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428 Chapter 24 Sculpture
The vibration of the strings is, of course, naturally hampered by several physical
factors: the radius of motion of the string (antenode) is impeded by the left bridge or
by the first fret that’s pressed down upon (and the frets in between). This can lead to
the development of overtones which can take the form of anything from a slight hum-
ming or buzzing to a strong scraping or scratching sound.
In addition, factors such as the material properties of the strings and the instrument, as
well as the softness of your fingertips also serve to dampen the vibration of the string
Programming a Basic Bass
In the following section we will discuss the programming of a basic bass sound. This
will serve as the foundation for the different bass sounds which we will be creating
thereafter.
Heed the following steps to create the proper working environment for design
of your own “homemade bass”:
1 Make sure the range from C 0 to C 3 is available on your keyboard by either;
transposing your master keyboard, or using the Transpose function in Logic’s Region
Parameter box.
Note: You can, of course, transpose sounds within Sculpture but this isn’t the best
solution in this case. The reason is that sounds would not be compatible with MIDI
Regions in which note number 60 as middle C is considered to be the measure of all
things.
2 Choose the default setting within Sculpture.
In order to recreate the sound characteristics of a typical bass instrument:
1 Set the Attack value of the Amplitude Envelope to its minimum value (0.00 ms). You’ll
find the Attack slider just to the right of the Material Pad.
2 Shorten the Release time of the Amplitude Envelope to a value between 4 and 5 ms.
Play a key on your keyboard. The note should stop abruptly when you release the key
and should be free of artefacts (a digital crackle or snap). If you encounter any arte-
facts during the course of this tutorial, please carefully increase the Release time.
3 Play some sustained notes in the range above E 0. These will die away (too) quickly.
Correct this quick die-out with the Media Loss parameter by pulling the slider located to
the left of the Material Pad almost all the way down to the bottom. For your
information: the low E string on a high quality bass can sound for over a minute!
Our basic bass should simulate a fingered articulation, which means the sound is crea-
ted by striking the strings with the fingers.
4 Choose the Pick entry from the Type menu of Object 1.
Don’t be confused by the name of the Object Type: despite its name, this model is
appropriate for simulating the playing of strings with your fingers.