Simulate a bass with a guitar?

[Guckli]

Honestly it's not worth the effort to process a guitar to sound like a bass. You could easily get a better sound with a $89 bass or using synthesizer.

I second that. I bought a Rogue bass from Musician's Friend for that very reason. Even a cheap bass is better than trying to fake one. Especially if you already know how to play guitar. But even keyboardists can pick up the bass pretty quickly.

I'll jump on this bandwagon too, between Squier, Danelectro, and maybe even Rogue, there are some good basses to be had on the cheap. Plus if you're a guitar player the learning curve is really minimal for simple bass lines, so it's not like you're approaching the instrument as something completely new.

I "fourth" that really. Got a 5-string Harley Benton off thomann.de for next to nothing. Been playing along with my Marley and early UB40 records as well as some pop and rock stuff. Fast way to learn you way around the bass (my Stanley Clarke CDs stay on the shelf for a while yet though)

[AndrewSimon]

It is called:
PVTRANSP

You can get it at:
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~masrwd/pvplugs.html

Here is the direct download, it's part of a bundle:
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~masrwd/pvplugswin.zip
Best thing I found for making a guitar sound like a bass.

Samples:
http://www.andras-shimon.com/TEMP/BASStest.mp3
In a mix:
http://www.andras-shimon.com/TEMP/BASStest2.mp3

[VaiHalen]

Thanks all for your help! I will consider buying a bass in the near future, but by now the PVTRANSP is the best plugin. It sounds really great, (and it's free). Thanks AndrewSimon. Sometimes I have a little latency with it, but minimal. Every body check out this simple and effective plugin.
It's funny to be able to play the bass without bass!

[lfm]

I found that software that is to track pitch often get one of the harmonics instead. Tuner and other stuff.

You can allways try to roll off some high frequencies(with tone on guitar), and the result will be better.

And neck pickup of course.

[VaiHalen]

Using it along GR2 bass amp and cabinets gives you a very real bass sound. The only problem is a little latency when using the plugin. Don't Know if it can be eliminated.

[CinningBao]

You won't get this latency with the Chopitch. the PVTRANSP + family of plugs use fft windows to analyse the signal, so it cannot be reduced or removed unfortunately. If you want to use the frequency domain to do this I'd suggest making a simple pitch shifter with Plogue Bidule http://www.plogue.com - it has some fft modules you can use to build your own - you can reduce the fft window (losing signal quality) to probably around 256 samples (6ms or so at 44.1Khz). Have fun!

[AndrewSimon]

You won't get this latency with the Chopitch.

what?
Chopitch has terrible latency that is changing all the time.
Just try a one octave slide on the low E and you will see.
Or even better just try to bend a note.

[rockstar_not]

I'll chime in for the recommendation to get a real bass. Here's the one I got for $119:

http://www.rondomusic.net/spj62.html

Here's a couple of tunes I used it on with freebie VSTi:
http://rockstarnot.audioshot.net/songs/ ... tstock.MP3
http://rockstarnot.audioshot.net/songs/ ... olland.MP3

Unless I'm going for a synth bass sound, I'll never go back to trying to do midi bass ever again.

-Scott

[CinningBao]

You won't get this latency with the Chopitch.

what?
Chopitch has terrible latency that is changing all the time.
Just try a one octave slide on the low E and you will see.
Or even better just try to bend a note.

I'm sorry, that's not actual latency - admittedly ChoPitch isn't designed for melody lines with slurs and bends, but because it works by immediately slowing down the incoming audio on transient detection it's perfect for percussive bass sequences. Even better for dropping drums down an octave or three.

Having said all that, buying a proper bass guitar might be the best option after all. There's (almost) no cooler instrument to play..

[AndrewSimon]

I'll chime in for the recommendation to get a real bass. Here's the one I got for $119:

http://www.rondomusic.net/spj62.html

Here's a couple of tunes I used it on with freebie VSTi:
http://rockstarnot.audioshot.net/songs/ ... tstock.MP3
http://rockstarnot.audioshot.net/songs/ ... olland.MP3

Unless I'm going for a synth bass sound, I'll never go back to trying to do midi bass ever again.

-Scott

I agree, one day I'll do it.

I don't use PVTRANSP in any songs, I get better results with Trilogy and MIDI Guitar.

[VaiHalen]

I'll chime in for the recommendation to get a real bass. Here's the one I got for $119:

http://www.rondomusic.net/spj62.html

Here's a couple of tunes I used it on with freebie VSTi:
http://rockstarnot.audioshot.net/songs/ ... tstock.MP3
http://rockstarnot.audioshot.net/songs/ ... olland.MP3

Unless I'm going for a synth bass sound, I'll never go back to trying to do midi bass ever again.

-Scott

BTW, The song View from Mulholland is very beautifull

[Amberience]

When it comes to instruments, I don't think any software could ever beat it - bass, guitar, drums, strings.

Of course out of all of them, I think basses are the hardest to reproduce with quality, drums the easiest.

I'd get a cheap bass, even if it's shit and has "LOLZ" printed on the side of it.

[audiojunkie]

Honestly it's not worth the effort to process a guitar to sound like a bass. You could easily get a better sound with a $89 bass or using synthesizer.

I had the same situation and after researching and experimenting with a lot of different options, I believe that the above advice is the best advice for this situation. Even a cheapy bass will sound better than the best of the pitch shifters, and there are a lot of good synth basses that will work beautifully as well.

--Sean

[stag]

Well gettin a bass guitar is the ideal, but a person migth have one idea anywhere and if a bass is not available tuning down and using some pitch shift it´s better than nothing then.