Synth bass...what is the recipe?

[cultrvultr]

I've been following this thread with a lot of interest because I've been on this same expensive journey trying to make my bass sound like a synth. After yet another gig of spending the whole night messing with synth pedals and still being disappointed with my tone, I went out and got a used Novation Xio.

Guess what, it sounds just like a synth! 25 keys and smaller than my pedalboard, battery powered for gigs, plugs right into my bass amp. 3 osc and a 24db filter to cop the moog tones at 1/3rd the price of an OS or G5 with no tracking issues to worry about. Its going to be a whole new instrument to learn, but I think it will be worth it to finally play the sounds I've been working so hard to create with little success.

I love playing the bass, and nothing will ever replace the sound of a real bass (and bass player) but I feel like I've learned the hard way that it is not always the right tool for the job.

 

[JohnDavisNYC]

well, the pedals route is not for everyone, but for some of us it works quite well!

for me, i use a mostly analog signal chain, with any digital stuff relegated to time domain processing... i need it to FEEL like bass... synths are fun, but i much prefer being able to play with the feel of a bassist, rather than the feel of a keyboard players left hand.

john

 

[Jerry J]

I started this tread since I had been told that putting together an Octave-fuzz-filter setup would get me a great synth sound. I had no specific song or sound in mind to target.

So I did get all the pieces and found that the fuzz seemed to overrun everything. I wasn't real happy with the outcome. So I just wanted to make sure that I had the sequence of pedals correct. This led me test out quite a few fuzz type pedals to test out in the mix. Fortunately I didn't have to buy them to try them.

So I'm still fooling around with what has been suggested here in this thread as there have been some really great clips. Very much appreciated.

I just checked out the Novation Xio. Pretty cool little synth. While I was out and about I ran across a Korg MicroKorg keyboard and found that it does basically the same thing as the Xio. Pretty fun little mini keyboard. Thanks for the info on the Xio.

 

[DosiYanarchy]

I just noticed this. You said "in the loop"? And I think that you asked somewhere if the 3leaf groove regulator has a loop. Yes it does. What is the difference from just running things in line?

AFAIK - running stuff into a filter will effect the envelope control of the filter (especially fuzz) this can be cool but unless your fuzz is very dynamically sensitive (i mean as sensitive as your clean playing) you'll lose the 'wahow' sound and just get a sort of screaming 'whAAAAA' sound (lol i should do some clips to demonstrate but i sold my qtron+ long ago).

also of course the effects loop is just that, you can set up as many effects as you want, and as soon as you step on the Qtron+ *BAM* they're all on, unlike a regular filter where you'd have to switch them all one one at a time.

with effects in the loop of a filter pedal, they usualy (at least on the qtron+) bypass the envelope section so the actual filter is triggered by your clean tone (or whatever you run INTO it) but the actual sound coming out is with whatever you put in the loop. so you can pile on the filthiest most un-dynamic pedal ever (like the blowtorch) and it'll sound funky and touch responsive.


The Pigtronix EP1 Envelope Phaser has a Trigger input for just this (and other purposes) - i can run the clean output from my blowtorch into it and the effected output into the EP1's regular input and it'll react the same whether the blowtorch is on or off.

 

[takfar]

How about Fuzz+octave+wah for a laborious, manually controlled synth? Would that work?

in other words, I've bought a wah (weeping demon), but don't want to spend money on an envelope filter, hahah..

 

[moonbass-de]

I'm pretty happy with my Chunk Systems Brown Dog Fuzz with the Agent Funk - they are connected with a trigger cable.

 

[cultrvultr]

I just checked out the Novation Xio. Pretty cool little synth. While I was out and about I ran across a Korg MicroKorg keyboard and found that it does basically the same thing as the Xio. Pretty fun little mini keyboard. Thanks for the info on the Xio.

Jerry, (or anybody else) let me know if you do pick up the Xio. The presets kind of suck, so I've put together a 100 sound bank of only synth basses I was able to find online, I can send you the bank as a sysex file, so you can have a bass-only synth. My next project is to tweak those sounds to make them sound good! Most of them are very 'electronica' and won't fit well with a live band.

p.s. If you're in Portland, check out the Link Removed a great live soul band. The bass player plays a Dingwall ab-II and a little phatty through a demeter pre/berg IP 310. An amazing sound!