Which synth pedal?

[Frank77]

Obtaining synth sounds on bass is a difficult task. Lately I've found a combination that sounds great by itself or for recording, but gets buried live. The main ingredients are a mastotron and a bass octave deluxe. Adding enveloppe filter after can get you the sound from Herbie Hancock's "Chameleon" pretty acurately. But again, depending on what your band is made of, it might get you lost in the mix. I don't know if dedicated synth pedals would do the same, but my educated guess is that they would.

 

[Mosfed]

The Future Impact is the best in class. I hear the Dirty robot is pretty fun though.

 

[Clef_de_fa]

Nothing will beat keys for tracking

 

[Nighttrain1127]

Future Impact is the way to go if you are going to be using it enough to justify the cost. I have a Dirty Robot But I would Suggest also looking at the Electro harmonics Bass micro Synth. There are several good sound examples in the book and it is easy to tweak to suit your needs from there . The Dirty Robot is fun and can cop some great sounds but the BMS is more versatile INHO.

 

[Al Garcia]

the Boss SY-300 is a heck of a beast, plenty of synth, filter, arpeggio, multi effects, routing, and fast faultless tracking.

I use the SY-300 and a Roland GR-55 in my rig.

I agree. The SY-300 can do just about anything. It's called a guitar synth but it has a setting for bass. Huge synth bass sounds.

 

[Cat-A-Tonic]

This demo of the Boss SY-300
with custom patches by Jim O'rourke
certainly helps sell the machine.

 

[moles]

I have a huge volume of GAS for an SY-300, but keeping in mind the Future Impact was out of the OP's price-comfort-zone, I don't know that it's the solution here...

 

[azfatboy]

I was actually able to dial in a synthy sound I was trying to reproduce using nothing more than my EHX DBBMP, but it was a pretty straight forward sound.

doing modular setups like an OC2 into a Filter into a Fuzz.

I have recently become aware just how important those synthy sounds are going to be for me, and I have been trying to figure out a way. I already have an OC-3 and a Bass Synth Wah, and my Aftershock should arrive today, so I am definitely going to try this out. Thanks!

Are you familiar with the Panda Audio Future Impact?

I have read through most of the threads on the Future Impact, and while I thought it was cool and versatile, it just seemed like it did WAAAAAAAY more than I needed (and of course the cost...) I wish there was a slightly scaled down "Present Impact" pedal...

 

[The Rage]

BOSS SY300 Seems great on bass also:

 

[Deleted member 165050]

I owned the Markbass, it has many unfortunate quirks but it is definitely a very solid pedal. It's no Future Impact but it's a great budget option if you can get it for that price (I've seen that price and similar).

The Super Synth has the added bonus of being one of the best tracking octave pedals available, if you can put up with the computer-only patch editing.

 

[NullPorch]

Some technique helps with that sound too. Try playing the 1/2 division of the string length for each note as well (it can be approximate) and don't play apoyando to avoid the string striking frets as much as possible. It helps limit the harmonics that make a bass sound like a natural stringed instrument and give the note a more synthetic quality. Otherwise, I know practically nothing about effects pedals.

 

[cavemanbass]

Future Impact is the way to go if you are going to be using it enough to justify the cost. I have a Dirty Robot But I would Suggest also looking at the Electro harmonics Bass micro Synth. There are several good sound examples in the book and it is easy to tweak to suit your needs from there . The Dirty Robot is fun and can cop some great sounds but the BMS is more versatile INHO.

+1 for BMS

 

[Ren1]

I play a lot of covers of synthy basslines and get good results with and EBS octabass on the high setting, about half clean blended in, with a wonderlove or mxr envelope filter. A little OD sometimes. IME accepting it's not a keyboard and playing in a high register w a good octave sound and a filter will still give a tune the right feel live. This will sound better than trying to make your bass sound like a computer and falling short. a bad synth sound can kill the low end a get you buried in the mix.
Alternatively, just play it clean. check some videos of Bruno Mars' luve band, the bass player generally just plays the lines clean and it works just fine. He's also a great player

 

[Scott Lynch]

I use a BG with octave/fuzz/filter as well as a keyboard for synth duties.

I wait to be proven wrong but IMO there is no substitute for a keyboard synth when it comes to nailing those tones. While I enjoy getting some hybrid-type sounds with my 3leaf stuff, the Moog and Novation are where it's at for me.

Pick yourself up an Ultranova, Gaia or similar VA synth and give it a whirl.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

I would find using individual pedals maddening for this, as chaining effects can lead to odd interactions, sometimes with minor changes of settings (odd peaks in filters driven by things earlier in the chain). I wouldn't trust myself to tweak a set of pedals for more than one sound on a gig.

 

[Timmy-Watts]

So, I have been playing piano all my life, and can play all those lines on a synth. If that's the way to go, I'll start looking into that. I'll have to practice getting the tones and the portamrnto and bendy nuances nailed (that part is easier on BG for me).

So, I'm WAY behind the curve on the gear front for keys. What is a small synth that I could use for this, and has those types of tones?

 

[Scott Lynch]

So, I have been playing piano all my life, and can play all those lines on a synth. If that's the way to go, I'll start looking into that. I'll have to practice getting the tones and the portamrnto and bendy nuances nailed (that part is easier on BG for me).

So, I'm WAY behind the curve on the gear front for keys. What is a small synth that I could use for this, and has those types of tones?

Of the ones I've tried I like the Novation Ultranova and Roland Gaia on the digital side, and the Moog Sub 37 on the analog side.

Important to me are full size keys and at least 3 octaves.

You will need to learn to program your own sounds with these if you're going for the Moog bass type of sounds. A couple of YouTube tutorials and you'll be good to go.

 

[Clef_de_fa]

So, I have been playing piano all my life, and can play all those lines on a synth. If that's the way to go, I'll start looking into that. I'll have to practice getting the tones and the portamrnto and bendy nuances nailed (that part is easier on BG for me).

So, I'm WAY behind the curve on the gear front for keys. What is a small synth that I could use for this, and has those types of tones?

 

[EastCoastThump]

Pitch to midi is still hopeless on bass for fast live playing, unless it's backing slow attack pads and such.
Too slow and glitch....Which is why I recommend the Boss SY-300, real synth using your bass tone as the oscillator source with no midi involved.

Or, if you can play guitar and already have an interface and a laptop or tablet with audio software, have a look at Jam Origin's MIDI Guitar. I've been experimenting with MIDI Guitar 2, controlling sounds in MainStage, Digital Performer, and GarageBand. It's very responsive, it's polyphonic, and it opens up a world of classic and contemporary synth sounds.

[In the OP's case, might as well use a keyboard. Just offering this possibility for any TBers who might prefer to trigger synth sounds from frets rather than keys.]

 

[silky smoove]

Pitch to midi is still hopeless on bass for fast live playing, unless it's backing slow attack pads and such.

While it's not technically pitch being converted to MIDI, the FretTrax system really gets it done in terms of playing a bass and triggering MIDI. Far out of the budget range of most folks, but REALLY impressive tracking none the less.