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Fretless from a fretted from a fretless. Huh?


Tuomas

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Hmmm... I'm very skeptical, at best. I've never heard a fretless emulator that sounds even close to the real deal; especially when playing really fast stuff.

 

"and right about that time people... a fur trapper, who was strictly commercial.. *strictly commercial* had the unmitigated audacity to jump up from behing my igaloo *peekabooooo wooo woo woooooo* and he started into whippin on my favorite baby seal"

 

Here comes the big re-cicular motion now.. rub it!!

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I presume it works by pressing a length of ebony (or similar) against the string on top of the bridge saddle with this 'mute' tilted at a shallow angle going away from the string's top surface as you move forward from the bridge saddle. This should emulate the mwah that the interaction between fingerboard, string and fingerboard causes.

 

However, how can it remove all those clacky fret noises? And their point about not having to worry about intonation - that's half the fun (and expressive potential) of fretless (that and sliding around pretending to be an drunken bass trombonist)...

 

Alex

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yeah, all the electronic fretless simulators are just combinations of EQ and envelope filters, and they don't really make it cool and free like a fretless bass does.

 

Maybe this one kinda works TONALLY, maybe it doesn't. Why would I care? ; } - I love playing without frets! The only thing I miss is the ability to use some types of chords because the finger positioning isn't practical without frets (but I know what to substitute anyway).

 

On the other hand, I can sound like I'm playing fretted - only slaps (but not pops) are different.

.
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From the website: "Imagine that you can learn to play fretless over a night and its not more complicated than to play a regular fretted bass."

 

I would hardly call attaching some gizmo to your instrument the equivalent of "learning" to play fretless.

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Hey, did someone say cheese!! Mmm, cheese.

 

I agree, the marketing is a tad schlocky. I'm also not crazy about marketing it as a fretless emulation system. (When I hear that, the first thing I think of is one of those gawdawful fx patches, which as gb pointed out leave, er, a lot to be desired.)

 

That's not to say, though, that this device doesn't have merits & legit uses in its own right. After all, a Beetle (or a Porsche) makes a pretty lousy minivan, but that doesn't make it lousy full stop. And I certainly have no qualms with the mp3 sound sample on the site! :thu: Sounds like it has something to deliver.

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I'M TOTALLY RAMBALAMA!!

 

The beat goes on and I'm still wroooooongggg....

http://www.briantimpe.com/images/LDL/dots/blue.JPGhttp://www.briantimpe.com/images/LDL/dots/black.JPGhttp://www.briantimpe.com/images/LDL/dots/fuscia.JPGhttp://www.briantimpe.com/images/LDL/dots/grey.JPGhttp://www.briantimpe.com/images/LDL/dots/orange.JPGhttp://www.briantimpe.com/images/LDL/dots/purple.JPGhttp://www.briantimpe.com/images/LDL/dots/red.JPGhttp://www.briantimpe.com/images/LDL/dots/yellow.JPG
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Yes, these fretless emulating bridge attachments come and go. I guess the buzzing sound of fretless is good enough for most people.

 

I like the out-of-tuneness of fretless myself :D and not the mwah, so I guess this gadget is not for me.

 

Did you see the Claudia bass on the custom shop page? Wild!

 

Actually I want a double neck instrument, bass on neck and keyboard on the other. Perhaps the keyboard neck could have a ribbon controller.

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Originally posted by dcr:

Hey, did someone say cheese!! Mmm, cheese.

MMMmmm. It's cheese-a-riffic!

 

Originally posted by Phil-diggity-dog:

I'M TOTALLY RAMBALAMA!!

 

The beat goes on and I'm still wroooooongggg....

Dancin' Fool would be so much fun to cover. I need to convince the Karate Kids that we need to do that.
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