Keyboard type bass, but no boing or squelch.

[MacDaddy]

What combination of effects do I need to use, to create a clean keyboard type bass sound.
Most bass synth sounds seem to be Moogy (& boingy) or Mutrony (& squelchy)

[dannybuoy]

I would try an octave pedal like the Aguilar Octamizer. It generates a synthetic note an octave below (so you generally play higher up on the neck) , you can adjust the bass/octave levels separately and there's a tone control to adjust how clean/raunchy the synth sound is.

Also there are some great synth sounds in the Zoom B1on, which for 45 notes has to be the biggest bargain going considering what it can do. That will open you up to a whole world of effects plus throw in a tuner, drum machine, looper and headphone amp into the bargain.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

It's always a sticking point trying to get 'that' keyboard equivalent . On single notes , you can get many effects . Playing more than 2 notes seems to be the problem IMHO .

I like the digitech bass synth wAh , and the old boss me8b . However , once you look on you pube , there are loads .

[The Badderer]

could always give something like this a look. it's not a clean keyboard sound but it really depends what sound you're after.

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZKVPzRyn50"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZKVPzRyn50[/url]

[cheddatom]

the main difference between a keyboard and a bass is the dynamic envelope of the sound IMO. Adjusting your playing technique, and some clever use of a compressor should be able to get most of the way there. If you had the attack on a compressor set pretty slow, you could kill off the sustain of your notes. Roll off the tone, play very, very cleanly, maybe with a pick, being very consistent with your picking velocity. Then you could add some modulation and dirt etc after to shape the sound of the "keyboard".

I've not actually tried this but will give it a go ASAP. In the past I've always gone for more synthy sounds, so octave down, play higher up, put a load of dirt on, sounds a bit synthy, but definitely not like real keys

[Truckstop]

Why not look at adding a little synth to your rig? I use an E-MU Shortboard for the Micheal Jackson style synth bass lines and its got a few other decent sounds on it. Why bother looking for a pedal to emulate a keyboard sound when you could just buy a keyboard?

More specifically, the Akai Mini-Brute or the Novation Mini-Nova might be useful. Small, compact, very easy to use out of the box and you've got a useful instrument you can use in many situations.

[ahpook]

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1429864899' post='2755635']
Roll off the tone, play very, very cleanly, maybe with a pick, being very consistent with your picking velocity. Then you could add some modulation and dirt etc after to shape the sound of the "keyboard".
[/quote]

Almost exactly what I was going to say ! Roll off some of the tone and play with some deep slow chorus - it adds a synthetic feel to the sound that makes it quite synthy. You could also try some fuzz, but again, turn the treble down. A fuzz pretty much turns your bass into a square wave synth.

[MacDaddy]

Some useful advice, thanks!

[worship_mud]

fuzz and chorus

added fatness if required with octaver

in the video it's with oct first, then without

https://youtu.be/ZnEK6wAL1-w?t=1m14s

[ras52]

I'm on a similar quest, playing in a band that does a couple of Genesis numbers that - in their original form - have those long pedal (in the music theory sense) notes.

So far I'm using an EBS MultiComp into a Boss OC-2 and playing an octave higher.

This is well on the way, but the drawbacks are the lack of tone shaping of the synthy tone (I could add an EQ after the OC-2), and the fact I'm looking for the one-bass solution (as in another active thread, although not started by me!). The issue is that my one bass is fretless, and it just doesn't have as much sustain as my fretted bass, so certain notes break up.

I considered the 25-key keyboard approach, but that would mean... more gear! At the moment I can do a one-journey load/unload and I'd like to keep it that way.

I'm curious about the Moogy and Mutrony pedals - can't their boingy/squelchy-ness be tamed?

[Thunderpaws]

Organ Machine B9 or Organ Machine C9?!

[MacDaddy]

I've never been able to 'tame' a Mutron.

I'm getting close with a flanger but can't stop the wah type decay.

[Annoying Twit]

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1429865067' post='2755638']
Why not look at adding a little synth to your rig? I use an E-MU Shortboard for the Micheal Jackson style synth bass lines and its got a few other decent sounds on it. Why bother looking for a pedal to emulate a keyboard sound when you could just buy a keyboard?

More specifically, the Akai Mini-Brute or the Novation Mini-Nova might be useful. Small, compact, very easy to use out of the box and you've got a useful instrument you can use in many situations.
[/quote]

The E-MU Shortboard only has a 12dB/octave lowpass filter. Wouldn't this miss out some of the 24dB/octave filter bass sounds. The Mini-Brute and Mini-Nova have far more flexible filtering than the shortboard, I think.

[MacDaddy]

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1431013706' post='2766931']
The E-MU Shortboard only has a 12dB/octave lowpass filter. Wouldn't this miss out some of the 24dB/octave filter bass sounds. The Mini-Brute and Mini-Nova have far more flexible filtering than the shortboard, I think.
[/quote]

But again it's adding gear to what needs to be taken to a gig. Plus the extra sound checking issues.

[lojo]

I've gone through this recently , and nearly brought a key tar .

In the ended up using the markbass synth , took alot of playing around with though, isn't quite there , but ok when the rest of the band are playing as well

[bakerster135]

There's a Chunk Systems Octavius Squeezer in the FS section, pretty cheap, which may suit your needs (it's listed as "chuck systems" btw though...).

The sounds and patches can be put together in a modular fashion. Apparently a bit of a b**tard to program, but I think you'd be able to get the sound you want out of that...