Pedal-in-a-Bass

Hi Pukkita and thanks so much for your comments. I wasn’t aware of these products so thanks for bringing them to my attention.

Do let me know when you have some experiences with them that you would like to share.

Best

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I had them on my radar for a Boominator mini (360º) bluetooth speaker system (4 channel DSP), will let you know!

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Hi again folks. Just uploaded an update ('Where did all my bass go?') on the pedalinabass.org site which you might find interesting.

Enjoy

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Very interesting! I would love to see more spectrograph readings with different plucking positions, i.e. if you pluck the string closer to the middle of the string, you’ll get more fundamental, and if you pluck closer to the bridge more overtones. That’s what it sounds like anyway, would be interested to see what the spectrograph thinks.

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I’m building a Cigar box Bass. I will be incorporating a psycho switch. I won’t go into detail here, but, they are fun sound effects. If you want to check it out go to www.cbgitty.com search for psycho switch. Shane Speal has a demo video on each of the 5 switch position. 1st position is total bypass the other 4 are different effects and they are good. Enjoy.

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There are some seriously crafty folks on this forum.
I still feel like a mild genius when I successfully change my strings…
Kudos and props to you folks with the skillz out there!

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lol, +1 to that.

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It’s only physics!

Hi Josh. Spot-on with your observations of course! To prove your point I’ve created some more spectrographs along the lines suggested. No surprises then but interesting nevertheless.

They actually help to illustrate a significant problem in designing DSP algorithms which is the identification of the fundamental in the presence of varying harmonic content.

Do let me know if you would like to see further analyses done.

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I think it’s amazing how the spectrographs seem to confirm what we fundamentally do when we play. More attack, use the bridge please sir. More “plum”? Please move along to the neck, sir. It’s no wonder I rarely use the tone control but move my hand instead.

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Thank you! So cool to look at that stuff.

And same here @muff, I never use my active EQ unless it’s for an “effect.” So glad I spent so many years just learning to change tone with my hands before I started getting really interested in buying a bunch of gear.

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I’ve been practicing more lately with more of a “mental attitude”. Really thinking about the natural tones available via where and how I play as opposed to throwing the bass at people. Having learnt from @Bottomfeeder about the Fundamental and 2nd, 3rd harmonic etc. Finding out that what I’m hearing isn’t necessarily what I thought I was hearing but something I didn’t know was there in this position as opposed to that position. Still with me? Mental right? Results so far has improved my thumb work but not the pop work on my right (picking) hand. All because I looked at those graphs! Compare is a bad word. I’ve watched some totally different bassists who play different styles and play in different places. The tones! Kev Hopper stands out in the experimental field. “Experimental” for me. And the difference in the guys who play fretless! Where was I? Mental, right?

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The phrase ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ was never more apposite! Glad they have sparked some interesting comments.

See Wandering notes for the latest chapter.

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Really interesting stuff!

Another spectrograph thing I thought to be interested in - seeing the same pitch played on different strings, i.e. a graph for the open G string, vs. 5th fret D vs. 10th fret A vs. 15th fret E. I’m guessing we’d see more balance toward the fundamental (and maybe first overtone) on the thicker strings. That’s how it sounds, anyway.

Also, you wrote:

Just want to add that I totally agree! Digital pitch tracking has gotten better over time, obviously, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement. All the best digital pitch tracking pedals I know of - the TC Sub’n’up, the EHX Micro/Nano POG, Digitech Bass Whammy, etc. - still either have some glitches in the pitch tracking (mostly the Sub’n’Up + POGs), or a little too much latency (the Whammy).

Curious - how did you isolate harmonics? Just band-pass filtering?

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Hi Josh and thanks for your thoughtful (as always) input. Just a brief response at this time as I have been distracted with some domestic stuff: organising barn sales at my previous location some 300 miles from here in SW England. There’s only so much gear you can squeeze into a 40’ boat from a 3-bedroom detatched cottage with 6 sheds!

Re spectrograms: yes, great idea. I had thought of doing this some time ago but didn’t want to run the risk of boring everybody with more of the same! However, now back on board I can get on with it. If I get the chance I’ll do the tests on 3 sets of quite different strings so watch this space.

The algorithms I’ve been developing do involve band pass filtering but that alone is not responsive enough in a real-time environment. I use a variant of the Single Bin Sliding Discrete Fourier Transform to do the job. Much has been written about this and if you really want to melt your brain (mine is pretty fluid now) you could do worse than read this.

More soon.

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Haha my brain is melty just looking at the title. I’ll see if I can make it through. :slight_smile:

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I think my brain seized as opposed to melt.

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Hi. Ask, and it shall be given!

See my Variations in G - Tuneless Masterpiece for the latest.

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Cool, thank you! Exactly what I expected with the more prominent fundamental as string fatness increases.

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Hi folks. Sorry about the delay but … life …

Just uploaded some more interesting stuff on PedalInaBass.org - Bass is back.

Look, listen and comment if you will.

Bye

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Always fun to hear the latest from the mad scientist lab. My head is spinning as usual. :slight_smile:

Also regarding JNDP (Just Noticeable Difference in Pitch) - I found this tool online where you can test your own ability to discern pitches with smaller and smaller gaps. I can hear 3 cents difference reliably, but after that I crap out. Can anybody beat me?
https://web.archive.org/web/20140625141824/http://tonometric.com/adaptivepitch/

Ooh, and just noticed something from your December post “Variations in G” - sounds like the intonation on the instrument is a bit off, because the 15th fret of the E string is significantly sharper than the open G string, which it shouldn’t be in an ideal world. That may have affected the spectrograms a bit. For what it’s worth.

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