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My(Our?) Moog Bass Journey....


knicknack

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Morning all... I've recently decided to immerse myself in the synth bass world I've always loved but never tried! Got myself a Sub Phatty and am completely starting from scratch...no piano/keyboard experience whatsoever. I've challenged myself to learn and dial in a track every week, so in a way this is me making myself accountable to basschat. Would love song recommendations and general advice... and if anybody fancies posting their own videos that'd be great too!

 

Here's my starter... one of the tracks that inspired me to try it in the first place:

 

 

Edited by knicknack
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23 minutes ago, knicknack said:

Morning all... I've recently decided to immerse myself in the synth bass world I've always loved but never tried! Got myself a Sub Phatty and am completely starting from scratch...no piano/keyboard experience whatsoever. I've challenged myself to learn and dial in a track every week, so in a way this is me making myself accountable to basschat. Would love song recommendations and general advice... and if anybody fancies posting their own videos that'd be great too!

 

Here's my starter... one of the tracks that inspired me to try it in the first place:

 

 

Nice work sir! Here’s one I was listening to just yesterday with a synth part I reckon you’d enjoy learning:

Bit more of a challenge but definitely achievable!

Edited by CameronJ
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Stumbled across your post by accident and weirdly sounds like we are doing exactly the same thing at the same time! Been playing bass 20+ years, no keys experience, bought a Sub Phatty about a month ago, first gig with it tonight!

I play in a wedding/party band so it’s all pop stuff, thankfully tonight is just a low key gig for one of our singer’s local pubs. On the synth menu this evening - Ain’t Nobody, Say You’ll Be There, Into The Groove, I Wanna Dance With Somebody and Flashdance! 

More than happy to share experiences, patches, and anything else that might help, I’ll let you know how it goes! 

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First gig with the Moog in the bag! Thoroughly enjoyed it, its weird but on the tracks I used it for I still feel like I’m a bass player playing bass even though the instrument is different. Having tried every bass synth pedal out there and never been 100% happy with them it should perhaps come as no surprise that the answer to the perfect synth bass sound is errm.... a synth! 😁

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Not a Moog, but just before Xmas I played a gig with a few songs from the Greatest Showman. 

This Is Me was all synth.  The Greatest Show was a mix of bass guitar & synth bass, great fun switching between them. 

Another fun song to play is 24k Magic. A bit of pitch bend wheel practice for you  😎

Don’t be afraid to grab those dials on the Moog whilst playing for some extra expression. The filter cut off is a good place to start. 

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A sore left hand was a good excuse to try and blag as much of Saturday's set on the Moog as possible... made for a fun, if slightly hairy evening! I'm ok as long as things are going smoothly, it's when a mistake is made or things don't go to plan where the lack of experience shows! 

 

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Sounds great! And a Sandberg for the stringy bits, me too! Is that a TM4?

I found my biggest issue Saturday night was it was so hot and sweaty I kept slipping off the black keys! 😅 It definitely feels like a bum note sticks out more on the synth than bass but that might just be psychological. 

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@Rattle&Drum VM4... recent purchase from here and about to get another one I think, loving it! The thing I really miss about the synth compared to regular is the touch sensitivity... if you're a little unsure on bass it's easy enough to ease something in, on the synth it feels like a huge commitment! Volume pedal might help but it's not quite the same...

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Haha yeah that’s exactly it, if you miss a fret on the bass can always slide it in or pretend it’s a run to the right note as if intended, whereas it’s very clearly a duff note on keys, or at least I don’t have the ability to not make it seem like one. 😆 

I’ve played all sorts over the years but just 2 Sandbergs now, main gig bass is an Ida Nielsen 5 and my other is a cream HCR TM4. Love them, Fender kind of vibe but a bit more special.

Right, next on the synth list for me is 24K Magic, see if I can get it as close as this chap -

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Sub 

On 22/07/2019 at 11:00, knicknack said:

A sore left hand was a good excuse to try and blag as much of Saturday's set on the Moog as possible... made for a fun, if slightly hairy evening! I'm ok as long as things are going smoothly, it's when a mistake is made or things don't go to plan where the lack of experience shows! 

 

This sounds great...nice drummer too. I have just started the same journey due to my left hand starting to get sore after a run of gigs. I'm skint though so cobbled together a setup that I have already of a controller keyboard and laptop that I'm going to use Ableton on. At least this way I can trigger samples as well as butcher basslines. I'm nervous about taking it to rehearsal let alone the gigs though. Do you think it's safe to run it through my bass amp....I'm using a 2x12 cab. 

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Yes. Safe to run through your bass amp. 

When I'm using mine, I take the lead from the pedalboard (which would normally go to the bass amp) & plug into the audio interface. I create a channel in Logic for the bass (you can do this in Ableton) & however many VST channels I want for synths, etc. I then take a cable from the output on the audio interface straight to the bass amp & another can go to the PA (mind make your DAW output mono). 

Oh, & 24k Magic is fun to play on the bass guitar too, just tune the bass to Eb.  

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Yeah, I ran both my bass and keys into my HX Stomp on Saturday, then straight into my Aguilar stack and it sounded great, although patches definitely sound different than do in headphones so something to think about when dialling in sounds.

Here's where I am with 24k Magic so far - not great but not bad being as I had never played keys a month ago. Slips here and there and doesn't sit in the pocket like I want it to but hopefully will get better as the playing becomes more natural.

 

24kmagic.mp3

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1 hour ago, xgsjx said:

Yes. Safe to run through your bass amp. 

When I'm using mine, I take the lead from the pedalboard (which would normally go to the bass amp) & plug into the audio interface. I create a channel in Logic for the bass (you can do this in Ableton) & however many VST channels I want for synths, etc. I then take a cable from the output on the audio interface straight to the bass amp & another can go to the PA (mind make your DAW output mono). 

Oh, & 24k Magic is fun to play on the bass guitar too, just tune the bass to Eb.  

I have a 4 channel desk that I was going to use to have both sources running into the bass amp. Was a bit afraid to run the bass through the audio interface because of lag or anything glitchy happening but it would be a lot neater to do it that way so might give it a go. 

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1 hour ago, Mook said:

I have a 4 channel desk that I was going to use to have both sources running into the bass amp. Was a bit afraid to run the bass through the audio interface because of lag or anything glitchy happening but it would be a lot neater to do it that way so might give it a go. 

I’ve not had any latency issues. Just be aware of  what software you have running & don’t overload the cpu. 

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@Mook I was a bit worried about this too, my gut feeling is that it'd be fine, but I'm running a HPF at around 37 after the two signals combine to ensure the cab doesn't get bit sustained amounts of anything it can't handle. For these gigs I'm taking a 1x15 just for some lows on stage, PA and IEMs for monitoring!

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6 minutes ago, knicknack said:

@Mook I was a bit worried about this too, my gut feeling is that it'd be fine, but I'm running a HPF at around 37 after the two signals combine to ensure the cab doesn't get bit sustained amounts of anything it can't handle. For these gigs I'm taking a 1x15 just for some lows on stage, PA and IEMs for monitoring!

HPF is a good idea thanks

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