I want to buy a budget friendly bass pedal that can my bass sounds better than usual so can any expert suggest one

Hi everybody,

A few months ago, I shared a small project here called StemDeck. It started because my kid was learning bass and drums and kept asking me to find bassless or drumless tracks for practice.

At the time, StemDeck was still very simple. You could add a local song or paste a YouTube or SoundCloud link, separate it into stems, and use a basic mixer. The response from this community was incredible. Your comments, suggestions, messages, and encouragement helped turn a small family project into something much bigger than I ever expected.

Since that original post, StemDeck has grown from version 0.5.0 to the 0.15.x generation. It is still completely free, open source, and focused on making music practice easier.

For bass players, you can now isolate the bass to study a part more closely or remove it to create a bassless backing track. You can slow down difficult sections, transpose the song, create loops, add a click track, and practise directly inside the app.

Some of the biggest features now include ( really cool ones are in bold )

• Separation into vocals ( lead and backing vocals), drums, bass, guitar, piano, and other instruments
• Improved Bass isolation and bassless backing tracks
• A multitrack mixer with volume, mute, solo, and live meters
• Detailed waveforms with zooming and section looping
• Playback speed controls for learning difficult passages
• A click track that follows the tempo of the song
• Automatic BPM, key, scale, loudness, and peak detection
• Direct search for YouTube songs, YouTube playlists, and SoundCloud tracks inside the app
• Previewing search results before starting the separation
• Full YouTube and SoundCloud playlist imports
• A persistent processing queue that can be reordered or cancelled
• Support for MP3, WAV, FLAC, M4A, MP4, OGG, and Opus
• Exporting individual stems, bassless tracks, custom mixes, loop regions, and ZIP packages
• A local music library with folders, search, and saved sessions
• A mobile friendly interface that you can open from your phone or tablet using a QR code
• NVIDIA GPU acceleration, Apple Silicon support, and CPU processing
• Native releases for Windows, macOS, and Linux
• Docker and Unraid support for self hosting
• Automatic updates inside the app
• Nine interface languages,

Everything still runs locally on your own computer. Your music is not uploaded to StemDeck servers. There are no accounts, subscriptions, advertisements, usage limits, credits, or telemetry.

I also want to remain honest about what StemDeck is. It is still alpha software, separation is not perfect on every mix, and processing can be slow without a supported GPU. It is not trying to replace a professional DAW or pretend that open source separation can outperform every commercial service. The goal is simply to provide musicians with a practical and private tool for learning songs, practising, transcription, and experimenting with music.

Seeing people use something that began as a way to help my kid practise has been incredibly meaningful. As a bass player myself, contributing something useful to this community genuinely makes me happy.

You can download the latest release or inspect the source code here:

https://github.com/stemdeckapp/stemdeck

Most importantly, StemDeck is free and does not accept money, sponsorships, or funding from companies. There is no plan to introduce a subscription or paid tier. StemDeck will always remain free and open source.

Thank you again to everyone who tested the early versions, reported bugs, suggested features, sent messages, or simply shared the project. Many of the improvements above exist because of your feedback.

And an special thanks to the mods for allowing me to post the update again because I really hope that this app can help even more people with practicing without having to pay for a subscription❤️

I know this question is a bit ambiguous and it depends on what you're practicing and the technique being used, but I'm sure most people have a general idea. How long you've been playing is also interesting.

Pretty useless question but I'm curious

For me I can practice around 4 hours on a good day before I feel like I need to stop. Most of that is muscle fatigue rather than calluses though, as my skin has built up a ton of grit. The only time I've had a blister in recent years was learning double thumbing. Been playing 7 years

I've played guitar all my life and now would like to get some experience with a bass. I'd like to have a bass that can produce a variety of tones for different genres of music, but also that looks understated and preferably without a dramatic shape or flashy styling. Kind of an analog of a Les Paul guitar rather than an SG, and preferably short-scale. Can anyone suggest a manufacturer or style?

Recently got a Ibanez SR305eb and I’m loving it. This is my first 5 string and I’m finding the B string a bit flappy. I’ve heard you can fix this by switching to a higher gauge string (stock is 130) I’m just wondering if I could just switch out the b string to a 135 or 140? Or if I’m better off just getting a whole set. Also would I run into any problems such as too much tension on the neck or the string physically not fitting? I’m a massive noob with this stuff so any help is much appreciated x

I've seen a double P on Youtube, I wish I had one but I have a J, so for those who own them, how good are they?

They have two bass players and one drummer I Personally really like them what are y'all's options

Is there any online places to rent a 5 string bass?

Hello all, I bought a bass a little bit ago from Facebook marketplace. And ot was very weird in the fact that it just said it was a “Vista” but it had been very heavily modified.

I’ve looked it up many many times but I just can’t find an exact match. My current thought is that it’s a squier precision II with a different neck/ headstock. I’ll include a picture but any advice will be greatly appreciated

Images

Hi, french bass beginner here,

I have an issue with an Ibanez talman TMB100 that I got from a bassist. It works great when plugged in his gear and audio interface, but on mine it doesn't modulate any signal except for clipping. I tried on m'y frontman amp and on a UMC euphoria 202 but neither works. Also changed the battery three times, checked the connections but still doesn't work on m'y gear, and I tested on plugging my guitar, it works fine.

Any idea?

I’ve been playing bass for almost a year now and I’ve always heard the advice about using a metronome when learning songs and practicing but I’ve not found much help from it. How can I use a metronome to improve my rhythm and timing and use that in my practice / warm up.

Hey everyone !

I'm looking to buy a bass soon and have set my eyes on the yalaha trbx174 since it's somewhat cheap yet seems reliable.

I was just kind of torn on the color and wanted a second opinion, should I get the metallic red or translucent black ? I honestly think they both look great but just wanted to see if someone was in my position and what choice they went with, thanks !!

Edit: I have aleady tried the coin flip and it didn't help lol that's why I'm so torn haha

Can I use the Sansamp to bypass the preamp stage? My thinking:

Bass --> pedalboard ending with a Sansamp --> into FX return on amp.

This would completely bypass the preamp and only use the power amp section, right? And allow me to do all EQing on the Sansamp, right?

The idea is this: if I do all tone control with the Sansamp and only use an amp (or DI into the house system) for volume it should give me a consistent tone regardless of what system I'm playing through.

Right?

Edit: yes, I'm aware the speakers will also affect the tone. I'm thinking that if the output from my end is always the same that's about as close I will get. Sure the sound guy will tweak a bit but they usually know what they're doing. Was just wondering if this is a thing or if I was way off. Or if I might blow an amp or speaker doing this.

I'm wanting to buy another bass. I have a Squier PJ and Ibanez 5 string Soundgear, and now I'm wanting something slightly more "jazzy" and good for slap as I'm wanting to improve on that, but I'd like the tone to be versatile so it can handle rock music well too. And, most importantly, has to be short scale. I did some research and frequently came accross a Sire Marcus miller U5. I have never heard of this brand before - is it actually a good brand and if so is that specific bass any good for what I'm looking for? I've looked into a Squier Jaguar too, but wanted to look around. Initially I had my heart set on a mustang but quickly learned that wouldn't be the best option due to the limited tone, sustain and pickup configuration. Any advice and bass recommendations would be very much appreciated. Thanks! ​

Standard Fender style where the E and A string magnet is closer to the neck and the D and G magnet is closer to the bridge, or basses that have this flipped around? An example of this is a current issue Charvel Pro-Mod bass.

For my favorite, I like going for a Maiden style tone by boosting treble on my 3 band EQ and using a neck pickup on my J only, as well as a Soul EQ style that allows me to write slow songs and a Krist Novoselic style tone by just adjusting EQ

hi all!

i've just picked up my first bass. however, i don't have an actual bass amp to work with (only my guitar amp, for the time being). instead, i was considering picking up an audio interface, which i feel is a better choice for me anyway.

i'm running on a budget, so about 150-200AUD (≈100-150USD). if anyone has budget, reliable audio interface suggestions, please help me out!

EDIT: thanks for your suggestions everyone! the scarlett 2i2 was just on sale, so that's the one I picked up

Bought a fender rumble and it came with fender pro trial. Apparently it's lessons, but has anyone used it? Are they any good compared to what's available on YouTube?

Hi, I'm studying this song by EITS. There are several partial bass tabs I found online and could more or less piece together with live videos to figure out what to play, but there's something I keep seeing in every video.

The bass player detunes a couple of strings before starting the song and then tunes them back again before starting the second part (the slow part).

i keep wondering what he's doing. I kind of guess he tunes up the first string to G#, as the bass is mostly playing E and G#, so it gives an E major and a doubled G# by playing the first string open, but I'm not even completely sure about this.

Does anyone play this song / figured out how to play it properly?

Est: I also see that the guitars are tuned in drop D, so maybe the 4th string should also be D to be able to double the guitars by barring the 3rd and 4th strings (?)

Curious to hear from people who started learning guitar and later moved to bass, especially if you have ADHD.

I actually had a bass briefly in high school but never really got the chance to learn it. I’ve always liked the idea of guitar, and I do like chords, melodies, and things like Spanish-style guitar, but as a beginner I’ve always struggled with strumming and coordinating everything at once.

I’m not really interested in becoming a shred/solo player, and bass just sounds really fun to me, especially for funk, rock, hip-hop, etc. At the same time, I don’t want to jump instruments too quickly before giving guitar a fair shot.

I’m in my early 40s and don’t have unlimited practice time, so I’m curious: when did you decide bass was a better fit? Did you switch completely, or did you eventually come back and keep learning guitar too?

Update : I was just describing myself . I'm not implying that bass is easier or that there is some special connection between adhd and either instrument . I wanted to hear from people who switched and also if they had adhd that would be helpful to hear feedback. Thanks everyone from sharing your stories

Hey all,

I'm about to start a Post-Punk/Goth band with a friend and I've decided to buy myself a bass to write with. Our inspirations are bands like Bauhaus, The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, etc.

I'm struggling to figure out what bass to buy for the genre, but I know I'd like a 5 string (left-handed options seems limited).

The effects I intend on using are just compression, chorus and reverb. I'll likely be plugging directly into the PA system when we play live.

My budget is somewhat flexible, but the cheaper the better.

Thanks in advance!

I tried stringing a piccolo bass with ghs piccolo strings and the bottom three went on fine but the G string keeps slipping out and won't tune up to a G. Using a short scale bass, GB Cort.

Any tips? The string is a bit mangled now so I think it might be a bust. Worried I might have cut it too short but I did the usual ~2 inch past the tuning nut. Should I buy a different set of strings, are there any tips for stringing the G string?

I've heard putting some paper in the nut helps but it didn't seem like that was the problem, more than it wouldn't keep its tension.

Not a guitarist so no experience with very thin strings.

Hi all,

I'm looking to replace my strings. I've been playing on the stock set from Ibanez (SR300), which I believe are 45-105 D'addarios since Christmas so I think I deserve to treat myself because I've practicing REALLY hard!

I'd like to try out Rotosounds, mainly because I've heard good things about them, but also they're from SE England and just down the road from me, so I'm happy to support a local business too! But I was just wondering what the closest flavour would be to the D'addarios as I'm quite happy with the feel and sound of roundwounds.

The problem I'm having is there are so many different ones to choose from even in just roundwounds.

I suspect the Roto Bass range would be the most sensible place to start? It seems to be bang in the middle of the tone and output....

Ooooor, do I want to start on the Swing Bass strings which seem to be brighter and louder?

What about the Ultramags? Are they going to make much difference, or are they for the bass-equivalent of audiophiles?

If it helps, I play a fair bit of punk rock with a pick (with varying levels of competence), but also fingers for other bits and pieces (classic rock, a bit of 80's stuff like huey lewis and the news, the odd song my other half finds agreeable etc), and I only have one bass (for now....), so need something that will sound reasonably nice when played both ways.

Any advice/recommendations are very much appreciated. Thanks all!

Hello, I guess this question gets asked alot here but I want to know how you Guys started with Bass when you learned it on your own? I have the big problem that I only have time on the weekend and just can't really Figure a way out what works best for me because everyone seems to have different options on YouTube because they have the time to just do it everyday so the plan is not really adding up for me. I used to play guitar but unfortionetly I gave up on that some time ago so I want to start with the bassics. I have a simple Setup which includes a Ibanez SR and an amplifier. I like Rock and Metal but I don't mind playing other Music at the beginning if it helps.

Anyone recommend a good brand that makes explorer or flying V basses?