2009

To build a bass and all its components in Sculpture, you need to understand the basic,
physical process of sound production within the instrument. Before looking at the practical
programming process within Sculpture, you’ll find detailed information on the construction
of electric basses in the next section.
Note: To see the settings for these tutorials in the Sculpture window, open the Settings
menu and choose Tutorial Settings.
The Most Important Aspects of Electric Basses in Sculpture
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 that have five, six, and even more strings. As
Sculpture has no tonal limits, this is of little concern.
What is much more important for sound programming is the overtone content of the
bass sound, which 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: The fine wire wrapping is ground down or polished smooth, and
the sound has far fewer overtones in comparison. (These are much less popular today.)
In contrast to guitar strings, the structure and workmanship are the same for all strings
in a set. Sets combining wound and nonwound 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.
The number of frets differs from bass to bass and depends on the scale length. Don’t
worry about pitches higher than a single ledger line C; the actual functional range of this
instrument is primarily in its two lower octaves—between E 0 and E 2.
Also worth mentioning is the fretless electric bass. Like all instruments of this type, it is
freely tunable and possesses a distinctive, individual sound. Over the course of this tutorial
you will discover how to program this type of instrument sound in Sculpture.
There are three types of articulations that will be discussed:
• Fingered: The strings are played with the alternating index and middle fingers.
• Picked: The strings are played with a pick.
• Thumbed/Slapped: The strings are either played with the side of the thumb on the
fingerboard or plucked strongly with the fingers.
397Chapter 14 Sculpture