pitch shifting guitar to sound like a bass guitar in reaper?

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vejichan

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Dec 29, 2011
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not interested in buying a bass guitar/no need for extra expenses and time wasted on buying bass strings/settings up bass. Also not making money with my music. Just want to make that clear because usually people will say buy a bass guitar

Does anybody know how to make the best of using on the plugins in reaper to simulate a bass guitar sound using my guitar? enough for scratch tracks?
also i have bass amps in amplitube 3 if that helps.

any helps or presets/settings is appreciated
thanks
 
vejichan said:
not interested in buying a bass guitar/no need for extra expenses and time wasted on buying bass strings/settings up bass.
Click to expand...
How long does it take to change 4 strings?
Also, even the cheapest bass guitar (the ones that sell for 50 bucks brand new) will sound better than a pitched down guitar. Not meaning to sound like a dick but If you totally can't be asked than either stop making music or go with a bass vst, which will also sound better than a guitar.
 
There is no way to pitch-shift a guitar to make it sound like a bass. It will sound weird and shitty. The best you can do is use a free MIDI synth bass from the stock Kontakt or UVI player packs or Garageband.
 
i do it all the time actually. best bet is to use single coil pickups and record a clean DI signal, pitch it down an octave and throw it through your favorite bass sim. of course its not gonna sound "exactly" like a bass but its pretty damn close when you don't have one lying around.

i don't use reaper though so i can't help you on how to do it in reaper. sorry about that.
 
p.s. i do use amplitube when i do this. i don't pitch it down with amplitube. i do that first with a pitch plugin and write it to the track then throw it through amplitube. if you'd like a good bass preset for amplitube i can probably hook you up with one. let me know which kinda sound you're looking for, i'd be happy to help.
 
ReaPitch, pitch it down an octave, do "normal" bass processing. It's hit or miss for me though. I've got demos laying around that I find the "bass" tone to be awesome while others sound like garbage. New strings are pretty important for this.
 
Keregioz said:
^
I believe you failed miserably at that my friend :)
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Failed at what? I didn't say it can't be done, just saying it's an extremely lazy thing to do and if you want to sound even half way decent than any crappy bass guitar will sound better than a pitched down guitar.
I wasn't trying to come across like a dick at all so please feel free to convince me with some audio samples and if it sounds good I will stand corrected ;)
 
azistenostora said:
Failed at what? I didn't say it can't be done, just saying it's an extremely lazy thing to do and if you want to sound even half way decent than any crappy bass guitar will sound better than a pitched down guitar.
I wasn't trying to come across like a dick at all so please feel free to convince me with some audio samples and if it sounds good I will stand corrected ;)
Click to expand...

I meant you failed miserably at not sounding like a dick. Your reply was not helpful at all, you basically told him to stop making music if he is not prepared to spend money on a bass guitar or a vst. There's tons of people that use pitch shifted guitar for bass and it's perfectly acceptable for demos and scratch tracks. I don't want to buy a bass guitar so I've done it many times in my song demos and sent it to my bass player to listen and learn his parts. It's not lazy, it's convenient. Nobody claimed that it can replace a real bass guitar.
 
waav studios said:
p.s. i do use amplitube when i do this. i don't pitch it down with amplitube. i do that first with a pitch plugin and write it to the track then throw it through amplitube. if you'd like a good bass preset for amplitube i can probably hook you up with one. let me know which kinda sound you're looking for, i'd be happy to help.
Click to expand...

thanks for your help. Yes please if you can share a good bass preset using the pitch shift/bass amp/bass cab/mic/compressor would be great.
 
I really don't see the point of having a fake bass for a scratch track, I mean if the bass plays anything really interesting in the final product you should already have a bass and a capable bass player at the scratch track step of the recording process...
And if the bass just follows the guitars, then why bother recording a fake take of it?
It's just a scratch track...
 
Last edited:
Korwent said:
I really don't see the point of having a fake bass for a scratch track, I mean if the bass plays anything really interesting in the final product you should already have a bass a à capable bass player at the scratch track step of the recording process...
And if the bass just follows the guitars, then why bother recording a fake take of it?
It's just a scratch track...
Click to expand...

So, let's try this...I'm at home composing music and I want to add a scratch bass line (which I'll write) on the fly to be later recorded with a real bass. I'm then supposed to stop the recording/composing process and contact my bass player to come to my home when he's available (which can be days) and show him the bass line so he can learn it on the spot and then record it for a scratch track, while the point of said scratch track is to help the bass player know and learn his part to begin with.....huh, you're right, that makes so much more sense.
 
Well I thought the point was scratch tracks at a preproduction state of the recording, if it's for writing purpose then it's different!
 
I thought it was obvious, but anyway, sorry for the overly-sarcastic character of my previous post :)

In a pre-production situation, I assume it would only make sense if for some reason the bass player or a bass guitar wasn't available. But, again, it shouldn't matter even if it's pitch shifted guitar, in my opinion. The role of a pre-production track is for the producer and the band to get a sense of the song's arrangement (as far as I know), how realistic it sounds shouldn't matter at that stage.
 
the post wasn't "please convince me to buy a bass guitar"
the post was how to get as close to a bass guitar sound with your guitar using reaper/plugs etc.

again, it's not about money.. I'm just not interested in having any other instrument in my house other than my guitars.
here are a few videos about this.. and I think it helps other people who are doing what I'm trying to do




any further suggestions like compression settings or extra tricks to get closer is much appreciated. But going on and on saying Oh just get a bass guitar=====> kinda like saying to all the people out there with ez drummer 2 and superior drummer... why don't you just buy a drum set?
 
If you dont want to buy a bass, just stick to a bass vsti. It´s more simple, easy, fast and have probably much better sound than pitch shifted guitar.
Anyway if you dont want to buy a bass to record you also cant expect to have a great mix. The balls of a mix is supported by a good bass sound and the kick drum. Without a real bass I can clearly say that you wont reach the next level of quality, that´s for sure.
 
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how do you even use a bass vsti? do you need to have knowledge of playing piano to play that? the reason why i prefer pitch shifted bass.. is the comfort and convenience of still being on my guitar.. whereas bass vsti or bass guitar etc .. i'm on uncharted territory
 
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