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Chapter 13 Sculpture 315
Program a slap bass sound with Sculpture
You’re actually dealing with two dierent articulations here. The low notes originate when
the thumb literally slaps the strings on the upper part of the ngerboard. The high notes are
produced when the strings are strongly plucked or popped with the ngers. This is achieved by
hooking a nger under the string, pulling it away from the instrument, then allowing it to slap
back onto the ngerboard. In conjunction, these articulation methods make up the typically
aggressive and overtone-rich slap bass sound.
Emulate a slap bass sound
1 Load the E-Bass Fingered Basic EQ1 setting.
2 Turn o the Body EQ.
3 Also turn o Object 2 and Object 3 for now.
Because the basic sound of a slap bass is brighter than a standard ngered bass, you need to
adjust some Material Pad settings.
4 Return the Low Keyscale parameter to its initial value by Option-clicking the small green triangle
(found below the main Resolution slider).
5 Drag the ball down a little, and the sound becomes more wiry. The ball should now be directly
above the word “Steel” on the horizontal axis.
From the models at your disposal, Strike is the most suitable for simulating a thumb physically
striking the strings from above. This model is not, however, as appropriate for the slapped
(popped) strings. It makes the most sense to choose the Pick model for this purpose.
6 To be safe, turn the Level knob to −25 dB.
7 Choose the Pick model for Object 1.
8 Drag Object 1 to position 0.90 in the Pickup display. This position corresponds to a playing
position above or on the ngerboard.
Note: Given its universal concept, Sculpture will not react exactly like a bass, where one would
tend to play in the middle of the string on the upper part of the ngerboard. Try moving
Object 1 to this position and see how it sounds. You’ll nd that the sound is a little too smooth.