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

[electro]

On the one hand, this looks really awesome.

On the other, I'm skeptical about how playable and convincing this will sounds without dividing one's attention between playing the bass line and working a whole bunch of articulation switches. I'm not exactly a great bassist, but I still use a ton of different techniques in my playing. It seems like it would take a lot of extra work to get the most out of this thing.

That is not IK's responsibility. The solution to getting the most out of something like this may be something like ROLI's seaboard. It should be completely configurable like Orangetree Stratosphere so you can set it up however you want with MIDI CC, Velocity, Aftertouch, Keyswitching etc.

[Compyfox]

I hope that's not too much of an inconvenience, if so you also have the option to save $50 off that future crossgrade pricing (plus another 30% using JamPoints) right now instead

Valid argument, and I'll keep an eye on that.

One step at a time though (see recent company contact)...

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

I will see what information can be made available pre-release. Note that a feature that a sample-based product may also have will be different than the physical modeling based implementation as MODO BASS does not have at its based a finite amount of samples, but a near-infinite amount of factors being taken into consideration to produce the sound.

Thanks that would be priceless.

I know that a sample based product have had a player playing the actual articulations repeatedly and this is not the case with Modo. But some how there have to be key switches to play those different styles. Maybe there is an infinite way of adjusting the actual sound but the articulations should be there even though it's physically modelled.

I hope this product isn't like AAS Strum bundle that, while having a fantastic sound quality, doesn't sound like real strumming with a real player because most articulations would be almost impossible to recreate with code. A hybrid approach like Samplemodelings sample and script based libraries seems like the only way to do such a thing. A piano is one thing to emulate but a guitar and bass...

Yes there are keyswitches (and MIDI control, and automation) for many articulations and parameters in MODO BASS. I'm told there's an excellent slap demo coming soon, too

[Compyfox]

Chords and Picking demo as well, please

I'd like to channel my inner "Kilmister" and "Mike Kerr"... if possible...

[xphen0m]

Will any of the basses go below B0 (maybe down to A0?) for the metal/djenty crowd?

[Compyfox]

We at least saw a 5 string setting. A 6 string or dropped tuning would be interesting, indeed.

[Kraznet]

Looking forward to this very much. Hopefully playing fast repeating notes won't give that machine gun effect that even round robin sample libraries can exhibit (although to a lesser extent than a repeating single sample). Any info on this?

[xphen0m]

We at least saw a 5 string setting. A 6 string or dropped tuning would be interesting, indeed.

I saw that, too. Judging from the keyboard under the UI, those 5 strings went down to B0.

[Compyfox]

We at least saw a 5 string setting. A 6 string or dropped tuning would be interesting, indeed.

I saw that, too. Judging from the keyboard under the UI, those 5 strings went down to B0.

The range does look at bit small for me, but considering that this is mainly for "single notes" play and not chords (like I'd be used to from various guitar samples, including Musiclab and AmpleSound), we theoretically (if I look at the white/light grey/dark grey keys) a range from:

B0 to D#5
So... 5 string only at max.

This is where a manual could be interesting. To see where the keyswitches are exactly, what they can trigger, how to access them, if they can be manually setup, etc. I'm righthanded, so I'd play the melody with my right hand, and trigger the keyswitches with the left hand.


Then it would be nice to know if it's automatically up/down stroke for picking (we can obviously force it to plain downstroke).



And then something else came to mind... the spacing for the hand/plectri position is in Imperial, same for the Pickups. Can we switch the GUI into Metric?


The more I look at the GUI and try to find the details, the more I want to actually play this thing. I want to know if I can turn off the amp (nothing against the bundled amp - I'm sure this is AT4's engine in there with the AMPEG and maybe something else - but I do have a pretty stellar bass setup already), the pedals (I take it the "yellow highlighted" dropdown field is "activate/deactivate"), can we mod the tone knob (probably not), can the Rickenbacker Bass use the "rick-o-sound" output (probably not), ...

So many questions.


And I just scrolled through the audio demos. Guess the Jordan "The Wizard" Rudess is back.
Cue his old KVR meme's!

On a serious sidenote - this has more Picking demos. But without guitars, I don't know how well this would "fit".



And one final thing...
No Chapman Stick?! Please tell me we can do finger tapping with this VSTi...

I mean... who says that we have to play a full range "stick", if we're after a bass sound like that:



Guess that's reserved for MODO Guitar then... due Q2/Q3 2017.





EDIT:
I think this won't be the last of what we see with "MODO".

I'm pretty sure there will be a MODO Acoustic Bass as well. Why? The focus in this VSTi is on 12 different "types" of E-Basses (a bit overkil IMO, but oh well). There is no Fretless Bass, there is no semi acoustic / full acoustic, there is no Chapman Stick, no Ned Steinberger Bass, no Upgright (bowed, fingered, slapped), no Broomstick (not joking here).

Why end there? Let's go over to things like Banjo, Mandolin, various types of lutes, the Hurdy Gurdy, etc... more stringed instruments, but not as well known/used. Unless we do get a MODO E-Guitar/Acoustic Guitar suite first... (I think E-Guitar will be the next likely release - to compliment the E-Bass range)

If MODO really holds it's promises, then this will be an expensive endeavor on the long run. But this VSTi (series) definitely caught my attention now.

[deastman]

On the one hand, this looks really awesome.

On the other, I'm skeptical about how playable and convincing this will sounds without dividing one's attention between playing the bass line and working a whole bunch of articulation switches. I'm not exactly a great bassist, but I still use a ton of different techniques in my playing. It seems like it would take a lot of extra work to get the most out of this thing.

That is not IK's responsibility. The solution to getting the most out of something like this may be something like ROLI's seaboard. It should be completely configurable like Orangetree Stratosphere so you can set it up however you want with MIDI CC, Velocity, Aftertouch, Keyswitching etc.

Yep, I'd like to try and set it up so I can play the bass with the Seaboard, and map some pads on my Push to handle the keyswitches.

[xhunaudio]

Wow, it seems IronAxe has a new best friend !

My congrats to IK Multimedia for the hard work...

[xx JPRacer xx]

3 questions:

1) What's the copy protection of IK products? How many activation and is it possible to de-authorize? (when reformat or new PC). What happen if no activation available?

2) Will MODO-Bass users will received discount on other MODO products later? When are they due?

3) Would it be possible to include MIDI examples with MODO-Bass so non-bass players can clearly see and analyse how the keyswitches are used?

Thank you.

[sacer]

wasn't aas string the first modeled bass ?

[Kraznet]

wasn't aas string the first modeled bass ?

I have all their products and there has never been a specifically modeled bass guitar like this. They have 6 string electric/acoustic - Strum GS-2 (which I Iike) and modeled strings String Studio VS-2- although not really a replacement for a good sampled string library. But they nothing like what seems to be on offer from IK.

[Kraznet]

1) What's the copy protection of IK products? How many activation and is it possible to de-authorize? (when reformat or new PC). What happen if no activation available?

IK Multimedia I always been extremely generous with the amount of activation's you can have. Although not sure it's possible to de-authorise. I have like 9 out of 10 authorizations left for my Amplitude 4. So I presume MODO will allow a similar amount. Although Peter would need to confirm this.