KVR Audio

kilroy · Post by **kilroy** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 2:00 am

Right...a little sample of something else on the boil here in kilroy's kitchen...a project that attempts to properly model the non-linear performance characteristics of bass amp/cabinets, in this case using SHARC DSP floating point implementations. It's an unfinished work, but it is to the point where I am not too ashamed to to let other folks here what it sounds like so far. For the sake of simplicity I have five samples, and their original sources, in one file. The original unprocessed versions are first, followed closely by the processed versions.

BassTurd

To fully appreciate (or not ) these samples you should at least have monitors capable of reproducing down to a *solid* 40hz...an octave lower would be ideal. Those of you with a sub woofer in your monitoring chain...make sure you have it set properly. These samples were processed whilst monitoring on a pair of large, custom three way soffit mounted boxes, so it's all there for the ears if you have the playback moxy.

I wanted something to re-amp DI bass lines in order to get the same punch and torque of a cranked up rig, but without having to have all that hardware laying about. The simulation is capable of reproducing a very rich, highly non-linear, harmonically coloured sound...and although it is not really designed to specifically emulate any particular known bass preamp/cabinet combination, some of the characteristics of known hardware designs have been taken into consideration. Among these are products manufactured by Eden, SWR, Ampeg (SVT), Gallien Kruger, Fender, Trace Elliot and Hartke.

This sim is made up of several sub modules...a modeled tube style preamp, a rather sophisticated compression/limiting processor highly optimized for bass signals, and a cabinet modelling section yet to be refined to my satisfaction. Nevertheless, it performs not too shabbily. It comes reasonably close to reproducing the sound character of tube preamp/compression and stressed bass cabinet responses.

Anyroad, maybe it's not perfect...or even close...but it does have a fairly nice dynamic sound of some sort.

AndrewSimon · Post by **AndrewSimon** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 3:26 am

Sounds promising.

I am no bass expert (or bass player for that matter) but to my ears it sounds a little weird in the 1Khz range.(too much string noise)
In any case I think it's usable as it is with an EQ after the plug.

No name · Post by **No name** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 4:11 am

It does have a nice low punch, it sounds like it's about down there by 40 or 60, sounds goooood.

kilroy · Post by **kilroy** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 5:46 am

AndrewSimon wrote:I am no bass expert (or bass player for that matter) but to my ears it sounds a little weird in the 1Khz range.(too much string noise)

Yeah Andrew...that's probably a combination of my preamp settings and the aluminum coned "driver" I used for the speaker in some of these sounds. My tendancy has always been to record electric bass on the bright side so I always have some top to work with if I needed some extra bite in the mix. Sometimes when I have tracked a bass too dull I wish I had some of that "clank" back for a bit more definition on the notes.

No name wrote:It does have a nice low punch...

That's one thing I miss in a DI sound, no matter how good it is. You can get the depth, but it's a somewhat flat, linear sound...boring...no aggression. If you crank an SVT right up, all of a sudden you are really *feeling* the

Some of that punch you are hearing is the compressor...the gain elements and transfer functions were specifically designed to cope with heavy amounts of low end signal energy without pinching or bucking.

Gregjazz · Post by **Gregjazz** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 6:01 am

Overall sounds really great!

Though the first slap example needs work or something... there's some weird low frequencies that don't belong in slap tone.

bduffy · Post by **bduffy** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 7:00 am

Sounds great to me. I'll take it!

championrabbit · Post by **championrabbit** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 7:27 am

Sounds good, but there's too much energy at the bottom. I'd love to hear it EQed in a mix with a drum kit (or a kick drum at least).

Since there seems to be plenty of character in the mid range, I don't imagine that losing some bottom would be a complete tragedy?

Watto · Post by **Watto** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 8:28 am

Sounding good, dude!

egbert · Post by **egbert** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 8:44 am

championrabbit wrote:Sounds good, but there's too much energy at the bottom. I'd love to hear it EQed in a mix with a drum kit (or a kick drum at least).

Since there seems to be plenty of character in the mid range, I don't imagine that losing some bottom would be a complete tragedy?

I agree. A bit OTT down the bottom - if you'll pardon the oxymoron

mckenic · Post by **mckenic** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 9:19 am

Im digging what Im hearing thus far!!!

Nice playing too BTW!!!

Dave

Mokita · Post by **Mokita** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 10:16 am

Sounds realy good

, but there's too much energy at the bottom. I'd love to hear it EQed in a mix with a drum kit .

Since there seems to be plenty of character in the mid range, I don't imagine that losing some bottom would be a complete tragedy?

daGuru · Post by **daGuru** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 10:36 am

LOL... That sounded familiar

egbert · Post by **egbert** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 11:39 am

Mokita wrote:Sounds realy good , but there's too much energy at the bottom. I'd love to hear it EQed in a mix with a drum kit .

Since there seems to be plenty of character in the mid range, I don't imagine that losing some bottom would be a complete tragedy?

Is there an echo around here?

Midiworks · Post by **Midiworks** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 12:04 pm

Any chance of mp3 192kbs ?
Wav is heavy for dial up.

Thanks

Stupid American Pig · Post by **Stupid American Pig** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 2:10 pm

I cant really complain about that at all. Sounds great

A bass amp/cab sim project..have a listen