Suggestion: a true metal ManyBass audio demo

[alvarog]

Hi Manytone,

May i suggest an audio demo?

I use EWQL Hardcore Bass for my metal tracks for a long time ago, but still i am unable to avoid the "machine-gun effect" on quick passages. I have tried everything with articulations, key mappings, etc. but allways i end with more or less awful results and i am starting to aks myself if today's romplers are still unable to emulate a human (metal) bass player.

Particulary, i am doing a cover of Hunter-Killer (H-K) song from the band Fear Factory and, in solo, the bass track sounds plain artificial. Assuming that i can not download a program demo to install and test myself it, i would love to listen an audio demo of Manybass that shows a metal bass playing fast and still sounding human-like, in case that your new product is capable of that. Particulary, an audio demo inspired by that Fear Factory song (or other in the same style) would finally clarify this issue.


P.S. I listened your rock audio demo 3 and the tone is undoubtely top quality, but can't place it on a extreme metal style. Maybe your bass rompler is not aimed to this genre -in this case, i apologize and please forget this post.

Regards,

Alvaro.

[Gregjazz]

Hi Alvaro,

I sampled picked basses with metal/heavy rock in mind. I listened to the YouTube link you provided... I can't actually hear a bass in there, it's mostly those rhythm guitars drop D playing.

Are you looking for a really distorted bass, or a really low, deep bass that would back up distorted guitars?

[alvarog]

Hi Greg,

What i am really looking for, is a Bass VSTi which can recreate extreme playing without that machine gun effect when i need, for example, to drop 16th notes passages on 174BPM tracks.

I guess your second option is the right one: a deep bass, capable of reach an A0 note, that backs up the guitar riffs ('wall of sound'). I know in this song the bass is not very prominent (although if you have the chance, please listen the original, youtube sound quality is crappy), but still is there.

Most romplers use the same sample source again and again for the same note at the same articulation at the same velocity range, so on high BPMs, that sample is cut and re-looped again and again: that creates a fake staccatto that screws all.

[kronsilds]

In fact, does manybass have a kind of cycle random switching for the same note

[Gregjazz]

We don't have automatic/random cycling, but between the sustained notes and stacatto range you can get some pretty realistic fast notes without the machine gun effect. I'll have a demo in a bit.

[BaldByChoice]

I'm looking forward to your demo Gregjazz.

[Gregjazz]

It's going well, must be from my Scandinavian side of the family.

[Gregjazz]

http://www.gregjazz.com/upload/metalbass.mp3

[alvarog]

Thanks for your time Greg... downloading right now.

[alvarog]

By far, in the mix context the bass track sounds absolutely convincing, no complaints about this; although the chosen preset is a bit dull for my personal taste, but it fits well in that death metal track (By the way, you are pretty fast creating new demos, thanks again for your time and for such fast response Greg).

If you dont mind, could you upload just the bass track, please?

So you said you alternate sustained vs. staccato articulatons on fast notes? I have tried that on EWQL Hardcore Bass with no luck.

And, i noticed you used A0 notes! I guess you sampled 5 string basses in B0 and therefore ManyBass has some kind of pitch shifting knob... am i right?

[BaldByChoice]

Awesome!
Thanks for sharing, Gregjazz.

[Gregjazz]

By far, in the mix context the bass track sounds absolutely convincing, no complaints about this; although the chosen preset is a bit dull for my personal taste, but it fits well in that death metal track (By the way, you are pretty fast creating new demos, thanks again for your time and for such fast response Greg).

I tried to match the mix of the bass in that YouTube link... so it's mixed a little back there, just supporting the guitars and such.

If you dont mind, could you upload just the bass track, please?

Sure:

http://www.gregjazz.com/upload/metalbassonly.mp3

The bass tone might sound a little weird since it was set up in the context of all that noise... but keep in mind that ManyBass has a lot of parameters, cabinet sizes and such that you can tweak the bass tone with.

So you said you alternate sustained vs. staccato articulatons on fast notes? I have tried that on EWQL Hardcore Bass with no luck.

And, i noticed you used A0 notes! I guess you sampled 5 string basses in B0 and therefore ManyBass has some kind of pitch shifting knob... am i right?

I don't go any lower than the low B in the tune, but it certainly sounds like that low! Yeah, the basses are all sampled down to a low B, not just pitch shifted.

[alvarog]

Thanks again. Now its all clear.. the patch sounds right and with punch, it was just the mix that did not let me hear the bass with detail.... The picking seems very natural too -i am not bassist, just guitarrist.

Would i be able to tune one step down in ManyBass? I cant find any info about that in your site.

[Gregjazz]

It's sampled down to a low B, the lowest string on a 5-string bass. In the case that you need a low A, you can always tune it down in the sequencer.

[alvarog]

Ok Greg. That's a little inconvenience for me because this is a necessary offline operation. Anyways, ill stay tuned for future ManyBass versions. Your plugin definitely is a worth one.