Squarepusher Sound - Can you ID it?

Ambioun - Techno Man · Post by **Ambioun - Techno Man** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 3:49 am

If anyone owns or has heard squarepusher's ultravisitor. Around 1:45 how is the fast plucked sound made or do you have a good idea of what it is.

I can't post a sample for the obvious reason.

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 5:27 am

It's his trademark bass sound. It's all over his last 4-5 records, but it's played really fast here.
My best guess is some simple fm, where the "filtering" - the "daouw" - isn't made by a filter, but by a pitch env on the modulator - I guess you could get the same results using a filter on a slightly hollow fm sample.

Mbazzy · Post by **Mbazzy** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 7:00 am

As he's a bassplayer, I wouldn't be amazed that it effectively is a resampled bassguitar riff , with the necessary efx ...

Moody · Post by **Moody** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 3:04 pm

I think he is playing the bass and using effects. At least that is what he did at his show.

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 3:35 pm

yes, he's a bass-player alright... but it really doesn't sound like bass, way too precise and mechanical. Don't you think? And he's a drummer too, that doesn't mean he's too shy to whip out Amen every other track

computo · Post by **computo** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 5:05 pm

yeah, a shitty drummer as evidenced by some of those Ultravisitor tracks.

Chances are, he sequenced the bass at a slow tempo, and then sped it up. He likely played it, as his bass has MIDI pickups, so he can play a synth with it.

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 5:07 pm

- which takes us elegantly back to the synth patch... Anyone fancy recreating it? maybe as an operator live clip, so we can all hear? Covert Operators, where iz u?

Moody · Post by **Moody** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 7:05 pm

Shitty Drummer?

computo · Post by **computo** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 9:24 pm

thats right, hes a shitty drummer, or at least whoever that is playing live on the later tracks of Ultravisitor is a shitty drummer. I cant say definitively that its Tom, but I feel quite comfortable saying whoever it is has really bad time and feel.

Oh, if you want to hear an AWESOMELY bad collection of live cuts turned into a song, check out "three" from Aphex Twin's Melodies from Mars. OH MY GOD. completely diverted my opinion of him.

sniffio · Post by **sniffio** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 4:47 am

it is not a shitty drummer.

Moody · Post by **Moody** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 4:56 am

Ok... I guess there should be no groove or swing to drums? I think that is a polar thought... can we not exist in parallels?

Komplex · Post by **Komplex** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 6:46 am

computo wrote:thats right, hes a shitty drummer, or at least whoever that is playing live on the later tracks of Ultravisitor is a shitty drummer. I cant say definitively that its Tom, but I feel quite comfortable saying whoever it is has really bad time and feel.

Oh, if you want to hear an AWESOMELY bad collection of live cuts turned into a song, check out "three" from Aphex Twin's Melodies from Mars. OH MY GOD. completely diverted my opinion of him.

I want to hear a collection of AWESOMELY GOOD drumming, from you

Moody · Post by **Moody** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 6:07 pm

Komplex wrote:
computo wrote:thats right, hes a shitty drummer, or at least whoever that is playing live on the later tracks of Ultravisitor is a shitty drummer. I cant say definitively that its Tom, but I feel quite comfortable saying whoever it is has really bad time and feel.

Oh, if you want to hear an AWESOMELY bad collection of live cuts turned into a song, check out "three" from Aphex Twin's Melodies from Mars. OH MY GOD. completely diverted my opinion of him.
I want to hear a collection of AWESOMELY GOOD drumming, from you

+1

Let's hear some tracks.

Emissary · Post by **Emissary** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 6:35 pm

I have to say that squarepusher is a phenomenal bass player. Me and my girlfriend managed to sneak into the after show party after the London sinfionetta tour last year. This D.J was using tracktor in the corner all very boring and samey. Then i saw mr Pusher walk over to the DJ and say something. I departed to the toilets shortly afterwards, and when I came out he was stumbling around rather drunk on the hotel stairs. He informed me in a semi drunken stuper that the music was shit and he was going up stairs to get his bass. He came down 5 minutes later with this shity looking bass guitar and walked over to the Dj's mixing desk and plugged in. The Dj obvioulsy had a collection of drum loops, and so he started to playing them. Squarepusher then played the bass for the next 2 hours at insane speeds not a mere 2 foot from my spasaming dancing ass. not moving, not smiling, just moving his hands at immense speed. fucking ace!

eisnein · Post by **eisnein** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 7:05 pm

are we seriously back into the Squarepusher being a shitty drummer and him only using Amen loops again?

for real- its all about taste- i personally think that is amazing drumming which shows incredible feel instead of playing like a machine. groove can come from people playing out of time not just boxes...Iambic 9 is a perfect example of seriously sweet ass groove pushing drums IMHO.

yeah from what i gather the dude both speeds up the bass and can actually play that fast. alot of the riddmic things that sound like they might be bass are prob bass. he does alot of rhythmic slap/pop with heavy reverb shit or so it sounds..

again his drumming IS technically proficient even if you choose not to like its style.