Please help: Bass sometimes sounds different when I open the same project

[Christian_R]

Hi!

I have a very strange problem that I never had before:

It seems like the strength of the sub bass differs a bit when I open a project. A week ago I exported a song and was happy the sub bass, but when I open the project today it sounded a lot thinner, both in Ableton and when I exported it. When restarted Ableton the bass was back to normal, also when I exported it.

I couple of weeks earlier the problem was opposite with way too much bass (still the same song), so I had to mix it down. It was probably in "thin mode" then I worked with the bass, and that's why it was so much bass that time.

Has anyone else had this or a similar problem? I use an iMac from 2013 (24 GB RAM) and I rarely have problems in Ableton. The sub bass has the input from another MIDI track, but I don't think that has anything to say.

I hope somebody can help me, because this is a litte frustrating

[jestermgee]

I think you need to post samples of what you claim is good and what is not. The only details people have to work with so far is:

- I have a very strange problem
- the strength of the sub bass differs a bit when I open a project
- A week ago I exported a song and was happy the sub bass, but when I open the project today it sounded a lot thinner
- iMac from 2013 (24 GB RAM)

Some things that could help (apart from the obvious example files)

- What are you using as your sub bass?
- Do you have any kind of modulation or free running osc for this sub bass or is it keytracked (does it trigger the same when you press a key every time)
- Are there other effects processes (such as master processing (ozone for instance) on the master)?
- Have you opened both examples in a wave editor to compare the differences?
- Does it seem the bass level is lacking or just quieter (are low frequencies being cut or does the overall db range of the low end decrease).

etc...

[Shift Gorden]

What jester said....

Plus, are you listening in the same or different environments. Are you listening at the same or different volume level? Could this be related to listening fatigue as opposed to a technical issue?

I've been using Live for 10+ years, and the only level issues I've ever had relate to THIS GUY and my dodgy mixing.

[geosmina]

well that sounds like an analog blessing.

[jlgrimes]

Hi!

I have a very strange problem that I never had before:

It seems like the strength of the sub bass differs a bit when I open a project. A week ago I exported a song and was happy the sub bass, but when I open the project today it sounded a lot thinner, both in Ableton and when I exported it. When restarted Ableton the bass was back to normal, also when I exported it.

I couple of weeks earlier the problem was opposite with way too much bass (still the same song), so I had to mix it down. It was probably in "thin mode" then I worked with the bass, and that's why it was so much bass that time.

Has anyone else had this or a similar problem? I use an iMac from 2013 (24 GB RAM) and I rarely have problems in Ableton. The sub bass has the input from another MIDI track, but I don't think that has anything to say.

I hope somebody can help me, because this is a litte frustrating

I'd recommend freezing the track.

[Christian_R]

I'd recommend freezing the track.

I will try that because it happened again now:
I opened the project just to make a minor adjustment in the intro, and now the sub bass wis is suddenly much louder than earlier.

I'm sure I haven't touched the volume since my last export. And even if I export the track again, the bass volume is much louder in the wav file as well.

So annoying

[vires]

Yes - this is a problem with the "Bass" instrument (found in Instruments panel underneath "Analog")

For some reason it is very inconsistent in how it behaves when loaded. This is extremely frustrating, as you'd expect an expensive program like Ableton to not have such fundamental problems with their native software instruments. It also sometimes fails to trigger when dealing with more percussive (rather than sustained) parts.

It's too bad because when choosing between recommending Ableton and Logic to all of my students, this is why I tend to recommend Logic, but I love Ableton personally and would like to see them work out such obvious issues in a timely manner.

[[jur]]

this is a problem with the "Bass" instrument (found in Instruments panel underneath "Analog")

Yep, Bass is a M4L instrument which is now accessible from the main Instrument Category... and it has several severe bugs rendering it unusable (unless you don't care about reliability). These bugs are filled for a very long time but are not addressed unfortunately.
The only solution for now, if you don't want to open up and edit the device by yourself, is it report it as a bug to support@ableton.com
the more reports, the higher the priority

[yur2die4]

The device Analog is originated from a different developer and replicates analog synths. It’s a bit finnicky And a bit old as in, potential for artifacts with filter sweeping and various other issues due to its age in the realm of software instruments.

As for the bass itself. This could be a consequence of the oscillators not consistently retriggering at the exact same point. I believe that in old electronics, waves just keep going and we just fly in and out of amplitude and up and down in frequency, without the consistency of the wave cycle restarting every time we trigger it. If there is more than one wave in the mix, this can especially be troublesome. But even with regard to the amp envelope and Unison, there can be some quirks in consistency as a result.

I don’t recall if you can change the behavior of the wave cycle. In many analog tributes, that seems to be an option.

[[jur]]

The device Analog is originated from a different developer and replicates analog synths. It’s a bit finnicky And a bit old as in, potential for artifacts with filter sweeping and various other issues due to its age in the realm of software instruments.

As for the bass itself. This could be a consequence of the oscillators not consistently retriggering at the exact same point. I believe that in old electronics, waves just keep going and we just fly in and out of amplitude and up and down in frequency, without the consistency of the wave cycle restarting every time we trigger it. If there is more than one wave in the mix, this can especially be troublesome. But even with regard to the amp envelope and Unison, there can be some quirks in consistency as a result.

I don’t recall if you can change the behavior of the wave cycle. In many analog tributes, that seems to be an option.

It wasn't very clear, but the previous poster was actually talking about the Bass (.amxd) device, not Analog (it seems like the OP did, though, but Analog IS solid)