7

426 Chapter 24 Sculpture
Programming: In Depth
This tutorial explains how you can program sounds with Sculpture from scratch. Based
on Sculpture’s string model, you’ll learn how to use the individual sound shaping
parameters in order to recreate the physical properties of an instrument in detail.
Note: You will find the settings for these tutorials in the Tutorial Settings folder in the
settings menu (in the head of the Sculpture Plug-in window).
Programming Electric Basses with Sculpture
We’ll be concentrating on a single instrument type: the electric bass, including all of its
important variations and articulations. The physical nature of electric basses is not as
complex—and encumbered with acoustic issues—as is the case for many acoustic
instruments. This instrument is therefore an excellent choice for our sound
programming tutorial, the goal of which is to acquaint you with the art of using
Sculpture to accurately reproduce detailed sounds.
In order to build a bass (including all components) in Sculpture, it is necessary to
understand the basic, physical process of sound production within the instrument.
Before we look at the practical programming process within Sculpture, you’ll find detai-
led information on the construction of electric basses in the next section.
The Most Important Aspects of Electric Basses
In general, the electric bass has four strings. The lowest string is usually tuned to E 0 or
E (MIDI note number 28). The strings above the low E are tuned in fourths, thus A, D,
and G. You can, of course, find basses today that have five, six, and even more strings.
As Sculpture has no tonal limits, this is of little concern to us.
What is much more important for sound programming is the overtone content of the
bass sound. This depends primarily on the qualities of the strings.
• Round wound strings: a very fine wire is wound around a steel cable core which
results in a wiry, metallic sound that’s full of overtones.
• Flat wound strings: (which are much less popular today) the fine wire wrapping is
ground down or polished smooth, and the sound has far fewer overtones in
comparison.
In contrast to guitar strings, the structure and workmanship are the same for all strings
in a set. Sets combining wound and non-wound strings do not exist.
The relationship between string length and string tension has a significant impact on
the overtone content. Disregarding basses that can be adjusted to different scale
lengths (different vibrating string lengths), the actual playing position that is used plays
an important role. When you play D at the tenth fret on the low E string, it sounds more
muffled than the same pitch played on the open D string.