MODO Bass

[HCMarkus]

I find the Wallander modeled brass, controlled using BC, extremely useful and organic, particularly in orchestral settings.

[Gravity Jim]

I'm with Guitar Gaz: I think it sounds very good, and I probably would have bought it, but for me it's just easier to pick up a bass and play it (and you certainly don't suffer from Roundrobinitis when you play the part). It's also more fun.

As for "the new paradigm:" I think most humans are just too eager to call a set of tools a revolution. I fail to see how MODO Bass changes the way people work... and that goes for Raven and Slate Ebundle, etc. The revolution happened years back, and these tools are just sweeping up at the barricades. Who isn't capable of working on a laptop without MODO bass?

[dix]

Not a revolution perhaps, but another sign of a growing trend. My entire rig is organized around sample libraries. A VI isn't likely to change how I compose, but not having to stream samples would have a profound impact on my setup. ...but yeah. the way one actually performs on a non-keyboard instrument can't be replicated with a keyboard. What I'd come up with with a bass in my hands is usually different than if I'm playing a keyboard.

[Phil O]

As I mentioned earlier, I got some MIDI bass tracks for a project and was looking for an easy way to get a decent bass sound. These were from a keyboard player for backing tracks for a solo performer. The bass sound he had on his keyboard was horrendous. MODO has given me a quick and easy solution with admittedly less than perfect sound, but far better that what was originally presented and still quite useable. Certainly worth the money just for this one project. I could not have hired a bass player for this project and stayed within budget.

Phil

[waxman]

I'm with Guitar Gaz: I think it sounds very good, and I probably would have bought it, but for me it's just easier to pick up a bass and play it (and you certainly don't suffer from Roundrobinitis when you play the part). It's also more fun.

As for "the new paradigm:" I think most humans are just too eager to call a set of tools a revolution. I fail to see how MODO Bass changes the way people work... and that goes for Raven and Slate Ebundle, etc. The revolution happened years back, and these tools are just sweeping up at the barricades. Who isn't capable of working on a laptop without MODO bass?

More fun except I hate blisters on my fingers... "Failing to see" a paradigm is the point. .

[David Polich]

Ok to get it back on track here...this is a thread
about MODO Bass..not Pianoteq, not Reason,
not Scarbee or Trilian. If you are totally happy
with some other bass VI, or playing a real bass,
then cool you dont need MODO Bass.

Someone asked about legato mode. You press
and hold the A-0 key on your keyboard controller,
that turns it on. If you have a 61-key controller,
you have to shift the keyboard down two
octaves to be able to press A-0. Most keyboard
controllers have an octave shift button.

Someone asked about more "noises" and bass FX.
Please keep in mind this is version 1.0 of MODO
Bass, and iK has already stated they are working
on an update to address some issues. They may
very well add things like additional noises and FX
...maybe not the very next update, but who knows.
They do listen to customers, so if you want some
extra features or some fixes, contact iK tech support
and let then know. They wont "guess" what you
want, and they dont patrol this forum that much.
Truth be told, Peter from iK is over on Gearslutz
answering questions right now.

Someone pointed out that other sample libraries
already do what MODO does. I can tell you what
MODO does that no other bass VI does..slides
in real time. U activate slides in two ways...to
do a polyphonic (two notes or more chord) slide
you simply push the pitch bend on your controller.
You can also set the range of the slide +/- 12 steps.
To do a legato slide, press the sustain pedal, play
the source note first, followed by the target note.
The velocity you hit the note with (how hard you hit
it) determines the rate of the slide.

I cant tell you how valuable this one feature is.
Every other bass VI has slide articulations, of
course, but they are sampled at fixed tempos and
dont lock to the tempo of your project. And they
dont start at a pitch you determine. If you use
pitch bend on any other bass VI, u dont get a slide,
you are just pitch bending like you would on synth
bass (a minimoog, for example).

Hit a note on MODO hard...you can hear the
nearby strings rattle, just like a real bass does.
This is a feature you dont get with other bass VI's
unless the highest velocity samples were recorded
with nearby strings rattling.

MODO allows you to customize any of the basses..
you can change out the bridge and neck pickups,
choose the action (high, normal, or low), the age
of the strings, Drop-D or standard tuning on 4 string
basses, and whether your bass has active EQ
or passive. No other bass VI offers this level of
customization.

And as I've said elsewhere, you can always
create a MIDI track using MODO Bass, and then
duplicate it and reassign it to another bass VI
you like..record both and layer. I've already tried
this using MODO and an Amplesound electric
bass, and I was very happy with the result, as
it is the best of both worlds..a physically modeled
instrument, and a sampled one.

[mikehalloran]

As someone who used to be able to pick up a bass and play—but can't anymore, I'm really liking the MODO Bass.

At the moment, I'm just playing with it, trying to dial in some classic and favorite sounds as a point of reference. Next, I'm going to tackle trying to sound like my all time favorite player—the guy who used to be able to grab one of my basses and play.

The actual tones of my instruments were never that important. I could dial in a usable tone on a Rickenbacker, P-Bass, EB0, Carvin, my daughter's Dano... my Rick Turner basses are incredible but not essential to my sound. No, the hard part is trying to sound like me playing bass on a keyboard. I'm not there yet but this lets me get a lot closer.

My favorite studio bass for years was a borrowed Kent 30" solid body with a plastic bridge and impossible action with tape wound strings. One day I had to give it back and couldn't convince the guy to sell it to me. Don't know how close I'll get but it would be super sweet if I could approximate something like that in this bass.

[bayswater]

My memories of Kent guitars and basses are not as fond as yours. But here's one, (USED as the seller takes pains to point out) with decription "Has an EXTREMELY thick neck. Action gets kinda wonky above the 12th fret." But it's vintage, eh? You could buy it and let IKM model it. They've nailed fret buzz, and now they can try modelling wonky action.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kent-Model-670- ... 2746668088

[mhschmieder]

This is kinda weird and I can't make sense of it, given such scant details:

http://vintagesynthpads.com/ocart/MODO_BASS

What does it mean to be an "expansion" for MODO BASS? Is there a developer API?

Maybe the info page isn't fleshed out yet (at the time of my viewing it today).

[David Polich]

This is kinda weird and I can't make sense of it, given such scant details:

http://vintagesynthpads.com/ocart/MODO_BASS

What does it mean to be an "expansion" for MODO BASS? Is there a developer API?

Maybe the info page isn't fleshed out yet (at the time of my viewing it today).

Some programmer made a bunch of new presets for it, that's all. There is no way for a third party
to add extra models or new features. Only 1K's programming team can do that.

[waxman]

This is kinda weird and I can't make sense of it, given such scant details:

http://vintagesynthpads.com/ocart/MODO_BASS

What does it mean to be an "expansion" for MODO BASS? Is there a developer API?

Maybe the info page isn't fleshed out yet (at the time of my viewing it today).

Not to great an example... sounds like a keyboard playing bass...

[mikehalloran]

My memories of Kent guitars and basses are not as fond as yours. But here's one, (USED as the seller takes pains to point out) with decription "Has an EXTREMELY thick neck. Action gets kinda wonky above the 12th fret." But it's vintage, eh? You could buy it and let IKM model it. They've nailed fret buzz, and now they can try modelling wonky action.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kent-Model-670- ... 2746668088

Ha! That's the model. Yea, a total piece of junk with horrible action. The neck is set so you can't alter the angle with shims. Yep... extra-thick neck (I played a 5 string upright so no big deal). Just needs a set of LaBella tape wounds... and probably wouldn't sound the same after all that. I'll pass.

I have some old recordings so I know the sound. I appreciate the thought, however.

[Guitar Gaz]

Ok to get it back on track here...this is a thread
about MODO Bass..not Pianoteq, not Reason,
not Scarbee or Trilian. If you are totally happy
with some other bass VI, or playing a real bass,
then cool you dont need MODO Bass.

So I am not allowed to comment or provide an alternative opinion? Just trying to help give some context. That's what forums do isn't it?

[David Polich]

Easy there,Guitar Gaz.All I said was this
thread was originally about MODO Bass,
hence the title of the thread.

But to address the possible Elephant in The Room..
I personally dont get why anyone feels compelled to
post that they are not impressed with some product.
I dont see what purpose that serves, other than
to make one feel better about NOT buying it.

So to clarify..I bought MODO Bass, yes I love it,
yes I use it. And yes I find it to be an impressive
achievement, from a programmer's as well as
a keyboardist's perspective. I'm not on a crusade to make
people who didnt like it feel bad.

Its Christmastime, lets all lighten up a bit
about a product that only a very very tiny
fraction of the world's population know about.

[waxman]

I personally don't get why anyone feels compelled to
post that they are not impressed with some product.
I don't see what purpose that serves, other than
to make one feel better about NOT buying it.

I get having a negative take on a piece of gear if you've bought or used and it's bad. I think it's cool to warn people about a lemon. That said the comments that are negative and usually based on pure speculation, parroting a review or some lame analogy that has zero to do with the topic is annoying. Especially when a person has not even used the gear. Like "oh I'm a virtuoso on xyz instrument so I'd rather just play it on the real thing and have fun." Please... save it for the other Eeyore's on forums that have whole crews that gravitate to the negative.