Bass Sim REALLY sucks?

[robuck]

I didn't expect much out of a Bass Simulator effect but I didnt think it would be as bad as it sounds for me. The only usable bass sim is Loose bass and even that's bad. They all sounds decent some of the time, but randomly warps the notes out of pitch and/or distorts the note in a bad way, so they sound completely unusable even for making a little practice loop.

Does anyone know what I'm talking abuot? am I doing something wrong? It just seems weird they'd put such a lame and unusable effect on a great DR (I love this thing, great fun practice tool) .. so I assume I'm missing something.

I'm not trying to replace a real bass here, but it'd be nice if the Bass SIM was actually usable.

[grolschie]

I personally find that it's takes a bit of trying different pickup positions and technique to get a usable sound. I found that for me, muting other strings completely helps.

I haven't quite nailed the technique yet, as it seems pretty tricky. I found it was easier for me to play all on one string with my palm on the bridge to mute the notes. This seemed alot easier to me than playing freely across multiple strings, because I find it hard to mute each note after playing it. When more than one string is resonating, it gets messed up I am thinking. Just my $0.02 - I might could be doing it all wrong though.

[64Guitars]

grolschie's explanation is exactly right. Technique is the key. The bass simulator can only detect the pitch of one note at a time. If you play a note on one string while the previous note is still sounding on another string, the pitch detector won't know which note to detect and it'll squawk. That's why guitar synths and pitch-to-midi converters require a hex pickup on the guitar (a separate pickup for each string) so they can analyze the sound from each string independently, allowing the user to play chords.

With good technique, the bass simulator is actually quite usable. It's not as good as a real bass, of course, but it's quite adequate when a real bass is unavailable. You just need to develop a good, clean technique and be sure to mute each string before playing another. You won't be able to play like Jaco Pastorius, Larry Graham, or Victor Wooten, but it's great for simple bass lines.

[Bob Iles]

I've used Patch P94: Big8-Stg with success.  Check out my post in the BR-600 mp3 section "Summer Daze."  That was recorded exclusively with my Peavey Wolfgang.  Bass patch as noted above with switch in the neck position.  Muted the strings as noted by others.  Then take that result and tweak the EQ settings.  You should be able to dial in a fairly decent sound.

[SdC]

My song "playing in the dark" also has bass sim.
I consider it usable for situations where I don't have a real or synth bass available, or to lay down an idea quickly.

[grolschie]

I am finding it kinda good now - with some practise. One can mess with EQ later on, such is increasing bottom-end and reducing the top-end. I have been using the loose bass patch IIRC.

[dwardzala]

One thing to note, it doesn't work well if you have long bass notes, as the signal decays, it loses its pitch and wanders.

I found the loose bass setting to be the best.  And you definitely have to mute the strings or it will sound muddy.

[Vanncad]

I used "Loose Bass" and "Tight Bass" on all the songs I posted in the BR600 mp3 section.

grolschie is right. It also helps if you use a single coil pickup in the neck position.

It's not great, but mix it in with some solid guitar and it will sound okay.

[SharksDontSleep]

robuck;
I completely agree with you. The bass sim is a half arsed. It's neither double bass or traditional electric. Ok I accept, if you've nothing else, then it'll have to do. Personally I much prefer my 20 year old cheapy Westone Concorde to the Boss atrocity!!

[Wee Joe]

Hi,  I was of the same opinion, and had written off, this.  "what I thought" was a horrible sounding unusable gimmick.
Untill I listened to vanns tunes, and I now realise that I have a lot of work to do.      To get the best out of this simulator.
I only have a small studio space to work in , and one of the reasons I bought this unit was for the bass simulator,
Hope to post some music soon.....
Wee Joe