So I’m doing some recording at home and I want to create some bass lines to drum along to but sadly I don’t have a bass guitar. Am I right in thinking that I can get hold of a pedal that will let me pitch my guitar down an octave or two for artificial bassline creation?
I’m looking for something cheap and cheerful, not too fussy about super high fidelity sound as it’s just for me to mess around with at home.
Thoughts welcome!
Might have more luck here:
Ive used the digitech whammy in the past but for what they cost you may as well buy a shite bass instead
Yeah if you’re spending say £50 on a pedal just spend that money on a cheap second hand bass instead. Even if it’s shit it’ll sound better than an electric through an octave pedal.
I’ve been using an octave VST for home recording recently and whilst it works ok for tracking/placeholding for a bass on the 5th and 6th strings, the 3rd and 4th just get completely lost. Just get a cheap bass.
fwiw, brian cook uses it in sumac. Doubt its for a full octave lower though, more like a 5th but still sounds fucking hyuuuuge.
Hes about 2/3rds of the way in
Fair play!
As with all of these things - a skilled and experienced musician/technician will be able to make it work. The end result is only as good as what you put into it, always.
Hmmm thanks for the thoughts everyone…
I think I’m going to derail my own thread in this case and now ask best way to go about purchasing a cheap second hand bass?
Where would you go? Online? Ebay? (Ebay scares me a bit).
Thank you!
Probably choose Gumtree over eBay in the first instance, but always go to the seller and test it first. Always.
What’s your budget Scagden?
Agree even a cheap bass will be better than octave pedals or tuning down on your pc.
Hmmm… fifty quid? Like I say I’m not a bassist or looking to become one. I really just want to create and loop some basslines to drum along to mainly.
You cant take a poo for 50 quid in this country
That’s a tight budget! This looks a great option for £75 if you live near Burntwood (wherever Burntwood is?):
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/302278047569
Other than that, gear4music have their own brand basses at that price. No idea whether they’re any good or not but have bought other stuff from them before with no problems.
Thanks that’s good intel. The problem is if I spend too much on it that’s Christmas present money and it’s May.
You’ve been going to the wrong restaurants.
Sounds real to me!!
A cheap bass, played by somebody who isn’t normally a bass player, directly into an interface, probably won’t sound great.
If you’ve no desire to be a bassist, I’d probably just get a secondhand octave pedal off eBay. You can enjoy mucking about with it and, if it’s not for you, it’ll be a lot easier to sell-on and post (without losing any cash).
For example:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152532346679
Alternatively, just drop it down an octave in your DAW.
I’m glad i got mine when i did. great little pedal.
You can make some really nice sounds with a Boss OC-2 and a bit of messing around. Great for twangy, funky stuff where you want some snap in the top end, and also for monster thick distorted stuff. Loads of fun. Just make sure you don’t track the two outputs separately - put the whole signal through in one go.
Just pay @epimer to record them for you and send the track back over the net