Real Bass vs synth

[MechyKola]

Can you use a synth instead of a bass and still have it sound good? Not realistic, just fill up bottom end etc. I have £200-£300-ish saved up for a bass guitar but my PC broke yesterday and I can either use the money to repair it or use it to get a bass. If i do get the bass it will be used for a personal demo, but if i do i will have to mix and record on my laptop which isn't great. I plan to do orchestral stuff and possibly electronic later on but the demo will be prog. I'm still in school so getting a job and saving up enough for both resonantly isn't an option. I will only use the bass for the demo and possibly further material, but I am mainly a guitarist and doubt it will get used live etc. is it worth getting it and learning to play it properly or should i just learn to use synths?

 

[TedEH]

If you're only ever going to use it once, and it doesn't have to sound pro or realistic, then just do the vst thing. Try out some bass vst first, then decide where to spend the money after. If you don't like the results, then go get a bass.

 

[Jano]

Fix or buy a new pc, try some vsti, borrow a bass or have a friend to be playing bass for the demo purposes

There are good synth bass, but I think they are good for music where bass is not predominant nor have a lot of presence

 

[MechyKola]

Does anyone have any success with synth bass or know any examples (music using synth bass) ?

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I only use the VST Bass for demo purposes, and even then, I still treat it as I would a real bass played by a real player, ie; a comp, and eq, and my reliable Sansamp plugin.

From there, I'll print off or export the score as a .pdf for my bass player to get an idea of what I'm looking for. I don't think like a bass player, so I give him a lot of freedom to do what he does best. I just want to communicate to him a vibe that I'm hoping to accomplish, and we'll talk back & forth a lot about the interplay between the drums and bass, and in what sections I feel more strongly about a demo'd part as it might end up presenting itself as a counter melody to accent the guitar parts.

Edit: I don't actually have to print or export anything. My bass player and I have identical studio setups as far as Computer, Pro Tools Version, etc and we start with a master template, then everything lives in a shared document in the cloud.

As soon as I hit "save", he gets an alert and is then able to open the same document exactly as I saw it when I was using it.

 

[Action]

Can you use a synth instead of a bass and still have it sound good? Not realistic, just fill up bottom end etc.

Yes. You can also shift a guitar an octave down.

If you want some examples, I believe Animal as Leaders use synth basses, to great effect. At the electronic end of the spectrum, Pendulum is a drum-and-bass band that mixes real guitar and bass with synths and more.

It is as Jano says; synth bass usually passes when the bassline is never the main focus, and you just need to fill up bottom end. Given what you have told us, and that these are demos, I am with Ted, and say try a synth or a shifted guitar before buying a bass.

 

[Aymara]

It depends on the Genre, which choice is the better one.

 

[Rachmaninoff]

Simple bass lines, just to fill the space, can be done with VSTi stuff. If the bass is more demanded, or if the bass appears more, then a VSTi will sound fake. So, the answer is "it depends".

 

[Science_Penguin]

Ehhh, just try the synth, I say. Even if it doesn't wind up sounding like a real bass, it may still sound good. And if it doesn't sound good to your ears, buy a real bass.
Remember, musicians do a hell of a lot more nitpicking than the average listeners...

If you need some examples of synth bass working, though, Rush had a few sequenced bass parts in the 80's for moments when Geddy was busy on the keyboards. Check out the post-solo chorus of the song 'Force Ten'.

 

[Aymara]

It's worth mentioning, that some bass VSTi's can sound pretty "natural", e.g. the Rickenbacker by Native Instruments:

 

[bostjan]

I recommend making nice with a local bass player and having him play on your demo.

1. It increases the quality of the demo
2. It increases the level of exposure, assuming the bass player has at least one follower.
3. It branches you out for networking opportunities later.

 

[eyeswide]

I do believe Meshuggah did it on more than a few albums.

 

[Tegara]

I do believe Meshuggah did it on more than a few albums.

Ever since Peter Nordin left, either Fredrik or Mårten has played the bass guitar on albums, until Koloss. And Hielm played on Chaosphere. No synth basses were ever used.

I tried sequencing with high-end bass synths for a couple days earlier this year and while most were impressive, the real thing still blows 'em out the water. Everything that makes the real bass sound real can obviously be achieved with relative ease on the real thing, and some of the stuff you could never do on VSTs. But you can build some great tones on the dry signals, just like you would on DI bass guitar.

 

[bostjan]

What's your time frame for the demo? How many songs and how long are they? Perhaps, if you are not ready to purchase a bass, and cannot find a local guy, I could dub some tracks in for you remotely. I'm sure there are a few others around here who would do the same.

 

[Crimsonghost]

Ive tired for a long time to get a bass sim to have that realism and it just hasn't worked. I have a super ....ty ss bass that i keep in drop c and it still sounds better then the sims ive tried.

Not to say you shouldnt try, because ymmv. But as far as im concerned, ill take a real bass any day of the week.

If i were you id take that cash and hire a studio musician to work on your demo.

 

[Veldar]

If you're playing metal the "grind" of real strings is needed for stock metal tones.

 

[MechyKola]

Sorry for taking a while and resurrecting a dead thread, but i fixed my pc, and since the demo is still more than half a year off i'll probably try to find someone willing to play. i'll make another thread for other questions later on when i've got some of my stuff sorted, thanks a lot for the advice guys

 

[jerm]

Trilian FTW.

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/horussound_jeremy/2016-07-09-song-6-v9[/SC]

 

[hairychris]

Currently recording an album and using both at the same time, more to the point using synths to add frequencies in a subtle way.

Not very helpful I know.

 

[Aymara]

Not very helpful I know.

Why not? The idea to combine both wasn't mentioned so far, right?