’d definitely appreciate feedback to any or all of these points or any other factors you’ve found between the two. My context is worship team at church but also I jam regularly with 2 other guys in a “power trio” style playing jam/rock/blues music.

Thanks!
Greg
 
#3
The Moog Ladder filter will create a gradual drop-off of low end as resonance is increased, yes. Most filters do to some degree, though. Of course it never stopped the Mini from being a legendary bass synth. The more resonant Moog basses sit in the mix the way a bass guitar is often slotted in - sitting on top of the kick drum, with the latter providing the lowest of the low end.

Tastes vary on this but, based on the multitude of Sub Phatty demos I listened to at one point, I think I prefer the overall tone of the older Little Phatties I used to own. But I prefer the sound of the Behringer D I use now to any of the Phatties - the Behringer sounds more like a Minimoog, as you'd expect from the design, and does Mini bass like a champ. But of course it has no patch memory. And no keyboard, so a separate controller is needed.
 
#5
David Vector said:
The Moog Ladder filter will create a gradual drop-off of low end as resonance is increased, yes. Most filters do to some degree, though. Of course it never stopped the Mini from being a legendary bass synth. The more resonant Moog basses sit in the mix the way a bass guitar is often slotted in - sitting on top of the kick drum, with the latter providing the lowest of the low end.

Tastes vary on this but, based on the multitude of Sub Phatty demos I listened to at one point, I think I prefer the overall tone of the older Little Phatties I used to own. But I prefer the sound of the Behringer D I use now to any of the Phatties - the Behringer sounds more like a Minimoog, as you'd expect from the design, and does Mini bass like a champ. But of course it has no patch memory. And no keyboard, so a separate controller is needed.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the insight! I ended up purchasing the SP, excited to see how it does.
 

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