Where to get bassline from?

Hi everyone,

I was wondering besides the “Bass” option under "Expressions, How can i make a more lively bassline from? Would i get it from the “Melody”? or “Performances”?

You could run another track in parallel with a separate Scaler session and a different Bass preset from the list. At least that’s what I often do to mix things up. Also try running the different bass lines at different speeds or ST/Oct offsets.

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This is kind of what i had in mind. But thank you for the quick reply and tip!

(Scaler 2 | Starting a Song | Chords, Bass Line, Melody & More - YouTube)

Some random things to try:

  1. A hit and miss method. Use a MONO synth patch but switch on a performance. Not all notes will play because you’re using a MONO synth patch.

  2. Use more than one Bass Line on your chords. Mix the styles within the pattern. Try a Rock bass on chords 1-2 and Funk Bass Line on Chords 3-4.

  3. Use your synth’s internal arrpegiator to create Bass lines from Chords. Drag and Drop those to MIDI tracks and edit further for variety.

  4. Play/Record a good bass line. :slight_smile:

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I am going to try that. Thank you!

I edit the chords of a scale down to single notes…This opens up single notes to rhythms outside of the limited bass/rhythm presets (for example u can then apply performance presets etc) …However this is ‘hacking’ Scaler to a degree and it somtimes crashes and definitely refuses to save them

I do wish there were more options for bass notes. Like a note priority option to filter out notes to single ones and take advantage of all of the performance options. Would LOVE to see a grid style edit option for performance rhythms etc - like duplicating ‘FUNK5’ and having a grid to change it slightly…So you have a D note playing FUNK5 and other D note playing a slightly rhythmic variation of FUNK5…if that makes sense

I was trying to find a midi FX tool which could be placed after scaler which would filter notes to a single root…But doesnt seem to exist

Captain Melody seems much more geared towards bass/single notes etc. But its annoying theres no demo and comes with a load of other plugs which Scaler has covered.

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The developers, David and Ed, have both mentioned such things for future versions of Scaler. It’s going to take time. I hope to see such features brought into Scaler. What I’ve done is to record a performance and, if it has pre-set notes that are not right for a chord, I adjust those notes to conform to chords I’m using. It’s a workaround I’ve had some success with.

you can also just using Scaler to feed any bass plugin, as e.g. BB or EzBass

I find their AI way more enticing that basslines embedded in Scaler or any arpeggiator

Atm Im using synth bass not guitar

But yeah, looking forward to any future developments in this area

IMO, there are all kinds of ways to create interesting bass lines using strictly Scaler.

The key is thinking in terms of recursions. In other words, feed Scaler its own patterns using chord duration, play quantize and humanize settings to isolate and tune playback.

You can also drive Scaler with Scaler directly to create composite instrument sounds along with the recursive patterns.

For a simple example using the Distance instrument, try driving Mesto with an Arp pattern (I like an up and down), capture the midi and feed it back into Mesto while playing with the play quantize and humanize features. (Caution, this can lead to many hours lost due to exploring)

There is more to Scaler than meets the ear.

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I should try this for certain African instruments, for example the balafon…
:thinking:

@TMacD can you drop some picture of the routing?

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I found out that some of the Scaler built-in basslines are actually quite long and melodic. For the first time I set the pattern length in Scaler to 16 beats, and then dragged & dropped the resulting MIDI for just C major chord into the DAW tracks. And this melodic piece came out…

Stream Scalered Beats’n Bass by Aleamanic | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

I did not add any melody, it’s literally just drag & drop of a C major chord from Scaler while performance was on Bass (Pop) - obviously on multiple tracks with different instruments, hence the complex layering.

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Yeah…very cool indeed!

Hey Claudio;

In that example I described, it is more of a process than a routing. The composite instrument setup is just using Scaler as audio effect on Scaler so no special routing should be needed.

Here is how I’d do the Mesto example above/

  1. Find an interesting Scaler chord (I like the Cm one in Davide’s Up In The Air chordset)
  2. In Scaler Perform, enable a 4 bar Up/Down Arpeggio @ 1/8 beat
  3. Drag that (or any) chord to a Scaler track in your DAW (it should have the Arp midi - loop it)
  4. In Scaler, select Performances / Expressivo / Mesto
  5. Disable Perform in Scaler and play the midi part in your DAW. You should hear just a simple rise and fall.
  6. Now enable Perform with the Mesto setting and play with the resolution and other settings

You could also explore other Perform Settings.

Nothing earth shattering for sure, but it does demonstrate how you can drive Scaler with Scaler in interesting ways. You just have to explore a little.
Hope that helps and I’ll have another video talking about these exact things shortly.

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Yeah bit lost in your process - but sounds interesting and productive

Please upload a video explaining all this!! Many thanks

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While not the exact example above, all of the concepts and steps are in here (or the other related videos)

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I just created a tutorial where I made a bassline (and not only that) in seconds using Toontrack EzBass

Maybe it can be useful for other bass plugins as well
cheers

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