Big, Bad, Beefy, Beat-crazed Bass

Date:2020/2/13 16:54:18 Hits:

People often think of amp sims as guitar-specific, but let’s not overlook bass — whether for rock or groove-oriented dance music. However, bass works best with a secret ingredient: parallel processing, which splits the bass into two paths.

Effects and bass often don’t get along, because many effects (like wah and distortion) rob the bass of its low-frequency power. With parallel processing, one path can go through a bass amp sim to give a big, solid bass amp sound. Meanwhile, the other path can go through all kinds of exotic effects that never take away from the bass — they just add to it.

Parallel Power
Several sims allow for parallel paths, such as the Line 6 Helix Native and Native Instruments Guitar Rig Pro, which is included in the Komplete 11 and Komplete 11 Ultimate packages. For this article, the examples are based around IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube 4, because I’m a huge fan of the Ampeg bass amp models. Having used those amps for many years, the sound is burned into my brain, and AmpliTube 4 sounds just like those amps.

AmpliTube offers eight signal routings, and Number 8 is great for bass because Stomp B lets you put effects in parallel with the main signal path. Meanwhile, you can put your favorite amp in Amp A and cab in Cab A. For Stomp B, use the Selected Module Vol control along the bottom to make sure the effect doesn’t overwhelm the bass.

Here are some of my favorite parallel effects that work exceptionally well with bass; the settings in the screen shot are good starting points. The following descriptions apply to using one effect at a time.

Compressor — Adding a parallel compressor lets you squeeze the bass dynamics for a full, round, sustaining sound, but the main path preserves all the percussive, expressive note attacks. It’s the best of both worlds, and parallel compression on bass and drums is many a pro engineer’s “secret weapon.” (I prefer the Compressor for bass compared with DComp.)

Nu-Tron III — When you want to get funky, there’s nothing quite like envelope filtering on bass. Putting the filter in parallel lets you overlay the cool, popping filter effects without thinning out the main bass line.

Wharmonator — I just leave this parked with the pedal all the way down, and the harmony set for an octave higher. It provides a pseudo-6-string bass effect, or an effect like guitar and bass playing together, that can really fill out a track.

Bass Meets Beats
AmpliTube has some tasty effects that can sync to tempo, which is especially easy to do with recording programs like Ableton Live, PreSonus Studio One, Avid Pro Tools, Acoustica Mixcraft, MOTU Digital Performer, etc. This creates a bass sound that locks into a song’s rhythm and won’t let go — just set the switch at the bottom of the effect to BPM Sync, choose the rhythm with an effect’s Rate control (quarter note, eighth note, etc., as shown in the Value window toward the lower middle) or Division parameter, and now you have a bass sound that fits like a glove into hip-hop, EDM, Afropop, zouk, and other highly rhythmic musical genres.

Step Slicer — I just love this on bass. You can accent specific notes in a measure, with the rhythmic intervals of your choice. The screen shot shows 16 steps of 32nd notes, so you have a repeating rhythmic pattern every two beats. It’s a cool, pulsing sound that accents the rhythm in a way that’s impossible to do with conventional tremolo.

Step Filter — This is kind of like Step Slicer’s brother, because it accents different beats with filtering — sort of like a wah that steps through different filter sounds instead of sweeps through them. It combines some of the Nu-Tron III’s functionality because of the filtering effects, along with the step sequencer aspect of the Step Slicer.

Opto Tremolo — I have a favorite setting here: Tempo sync to 16th notes, with Depth slammed all the way up to 10. This gives a periodic pulsing sound, as opposed to the more polyrhythmic pulsing the Step Slicer can deliver.

More Fun Than One
It gets even more interesting when you enable more than one effect. For example, the Wahrmonator and Step Filter make a great team, as does Warhmonator and Opto Tremolo — it sounds almost like guitar and bass playing in unison. Nu-Tron III followed by Compressor is another favorite, because it really brings up the funky filtering while keeping a solid bass sound pounding in the background. And you can add the Step Slicer and Step Filter to just about anything.

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