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Oscillator/Synth/VCO pedals (analogue)


Quatschmacher
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2 hours ago, GisserD said:

love this idea!

with this thread in mind i stuck a phone in front of me at last nights rehearsal and recorded one of our new songs that we intend to use as the opener to an open air gig on Hove seafront next month.

No vocals, and its fairly bass heavy, but whose complaining!

The synth part in the intro is uses at various places throughout the song and the signal chain consists of.....

Sandberg VM5 passive neck pickup ---> Spectracomp ---> Mastotron gated fuzz ----> Manta filter (11?) ---> TCE corona chorus ---> Genz bens shuttle 9.2----> Barefaced big twin

 

The clean parts are just Spectracomp. Enjoy!

learning lessons.mp3

Great - this thread is getting even more exciting!  Just gonna listen now!

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1 hour ago, GisserD said:

Great track! reminds me of some 00s garage tunes. No offence intended! that oc2 sounds super fat. like its got more upper harmonics. my guess would be that your running a mild overdrive into it, OR maybe running it into an octave up like a POG? or both!

Thanks - yeah again, another reference point I hadn't considered - no offence taken! Yes - see signal chain below

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12 hours ago, GisserD said:

love this idea!

with this thread in mind i stuck a phone in front of me at last nights rehearsal and recorded one of our new songs that we intend to use as the opener to an open air gig on Hove seafront next month.

No vocals, and its fairly bass heavy, but whose complaining!

The synth part in the intro is uses at various places throughout the song and the signal chain consists of.....

Sandberg VM5 passive neck pickup ---> Spectracomp ---> Mastotron gated fuzz ----> Manta filter (11?) ---> TCE corona chorus ---> Genz bens shuttle 9.2----> Barefaced big twin

 

The clean parts are just Spectracomp. Enjoy!

learning lessons.mp3

Well...ouch....not what I expected! What a sound - big, round, phat and with a really interesting attack as well that really marks it out as not jut elec bass. Hello trumpet as well 2mins in :)  Interesting that you use the comp at the beginning of the chain...how / why have you settled on that configuration? Lovely groove playing as well. Great stuff.

 

 

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11 hours ago, Leonard Smalls said:

Here's a bit of phone footage from a recent gig - can hear more bass at about 1'15"...

 

Yeah! What pedals are you using here - nice break at 1min 15. Also...that RH technique - I've never seen anything like that.....how has that developed and does it allow you to create more interesting bass parts / approach playing with a slightly different mindset?

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12 hours ago, dodge_bass said:

.that RH technique

Who knows! When I first started playing along to funk records in the early 80s all I knew was that the slap sound was produced with the thumb, but never having seen anyone use the slap I sort of made it up - and in the absence of any attempting to use proper technique it sort of stuck! It means I have difficulty playing anybody else's lines due to my self-imposed ham-fistedness... 

Pedal-wise, I've got the fx loop of a BBE pre going into a dbx rack compressor, then into a Wounded Paw v4 blender. One loop of that goes into a Digitech bass whammy followed by Dod envelope filter. Next loop is a Darkglass tube distortion into 3 Leaf envelope filter, and the last one is a Boss bass synth - all are blended with clean and back into the BBE via the other channel of dbx compression.

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Right....to keep this topic going here's another one....this time with a Moog inspired bass solo over the outro (3mins ish onwards)...again all thoughts appreciated! This is just an OC2 - all wet signal 1 8ve down. A bit of compression & EQ on the DAW after recording. Its not the finished article just a decent demo at the moment! If it was live I'd use a boost pedal to bring the volume up a bit and of course some compression to keep it fat!

 

 

 

Dinosaur demo with SYNTH BASS & solo.mp3

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17 minutes ago, dodge_bass said:

Right....to keep this topic going here's another one....this time with a Moog inspired bass solo over the outro (3mins ish onwards)...again all thoughts appreciated! This is just an OC2 - all wet signal 1 8ve down. A bit of compression & EQ on the DAW after recording. Its not the finished article just a decent demo at the moment! If it was live I'd use a boost pedal to bring the volume up a bit and of course some compression to keep it fat!

 

 

 

Dinosaur demo with SYNTH BASS & solo.mp3

That’s beautiful. The strings remind me of Ravel and do I detect an Avishai Cohen influence on this track? (I don’t mean to say it sounds derivative in any way; I mean it as a compliment.)

There is some kind of glitch on my browser (safari on iPhone) which means it keeps looping without ever getting to the outro. Do you have a link to the track somewhere else as I’d love to listen to all of it.  

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3 minutes ago, Quatschmacher said:

That’s beautiful. The strings remind me of Ravel and do I detect an Avishai Cohen influence on this track? (I don’t mean to say it sounds derivative in any way; I mean it as a compliment.)

There is some kind of glitch on my browser (safari on iPhone) which means it keeps looping without ever getting to the outro. Do you have a link to the track somewhere else as I’d love to listen to all of it.  

Drop me a PM with your email and I'll send it over now!

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14 hours ago, dodge_bass said:

Right....to keep this topic going here's another one....this time with a Moog inspired bass solo over the outro (3mins ish onwards)...again all thoughts appreciated! This is just an OC2 - all wet signal 1 8ve down. A bit of compression & EQ on the DAW after recording. Its not the finished article just a decent demo at the moment! If it was live I'd use a boost pedal to bring the volume up a bit and of course some compression to keep it fat!

Dinosaur demo with SYNTH BASS & solo.mp3

Very nice! I love the understated nature of the synth bass tone that you're getting. It gives the bass line a smoothness but 'phat' feel that really adds to the song.

Tell us a bit more about your band dodge bass - have you got any uploaded clips of you guys playing live?

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On 5/10/2018 at 19:30, dodge_bass said:

Well...ouch....not what I expected! What a sound - big, round, phat and with a really interesting attack as well that really marks it out as not jut elec bass. Hello trumpet as well 2mins in :)  Interesting that you use the comp at the beginning of the chain...how / why have you settled on that configuration? Lovely groove playing as well. Great stuff.

 

 

Many thanks indeed! i love your playing also :)

The attack is a function of the gate on the mastotron and one of the dual peak envelope followers on the manta. It hits a resonant peak just as it opens which sounds really percussive which i love!

Yeah i always prefer compression at the beginning to fatten and even the tone at the start of the signal chain. its very gentle stock toneprint setting on the spectracomp at about 9o clock.its always on.

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On 5/11/2018 at 23:02, dodge_bass said:

Right....to keep this topic going here's another one....this time with a Moog inspired bass solo over the outro (3mins ish onwards)...again all thoughts appreciated! This is just an OC2 - all wet signal 1 8ve down. A bit of compression & EQ on the DAW after recording. Its not the finished article just a decent demo at the moment! If it was live I'd use a boost pedal to bring the volume up a bit and of course some compression to keep it fat!

 

 

 

Dinosaur demo with SYNTH BASS & solo.mp3

another amazing and beautiful track mate. keep it up! This one has a kind of Micheal League vibe to it. i know he loves his OC2 also!

your previous post has inspired me to get a Mooer lofi machine. that OC2 tone is PHAT!

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20 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Very nice! I love the understated nature of the synth bass tone that you're getting. It gives the bass line a smoothness but 'phat' feel that really adds to the song.

Tell us a bit more about your band dodge bass - have you got any uploaded clips of you guys playing live?

Thanks - yeah I love how it changes the attach and roundness of the sound & forces me to think like a keys player playing bass!

Well these two tracks are actually two separate projects! One is a live project with a singer called Beth Macari (just joined about a month ago). the second is a project that came from a jazz quartet I led for a while - we now live in the UK / Finland / Montenegro so the three of us collaborate at distance....

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41 minutes ago, dodge_bass said:

Thanks - yeah I love how it changes the attach and roundness of the sound & forces me to think like a keys player playing bass!

Well these two tracks are actually two separate projects! One is a live project with a singer called Beth Macari (just joined about a month ago). the second is a project that came from a jazz quartet I led for a while - we now live in the UK / Finland / Montenegro so the three of us collaborate at distance....

"Signal chain - OC2 -> Mooer bit crusher - > volume boost pedal - > empress compressor." Have I understood your signal chain correctly that you've got your compressor at the end rather than start (I note that at the start seems to be Darren's favourite option)? 

Hoping that my COG T16 (v2) can come close to what your OC2 plus volume pedal is doing. The new version T16 is often cited as being the 'spiritual successor' to the OC2 and the v2 is certainly not lacking volume!

If you leave the bit crusher out of the chain does it make a big difference (be good to hear it with and without)? I've long been perplexed about how a bit crusher would find use in a live setting, but I think you may have just answered that :) 

Just checked Beth Macari on YouTube - great vocals! What's the name of your band?

Edited by Al Krow
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20 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

"Signal chain - OC2 -> Mooer bit crusher - > volume boost pedal - > empress compressor." Have I understood your signal chain correctly that you've got your compressor at the end rather than start (I note that at the start seems to be Darren's favourite option)? 

Hoping that my COG T16 (v2) can come close to what your OC2 plus volume pedal is doing. The new version T16 is often cited as being the 'spiritual successor' to the OC2 and the v2 is certainly not lacking volume!

If you leave the bit crusher out of the chain does it make a big difference (be good to hear it with and without)? I've long been perplexed about how a bit crusher would find use in a live setting, but I think you may have just answered that :) 

Just checked Beth Macari on YouTube - great vocals! What's the name of your band?

Hey,

Yes I always use the compressor at the end to iron out any spikes / excessive peaks you get from using synth / envelope pedals. I generally use flats and have spent a lot of time working on an even RH technique that along with the natural compression / flattening effect from flats means I don’t need much compression for normal finger style playing.

In terms of with / without - well the second track (dinosaur) is simply OC2 without the bit crusher so there’s your answer! 

Ive got the v1 T16 - pretty disappointed with it due to the volume drop but am saving up for a T47 as that will do the job I reckon and then I don’t need to use a boost pedal with the OC2 (which also looses some volume with just the -1 8ve soloed). 

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1 hour ago, GisserD said:

another amazing and beautiful track mate. keep it up! This one has a kind of Micheal League vibe to it. i know he loves his OC2 also!

your previous post has inspired me to get a Mooer lofi machine. that OC2 tone is PHAT!

Thanks - lovely comments. Yes the lofi machine is cheap (and a little noisy) but once it’s in the mix, with 8ve thrown in it just kind of adds to the overall synthy vibe :) I’ve got the Malekko bitcrusher as well but at nearly £200 the Lofi machine does a similar job at a lot cheaper price!! 

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@Al Krow you could try using 8ve & bitcrusher for playing superstition for example? That sounds pretty good - it’s not quite the sound but it’s not bad and puts the bass firmly into synth / moog territory? What kind of material are you playing? 

Edited by dodge_bass
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31 minutes ago, dodge_bass said:

@Al Krow you could try using 8ve & bitcrusher for playing superstition for example? That sounds pretty good - it’s not quite the sound but it’s not bad and puts the bass firmly into synth / moog territory? What kind of material are you playing? 

I'd need to get a bit crusher first :) @CameronJ kindly lent me his Malekko, but as a 'stand alone' pedal I was just not finding anything I felt was particularly usable live. It seems that a bit crusher is more something to add into to the mix with other pedals rather than being a stand alone? Let me see if there is anything half decent in terms of a bit crusher on my Zoom MS-60B (not sure that there is anything on the SA Manta that would equate?). 

Superstition does happen to be in one of our sets - we're doing covers 70s to the present. And I'd got MJ numbers in mind for synthy subby sounds on bass in particular and dialling off the tone on my Yamaha BB1025 + muted palm gets me half of the way there by itself.

Sorry about your disappointment with the T16v1. The v1 is just fantastic as a clean blend octaver, but lacking volume on the fully wet synth. The lack of volume issue has been corrected on v2. 

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8 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

I'd need to get a bit crusher first :) @CameronJ kindly lent me his Malekko, but as a 'stand alone' pedal I was just not finding anything I felt was particularly usable live. It seems that a bit crusher is more something to add into to the mix with other pedals rather than being a stand alone? Let me see if there is anything half decent in terms of a bit crusher on my Zoom MS-60B (not sure that there is anything on the SA Manta that would equate?). 

Superstition does happen to be in one of our sets - we're doing covers 70s to the present. And I'd got MJ numbers in mind for synthy subby sounds on bass in particular and dialling off the tone on my Yamaha BB1025 + muted palm gets me half of the way there by itself.

Sorry about your disappointment with the T16v1. The v1 is just fantastic as a clean blend octaver, but lacking volume on the fully wet synth. The lack of volume issue has been corrected on v2. 

Yup - for me mixing it in with an 8ve -1 signal is a total game changer - moves you into a whole new world of synth bass sounds :) Yes those tunes would all be great for this type of sound / effect! 

 

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On 11/05/2018 at 23:26, dodge_bass said:

Drop me a PM with your email and I'll send it over now!

Still not received it.

I just checked out the Slowlight Quartet videos and really enjoyed them.

Have you heard the album “Flight” by Dave Stapleton? I think you’d enjoy it

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Ok I missed out one getting a Mooer Bit Crusher in the FS yesterday 'cos my youngers and betters have faster reaction times than me and can easily distract me by posting messages on how useful bit crushers are. Guess I should expect that sort of thing to happen with advancing years eh? :D

On the plus side I managed to find a cheeky little bit crusher effect (and also noise gate and dirty gate effects) which have all been added in the ver 2.0 software update for Zoom MS-60B. It's actually pretty good (and I suspect won't be made to blush too much by the Mooer) and means I don't have to find space for one more thing on my board (and saved me a few ££'s in the process. Hey maybe being ancient and having slow reaction times ain't so bad after all? xD)

I've found that quite a fun 'stand alone' bit-crush sound is to combine it with a tremolo.

Edited by Al Krow
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On 13/05/2018 at 09:16, GisserD said:

This one has a kind of Micheal League vibe to it. i know he loves his OC2 also!

I actually saw a recent interview and pedalboard discussion with him and he’s actually using an OC-3 and MXR BOD currently. 

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2 hours ago, GisserD said:

That's cool. Link??

Is there any difference between oc2 and oc3?? 

OC-3 might be digital if I recall correctly. I tried it but didn’t like it. Incidentally it sounded better plugging into the “guitar” input as opposed to the “bass” one.

 

Edited by Quatschmacher
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