MODO BASS: Get ready for a new level of realism (1.5 update available now)

[MJACau]

$150 for an “upgrade” price seems like gouging by IKM for MODO Bass 2.0

IKM have bad habit of not letting their customers in on there upgrade cycles until the last minute, so it comes across as scammy and a pressure buy.
To play devil advocate, regardless of what IKM thinks Modo Bass 1.0 (1.5) is their best product ATM, there is nothing like it on the market (realistic bass guitar synthesis) unless you go the sample route. So the upgrade price is not out of realm of what their competitors are offering really.

As for Modo Drum 1.0 my god this was a performance hog, it sounds fantastic but not at 30% CPU of my 5900x, MD 1.5 fixed the performance issues and runs well enough not for me to look for drum kit replacement.
But the let down of Modo Drum it's only a partial drum synthesis, the cymbals are still samples. So Modo Drum is not really doing anything really special than what the other kits are doing.

[flori89]

$150 for an “upgrade” price seems like gouging by IKM for MODO Bass 2.0, in my estimation.

It's not "gouging" as you are under no obligation to purchase anything. Let's be honest here. The MODO BASS 2 upgrade is actually 100% FREE. Whatever you have in MODO BASS 1, you will have in MODO BASS 2 CS, completely free. You will even get the new pick and slap modeling, I presume. And of course native M1 support, if you're on a new Mac.

The upgrade cost is for the 8 new bass guitar models. You will be able to purchase any, all, or none of them as you see fit in the Custom Shop. Or you can get all 8 of them plus the universal fretless capabilities and expanded bass patterns for $150, which is less than $20 per bass model. But the upgrade to version 2 itself is 100% FREE.

That same upgrade model applies to MODO DRUM 1.5 as well.

Is that officially confirmed by IK or just something you assume that will happen? Because so far I haven't seen a mention of this and when they released Syntronik 2 they mentioned this quite prominently.

Edit: Nevermind I saw the post by Peter now. Cool, then it's all good. No reason to complain then, that's fair enough.

[jamcat]

Modo Bass 1.0 (1.5) is their best product ATM, there is nothing like it on the market (realistic bass guitar synthesis) unless you go the sample route.

I actually think MODO BASS sound better than any sampled bass. I have some Amplesound basses, but I don't use them anymore, because they sound canned compared to MODO BASS.

But the let down of Modo Drum it's only a partial drum synthesis, the cymbals are still samples. So Modo Drum is not really doing anything really special than what the other kits are doing.

I think physically modeling cymbals is probably way too CPU intensive to get anywhere near realism. But the ability to change skins on the drums, dampen, change shell size and edge geometry, snare wire tension, change stick tips and beater, etc., goes well beyond sampled drums.

Plus there's the whole 'canned' issue with samples, again. In MODO DRUM, each drum hit is uniquely generated on the fly rather than being from a small repetitive pool of samples.

But what sets MODO DRUM apart the most for me is the ability to move around where the stick is hitting on the skin, distinguish between left and right hands, etc. It's stuff like that which give the performance life, if you put the time into programming it.

One thing I'd really like to see, though, is an automatible snare strainer throw-off.

[Download SOphist]

does anyone, from past experience with this kind of IK releases, have an idea what's the penalty for not pre-ordering?
I have Modo Bass 1.5 but I´m only really interested in the upcoming upright basses. I would have to demo them first, though and by the time the demo is out I suppose the price should go up (there would be no sense in a preorder otherwise). 150 (minus the jam points) is the absolute most I´m willing to spend, so I am stuck here.

thanks,
Miguel.

[jinotsuh]

You may have to pay a little extra. If you look you will see that the full version is for the moment the same price as the SE version. As you can imagine that won't stay like that forever

https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/m ... p=versions

Scroll down the page.

[Harry_HH]

I think physically modeling cymbals is probably way too CPU intensive to get anywhere near realism. But the ability to change skins on the drums, dampen, change shell size and edge geometry, snare wire tension, change stick tips and beater, etc., goes well beyond sampled drums.

Plus there's the whole 'canned' issue with samples, again. In MODO DRUM, each drum hit is uniquely generated on the fly rather than being from a small repetitive pool of samples.

But what sets MODO DRUM apart the most for me is the ability to move around where the stick is hitting on the skin, distinguish between left and right hands, etc. It's stuff like that which give the performance life, if you put the time into programming it.

In theory, yes, but unfortunately the implementation limps.
E.g. the most simple tweaking, i.e. setting the kit piece volume, is missing/made very difficult.

[jamcat]

Set the volumes in the mixer.

My problem with setting levels in MODO DRUM is it is schizophrenic, inconsistent, and poorly thought out. The mixer faders control the close mic level for kit pieces with close mics: drums, hi-hat, ride, cowbell. But the faders also control the volume of crash cymbals in the overheads. Close miked drums have a different control for overhead volume.

And there is no consistent, obvious unity setting for the right levels for a natural image in the overheads and room mics.

Plus, there are 3 different pages where levels are set, depending on what type of kit piece they are.

The mixer should have only mic levels. There should not be knobs or faders for levels in the overheads or room mics. Overhead and room mic amounts should be in the kit piece editor only, and should default to consistent unity gain settings that represent the natural sound level that would occur in the overheads and room mic.

There is really no excuse for it being as difficult as it is. It is just poorly designed in that regard. That said, you CAN set all of the levels roughly to their natural volumes, but it has to be done by ear.

[Synth Master Jedi]

I guess it depends on what kind of music somebody is doing, but for me at least, the hi hat & cymbals are more important to get live sounding than the BD and SD.

In most kinds of pop music or even stuff like rock, the BD and SD are the same through out the entire track most of the time. Many rock songs tracked with live drums supplement the BD and SD with a sample, a one shot, to give the drums consistency and a certain sound/vibe.

I'd rather have the same BD and SD throughout the song and realistic hi hats and cymbals, instead of having an intricate BD and SD with super realism and not realistic sounding, robotic hihats and cymbals.

If I were doing jazz or big band or something with a lot of dynamics and somebody is going for a super realistic drum sound, then things would be different of course.

I've used Modo bass a lot, I'm happy with that, but I haven't really used Modo drum yet in any of my tracks.

[jamcat]

I think the hi-hats are quite good in MODO DRUM. They really come alive when you control them with CC.

The weakest link for me is the crash cymbals, which can sound a bit disconnected from the rest of the kit. Pulling them back so they don’t jump out helps with this. I keep their VOLUME levels set to 1.0 in EDIT ELEMENT panel.

It’s also really weird that their volume fader level in the mixer is 0dB when it’s set to 1.0 in EDIT ELEMENT, and 6dB when it’s set to 2.0. At 6dB the fader is all the way up in the mixer, and anything above 2.0 exceeds it. The VOLUME knob goes up to 10, which is 20dB in the mixer that maxes out at 6dB. This is more of that schizophrenic, poor design I was talking about.

Hopefully MODO DRUM 2 will get a redesign on how it handles cymbals.

[Synth Master Jedi]

I think the hi-hats are quite good in MODO DRUM. They really come alive when you control them with CC.

The weakest link for me is the crash cymbals, which can sound a bit disconnected from the rest of the kit. Pulling them back so they don’t jump out helps with this. I keep their VOLUME levels set to 1.0 in EDIT ELEMENT panel.

I haven't digged into Modo Drums too much yet, but I will definitely have to take a closer look at the hi hats and the CC control that you mention.

[jamcat]

I haven't digged into Modo Drums too much yet, but I will definitely have to take a closer look at the hi hats and the CC control that you mention.

There are a few different sets of MIDI notes to control the hihats. There are notes you can use for a limited set of fixed open, closed, tight, and extra open positions, which are good for creating importable .mid patterns.

But what’s better is to use Hat Aperture SHANK (C#0) and Hat Aperture TIP (D#0) and then control the openness with CC automation, which gives you a smooth continuous transition.

[Synth Master Jedi]

I haven't digged into Modo Drums too much yet, but I will definitely have to take a closer look at the hi hats and the CC control that you mention.

There are a few different sets of MIDI notes to control the hihats. There are notes you can use for a limited set of fixed open, closed, tight, and extra open positions, which are good for creating importable .mid patterns.

But what’s better is to use Hat Aperture SHANK (C#0) and Hat Aperture TIP (D#0) and then control the openness with CC automation, which gives you a smooth continuous transition.

Thanks for the info. I'll be looking more into option #2, as that seems to be what I am looking for.

[jbraner]

Is this the new MODO Drums thread now?

[jamcat]

No. We now return you to your regularly scheduled IK upgrade policy bitching.

[jbraner]

Well, it's better than talking about drums
(here anyway...)