Moderators isaac42 Posted November 13, 2016 Moderators Share Posted November 13, 2016 Won an ebay auction yesterday. Actually, I had the only bid. For a Crumar CPB-1 pedal synthesizer. Should be fun to play with. Same model as this one: https://reverb.com/item/827115-crumar-cpb-1-bass-synth-pedals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted November 14, 2016 Members Share Posted November 14, 2016 Looks cool. I always wondered what it would be like playing bass with your feet like an organist. Let us know what you think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted November 14, 2016 Members Share Posted November 14, 2016 It might be fun for jamming live but its something you'd likely have to sit down and use with both feet. There was a time when I wanted one of those but since the advent of daw recording and multitracking I lost interest. Even for live I can program a drum machine and bass part and carry the thing under my guitar case. Having to play the parts with my feet would be too much of a distraction for anything but simple foot tapping tunes. Still you can learn allot by using one. I'd likely combine a drum machine too. Pick yourself up one of those Zoom 123 drum machines for under $50. The drum sounds are incredibly realistic and easy to use. Some people have bass pedals like that modified for midi. You should be able to find some info on doing that mod. The mod allows you to connect it to a computer or hardware units that generate all kinds of voices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted November 14, 2016 Author Moderators Share Posted November 14, 2016 I have a specific use in mind. One of the bands I play for has a fondness for what they call breakdowns. In the middle of a song, we'll drop any semblance of structure. Everybody plays whatever they feel like. Might be really cool if you're stoned or on acid, I dunno. But, given that we do that sort of thing, having a low drone note playing whilst I noodle up the neck should be fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted November 15, 2016 Author Moderators Share Posted November 15, 2016 On its way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted November 21, 2016 Author Moderators Share Posted November 21, 2016 It has arrived. Not the most professional packing job, but adequate. And now I have a new blanket and a new towel, though the towel has a hole in it. Hooked it up to see if it works. It does, everything except the Sustain on-off switch. The sustain control works, though, so no functionality is lost. Doesn't sound like much through a tiny practice guitar amp, but should sound great when I get it hooked up to a bass amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 How much can you adjust the sound? Is there any envelope control or is it just the stop lengths - 8', 16', etc.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted November 22, 2016 Members Share Posted November 22, 2016 It has arrived. . . . . . . Hooked it up to see if it works. It does, . . . Doesn't sound like much through a tiny practice guitar amp, but should sound great when I get it hooked up to a bass amp. Yay! Keep us posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted November 22, 2016 Author Moderators Share Posted November 22, 2016 How much can you adjust the sound? Is there any envelope control or is it just the stop lengths - 8'' date=' 16', etc.?[/quote'] Very little adjustment available. 8' and 16' stops, sawtooth waveform (sounds like to me, anyway), volume and sustain. Can't change the waveform, no envelope control, no modulation control, nothing. It's about as basic as it gets. Oh, and a pitch control. I didn't check the range, but it's several semitones, at least. Something like a chorus, phase shifter or flanger might liven it up a bit. Truth is, I really wanted (still want) a Moog Taurus 3, but they cost about ten times as much, so I'll settle for this, for now. Taurus 1 costs almost as much as a 3. Taurus 2 has a larger pedalboard range, and a better synth than the Crumar, but not as good as the 1 and 3, I've read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 Do you have an octave pedal? That might be fun to try with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted November 22, 2016 Author Moderators Share Posted November 22, 2016 Do you have an octave pedal? That might be fun to try with it. I do, but holy carp! Who has speakers that can handle that? We're talking about a low C with a frequency of 16Hz, or even 8Hz! I don't think my vintage JBL D140s are going to like that very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 I do, but holy carp! Who has speakers that can handle that? We're talking about a low C with a frequency of 16Hz, or even 8Hz! I don't think my vintage JBL D140s are going to like that very much. I was thinking more of using an octave UP, not down... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted November 22, 2016 Author Moderators Share Posted November 22, 2016 Oh. Well, there's that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted November 22, 2016 Author Moderators Share Posted November 22, 2016 The band I plan on using it in already has two guitars and a harmonica filling up the mids and highs. I'm not sure an octave up on the pedals would do anything more than clog things up. Might be worth a try, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lug Posted November 23, 2016 Members Share Posted November 23, 2016 The band I plan on using it in already has two guitars and a harmonica filling up the mids and highs. I'm not sure an octave up on the pedals would do anything more than clog things up. Might be worth a try' date=' though.[/quote'] An octave up mixed with the straight output at appropriate levels may do some good things for the sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted November 24, 2016 Author Moderators Share Posted November 24, 2016 Not as pleased with it as I thought I'd be. The output is rather low. I was running it into my Sunn 200S, with my passive bass into the other input. I had to turn the bass down and the amp gain up quite a bit to get a good balance. I expected it to be the other way round. The sound is pretty tame. No real impact when I step on a pedal. A unit with ADSR would be much better in that regard. It does fill in the bottom end, though, which is the main thing I wanted it for. A separate preamp would help a lot, or maybe I'll need to start using a mixer for my front end instead of a bass amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members *BLEEP* Posted November 24, 2016 Members Share Posted November 24, 2016 ...a Crumar CPB-1 pedal synthesizer. Crumar... Now there's a blast from the cosmic 1970s past along with the likes of EKO and Elka. It must be a relic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted November 24, 2016 Author Moderators Share Posted November 24, 2016 Crumar... Now there's a blast from the cosmic 1970s past along with the likes of EKO and Elka. It must be a relic. Oh, yeah. It's a relic. Crumar itself died in 1987, but the name was acquired by another company in 2008, and keyboards are being made under the Crumar name again. http://www.crumar.it/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted November 24, 2016 Author Moderators Share Posted November 24, 2016 Another thing: there is no way to change the balance between the 8' and 16' stops. Nothing but on and off for each. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted November 24, 2016 Members Share Posted November 24, 2016 Sorry to hear you're a bit disappointed. It sounded cool when you first posted about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted November 25, 2016 Author Moderators Share Posted November 25, 2016 Well, it's still cool, just not as cool as I'd hoped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted November 27, 2016 Author Moderators Share Posted November 27, 2016 Now I'm wondering, what about subsonics? Put the Boss OC-2 on there and run it below 20 Hz. Shake people's guts, make 'em nervous, and they won't even know why! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted November 29, 2016 Author Moderators Share Posted November 29, 2016 Broke out the oscilloscope. The waveform isn't exactly a sawtooth. More like a sine wave, but weird. Goes about 3/4 through the cycle, then flattens out a bit, then starts over. Asymmetrical, so it's generating a few even-order harmonics, but still mostly sine-ish. Maximum output appears to be 0.37v on the 8' stop and 0.395v on the 16' stop. Combined, it goes up to 0.88v. That's directly into the o-scope, which has a much higher input impedance than most amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted November 29, 2016 Author Moderators Share Posted November 29, 2016 Another thing it doesn't have which I think would be nice is a visual indication as to which stop is active. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted November 30, 2016 Author Moderators Share Posted November 30, 2016 Tried something else today. Ran it through my DigiTech Bass Synth Wah. Sounds great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.