i'm not saying it isnt huge bro, i love it, but when you're tuning 8 or 9 analogue VCOs in your rig, you need to be able to tune the kick very accurately to them. if your saved kicks are a few Hz out either way when you recall them the bottom end will sound sh!t.jobbanaught wrote:steevio wrote:thats way way too coarse for my ears bro.jobbanaught wrote: but frankly i dont get your initial problem. the mbase uses an internal digital resolution of 256 steps for a range of three octaves, so it should be possible to fine tune it, even if the tuning is stepped???
its why i dont get on with digital gear, its got to sing !!!
interesting how different opinions can be, i bought the mbase because i found it nice that you can save patches, which is only possible if you have digital encoders
anyway i find the mbase sound damn nice, pure analog kick, lots of parameters, its damn huge imo
gonna make some tests with the encoders and post here
mbase 11
but the mbase is a VCO isnt it ?Stomper wrote:dco resulation can never be as accurate as vco.
if your talking about very fine tuning, than go with vermonas vco.
digitally saving my voyager VCO settings, always results in them being in tune with each other, and once warmed up for a couple of minutes, they are usually bang on in tune with the rest of my rig.
-
jobbanaught
- mnml mmbr
- Posts: 106
- Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2009 12:10 pm
Ok, i finally came around to do some testing of the mbase11. One important thing is to understand the split mode 1/2 concept. Split mode is a master parameter for all patches, and determines if the pitch of the kick is controlled via the patch parameter (split mode 1) or the midi note played (split mode 2). Mine was set to split mode 2 and it took me some time to figure out why it wont save my pitch edits (although i could hear them).
Anyway, after me being a dumbass for a while i found no problems whatsoever with fine tuning a kick, saving and reproducing the exact same pitch. the analog pot, as far as i can tell, seems to allow to address values in between the 256 steps, which should allow for very precise pitch changes. but it seems to me when saving patches, they get quantised to 256, because when reloading the display does not jump back and forth between values as when entering them.
One additional thing the mbase allows which makes live very easy is in split mode 2 to have the keys of your controller being mapped to the pitch. So if you enter D2, A3, D2, G2 the kick plays these notes. I used the Ableton Spectrum Analyzer and the Freakascope one to check on the freqs, and it looks like the pitches of the notes are pretty accurate.
Steevio, dunno if this is sufficient for your needs, i personally find the tuning sufficient, and as i can control the harmonics with the eq and the compressor parameters i see no problem in making a perfect fitting kick. But in the fragile context (if i might say so) of a modular with lots of oscs to be tuned it might not be precise enough. but then again, as you can tune it in 256 steps over 3 octaves (which is approx 7 steps per semitone), it should be ok. Maybe you had a faulty mbase1 with the tuning problems you mentioned? Anyway, if you have a shop which sells it nearby, maybe just try it out and give it another chance (though i dont know sh!t about return policies in the UK). Hope this helps a bit.
And in addition to the above discussion, the mbase has a vco (at least the manual states that).
Anyway, after me being a dumbass for a while i found no problems whatsoever with fine tuning a kick, saving and reproducing the exact same pitch. the analog pot, as far as i can tell, seems to allow to address values in between the 256 steps, which should allow for very precise pitch changes. but it seems to me when saving patches, they get quantised to 256, because when reloading the display does not jump back and forth between values as when entering them.
One additional thing the mbase allows which makes live very easy is in split mode 2 to have the keys of your controller being mapped to the pitch. So if you enter D2, A3, D2, G2 the kick plays these notes. I used the Ableton Spectrum Analyzer and the Freakascope one to check on the freqs, and it looks like the pitches of the notes are pretty accurate.
Steevio, dunno if this is sufficient for your needs, i personally find the tuning sufficient, and as i can control the harmonics with the eq and the compressor parameters i see no problem in making a perfect fitting kick. But in the fragile context (if i might say so) of a modular with lots of oscs to be tuned it might not be precise enough. but then again, as you can tune it in 256 steps over 3 octaves (which is approx 7 steps per semitone), it should be ok. Maybe you had a faulty mbase1 with the tuning problems you mentioned? Anyway, if you have a shop which sells it nearby, maybe just try it out and give it another chance (though i dont know sh!t about return policies in the UK). Hope this helps a bit.
And in addition to the above discussion, the mbase has a vco (at least the manual states that).
^^^
thanks mate.
yeah i dont think theres anything wrong with my mbase 01, and i did understand the split mode thing.
one thing, if youre getting 7 steps per semitone, thats at least twice the amount i'm getting with the 01, which suggests you are getting a better resolution.
the best i can get is between 2 and 4 steps per semitone, that for me is so coarse its neanderthal. even 7 steps is way too coarse for me. that to me isnt tuning. can you imagine a guitar tuned that coarse, it would sound sh!t.
anyway bro thanks for making the effort to check it out. i'll have to have a good think about it.
thanks mate.
yeah i dont think theres anything wrong with my mbase 01, and i did understand the split mode thing.
one thing, if youre getting 7 steps per semitone, thats at least twice the amount i'm getting with the 01, which suggests you are getting a better resolution.
the best i can get is between 2 and 4 steps per semitone, that for me is so coarse its neanderthal. even 7 steps is way too coarse for me. that to me isnt tuning. can you imagine a guitar tuned that coarse, it would sound sh!t.
anyway bro thanks for making the effort to check it out. i'll have to have a good think about it.
-
jobbanaught
- mnml mmbr
- Posts: 106
- Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2009 12:10 pm
no problem mate, was good for me to go in depth with that beast, love it even more than before
as i come to think about it, your sure you set the pitch spread parameter right? you can set it to sem (which spreads the pitch according to semitones) or lin, which spreads them lineary, and linear pitch spread would explain the low resolution in the bass registers...
as i come to think about it, your sure you set the pitch spread parameter right? you can set it to sem (which spreads the pitch according to semitones) or lin, which spreads them lineary, and linear pitch spread would explain the low resolution in the bass registers...