questions regarding bass lines

oblioblioblio · Post by **oblioblioblio** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 8:19 pm

that's not a bad suggestion. The bass guitar design definitely promotes funkiness.

Guitar midi controller I think is real crappy midi resolution. It's possible you could use a piece of software that read a sound and gave you a pitch from it... you could do that with MaxMSP.

Bass guitar itself goes pretty low and subby, but not as low as a synth, and has other barriers like not fitting into a live techno set up.

I wonder if their was a system to play sequencers and envelopes live, that you could connect up in unique ways, made out of little boxes? (sorry i'm a twat! ha ha)

Opuswerk · Post by **Opuswerk** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 10:23 pm

oblioblioblio wrote: Bass guitar itself goes pretty low and subby, but not as low as a synth, and has other barriers like not fitting into a live techno set up.

Tell this to Wareika...
http://www.myvideo.ch/watch/7289193/War ... rtelet_Rec

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 10:36 pm

actually one of my best mates is a top producer who plays live bass in his live set, and as part of his productions, and its lush.

a 5 string bass goes way lower than most of the bass on minimal tunes i hear.

AK · Post by AK » Wed Jan 19, 2011 9:29 am

steevio wrote:actually one of my best mates is a top producer who plays live bass in his live set, and as part of his productions, and its lush.

a 5 string bass goes way lower than most of the bass on minimal tunes i hear.

Potentially, im not sure how often you'd hear much of it played in practice. I think you or someone else mentioned this before. I said something about the low 'E' on a 4 string bass being a general low frequency indicator, around the 40hz mark and someone chipped in with a 5 string adding the 30hz 'B' note to the bottom of the tuning. But yeah, maybe you wouldnt actually hear it played that low in any general capacity. In terms of sheer potential, the synth is always capable of going lower with its standard, its only cos people choose to apply their own cut off point of how low a frequency they use. Why? I dunno, you are right though, a hell of a lot of stuff doesnt go that low in a lot of music.

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 1:29 pm

AK wrote:
steevio wrote:actually one of my best mates is a top producer who plays live bass in his live set, and as part of his productions, and its lush.

a 5 string bass goes way lower than most of the bass on minimal tunes i hear.
Potentially, im not sure how often you'd hear much of it played in practice. I think you or someone else mentioned this before. I said something about the low 'E' on a 4 string bass being a general low frequency indicator, around the 40hz mark and someone chipped in with a 5 string adding the 30hz 'B' note to the bottom of the tuning. But yeah, maybe you wouldnt actually hear it played that low in any general capacity. In terms of sheer potential, the synth is always capable of going lower with its standard, its only cos people choose to apply their own cut off point of how low a frequency they use. Why? I dunno, you are right though, a hell of a lot of stuff doesnt go that low in a lot of music.

it wouldnt really be worth having a B 0 string on a bass if you couldnt hear it.
i can certainly hear it on mine.
a frequency is what it is, its either there or it isnt, its the amplification and its EQ which defines whether you hear it or not.
with a bass guitar you hear alot of the higher harmonics, but you can process the sound with filters etc just in the same way you could with a synth.
personally i would use a synth everytime for techno.

AK · Post by AK » Wed Jan 19, 2011 5:05 pm

steevio wrote:
AK wrote:
steevio wrote:actually one of my best mates is a top producer who plays live bass in his live set, and as part of his productions, and its lush.

a 5 string bass goes way lower than most of the bass on minimal tunes i hear.
Potentially, im not sure how often you'd hear much of it played in practice. I think you or someone else mentioned this before. I said something about the low 'E' on a 4 string bass being a general low frequency indicator, around the 40hz mark and someone chipped in with a 5 string adding the 30hz 'B' note to the bottom of the tuning. But yeah, maybe you wouldnt actually hear it played that low in any general capacity. In terms of sheer potential, the synth is always capable of going lower with its standard, its only cos people choose to apply their own cut off point of how low a frequency they use. Why? I dunno, you are right though, a hell of a lot of stuff doesnt go that low in a lot of music.
it wouldnt really be worth having a B 0 string on a bass if you couldnt hear it.
i can certainly hear it on mine.
a frequency is what it is, its either there or it isnt, its the amplification and its EQ which defines whether you hear it or not.
with a bass guitar you hear alot of the higher harmonics, but you can process the sound with filters etc just in the same way you could with a synth.
personally i would use a synth everytime for techno.

Sorry, perhaps I wasnt clear with what I said. What I meant wasn't that you'd hear it over a set of speakers or not, what I meant was, perhaps, the actual lowest note, in this case, that 'B' - around 30hz, wouldn't be featured in a great deal of bass riffs. Meaning: Even though the potential is there for it to be played, it probably wouldn't, at least not as the main root note/frequency.

I know there's a fair few tracks that I have - some where a 5 string bass guitar would have been used ( I'm a fan of some of Bootsy Collins playing ) but they tend not to have key sigs that are rooted in the next octave. I don't hear a lot of commercial music which features a significant amount of 30hz.

nohero · Post by **nohero** » Thu Feb 24, 2011 10:45 pm

Some great videos on this youtube channel for bass amongst other things

http://www.youtube.com/user/abletondaily

pafufta816 · Post by **pafufta816** » Thu Feb 24, 2011 11:10 pm

AK, the low B on a 5 string bass, while not used in many styles of music, is necessary in other styles. that low B is used in jazz/rnb/soul/blues and metal more than anything, bands that detune their guitars, or playing with a 7-string guitar, make heavy use of that string. depends on your style right? i mean most pianists don't use the lowest octave of an 88-key setup, but that octave is very useful if you play bass parts on the piano. i had a 6 string bass for a while and i used the low B more than any string (playing mostly heavy rock/metal bear in mind).

just depends, ya dig?