Everyone seems to be on the SA c4 bus, but for r&b, I'd go for the SA spectrum. While the c4 is hyper flexible, it relies on the app for that flexibility. Out of the box, no app, I'd definitely go spectrum
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Synth Pedal recommendations, please.
- Thread starter chuck1073
- Start date
Another great pedal. You can get all the Spectrum sounds on the C4, but yes your have to dive into the app or computer to do that.
LOL! I had to double-check to make sure it wasn't me who had written ^^^that!
I have no idea how easy it is to find a used G5 nowadays, but if you do, grab it. They are incredibly easy to use, and can cop all the iconic synth-bass tones from 70s and 80s R&B/dance/pop easily. I've had one for over 25 years and I am certain it will be one of the last pedals I ever sell, if ever. It's just way too useful whenever a band wants to cop a Michael Jackson or Prince or Parliament/Funkadelic vibe.
But yeah, the G5's bypass function sucks. I have mine permanently wired to a BOSS PSM-5, which serves as both a master power supply for the G5 plus 3 or 4 other pedals, and also provides a footswitchable loop selector, which takes the G5 completely out of the signal path when I want to defeat the synth effect.
The tracking is good on the c4, that's true.
TBH, I'm in-between bands and my last band's synth needs were handle by a Boss sy200. No where near the customizability of C4, but it got me close with about zero effort. Although, I did spend time on figuring out how to integrate on my board to get what I wanted from a control perspective, which was sound hold (both temp and toggle), patch switching and octave up (temp and toggle). Maybe the point with this last bit is integration which has costs of it's own if you think of total cost of ownership above and including the learning curve.
TBH, I'm in-between bands and my last band's synth needs were handle by a Boss sy200. No where near the customizability of C4, but it got me close with about zero effort. Although, I did spend time on figuring out how to integrate on my board to get what I wanted from a control perspective, which was sound hold (both temp and toggle), patch switching and octave up (temp and toggle). Maybe the point with this last bit is integration which has costs of it's own if you think of total cost of ownership above and including the learning curve.
To get all the juice out of a C4 do you need midi control of some kind or are the presets selectable just using the pedal?
You can select 6 presets with onboard controls. If you want to use up to 128 presets, you’ll need a midi controller. In my case, I use the HX Stomp for that. Works pretty well !
I have all three that @GMC mentions above and several others. The answer really depends on just how deep you want to get down the path of triggering synth sounds from your bass and how creative you want to be. There are some wonderful options but I am more into creating my own sounds over trying to cover existing sounds.
Were I in a cover situation looking for the easiest solution I'd look at the EHX Bass Mono Synth, not Bass Micro Synth, as it comes with essential sounds for popular bass synth sounds. Tracking is pretty fast and accurate but it is not the most forgiving on some nuances. Since it is a preset based device there is limited parameters to shape the sound but that simplicity is also it's strength.
My second suggestions would be the SA C4 with a second choice of the Spectrum. The C4 has all the electronic elements for creating very realistic sounds and includes a sequencer, also an essential tool for a lot of dance oriented music. Spectrum is a bit stripped down but still has the essential elements for creating electronic or synth bass tones. There is a huge selection of user creations in the Neuro Cloud that cover most of the sounds you will likely need, and there are user forums where you can request support and help with the device and the SA staff are easily the best in the business at responding.
Spectrum covers some synth sounding textures and has the essential octaver, enverlope filter and distortion modules that most often are all that is needed to create or cover 90% of the synth sounds to my ear. Plus each module can act alone or in combination just as with the C4.
Third choice for covering synth bass sounds would be the Boss SY200 as it have so many classic sounds and it is very dynamic, tracks well and can add textures that you might find useful like pads, organs and strings. It is again a mainly preset machine with limited parameters but the essential sou8nds are pretty much all there. Why the SY200 over the SY1 since all the sounds are in the little box, well function are so much easier to access in the SY200, you can save and program a sequence of sounds that would be impossibly daunting in a live situation with the SY1 and the cost is negligible.
Were I in a cover situation looking for the easiest solution I'd look at the EHX Bass Mono Synth, not Bass Micro Synth, as it comes with essential sounds for popular bass synth sounds. Tracking is pretty fast and accurate but it is not the most forgiving on some nuances. Since it is a preset based device there is limited parameters to shape the sound but that simplicity is also it's strength.
My second suggestions would be the SA C4 with a second choice of the Spectrum. The C4 has all the electronic elements for creating very realistic sounds and includes a sequencer, also an essential tool for a lot of dance oriented music. Spectrum is a bit stripped down but still has the essential elements for creating electronic or synth bass tones. There is a huge selection of user creations in the Neuro Cloud that cover most of the sounds you will likely need, and there are user forums where you can request support and help with the device and the SA staff are easily the best in the business at responding.
Spectrum covers some synth sounding textures and has the essential octaver, enverlope filter and distortion modules that most often are all that is needed to create or cover 90% of the synth sounds to my ear. Plus each module can act alone or in combination just as with the C4.
Third choice for covering synth bass sounds would be the Boss SY200 as it have so many classic sounds and it is very dynamic, tracks well and can add textures that you might find useful like pads, organs and strings. It is again a mainly preset machine with limited parameters but the essential sou8nds are pretty much all there. Why the SY200 over the SY1 since all the sounds are in the little box, well function are so much easier to access in the SY200, you can save and program a sequence of sounds that would be impossibly daunting in a live situation with the SY1 and the cost is negligible.
The Source Audio Ultrawave is easier to program than the C4 even though itis not a synth per se but the octaver, harmonic tremolo and the distortion types get you there. Can do what the Spectrum does as well. But what surprised me was the Eventide H90. It's not all delays and echoes and has phenomenal tracking and polyphony. The bad news is that it is expensive but has stopped me looking at any time based effects.
Lastly check out the Artifakt. The bit crusher and ladder modes have definitely subtractive synthesis and wavefolding in mind
Lastly check out the Artifakt. The bit crusher and ladder modes have definitely subtractive synthesis and wavefolding in mind
Not exactly OT, but FWIW, I just took delivery on a solid gold fx beta v. It's a super versatile low gain drive. It goes clean boost to decently gained-up.
I've had it for less than 24 hours but have experimented with my Zoom MS70 CDR+. That drive with a patch that includes a compressor + an octaver + whatever else to make it what you need. Super great-high recommend. I'm not in the same league as you guys with your fancy source audio, strymon, etc but for my simple needs, the CDR+ and the Beta FX are pretty sweet together. I may stick the Keeley Hydra (Reverb-Trem Pedal) from my guitar board on the end. In my limited experimentation it felt like some verb-trem might be a good thing...
I've had it for less than 24 hours but have experimented with my Zoom MS70 CDR+. That drive with a patch that includes a compressor + an octaver + whatever else to make it what you need. Super great-high recommend. I'm not in the same league as you guys with your fancy source audio, strymon, etc but for my simple needs, the CDR+ and the Beta FX are pretty sweet together. I may stick the Keeley Hydra (Reverb-Trem Pedal) from my guitar board on the end. In my limited experimentation it felt like some verb-trem might be a good thing...
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That's extra gear to haul to a gig, when a couple pedals on a board can get you most (if not all) of the way there. I've never learned to play a piano, and I happen to love playing a bass, so it's not really a hard choice for me.
Ive been using the Future Impact since the very first batch came out, and it gets used for about 60 gigs per year. The tracking has always been fantastic, even on this early unit...never did any of the updates as I've never felt the need to. I've never need to hookup to a computer as the knobs have alot of editing range onboard. This thing just works and sounds good doing it.
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The Source Audio Ultrawave isn't a synth, it's mostly a distortion and trem device. It doesn't have an octaver. It's a heck of a pedal, its' my most used dirt. it's great to add to a building block of effect that combine into a pedalboard synth. Same as the Artifakt...again it's not a synth but it has a ladder filter and some nice dirt and modulation.
The Eventide H90 is an amazing pedal too, I have one that replaced my pair of long terms H9's. The Synth in the H90 is pretty much the same as the H9 and it's a PITA to program but great as a set of presets.
Yeah it isn't an octaver per se but the Octave Folder distortion does make it behave like an Octaver. There are a few octaver patches in the community With some tweaks you can make it sound like a "Moog" lead or bass. That is why Gregor Fries from Bass the World Channel and also the other guy also from Germany who does extensive and deep dive pedal reviews, say "It is not a synth" in a a very sarcastic way. Brilliant creation by SA by the wave on the Ultrawave.
The reason I recommended the other two is that unless you have some analog subtractive synth experience, the learning curve on the C4 is very hard. Thanks goodness for community presets, but from a blank init patch to something useable, knowing what, Oscillators and VCAs are, what cutoff frequency are resonance and how they are related, the difference between High Pass, Band Pass, Notch and low pass filters in 2 pole or 4 pole form, and how Envelopes (ADSRs etc) are created and LFOs, Step Sequencing ,how modulation destinations and sources are related would take at least a 6 month study and preferably on an analog synth. ( I recommend a Behringer Crave for this because it is inexpensive, fun and many of these concepts can be learned. Also iPad Synth amps are another way ) The manual does not really tell you how and I think the unwritten expectation is that you should know if you are going to do anything from scratch. And even if you know the implementation is not the workflow that most synth people are used to. Again SA did the right thing with the community presets to make this useable for many of us. Compare that to the Boss SY-1 or SY-1000 or even the POG which has more useable patches out of the box and not needing an internet connection.
The UW and the Artifakt are not synths in the strictest sense of the term but can provide sounds that most bass players are going to use in lieu of a keyboard synth. I certainly feel that way.
Speaking of the Artifakt - the glitch engine for example is a Sample and Hold or if you are pedantic a Track and Hold implementation. For me to do that on a Korg MS-20 for example would take at least 6 patch cables and all I get is random and not the intelligent and regenerative patterns that the Glitch engine offers. In addition it has a sophisticated envelope engine. Those things plus all the down sampling, ring mod/FM are all synthesis tools in my book even if they do not have oscillators like the C4. Filtering and modulating external signals or samples are things that synthesizers do since the 70's or earlier.
I've been tossing an idea around in my gourd, about running a Boss SYB-5 in the internal EFX loop routing, of the SA Spectrum, for some potentially interesting easy to execute sounds?
C4 is a masterpiece to be sure...it is exactly what it was designed to do...a modular synthesizer in a pedal. Many would never even try to tackle that type of system. I've had the C4 (twice) it's just distracting for me. A set of knobs on a SYB-5 is much easier to get from A to B on and doesn't require a life support system to do something. (I don't want to sound anit-C4, it's just not for everyone regardless of the exceptional pedal that it is!)
I'm going to shagg down Boss SYB-5 and see what comes of that as a project...
EDIT: I'm definitely going to do this. I just looked over the SYB-5 owners manual.
I'm going to run the Bass into SYB-5 in front of the Spectrum, with the SYB-5 stereo output. Output A is WET and Output B is DIRECT signal. The Spectrum can mix Stereo IN to Mono OUT or can be selectable for input A and/or B independently for Spectrum Intelligent Filter processing, if desired. (i.e. saw wave into a LFO (A) and mix a clean -1 Octave phase (B) back pad.) I know that you can hold the footswitch down to sustain the WET synth sound and play over with the DIRECT signal, too.
C4 is a masterpiece to be sure...it is exactly what it was designed to do...a modular synthesizer in a pedal. Many would never even try to tackle that type of system. I've had the C4 (twice) it's just distracting for me. A set of knobs on a SYB-5 is much easier to get from A to B on and doesn't require a life support system to do something. (I don't want to sound anit-C4, it's just not for everyone regardless of the exceptional pedal that it is!)
I'm going to shagg down Boss SYB-5 and see what comes of that as a project...
EDIT: I'm definitely going to do this. I just looked over the SYB-5 owners manual.
I'm going to run the Bass into SYB-5 in front of the Spectrum, with the SYB-5 stereo output. Output A is WET and Output B is DIRECT signal. The Spectrum can mix Stereo IN to Mono OUT or can be selectable for input A and/or B independently for Spectrum Intelligent Filter processing, if desired. (i.e. saw wave into a LFO (A) and mix a clean -1 Octave phase (B) back pad.) I know that you can hold the footswitch down to sustain the WET synth sound and play over with the DIRECT signal, too.
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I've only tried a handful. But the C4 is it for me hands down. As long as you're somewhat comfortable with using an app or editor, the C4 is the one IMO. You really can't beat it for what it is and what you can do with it. It's only limitations is the user and or how you use it IMO.