This is a great idea. If it could use polyphonic octave down technology to detect the lowest note, or if it could be even smarter to detect the root of the chord, or maybe even know what key your in to improve the guess, then you could play chords or partials and have it generate the correct bass note.

Adding glissando and vibrato could make it emulate a fretless bass.

This is a great idea.

Yes. I wasn’t talking about a “band in a box” type thing. I was mainly talking about the algorithm in a polyphonic octave generator that picks which notes to double an octave down.

Monophonic isn’t a problem, and I agree with you 100% that it would be cool if they also used some technology to make it sound more like a bass, not a guitar one octave down. Something like their B9, C9, Key9, Mel9, and Synth9, but for bass where you could select from 9 different basses – synth, fretless, P-bass, J-bass, roundwounds, etc. That would be cool.

What I was adding was that it would also be cool if they could add some very smart POLYPHONIC analysis to determine the appropriate monophonic bass note to play when you play a chord rather than just play the whole chord one octave down. So, if you play a C chord, it would be smart enough to play just a C an octave down, or much trickier if you play an inverted C Maj triad in the key of C it would be smart enough to play a C bass note for example instead of an E or a G. I’d be happy if they could just do the former. Heck, I’d be happy if they could just do your original suggestion.

My choice of sounds for the Bass9 would be something like:

P-Bass Round Wound
P-Bass Flat Wound
J-Bass Fretless – glissando + vibrato control
Hofner Bass
Upright Bass – Bowed or Plucked
Organ Pedals – Pipe or Electric
Bass Synth
Bajo Sexto – Octave doubled acoustic bass
Marimbula – Bass kalimba
Tuba
Fender VI Bass
Bass Harmonica
Buzz Bass

It could include an octave switch so that if you play a bass through it, it won’t change the octave, but if you play a guitar through it, it will drop it one octave. It could also include a 4th down switch so that you could emulate a 5 string bass. If you played a bass through it, you would get B-E-A-D.

I second the motion

I have been on a quest for system (ideally a pedal) that can create a monophonic bass line from plyphonic 6 string rythmn guitar. I play bass and have many bass guitars and synths – but for solo or duo gigs I just don’t want to work with another bass player or use backing tracks.

I have tried many things – including special pickups and midi – but nothing has really worked fast enough or accurately enough. The real problem has been removing all the unnecessary notes and leaving just the lowest played note for the octave shifting.

But I have now solved the problem and have an invention that I am currently gigging with succesfully. I believe my invention is a unique new audio processing concept and is probably patentable. I’m not a patent expert and i’m not a pedal builder so I am looking for a pedal buider who can take this to the market. I think the market for this pedal is massive as many people on the internet have asked for this type of pedal and there just isn’t an adequate solution yet.

I own a Boss OC3 which promises something like this but it simply cannot do what I want. My basic requirement is to be able to strum an open G chord and just get a root octave G and to strum an open D chord and just get a root octave D. If the OC3 is set to get the D note then it will not filter out the B note in the open G and it sounds very boad.

I have also owned a Little Thunder pickup which promises something like this but it only gives 2 strings of bass and fails to work on an open D chord. Or if the 3 string option is enabled it sacrifices the low note priority and defeats the basic idea. I did nott like the sound quality and the many problems associated with that pickup so I could not use this for anything serious.

I also have Roland GK3 pickup guitars and their bass modeling for independant strings is quite good but there is no option for low note prioirity. I have found midi istoo slow and gives false notes.

You can hear my invention at https://youtu.be/05qrnSVsfHY

I apologise for the poor sound quality from my laptop mics – you will need headphones or good speakers to hear the bass effect.

The engineering concept can be applied various ways and using various types of hardware. I believe the best format would be a pedal such as the EHX 9 series. I aown all of the 9 series pedals and it is amazing to combine this bass with the organs and strings etc to create a full band sound whch just needs a drum machine.

Please let me know if you are interested – I was reluctant to share my secret because it took many years to develop it. But I want a few of thse pedals for my own use and I know that thousands of others will benefit from this too. This is a unique business opportunity and I am prepared to be very reasonable for the right pedal builder.

In this post I suggested the Bass9 over one year before they released it.

Wow – EHX built the Bass9. I have it now. Like any of the 9 pedals – I don’t like all the sounds. But – if ithey can give you one sound that you love then it’s worth it. For me it is the Virtual Bass. I love fat analog octavers like the EHX Multiplexer (I prefer it to the OC2). But I need the freedom from glitching that plyphonic digital pitch shifting gives me. I have been using a Pitchfork with analog LPF to get a fat analog tone (the Knockout pedal is excellent for this). But the Bass9 gives me this sound in one pedal – so that’s the good news.

The bad news is that EHX did not respond to my offer of a revolutionary new idea that gives monophonic low note priority octave down from a polyphonic strummed chord. So the Bass9 still can’t work with full chords such as an open G. That’s a real shame – because I think that idea could have been patented by EXH and could have sold millions of pedals.

It looks like OPFXS has beaten EHX to the money – check out the Dig Deep pedal! I have just ordered one – I think this might be the answer to my dreams. I currently have to use a rack of studio gear to pull off this trick. My idea can be done fully analog. The end result is very similar to a DBX 120 except it gives a solid monophonic octave down from any chord (the DBX 120A sort of does the bottom E string then fades out).

I don’t know how OPFXS have done this – one their Facebook page he says he developed this in 2 days. I took 2 years. I think his is digital – i’m guessing it uses FFT and extracts just the lowest frequency at any given monent and divides it down and filters it. Sounds good to me – if it works as well as it looks then i’ll be buying back ups.

I still think my method is unique and patentable – and an analog box would have zero latency. Might even sound better – but digital is getting very close now.

A simple crossover is NOT the answer. Because a strummed open G chord gives a horrible clash between the low G and B notes. My method (and as far as I can thell the OPFXS Dig Deep) give just the low G with no clashing. A crossover like the Boss OC3 or the Bass9 just can’t do this – it’s a shame.

My method uses steep crossover filters – but not in the way you would normally expect. But if the Dig Deep does it all I can just get on with making music and not having to cart a rack around. yay!

Trick for anyone following this thread. The EHX Chil Switch can give you the best of bost worlds. The Dig Deep is fantastic for adding a fake bass to a rythmn guitar – acoustic or electric. I find it needs splitting, eq before and after and compression. Consider the Dig Deep to be like a bass guiar that follows you bottom notes – which is what you need most of the time.

But sometimes you want to take a little monophonic riff or solo with a fake bass – and thats where the Bass9 is the star of the show. So you can set it up with the Chill Siwtch and momentarily engage it when you want the bass to sound louder and better/different.

Two very different things but both are amazing. One day somebody will put them both together but this is as good as it gets right now.