Hi Gavin, thank you for this very informative and detailed run-down of your AE Modular live rig! I love the new album and the way you've managed to combine the AE with all the other instruments. It's such a great example what can be done with this little system.
Thank you Carsten, that really means a lot! Especially from someone so important to the AE world. There are other users doing way more elaborate things with this system, but have to say this works so perfectly for my set up, there’s just no way I could imagine playing live without it. It’s perfect! And even then, there’s so much more I want to explore with it as well. Thanks again for your support, and for all your videos which helped when developing my rack. Thanks again Gavin
Gavin. Thank you for explaining your AE modular to us. This was so understandable and it just makes sense of all the individual parts you have been talking about. With modular comes enormous freedom. I guess its also freedom to buy too many modules and waste precious time tinkering. I think you have the self discipline and the direction to avoid these pitfalls. I always joke that an IT nerd like me would never be able to fill a stadium show with a demonstration of an operating system patch resolving some vulnerability in the name resolution services. Your whole setup and migration from a bassist that likes an effect or two into a modular and midi enthusiast has been organic and is absolutely fascinating. But the crowd just want to hear some great music, kind of a shame that people aren't particularly curious about the "how" of things. I don't think that whilst you have strap over your shoulder and VANS on your feet you can ever do away with tapping on a pedal whilst standing on a stage. ( I just had to watch Hendrix playing Voodo Child and he didn't have many pedals but he sure used them to great sonic and dramatic effect) But it does make real sense to compress the pedals into a modular format. Great vid as ever. Thanks for sharing. (When I run out of my own projects I would love to dip my toe into this world....)
Thanks for the kind words Martin, I really appreciate it. And I’m glad it was interesting. You’re right, it brings so much freedom. Even with programmed sequences, there’s still so much room to improvise. I’m sure there is an audience for that! It’s interesting, you’re so right that most people don’t notice (or care) how the sounds are made. What has blown my mind is that there are people, even local to me, who are interested in seeing what is used on stage and care about the gear side. Was a pleasant surprise! And you are so right, there is no chance I’ll ever retire the pedals - or foot control. Even for the modular effects, I’ll be using a midi foot controller/ expression pedals to switch and control the modular chain. Thanks again for your constant support. It means so much! Thanks again Gavin
Nice run-through, interesting to hear how you use the system! First track in the intro, the synth arpeggio reminded me of Frankie Knuckles - Your Love (or Animal Collective's interpolation of it in 'My Girls'), cool stuff! Fun to see the live footage inbetween :D
Thanks Zeno! I really appreciate that. I’ve actually not heard that one, but I’ll definitely give it a listen! The new rig for next year will be a progression of this one, with plenty space for other stuff, hopefully including BF synth in the not too distant future! Thanks again for watching and commenting!
Interesting to hear how you use the Ae. Adding the Grunge/phaser/delay to the bass FX will sound cool Out of interest what noise gate do you use? I'm using an inline audio loop noise gate cheap as chips but think it takes away some of the good noise too so looking to try others.
Thanks! Have to say though, nothing compared to your set up! So cool! Yeah think the bass rack is gonna take over the pedalboard a little! Haha plus with the new Wonkystuff Ring mod, plus some other things I’ve noticed from tangible waves & other third parties too (BF synths in particular) - so much this rack could do for my bass rig! Oh really? Well despite that, your videos always sound great! But I understand your point, some can clamp your sound more than others and remove detail in the process. I’ve been using the Boss NS2, but I’ll be honest it’s not the best. There are other noise gate pedals way better these days. So I’ll also be investigating that - including a potential rack option. So I’ll keep you posted when I do. I will say, the big difference I’ve noticed is trying the separate outputs. Even just using the stock Ableton gate on seperate outputs from the AE worked way better as the gate can track the audio better with just one source. Thanks for watching and commenting. I really appreciate it! Thanks Gavin
@gavinforbesmusic5164 thanks Gavin appreciate you saying that and about the vids too. For those I use audacity to take out the noise and don't use the inline filter. Live is a different story though. By the way it's really cool how you include the Ae in your live gigs. Have been wondering how this was done and what you used so it was cool to see your explanation. I'll check out that noise gate filter you mentioned even if to compare to those in the local shop. Good tip about the individual outs too. I will try that out as well thanks mate I look forward to more vids and enjoy building the bass rig, like you say so much to choose from now it's so good and imagine what's next 🤯🙂
Ah I see, sounds great! Thank you, that really means a lot. It’s certainly not as elaborate as how some of the other AE users set theirs up, but I honestly couldn’t imagine not having this as the third band member now! Oh for the noise gate, check out the noise gate pedal shoot out Ryan Bruce / fluff did. Both of mine are in it ( the TC electronic iron curtain and Boss ones) and you’ll see how they sound. The sentry seems amazing but not tried one! I have a DBX rack one I’ll hopefully check out soon too. So I’ll keep you posted. Thanks! Started this week and it’s a lot of fun even at this stage. Working on the midi foot controlling next week which will be fun. Feel free to suggest anything you can think of! Thanks again, can’t wait to see what you do next! Thank Gavin
@gavinforbesmusic5164 cheers mate I'll check out that review. The midi foot controller sounds interesting. I know a local maker near me Elk Electronik makes a Midi Mute controller foot switch which is pretty cool. I like how Ae can be set up as simple or complicated as you want and it's all great I reckon
@maydonpoliris no worries! Ah nice, I’ll check them out, thanks for the info! Yeah you’re so right, this system can literally be anything you want it to be. That’s the great thing! Thanks again bud!
Hi Gavin, thank you for this very informative and detailed run-down of your AE Modular live rig! I love the new album and the way you've managed to combine the AE with all the other instruments. It's such a great example what can be done with this little system.
Thank you Carsten, that really means a lot! Especially from someone so important to the AE world. There are other users doing way more elaborate things with this system, but have to say this works so perfectly for my set up, there’s just no way I could imagine playing live without it. It’s perfect!
And even then, there’s so much more I want to explore with it as well. Thanks again for your support, and for all your videos which helped when developing my rack.
Thanks again
Gavin
Gavin. Thank you for explaining your AE modular to us. This was so understandable and it just makes sense of all the individual parts you have been talking about.
With modular comes enormous freedom. I guess its also freedom to buy too many modules and waste precious time tinkering. I think you have the self discipline and the direction to avoid these pitfalls.
I always joke that an IT nerd like me would never be able to fill a stadium show with a demonstration of an operating system patch resolving some vulnerability in the name resolution services. Your whole setup and migration from a bassist that likes an effect or two into a modular and midi enthusiast has been organic and is absolutely fascinating. But the crowd just want to hear some great music, kind of a shame that people aren't particularly curious about the "how" of things.
I don't think that whilst you have strap over your shoulder and VANS on your feet you can ever do away with tapping on a pedal whilst standing on a stage. ( I just had to watch Hendrix playing Voodo Child and he didn't have many pedals but he sure used them to great sonic and dramatic effect) But it does make real sense to compress the pedals into a modular format.
Great vid as ever. Thanks for sharing.
(When I run out of my own projects I would love to dip my toe into this world....)
Thanks for the kind words Martin, I really appreciate it. And I’m glad it was interesting. You’re right, it brings so much freedom. Even with programmed sequences, there’s still so much room to improvise.
I’m sure there is an audience for that! It’s interesting, you’re so right that most people don’t notice (or care) how the sounds are made. What has blown my mind is that there are people, even local to me, who are interested in seeing what is used on stage and care about the gear side. Was a pleasant surprise!
And you are so right, there is no chance I’ll ever retire the pedals - or foot control. Even for the modular effects, I’ll be using a midi foot controller/ expression pedals to switch and control the modular chain.
Thanks again for your constant support. It means so much!
Thanks again
Gavin
Nice run-through, interesting to hear how you use the system!
First track in the intro, the synth arpeggio reminded me of Frankie Knuckles - Your Love (or Animal Collective's interpolation of it in 'My Girls'), cool stuff! Fun to see the live footage inbetween :D
Thanks Zeno! I really appreciate that. I’ve actually not heard that one, but I’ll definitely give it a listen!
The new rig for next year will be a progression of this one, with plenty space for other stuff, hopefully including BF synth in the not too distant future!
Thanks again for watching and commenting!
Interesting to hear how you use the Ae. Adding the Grunge/phaser/delay to the bass FX will sound cool
Out of interest what noise gate do you use? I'm using an inline audio loop noise gate cheap as chips but think it takes away some of the good noise too so looking to try others.
Thanks! Have to say though, nothing compared to your set up! So cool!
Yeah think the bass rack is gonna take over the pedalboard a little! Haha plus with the new Wonkystuff Ring mod, plus some other things I’ve noticed from tangible waves & other third parties too (BF synths in particular) - so much this rack could do for my bass rig!
Oh really? Well despite that, your videos always sound great! But I understand your point, some can clamp your sound more than others and remove detail in the process.
I’ve been using the Boss NS2, but I’ll be honest it’s not the best. There are other noise gate pedals way better these days. So I’ll also be investigating that - including a potential rack option. So I’ll keep you posted when I do.
I will say, the big difference I’ve noticed is trying the separate outputs. Even just using the stock Ableton gate on seperate outputs from the AE worked way better as the gate can track the audio better with just one source.
Thanks for watching and commenting. I really appreciate it!
Thanks
Gavin
@gavinforbesmusic5164 thanks Gavin appreciate you saying that and about the vids too. For those I use audacity to take out the noise and don't use the inline filter. Live is a different story though. By the way it's really cool how you include the Ae in your live gigs. Have been wondering how this was done and what you used so it was cool to see your explanation.
I'll check out that noise gate filter you mentioned even if to compare to those in the local shop.
Good tip about the individual outs too. I will try that out as well thanks mate
I look forward to more vids and enjoy building the bass rig, like you say so much to choose from now it's so good and imagine what's next 🤯🙂
Ah I see, sounds great! Thank you, that really means a lot. It’s certainly not as elaborate as how some of the other AE users set theirs up, but I honestly couldn’t imagine not having this as the third band member now!
Oh for the noise gate, check out the noise gate pedal shoot out Ryan Bruce / fluff did. Both of mine are in it ( the TC electronic iron curtain and Boss ones) and you’ll see how they sound. The sentry seems amazing but not tried one! I have a DBX rack one I’ll hopefully check out soon too. So I’ll keep you posted.
Thanks! Started this week and it’s a lot of fun even at this stage. Working on the midi foot controlling next week which will be fun. Feel free to suggest anything you can think of!
Thanks again, can’t wait to see what you do next!
Thank
Gavin
@gavinforbesmusic5164 cheers mate I'll check out that review. The midi foot controller sounds interesting. I know a local maker near me Elk Electronik makes a Midi Mute controller foot switch which is pretty cool.
I like how Ae can be set up as simple or complicated as you want and it's all great I reckon
@maydonpoliris no worries! Ah nice, I’ll check them out, thanks for the info! Yeah you’re so right, this system can literally be anything you want it to be. That’s the great thing! Thanks again bud!