Moog Music Forum

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum and new to the world of the Moogerfoogers. I recently purchased a Low Pass Filter and have spent a lot of time playing with it to discover all the wonderous sounds that it can produce. I love it.

I'm really hoping to now add some additional Moogerfoogers to the signal chain to get a more bass synth type of sound out of my bass guitar. Like Stevie Wonders "Boogie On Reggae Woman" type thing goin on.

I'm searching through this forums archives right now but so far I haven't found what I'm looking for. I figured posing this question would maybe get the answer or the direction needed.

Thanks a lot,
-B

Try and find an MF-102. It makes your bass sound "metallic"and "discordant," but you can tune the carrier oscilator to the particular key you're in. It also has an LFO which can act on the 102's carrier frequency or be patched out to e.g. the 101's cutoff. You might also consider the CP-251, as it has sample & hold (random, stepped LFO waveform) a lag processor (smooths out the voltage e.g. you can delay an envelope signal effecting cutoff). It also has an inverter, which means you could make the cutoff go down on your 101 instead of up when you send a signal (and trigger the envelope).

Thanks for the suggestion!

I gave a MF-102 a go yesterday afternoon at the local music establishment and I couldn't get the sound that I'm really looking for. It did however give me a wide array of neat sounds. I'll probably be picking one up after I figure out this bass guitar synth problem. I'll also likely get the phaser because that thing just sounds amazing.

As you probably already know, the bass line from 'Boogie On, Reggae Woman' was played on a synthesizer, and not a bass. While you might get close to the basic sound using various bass pedals and/or signal processors, creating a comparible performance with the sound could prove quite difficult.

From "Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer" by Trevor Pinch, pg 184:

"Macolm (Cecil) describes how everything was flowing during the taping of 'Boogie On, Reggae Woman': "One of us would work on the knobs, one of us, Stevie, would play the actual notes, and one of us would work on the keyboard. I would usually work either the knobs or the keyboard things, switching in the portamento and switching out, watching his line, knowing what he was going to play, so the portamentos were in the right place, switching it in and out, turning the hold, no-hold on and off in the right places so the right effects were happening. So as a player, you couldn't have done it - one person could not have played that... It was the three of us (Malcolm Cecil, Bob Margouleff & Stevie Wonder) together doing it that made the thing happen."

That said, it sounds like a fun thing to attempt with a bass and some stomp boxes.

Try using your Low Pass filter in conjunction with the Electro Harmonix Bass synthesizer. I get a great deal of useful synthesizer tones this way! I would also recommend trying a lot of other envelope filters: EBS bass IQ, EH (makes a few: bassballs, microQ, tube zipper, etc.). I REALLY like the old DOD FX25 (icky green box, but great sound as used by Bill Laswell). Try processing your bass through a synthesizer: MS20, miniMoog Voyager, SCI proOne, all have external inputs and can create cool/weird sounds. As always, experimentation is the key!

-andrew bunny

bunnyman wrote:Try using your Low Pass filter in conjunction with the Electro Harmonix Bass synthesizer. I get a great deal of useful synthesizer tones this way! I would also recommend trying a lot of other envelope filters: EBS bass IQ, EH (makes a few: bassballs, microQ, tube zipper, etc.). I REALLY like the old DOD FX25 (icky green box, but great sound as used by Bill Laswell). Try processing your bass through a synthesizer: MS20, miniMoog Voyager, SCI proOne, all have external inputs and can create cool/weird sounds. As always, experimentation is the key!

-andrew bunny

I'll second this, Low Pass Filter + EH Bass Micro Synth= Vowel tones- EEEEEEE, AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH, WWWHHHHHYYYYYYYYYY, OOHHHHHHHHHH I saw this Electro-Punk/Noise-Rock band open for Autechre(One Man's Ruin, I think was the bands name) Anyways, the guitar player had his guitar going through a Korg Wavestation. Awesome sounds going, deffiniately one of those instances where you wish the opening act was just as loud as the main act.