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bass synth pedals

Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2010 1:26 am
by ellaguru
i'm curious to know if any of you have yet tried one of this.
it could be a cool way to filter samplers or maybe toy keyboards (to transform them in something more useful)...

the 2 boss makes me curious but the other too...

BOSS Bass Synthesizer SYB-3
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H-XVGiUlN8)
Boss SYB-5 Bass Synthesizer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFe5VukqWGw&feature=related
Ibanez SB7
Digitech Bass Synth Wah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNxHtnwegOc&feature=related#movie_player
Bsy600 Beheringer Bass Synthesizer synth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTASTRXw3-Q&feature=related

thanx

Re: bass synth pedals

Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2010 11:46 am
by PHeMoX
Make sure to try them out in a store though, because some of the synth pedals might have a nasty delay before what you play will be turned into a synth. Then I'm talking about older generation Boss pedals mostly.

Anyone who's ever used a BR-864 recorder with the synth guitar FX knows what I'm talking about here.

Re: bass synth pedals

Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2010 1:00 pm
by ellaguru
yes, that is the main risk with rough noise too...
unfortunately the syb-3 (the most i like), is out of production, so no shops got it...
listening to the youtube examples they didnt seems that bad but

1)the youtube sounds is variable from examples to examples dipending to recording quality
2)some of them are only shown with bass guitar, so no other examples to have an opinion...

Re: bass synth pedals

Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2010 1:33 pm
by sharpmotif
I don't think latency will be that much of a problem. There are two different modes on the SYB-5: one triggers internal sounds and the other triggers a filter. I assume the Synth Wah works in similar fashion.

Re: bass synth pedals

Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2010 1:56 pm
by cartesia
syb-3 is the one that everyone seems to like, its a collectors item now almost

Re: bass synth pedals

Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2010 2:49 pm
by ellaguru
cartesia wrote:syb-3 is the one that everyone seems to like, its a collectors item now almost


yes, i think is the most "analog-like" of them...

Re: bass synth pedals

Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2010 3:21 pm
by ellaguru
another one is the multi fx box by zoom, the b1 for bass, it has a synth fx too (i know Blindfold got one of this, check the studio pics thread, i pmed him anyway :) ), but i don't know how is it, no example at all on the tube.
i cited this pedal because it isnt very big for a multifx and it has dimensions not very big than the pedals above.
(and it is cheap too)

Re: bass synth pedals

Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2010 4:10 pm
by PHeMoX
sharpmotif wrote:I don't think latency will be that much of a problem. There are two different modes on the SYB-5: one triggers internal sounds and the other triggers a filter. I assume the Synth Wah works in similar fashion.


I'm sure it has been improved upon a lot on newer model pedals, but some synth pedals really do have this annoying issue. :)

Re: bass synth pedals

Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 1:03 pm
by ellaguru
....i finally bought the zoom b2, it got 9fx simultaneously (and 3 synth modules), battery powered etc
foud it second hand in a shop, couldn't resist.
for me it's good.
cheers

Re: bass synth pedals

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 8:00 am
by Unfolding
I've got the Boss SYB-5 & its pretty decent... With a bass guitar.

Had a quick go putting my SH32 synth through it & it kinda failed. A bit of tweaking (removing LFO modulations & internal effects, playing in the bass guitar's range) got some interesting sounds, but its kinda pointless to use with another synth. Heh. Often play the SH-32 through the ME20B multi-FX for interesting results too, maybe multi-FX units may be better suited for you?

Haven't tried the SYB-5 with a sampler or drum machine (yet), but I couldn't image it'd be worth more than the novelty.

Boss stress that its designed specifically for bass guitars & should be placed as the first effect in your chain ($10 bet they say the same about the SYB-3). So Phemox is right about try before you buy. But if you're also a bass dude/dudette its kickarse- its sound is hella gnarly (especially with an expression pedal).

Re: bass synth pedals

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 8:16 am
by ellaguru
thanx
yes the bass gutiar was my first instruments
but i want to use this B2 mainly to try to transform apparently unuseful sounds (like toy keyboards for example) into more "convincing" sounds. Circuit bending is also another way to do it but those 3 synth modules fx i got there on this pedal are ok for this aim for now.
i think multifx are better than this but i wanted something more portable and this is more or less like a pedal and it got battery power too; and multifx are also more expensive than this B2...

Re: bass synth pedals

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 12:40 pm
by PHeMoX
I think I've just found a new purpose for my Zoom GFX-5. Never use that multi-FX pedal anymore, but it does have some potentially useful FX to create some interesting sample sounds with. ( Lol, thanks ellaguru. )

At first I wanted to sell, but it's probably barely worth anything.

Re: bass synth pedals

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 1:36 pm
by ellaguru
PHeMoX wrote:I think I've just found a new purpose for my Zoom GFX-5. Never use that multi-FX pedal anymore, but it does have some potentially useful FX to create some interesting sample sounds with. ( Lol, thanks ellaguru. )

At first I wanted to sell, but it's probably barely worth anything.


has it some sort of synth fx? also, if is a multifx -in itself- it got nice potentiality yet i think...

Re: bass synth pedals

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 4:50 pm
by PHeMoX
Yeah, it has a 'violin' style synth FX, pretty much similar to a bass / guitar synth FX. But I never thought of using the other FX ( echoes, delays and such) before.

Re: bass synth pedals

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 5:07 pm
by ellaguru
PHeMoX wrote:Yeah, it has a 'violin' style synth FX, pretty much similar to a bass / guitar synth FX. But I never thought of using the other FX ( echoes, delays and such) before.


cool.
try it with some trash keyboard kid toys to give 'em new life...