GarethFlatlands Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 I had an XL for just over a year and really liked it but the small keys and need for programming to get the most out of it put me off. Some great bass presets already in there though, incluing one our PA struggled with. If I hadn't needed the money I'd have kept it. Ended up with a Triton LE which has a lot of usable presets including a couple of good pianos and a load of drum sounds which the XL lacks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodyratm Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 I need to get into this. Got a macbook, interface, usb keyboard and cubase. Anyone reccomend any free stuff i can play around with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2112 Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 I do like to make use of a synth now and then. It has a proper synth though, none of those 'modelling' pedals you can get for your bass guitar. They just never sound great. I had a Roland SH-201 analogue modelling synth, which was a great item. I could sit around with that and mess on with sounds for hours. When I'm in the studio the keys player in our group usually brings his Moog Voyager and a Roland Fantom. Those two items are serious pieces of kit which I love to fiddle on with. At home he has a rare Oberheim Xpander, which is one of my all time favourite synths. Vince Clarke was the master of this one back in the 80's, and it consistently sounds fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalMan Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 [quote name='woodyratm' timestamp='1327928283' post='1518851'] I need to get into this. Got a macbook, interface, usb keyboard and cubase. Anyone reccomend any free stuff i can play around with? [/quote]Try IK Multimedia [url="http://www.ikmultimedia.com/sampletankfree/features/"]Sampletank Free player[/url]. It's free and comes with a [url="http://www.ikmultimedia.com/sampletankfree/sounds/"]set of samples[/url] that includes a few basses Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarethFlatlands Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 [quote name='woodyratm' timestamp='1327928283' post='1518851'] I need to get into this. Got a macbook, interface, usb keyboard and cubase. Anyone reccomend any free stuff i can play around with? [/quote] Try Synth 1, pretty straightforward software synth that should give you a good base to start learning the basics of synth programming but flexible too. Modelled on the Nord lead I think. Claw is the only other one I can think of at the moment, apart from Crystal which is very complex and probably not great for beginners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allihts Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 I've got a Microkorg XL too, I mostly use it for pads and whatnot in quiet songs. Just out of interest where did you find the additional patches from Korg? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcgraham Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 Allihts, [url="http://www.korg.co.uk/downloads/microkorgxl/editor/KorgUSA_MicroKORGXL_bank.zip"]http://www.korg.co.uk/downloads/microkorgxl/editor/KorgUSA_MicroKORGXL_bank.zip[/url] direct link for you. All the 'bass' bank sounds are useable, particularly those in the vintage synth and rock n pop genre sections. If anyone is interested I can try and send them the two patches I'm using at the moment. They are designed as bass sounds so very functional. I used the synth again at practice last night. I'm taking both bass guitar and synth and fully intended to use whichever worked best, it just happened that the synth worked best for everything. Our band has never sounded so huge. One thing I really like about the keyboard interface is that you can play more like a keys player if you want - e.g. swell in pads, octave jumps, pitch bends - but you can also make it sound like there is a genuine bass guitar player there by just changing your approach to your basslines - e.g. root-fifth playing, running on single notes, scalar fragments, shorter/less extended arpeggios, etc... basically note choices that are more similar to the sorts of choices you'd make on a bass guitar because they are physically more natural to do on a bass, rather than note choices that are more similar to those that are physically more natural to do on a keyboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalMan Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 So the Mopho got its first outing at r/h last night. first attempt at running master keys MIDI out to Roland PK5 bass pedals MIDI in then MIDI out from there to the MIDI in on the Mopho, and after a bit of swapping around (initially thought I needed to go MIDI Thru on the PK5 from the M-Audion keys but that didn't work) and the system was running. It means I can use the volume control, pitch & mod wheels on the M-Audio and either hands or feet to play the synth. Only trouble was the keys amp in the r/h studio was SH1TE!! so all the nice basses I was hoping to use from the Mopho came out with a horrible rasp, and nothing I could do to the keys amp control seemed to help. In the end I plugged the synth to the effects in socket on the knack'd Trace rig I was using for the basses and that was a bit better. Still the principle works so persevere. It does mean that my "corner" with the prog band is getting cluttered. Basses, pedalboard (chorus, octaver etc), bass pedals & keyboard on a stand. Lucky the gigs we tend to do are on slightly larger stages with a bit of room and not cramped pub gigs!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 OK - just wanted to share a little of my new set up - just working out all the wiring and effects loop etc - it's working well with the Sonuus i2M bass to MIDI converter but also running in a channel of clean bass - then running the lot through my Genz Benz amp's effects loop so I can wah-wah the f*cking lot... sounds rather amazing - my plan is to either use this as one unit and or run a separate channel out of the Focusrite and use Ableton as well - I've got a footcontroller and a Novation Launchpad - so now I've got my head around the wiring this is should rock live.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Sounds a bit like this what I made today http://soundcloud.com/munkio/mazzive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalMan Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 (edited) So the gear "war" continues. Wanted a better smaller keyboard than the M-Audio 49 I have. I was thinking os one of the 25 key controllers to run in a chani Roland PK5 bass pedals->?? key keyboard on a stand->Mopho, this having established that it gave me some more control over things likeMod & Pitch bend, and sometimes a keyboard is easier than the pedals (particularly with my size 11's as my feet dont do winkle pickers and it is easier to accurately control the pedals with bare/socked feet I have found. Went to GAK, having been to Andertons at lunch on Friday and realised that the cheaper 25 keys master keyboards were mostly USB and not DIN cable MIDI, and then looked at more on-line and had another S0D1T moment deciding to get something I could use to control the Mac/PC for recording at home. Still thought 25 keys would suffice, but ended up being talked into the 32 key Roland A300 (by the Roland rep they have in there I subsequently realised ) along the lines of "it's only another £20" and ought to tie up better with the Poland PK5 - not so sure there, but having looked at 25 keys and the additional real estate required for the 32 keys went for that. Bit of a Mr Creosote moment "but sir it's just a wafer thin couple of keys..." etc First try oiut at r/h this morning was a little awkward as the Roland power supply I use to run the daisy chain for effects, PK5 and ultimately A300 died - I think it has been on the way out for a while with a break somewhere in the lead near where it comes out of the unit, allied to the fact that I was having to run everything through the Line In / Effects return as I could not get a lead into the normal input on the studio's Trace combo. Got it set up but the bass pedals wold not talk to the Mopho through the A300. Turned out that was a matter of RTFM, which I only did when I got home tonight and have been sat in front of the BAFTA's with gear over the floor to prove it all. The A300 has a MIDI merge swith that I had set to ON in the studio, but which required deeper editing to actually assign the MIDI In from the PK5 to MIDI Out on the A300. Now working loverly The A300 means that I can change programs on the Mopho so that can live back at the amp and I only need a note of the patches and what they are at the front. Keys player in the prog band commented that it was a bit much when the bass player had better keyboards that the keyboard player It will be better when the PK5 is working as well now I have worked that out, but I was getting some nice bits going on less fiddly bits when I could hammer on the bass with my fretting hand and hit notes on the A300 that sits on a stand on my right. The Mopho has some good basses in the factory sounds so I should not need to get too deeply involved in editing patches thankfully, and a lot of those have a reasonable release tail so that the note doesn't always just cut out when I take my foot off the bass pedal / cancel the Hold function. That being so, and as the Mopho is a mono synth (not the poly rack I was using initially) I shall probably set the PK5 to Poly rather than Mono. When set to Mono the PK5 defaults to Hold on, which requires a separate tap of a button on the board to cancel the hold. Unless there is a release tail the note cuts straight off, and the Hold cancel button is also the initial button to change the octave and I had a couple of occasion where I forgot to press it again so that the next note I touched reset the octave setting and instead of a deep bass I reset the octave to C5 or somesuch and got a really high note instead. In Poly mode Hold is set to off, but as above as the Mopho is mono the fact that the pedals are polyphonic is not an issue, and with a decent tail on the patch I do not think this will be a problem. One less thing for me to worry about killing a note at the end of a section/song. Anyway that's the current plan. We shall see how it all works at next r/h, and at the same time I can try the volume pedal I have into the A300, which I forgot to do tonight. Edited February 12, 2012 by WalMan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 OK - here's what I was whittering on about before - all sounds coming from my Laptop - I'm using the Sonuus i2M interface thing and splitting my bass signal so I'm also getting a clean channel of bass, plus I'm doing all the fancy drum looping stuff via a Line 6 footpedal - which is also running through Guitar Rig 4 where I'm getting the virtual pitch shifter stuff happening - anyway enough waffle - have a listen! This sounds particularly good on headphones so plug in and treat yourself... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0WrGEX6u8A All the stuff is running through Ableton Live - including the sax Hope you enjoy Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2112 Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Nice! It's a bit 'modern' for my taste, all squidgy sounding bass tones, and quick, scattered drum sounds. I prefer a bit more of that Depeche Mode vibe. As I have mentioned elsewhere, I've been jamming with the band over Depeche Mode tunes recently, with the keys player handling synth parts and me playing along and transcribing various parts to my bass whilst singing Dave's parts. It's actually really fun, I suspect with a synth module for my bass I could really stretch things out. Though I might just buy an old-skool synth to play on. Like an Oberheim Xpander...! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcgraham Posted February 17, 2012 Author Share Posted February 17, 2012 urb, very creative! I think it shows you know what you're after. I'm keen to see what you create in the future. [quote name='Chris2112' timestamp='1329154248' post='1538014'] Though I might just buy an old-skool synth to play on. Like an Oberheim Xpander...! [/quote] Having gone down this route I think that just opting for playing a keyboard synth is quickest way to a large array of sounds and (IMO) a more musical way to do it. The music created would only be limited by your own lack of technique/ability rather than lack of gear, whereas trying to do it all from bass can often be limited by not having the gear you want or the ability to play certain things all at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Here's another tune from the same session - bit more bassy bass on this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxDb7_KWma0 hope you dig M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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