Moog Music Forum

Hi people...

New to the forum, but big Moogerfooger user. I play bass/synth bass in a live dubstep/electronica 2-piece.

The LPF is obviously a large part of my sound and sits along side a couple of other Foogers and an MP-201 on my huge board...


Anyway... Rehearsing today I noticed something different.

My MF-101 has it's cutoff controlled by an EP-2. Firsty today I noticed that when in the heel position, rather than just a lack of any usable frequencies there was a noticeable drop in signal volume as well. Also there was a sudden jump as I start to push the pedal forward... Almost like the 1st 10% of the pedals 'swell' does almost nothing, then there's a sudden jump rather than a smooth increase.

On a side note, I use the pedal on 2-pole mode but having tries it on 4-pole today I noticed a little crackle mid-swell that was amplified. This vanished when going back to 2-pole mode.

I assume this is the EP-2 that is playing up in the heel position... But any ideas?

Please note the 2nd EP-2 in the photo has been modded to match my modded BassMicroSynth and so won't work with a Moogerfooger anymore so I can't simply swap them over and try the other pedal... Although typing this just now I've realised I could try the MP-201 with it... Which I'll do when at the studio on Tuesday! Doh.

Cheers

Shep

ok, so i can't help you with your problem, but i would love to hear your rig. where can i check out the live dubstep 2 piece?

I've got the same problem as you (posted in a another thread), and I'm thinking it's the ep-2. I tried cleaning the contacts of the 101 to no avail, but I noticed if I rocked the expression pedal rapidly back and forth a lot to try to clean out the pot a bit, the "crackle" would go away for a while, but then come back later in a slightly different part of the sweep. I'd be interested in knowing if using the MP-201 solves your problem, since that would confirm it's probably just the ep-2.

I shall try it with the MP-201 on Tuesday and report back... Of prefer not to need to by a new EP2... But compared to buying a new LPF that's obviously the prefered option!

As for hearing it- there are some demo snippets here - www.myspace.com/ourhelicalmind These however have no sub to them and have lost a lot bass wise as are simply a room mic and a DI. We are recording in Feb with the Moot Group to create a professional quality recording... So bedew you say it, yes I know the recording is bad!

Everything you hear is live drums and live bass using only that board. No samples, no sequencers, no midi, no laptops etc etc.... If anyones near Nottingham, UK we have a couple of gigs coming up.

the_carl wrote:I've got the same problem as you (posted in a another thread), and I'm thinking it's the ep-2. I tried cleaning the contacts of the 101 to no avail, but I noticed if I rocked the expression pedal rapidly back and forth a lot to try to clean out the pot a bit, the "crackle" would go away for a while, but then come back later in a slightly different part of the sweep. I'd be interested in knowing if using the MP-201 solves your problem, since that would confirm it's probably just the ep-2.

Right

I've given it a good test. No crackle with the MP-201 so I assume it's the pot on the EP-2. As I us the LPF in 2 pole mode though (which doesn't crackle it's currently not an urgent issue).

The sudden jump in sound from heel to moving the EP-2 - this also is not present on the MP-201, however I notice if I start the swell on the EP-2 VERY slow it also doesn't do it on the EP-2, so I'm wondering if those really low frequency settings do go from inaudible to audible quite quick and that the MP-201 is just smoother than an EP-2.

Basically I can 'live' with the EP-2 as it is for now.

One strange thing I did notice though was that using the MP-201 to swell the LPF sounds totally different! The whole sound of the pedal becomes much softer and smoother, in comparison the EP-2 makes the pedal sound brighter. I can't really explain it any better and am confused how the expression pedal changes the tone/gain/EQ of the pedal it's controlling... But it does... A lot!

Shep

Hi, I literally just got my MF-101 along with the EP-2 in the mail last night in hopes of achieving some sounds found in electronica and dubstep using a live electric bass (particularly a sub-bass w/ high freqencies cut off and wobble/modulation sounds like those found in dubstep). I couldn't help being drawn to your post and the photo of your setup. Very nice man.

A good reference point for the "live-tronica" sounds I'm going for with the bass would be a la bands like Lotus and the New Deal - having a bass that can both sit in the pocket with a sub-bass type groove, but also be on the front with more of the modulated sounds, maybe even some overdrive. I know Lotus' bassist has said that the MF-101 with expression pedal "revolutionized his tone."

If you don't mind my asking, can you get these types of sounds with the setup you're using? Do you use the MF-101 with the EH bass synth, or, what is the sequence/chain of pedals you have running to get some of these sounds (without sharing all of your secrets )? I'd imagine you might have some of the same sound goals as I do.

I'd really appreciate any advice, as even briefly playing with the MF-101 and EP-2 alone gave me the impression of being more envelope following effects if alone, but they obviously have the potential to work with other pedals to get nice electronic/dubstep sounds. Just wondering what I might need to add to the setup next. Thanks in advance.

chris.p wrote:Hi, I literally just got my MF-101 along with the EP-2 in the mail last night in hopes of achieving some sounds found in electronica and dubstep using a live electric bass (particularly a sub-bass w/ high freqencies cut off and wobble/modulation sounds like those found in dubstep). I couldn't help being drawn to your post and the photo of your setup. Very nice man.

A good reference point for the "live-tronica" sounds I'm going for with the bass would be a la bands like Lotus and the New Deal - having a bass that can both sit in the pocket with a sub-bass type groove, but also be on the front with more of the modulated sounds, maybe even some overdrive. I know Lotus' bassist has said that the MF-101 with expression pedal "revolutionized his tone."

If you don't mind my asking, can you get these types of sounds with the setup you're using? Do you use the MF-101 with the EH bass synth, or, what is the sequence/chain of pedals you have running to get some of these sounds (without sharing all of your secrets )? I'd imagine you might have some of the same sound goals as I do.

I'd really appreciate any advice, as even briefly playing with the MF-101 and EP-2 alone gave me the impression of being more envelope following effects if alone, but they obviously have the potential to work with other pedals to get nice electronic/dubstep sounds. Just wondering what I might need to add to the setup next. Thanks in advance.

Hi bud,

No secrets here… I'll tell you what I can.

The LPF is the mainstay of the electronica bass sound… but alone it does little for the bassist. You need good Fuzz (Gated is best), Chorus or trem or phaser, Octave down, THEN LPF. (The chorus etc isn't really NEEDED but it does add depth to the sound). Basically Octave, Fuzz, LPF will do the sub swell into fizzy sparkle… and that make us bassists smile.

Thats your classic synth swell on bass… listen to John Davis of Nerve (http://nerve.bandcamp.com/) or Bond from Miloopa (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2I35goc3l8) - Bond has the kind of sound I achieve and aim for, with a few tweeks of my own.

So… where my board concerned that main sound is done one of 2 ways…

1. Boss OC-2 set to octave down only -> Corvid Fuzz or Devi Ever Soda Meiser -> Unichorus or Phase Shifter -> LPF (sweeping cutoff from 250 upwards). This is a lovely warm soft swell from a sub rumble up. If you listen to track one on EP3 of the Nerve link above you'll hear him doing just that for the main groove.

2. My Bass MicroSynth has been modded to have the cutoff )Start/Stop) controlled with an expression pedal… so it does everything above (minus the modulation) in one (plus octave up and original signal). The BMS is a more aggressive burpy sound than the LPF so I get 2 contrasts…

This is where my signal chain comes in handy as at the centre of my board is a Line Selector…

My signal starts at the FreqBox, which I use more like a fuzzy Pitch Shifter, that goes into the Line Selector…

From there channel one is basically most of the board and channel 2 is just the MicroSynth. Both channels meet again at the delay and then the slicer. The reason for this is that I can do a nice fat warm swell and as it delay's off into the distance I can pop on channel 2 and swell the BSM with an aggressive squarewave swell, then back again… This means I have 2 totally separate sounds, that overlap and sound like 2 instruments, rather than layering or removing an additional effect onto an existing tone…

Its complicated… but it works and makes me happy.

If you have any questions about how I use certain pedals etc etc then fire away, I'm happy to tell all. If you're UK based and near Nottingham give me a shout and you're welcome to try the set up.

Shep