Jomox Mbase for kicks. Worth it?... or is it overcomplicating?

The Lounge Other Gear
#41

Thanks for your kind words mate! In fact, while having my active time as a little “Youtuber” back in 2017 i slowly realised that its way too often just about the gear - and not the Music you make with it. People instantly love something that is new and cheap. Even if its crap :smiley: They love it. Until the next thing comes out which they love next. And if its about the Stuff they have: They seem to be more interested in what they get served instead of being interested in what they could make out of the stuff they already have. Every Tutorial i made which focussed on encouraging People to make their own Exploration ended up with comments like “Show me how you did it” or “This is incomplete - you dont show the whole process” or “How have you done this? How have you done that” … it’s always the same! Sadly :frowning:

But isnt combining the things you already have - in ways you probably not thought of before - a much more rewarding challenge? Isnt trying out Stuff - even if you dont know what youre doing - satisfying like hell? :slight_smile: Little things make big differences - the Snare you choose in said example makes your Kick shine in the brightest light - or instantly destroys it if it doesnt fit. But why giving up if it doesnt work straight away? Why blaming the chosen gear for the failure? In most cases the gear has no responsibility if ones not successful.

I like your attitude a lot mate! Using the OT’s micro timing for that Bridge-Snare to give it an offset - or trying out a Reverb Tail of a Hihat to mix it into the Layer … this is Exploration of what could sound amazing if you find the Sweet Spot! And an Octatrack alone - together with a Machinedrum - is already enough to explore a whole Universe of Sounds. If you really want to. I sometimes have the feeling that this spirit is slowly getting lost due to the myriads of “how to sound like a Pro” or “best synth of year xxxx” or “the new synth xy - big review” Videos a lot of Youtubers make these days. Including me - who also participated in that swarm of self promoted recipe makers! But do we actually help the people watching our Videos? Or do we make things worse since we serve them what they want on the silver tablet? i sometimes ask myself this question …

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#42

currently listening to the relatively recent style of “Base”, the “perfect combination of ambient and groove” as Symbolico mentions on his Soundcloud profile… anyway the BazzlSM seems eminently suited to this genre, cheers!

and the simplicity of parameter options is quite welcome as regards mental comprehension of the possible drum sound when working on a track.

Umonox, perhaps a completing tagline to each video could be, “celebrate the incompleteness.”

i’ve recently started thinking about the ‘multiple chord-memory to individual keys’ feature of the Deepmind … it’s a convenience (accompanied by wondering about purchasing). And a truly useful potentiality that is, compared to just the usual option of one single chord type optionally being mapped over the entire keyboard range. And so a seemingly logical purchasing desire is partially started.

By the same token, an equally or more powerfully useful “player capability feature” is to slowly practise chord voicings manually on the OB-6 (a synth i am only just touching the surface of, playing factory patches).

The musical/physical/mental study, practice and exploration is thereby reducing the perceived need for more gear. It’s easy enough to do with the requirement being investment of time, compared to investment of money, studio space, and electricity cost.

as regards the myriad “how to Pro” videos, i guess it is perhaps a rebalancing of 70 years ago when not so many people knew of the many audio explorers, and the plethora of styles.

something i hope to try out soon is the reversed audio with reverb, resampled, reversed again, and the lead-up reverb being edited to be the only sound, then using that as a subtle half-bar vibe-up to the original audio sample played at the usual direction.

a convoluted description of what seems to be quite an achievable and - dare i say it - “Pro” sounding audio production technique :sweat_smile:

as regards Hi-Hat reverb tails, i wasn’t actually thinking of using them with the bassdrum layering idea, although now maybe it could be somehow relevant.

Reverb, although usually a physical modelling technology (except for Spring Reverb which is more of a circuitry/mini-chamber representation) … in a studio production scenario, is somehow more accurate as a sound reinforcement work technique.

inhabiting a position somewhere between amplitude envelope, transient design, eq, inverse compression, audio exciter.
not so much to do with the “Presence” of a sound, instead Reverb sound scaffolding is the feeling in the room when the Sound Event has gone outside for a walk.

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#43

Your posts are always deep. I love reading them :sunglasses:

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#44

i was thinking of using the name “Deepmixer” as a performance moniker.
but anyway talking about potential stage names on a forum is a recipe for irritation.
not quite sure exactly why - maybe it’s just an unwritten rule of netiquette.

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#45

Wow, great tip. Kind of having an kick issue myself. I really love those warm 808’s, seems the kick2 is fully capable of that.

Great combo with the DT too. Say goodbye to sample packs!

Been using it long Dave?

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#46

Couple of months now. Love it. Total control :slight_smile:

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#47

i have a MBase 11 for sell by the way :wink:

#48

Old thread sorry…

Just sending MIDI from my analog rytm mk2 kick track to mbase11. Awesome !!

That’s the kick we need !

Thanx to Elektron for latest OS releases

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#49

I want to try this with the Vermona kick I am getting. Is the timing tight? Also curious if the velocity setting from the MK2 affects the Mbase kick?

#50

I’ve been eyeing mbase 11s on reverb…

#51

Yes sir ! It’s a beast !

2.3.1. Triggering with a drum pad
Just hook up an appropriate drum pad pickup to the Trigger In.

  • Adjust the trigger level with X TRIG Level to about <150>.
  • Set X Trig On/Off to < on>.
    Increase the X TRIG Level of the MBase11 until the device gives out a sound with a beat on the pad. Now you can adjust precisely how sensitive the MBase11 reacts to the velocity of your drum playing. Have fun!
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#52

Any timing issues when you do this? I’ve read of bugs when using midi with the MBase…

#53

Hi there, no latency problems with mine. It’s triggered directly from AR2

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#54

You can also use the impulse machine (available on every channel on the AR) @ the X Trig in through one of the AR individual outputs. You of course have to be okay with giving up one of the individual outputs/channels for this purpose.

#55

Had an MBase01, later an XBase 888, both produced monstrous kick drums. Both can create a huge variety of sounds. Boomy or punchy, subby or mid-range, 808-ish or 909-ish. Especially on the XBase you can make the kicks sound distorted by switching waveforms. You see, a lot of potential.
BUT, bot sound super raw and they take up quite some frequency-real-estate. At least an eq to tame the midrange and make room was always needed.
Unless, your sound is mostly kickdrums :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes::metal:

What I ended up doing was processing while recording samples. I had the XBase on a mixer, kickdrum to one mono Chanel, stereo sum for the remaining drums. And deliberate use of Amp saturation to even out dynamics and eq to make room for other instruments.

All samples recorded from both boxes where processed in a similar way.

Jomox sounds brutal, I always wanted to take the XBase out on a huge PA to scare people.

Ended up selling both, the mbase because I was a poor student and the XBase because I was only using it for kickdrums which is a waste.

The OT is still very happy with the samples I recorded, but I also got an TR8s which sounds cleaner (can sound drity, though :grinning:) and more ready to use. If you look at the frequency response on say kicks and Tom’s you can see they already have space for other instruments.

To your topic question: Jomox is worth any cent spent on sound-wise, but as with most analog gear, needs some love to tame the wildness.
For a live-rig without any processing I see other instruments being buried next to Jomox stuff

At least that’s what I figured.

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#57

How is the mbase Compared to d16 punchbox and Sonic charge microtonic?

Both are on my Short list. Punchbox i can get with a Subskription for „free“ and microtonic i am going to Buy cause of my po32.

But i am also totally interested in the mbase :wink:

#58

You just need MBase you can do any kick with this and there’s nothing like it… enough said
:star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

Rating 11 out of 10 :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:+1:

My Jomox Kick - Perc - FX

1024×608

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#59

Always keeping an eye out for an M.Brane11 but they don’t pop up very often (at least when I’m looking).

Mbase 11 is a great kick/bass drum for electronic music. It’s a little fiddly though so I usually ended up sampling it once I have a kick that fits the track.

Sometimes it just misses notes via x-trig or midi. It’s not often though so it’s almost like having chance set to 99% on a sequencer.

It can definitely make some nice kick/bass combos for the techno/tech genres.

As for the Mbase fitting in a mix, shortening the decay and using the compressor function really helps with that.

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#60

I have the MBass 11 fed into channel 1 on my Yamaha 01V96i with some nice EQ/Comp settings for different Kicks and sounds absolutely massive. The MBrane 1_1 I have had a couple of years sealed in the box until recently (pretty rare) now it’s a keeper I can sample some great percussions in to my Akai Mpc X I’m currently building a sample library I have been working on for a few years

  • Drums
  • Bass
  • Stabs
  • Top Loops

All from my hardware and software synths. Actually doing some sampling today featuring the Jomox modules :+1:

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#61

Jomox stuff is so good. The T-Resonator is ace and the MBase11 is a beast. I have a sample pack of the latter that I use a lot on the Digitakt, they’re like the perfect kicks. :smiley:

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