****QUESTION****

When creating a song, How does everyone get the bass line down...
with a keyboard only or do you look for a sample with a bass line on it already or do you use 16 level switch..... just a question I have always wanted to know???

Load bass sound's and do it whit ure finger's work's for me just start to collect good akai samples cd's.

I use to take a bass sound and play with the 16 level function. But if you want a whole octave and if you're sampling from vinyl, try recording your sound at different pitches and then adjust with the tune, cause 16 level function may gives strange results, especially when doing it with low frequencies.

hate to just but in on this topic, but cant you assign a bass note to a pad, and then play it with your keyboard in different octaves and sutainment? I think this is possible, but im not sure.

THANK YOU

I find the 16 levels function to sound a little to automated, i always use the slider, it sounds funkier.

If you sample a raw waveform from a synth (sine wave, sawtooth wave, for example) and turn the loop function "on" for that sample, you can get a good bass sound that will sustain for as long as you hold the pad down.
Then just use the 16 levels to play bass melodies. You can also layer different waves together using the "simul" function in the assign screen. Be sure and mess with the filters to dial in a good sound.

good looking i didnt think of looping the bass sound , i will try this

Come to think of it, I do 99% of my basslines by keyboard. I hardly ever loop a sampled bassline. What I do sometimes is take a bass solo and chop up notes and play them on the mpc at different tunings. You can get a funky sound this way.

Sometimes I filter the sample down to zero, and turn up the frequency. Then layer the clean sample on top using "simult". and adjust the pad levels in the mixer page.

I often do the same thing as middle finger!! that way you can make a bass out of any sound!

good looking out for the looping stuff, will try it

anyone use bass guitar rather than keyboards or samples for their basslines?

I used a live bass on two of the best (trip hop) songs I've ever done. But I lost the zip when I moved. I still sampled it though, I had him play into a MD recorder. Since then, I haven't been able to find a bass player as good as the one I used (plus he did it for free.)

Which brings me to this: Jeffrey Newton, holla at me. I kno you kno a tight Bass player that won't charge me a arm and a leg. REMEMBER, you owe me a vowel. Holla.