running Minitaur with bass effect pedals.

evannaculum · Post by **evannaculum** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 10:00 pm

hi, first post here. New to Moog, new to synthesizers, and new to EDM music. basically big time rookie right here, however long time bass player. trying to get a "live-step" EDM project off the ground and have acquired a nice array of new gadgets along the way. After a few months of toying around with regular bass effect pedals in search of a fat dubstep-esque bass tone, i finally landed on the realization that i needed a midi controller to trigger a Minitaur. i have no interest in learning how to play a new instrument (keyboard) at this point in my life, so after months of searching, i got my hands on a Peavey Cyberbass midi controller/bass guitar. First i would like to say that this Cyberbass is way cooler than i thought it was going to be, no noticeable latency, and didn't even realize that the cyberbass sends 2 signals: 1 midi signal that is sent to the Minitaur, and a second that is just regular bass signal from the bass pickups; combined creating a super fat tone that is insane to say the least. I am sending the regular/clean bass signal through a markbass super synth, and a source audio envelope filter respectively. the midi signal hits the Minitaur first, then into source audio multi wave bass distortion, Digitech bass whammy pitch shifter/harmonizer, and source audio tri-mod auto wah respectively.

first issue I'm noticing is the bass distortion pedal, has very little effect on the sound. it is working, but not impacting the tone as much as i hoped it would. any settings or specific EQ that i should shoot for? Second thing I'm wondering is whether or not i should invest in a compressor, and if so, where should i put it in the pedal chain? last is syncing the LFO midi clock. i would rather avoid relying on a DAW to send midi clock message since the idea of this whole set-up is for live performance, dragging a laptop on stage just to sync the LFO seems a bit over the top (and i am a bass player, so I'm used to just being able to plug in and play. minimal set-up time is crucial). is there any analog midi clock generator than is recommended to use with the MInitaur?

just got the Minitaur a week ago, and Cyberbass 2 weeks ago, so still in the tweaking phase, but so far, this thing is awesome and i can't wrap my head around why there are no other modern bass guitar midi controllers on the market? Was this thing just way ahead of it's time and never took off? I also just got 4 Moog EP-3 Expression pedals last night and plan to CV map those to Filter, LFO rate, Frequency, and maybe some other parameter so i can just control the Minitaur with my feet and keep my hands on the fretboard. Granted, it has already become pretty clear to me that a regular keyboard midi controller is probably the best way to play the Minitaur, but my band's angle is to put on a live band performance playing EDM music in the dubstep/house/trance genres and i have also noticed that i can produce somewhat more organic sounding bass lines compared to other EDM artists while still getting that WUB WUB dubstep sound. I will post some pics and maybe a video if people here are interested in this post.

_DemonDan_ · Post by **_DemonDan_** » Fri Mar 13, 2015 11:59 am

evannaculum wrote:My band's angle is to put on a live band performance playing EDM music in the dubstep/house/trance genres... I will post some pics and maybe a video if people here are interested in this post.

I would like to see a video of that.

evannaculum · Post by **evannaculum** » Fri Mar 13, 2015 12:56 pm

Band practice is tomorrow. Will try to get a video up Sunday.

evannaculum · Post by **evannaculum** » Sun Mar 15, 2015 3:07 am

_DemonDan_ wrote:
evannaculum wrote:My band's angle is to put on a live band performance playing EDM music in the dubstep/house/trance genres... I will post some pics and maybe a video if people here are interested in this post.
I would like to see a video of that.

Very poor quality...filmed myself with an iPad. We will have some higher quality stuff up in about 2 weeks, but I wanted to post this just to show the moog/cyberbass set up. It's wicked fun to play!

http://youtu.be/rZKYysWKw6Q

Here's a second video of us actually playing a song. All sounds heard in this video are live...

http://youtu.be/Z1t1N_TWKaE

bilstrude · Post by **bilstrude** » Tue Sep 22, 2015 4:04 am

Heh,

i stumbled across one of those Cyber bass's in a local music shop a couple of days back. So I've just been searching the internet for reviews and stumbled upon this forum.

Are they really that good? The conversion is clean and accommodates slides and bends?

I'm a guitarist who makes EDM, not live like yourself, but feel this might be an interesting route to go. Toys in the studio for creativity are always good anyway.

Is there anything i need to check for on the unit to make sure its in working order or not going to cost me a fortune in repairs etc etc.

Any and all suggestions, advice is welcome.

I did read that the same guy who designed the system in the Peavey is behind the Industrial Radio MIDI bass which uses the same, slightly more up to date, system and sell for around $3,500 US.

thanks chaps

bilstrude · Post by **bilstrude** » Tue Sep 22, 2015 4:44 am

the other midi controller i was looking at, believe it or not, was the yourock guitar which, when you put all the toy/gaming features aside, looks like a solid no-nonsense midi controller for guitarists?

thoughts?

CleverConQueso · Post by **CleverConQueso** » Thu Sep 24, 2015 7:13 pm

You might want to share a MIDI clock with other members of the band. There will likely be a sequencer somewhere if you're doing EDM - you'll want the same clock as that. You can use USB and filter out information you don't want to receive in the editor or choose a unique MIDI channel. Watch though as the tempo changes - if you have a delay connected it could make a boomerang noise.
My experience with guitar pedals on synths is that they can rob the tone. I've heard folks say the 'Rat' is a good distortion but never tried it. Effects on bass can be particularly problematic since it can get muddy. However, you'll have no trouble getting suggestions here ans elsewhere as to delays and reverbs people like. Eventide, Carbon Copy, the Moog one's and my personal budget choice - the Zoom CDR.
Noticed that you took down the YouTube videos.
There are MIDI foot controllers that might let you send CC to set the LFO speed and change presets. However, I read that the CV inputs can be set to custom destinations. You might be able to work out an expression pedal or two. The Moog EP-3 is pretty nice and not expensive and might do the job if you find that you can route the CV input to LFO speed or amount.
Random thoughts - HTH.

youunicornsyou · Post by **youunicornsyou** » Fri Oct 02, 2015 10:39 am

Try the Mantic Vitriol- great distortion on both bass and synth.

Bertotti · Post by **Bertotti** » Fri Oct 02, 2015 4:14 pm

evannaculum do you have a different link to your live band em dub project? The links above are not working for me. Thanks!

Evergreen59 · Post by **Evergreen59** » Sat Jan 21, 2017 8:24 am

Is true that connecting pedals will vary the tone. I tend to create my tone using different picks.
I wrote a post about this if you´d like to take a look.
http://justpedals.com/need-to-know-guit ... tar-picks/

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running Minitaur with bass effect pedals.

running Minitaur with bass effect pedals.

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