Rickembacker bass & MIDI files

I'm a terrible keyboard player so I'd like to know if it's possible to control Rickembacer bass (or other Scarbee models) using my own MIDI files in Pro Tools?
I'm kind of familiar with MIDI programming (write my own drum patterns to use with BF2, some synth pads, etc) but I think programming bass lines would be a bit different (more difficult), but the point is, is is possible? Are there any explanation in the manual or somewhere elso about this kind of use?

Thanks in advance and sorry for my english.

 

Yeah, of course it's possible.

 

Programming bass lines with the Scarbee instruments can be rather challenging. The realism and features on them are fantastic, but "massaging" the MIDI performances can be quite involved and somewhat difficult if you want to take advantage of them.

I just purchased the Rickenbacker library, and I've tried using a bass line I programmed using the Scarbee Pre Bass and it doesn't sound right at all. It is requiring me to do a LOT of editing to make it work with the new library. :|

 

Thanks EvilDragon and Bryan for your help.

Bryan, do you mean that even between two models of Scarbee basses there is such a difference in programming? I was thinking about buying the two models (Scarbee Pre and Rickembacker) and now I got really scared. I spent a lot of time trying to program decent drums for my songs and I have no idea how different or more difficult it would be to program bass lines... I never tried to do anything similar to that. I’ve been recording the bass myself using a real instrument but I don’t have a good bass, amp, etc and I would have to spend a lot of money in equipment to get the quality sound I’m sure I could get with Scarbee… the question I’ve being doing to myself is: would I be able to tame it?

Is there any information in the manual (or anywhere else) regarding programming midi files for Scarbee, something I could use as a quick start and see where I get from there?

Thanks again to both of you.

 

Yes, of course there are differences - older Scarbee basses are pretty much consistent with one another regarding keyswitching and everything, but I presume that Rick is in a whole another league.

Yes, you will find the info about keyswitches and articulations in the respective manuals for each library.

 

Hi, that's great.

Think I'll try to go by myself from here... let's see where I get to.

Thanks a lot again.

 

Hi Guys

Yes the Rickenbacker is a little different than other basses because we saw the opportunity to improve some things and because the picked bass required some new inventions to make it simulate a picked bass in best possible way.

1) First of all get used to the fact that you need to set a negative pre-delay on Rickenbacker bass track to get it in sync with ex. drums. This is because there are (at default) 40ms string scrape. The scrape makes a huge difference before and in between the tones. - and create the "sonic sauce" that makes it feel real.
If scrape is 40 ms (can be set shorter in SETTINGS) - withdraw 7 ms and you have approximately the negative value you need: -33 ms. If you set scrape to 30 ms it will be -23 ms etc.

2) The MUTES: the mutes now can exclusively be triggered using the A#-1 key trigger. And this trigger is velocity controlled so that 64-127 will trigger a normal mute (on real bass: using 2-4 fingers on left hand) and 0-63 will trigger "harmonic mutes" (on real bass: dampened with 1-2 fingers) - these last mutes have more harmonics in them. Besides that we now have 2 different mutes - they are also dynamic - meaning there are soft-medium-hard samples! We have wanted it to be easier to play normal sustained soft samples without hitting mutes instead.

3) Trills and Buzz-trills: these are now auto triggered - so you play first note and hold it while playing next notes. This new system means we have both whole and half trills and you can make much more variation in tempo and feel. Its also easy and very useful to use ex half buzz trills fast - and whole buzz trills slowly - like Paul McCartney does. (sliding up and down.) Also - now these trills are dynamic - meaning there are both hard-medium-soft ones.

4) Automatic strike detection: This is also new and off great value with picked bass - now you dont need to insert so many C0/C#0 values for selecting down/up (on other basses index/middle).

So please enjoy these new features.

all the best

Thomas

 

Thanks for weighing in, Thomas!

The track delay was the big thing I was missing. I just couldn't figure out why my 8th notes weren't sounding right. This advice should be in manual!

Cheers,
B

 

Hi, Thomas

Thanks a lot for such a valuable information. I’m sure you saved me a lot of time in the future trying to figure that out … I haven’t bought & installed Scarbee Rickembacker yet but I’m really excited about it, I’m just trying to finish some things I’m working on so I can dedicate as much time as I can to get familiar with this fascinating instrument.

I have another doubt and I’m not sure if this is the right place to post but I’ll try anyway: I still have Kontakt 3.5 installed in my system - the one that came when I bought Steven Slate Drums EX 3.5. Could you tell me, please:

Do I have to uninstall this old version of Kontakt to install the new one or…
Both versions can live in the same computer or..
Installing a new version in the same computer automatically overwrites the old one?

I’m asking that because I don’t know if Steven Slate Drums will work properly (or work at all) in Kontakt 5 and I haven’t found the time to search about it yet.

Thanks a lot again for all the support and sorry for any english mistakes.

 

Hi Thomas,
Im a user and big fan of your products. I had hoped that newer versions of your products would have a keyswitch to disable and enable
hammer- ons and pull-offs so that they are not automatically triggered by legato playing. I hope I am about to get my wish.
On my wish list also is a 5-string bass(all your bass products for now are 4-string), maybe something like a 'Kenny Smith' or something like that.
It would be awesome!