Bass tracks without a real bass

[Ricklh]

I'm a new owner of an MR-8 (about a week now) and just wanted to check with you guys for suggestions on the best way to get some bass tracks without using a bass guitar. Keyboard? Import from PC software? I only have a mic and acoustic guitar and I wanna get some bass but without having to actually buy a bass guitar. Thanks in advance.

[M.Brane]

Some keyboards have bass samples that are decent enough for demo work, as long as you keep 'em low in the mix. Might be something similar in some of the computer based apps.

Even a cheap bass will sound better than fakin' it IMO as long as you have a good direct box or preamp to run it through.

[clifchamb]

If you want to program drumms at some point there are drum machines that feature bass parts that can be arranged on written on them.

clif

[billisa]

The ZOOM RT-123 is a nice unit and has a number of solid bass programs that you can "play", program, or use as is in pre-programmed patterns right out of the box. These things run about US$169.00.

[Eric-Jensen]

I've tried playing the bass part on my guitar and then using n-track's octave shifter plugin to knock it down after I download the tracks to the PC. It sounds vaguely like an acoustic (guitar) bass, but doesn't stand alone too well. It also is a real CPU hog if you choose more accurate shifting (i.e., decent sounding!). That one plugin uses about 50% or 60% of the CPU on a P3-866, while 4 or 5 other tracks with reverb, maybe a little chorus, and compression use about 10%.

[Garry Sharp]

Eric - there's a sort of "off-line" conversion option on n-Track, so it does it while the track is not running and then gives you a wave file of the converted part. Much less demanding on the CPU.

Still sounds like crap to me though (but then I'm a bass player )

[theletterq]

I second the Zoom 123 for a cheap very usable drum/bass machine. It has some pretty darn good bass sounds that can be played in real time or programmed. You can assign any note to any pad to facilitate the particular song you're doing.