Going Low: a Workaround to get Bass Notes below C1 to register in Rocksmith

[Ross]

Today I found a workaround for getting the low bass notes such as low B to work with Rocksmith. I posted a scrappy test song in the database but they already pulled the plug on that, can't say I blame them :). But I got enough data for it to work as a proof of concept, you can see the discussions we had here. Me and a couple of people got a low B note, the thickest string on a 5-string bass to register in Rocksmith.

 

My theory was that the reason Rocksmith hits the wall at C1 is because after that you go into the zeroes, B0 is next. I thought it must be because Rocksmith doesn't like handling those zeroes in there. So could Rocksmith be tricked into thinking it is still in the 1st octave while in reality it's playing the notes that are of the 0th octave?

 

This brings us to the workaround. First off, you fiddle with the tuning in Editor of Fire. There you set the tuning to whatever is your desired tuning +6. (This is now pretty much obsolete, it's better to set it to +12, see the edits) In my test, I wanted the tuning to be in BEAD, the 4 lowest strings on a 5-string bass, so I set the tunings to 1,1,1,1. Because the B-string would be -5 compared to the standard 4-string E-string, I get -5+6=1, and so forth. Then you just chart the song as it is played in the desired tuning. If you have a chart like that already, just change the tuning accordingly and don't transpose the notes.

 

Next, in the Rocksmith toolkit you set the tuning for the arrangement the same as in eof, in this case 1,1,1,1. But here's the trick: you counter the +6 transpose you did in the tuning by setting the middle A as 311.2 Hz in the tuning pitch section. This causes all notes to be 6 semitones lower than normal.

 

Now, in my case the notes displayed for the strings are F1,A#1,D#2,G#2 but because of the different frequency reference the frequencies correspond to the notes B0,E1,A1,D2 in A440, or the pitch reference we normally use. As you can see, we have technically eliminated the 0th octave from the notes.

 

EDIT: I just realized you can probably do this in a more elegant manner. If you set your tuning to desired tuning +12 and offset that by setting the tuning pitch as 220 Hz you'll get the correct letters for the notes, they'll technically be an octave higher and octave lower at the same time if that makes sense :) The reason I went with +6 is because I first tried this pitch offset on the E standard tuning where you start off from 0 and are capped by the 11 semitone limit in EoF, but for B standard -5+12=7 if my math doesn't fail me here :P

 

Important: Make sure you're not using the same tuning in the toolkit for guitar and bass arrengements. We have already seem some snapped strings because the creator edited the "B standard" tuning in the toolkit to be 7,7,7,7 for bass and that also got applied to the guitar parts. You have to have two separate tunings, one normal for guitar and one with this trick for bass, you can look at LittleLui's post further down to see how he did this.

 

In game when you pick the song it shows the wrong note letters for the strings when you are tuning but they will tune to the correct desired note with the in game tuner (the game says the recording is "slightly" flat or sharp, just 6 semitones :P). Now if you've done everything correctly the chart should come out as it should be played in the desired tuning, and better yet, the game actually registers all of the notes. (EDIT: This bit is obsolete with the +-12 method, the notes should be the same. Though it will say it's in A220 tuning instead of A440)

 

I believe this should work the same for even lower tunings, if you wanna have an A string you just set the tuning on that to -1 (edit: 5 with the +-12 method), or a Bb string with the tuning set to 0 (edit: 6 with the +-12 method) for that particular string.

 

Some funny food for thought: the theoretical lowest note you could pull off with this is Gb0 I believe. Now, the maximum tuning you can set in eof is +11, and if you set the tuning pitch as 233.1, or 11 semitones below the standard middle A you could theoretically have rocksmith register a Db0 note, that is just over 17 Hz :P (actually, after what I realized, see the edit, the lowest you can go is theoretically C0 I think)

 

This will need some testing and fiddling around, obviously it's not an intended solution. Then again, the whole concept of cdlc's were not intended by the developer :)

 

EDIT: Here's a video of an actual cdlc by Rockfirstlast made with this trick, seems to be working perfectly. The tuning is C# Drop B

 

Link

 

Update: LittleLui has done a cdlc with BEAD tuning for bass with the +-12 method and it's working. The cldc is No Love Lost by Carcass if you wanna test it for yourself. He also made this comment in another post where he explains the trick in simple steps for already charted songs, might be useful to post it here:
 

 

...I gave this technique a try and it was both easy to apply and it worked, too. 

For existing songs its simply

• change tuning in EOF by adding 12
• deny the popup question suggesting auto-transposing
• edit your custom tunings file for csct (additional bass tunings +12)
• change the tuning of the bass part in csct to the +12 tunings, and the pitch to 220

 

where csct stands for the toolkit of course.

[dave]

Yes I definitely need to get a 5-string too now, that was a bit crazy but damn good idea dave :)

the line between crazy and genius is said to be very thin  :-P

[bokkiej]

This is a little over my head but I have charted a 5 string bass piece in EoF. Can I use this trick to be able to play it on an emulated bass and preferably with the same file on a 4 and 5 string bass as well? What steps would I exactly have to take? :)

[Ross]

This is a little over my head but I have charted a 5 string bass piece in EoF. Can I use this trick to be able to play it on an emulated bass and preferably with the same file on a 4 and 5 string bass as well? What steps would I exactly have to take? :)

 

 

For just being able to play it on emulated bass you don't have to do anything. For being able to play it with an actual bass guitar you need to implement the trick, assuming the song in in a tuning that has a B string or lower.

 

Have you charted it as a bass part or a guitar part? I don't think anyone has tried the guitar trick yet. But for a bass part the quote from LittleLui in the first post should have you covered. Of course you can ask more if you don't understand.

 

With a bass part you only get 4 strings in game but in most cases that should be enough right? :) You can use the lowest 4 strings on a 5 string.

[Ross]

Oh, and I haven't heard anybody try but I guess a bass part done with this trick should also work with emulated bass completely normally. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[firekorn]

I will try the guitar trick since i have a 5 strings bass songs (with the right tab) and a lot of room in the bonus arrangement to make it but i won't be able to try it myself.

[Ross]

I will try the guitar trick since i have a 5 strings bass songs (with the right tab) and a lot of room in the bonus arrangement to make it but i won't be able to try it myself.

Yeah, I guess for the "bass as a guitar" trick you need an actual 5-string, that or you need to tune your guitar to bass register :) I don't think you can use the bass emulation when playing guitar parts?

[firekorn]

Nop, it's automated by rocksmith, and goind as low as a 5 strings bass on my guitar, well i like spaghettis but not on my guitar...

[Ross]

Nop, it's automated by rocksmith, and goind as low as a 5 strings bass on my guitar, well i like spaghettis but not on my guitar...

By the way, have you tried playing the bass parts you've done with this trick on emulated bass? Does it work like normal?

[firekorn]

Yes, it was as normal as it could be.

[Ross]

I think it would be good if some filmatic person could do a video tutorial on this perhaps. I can probably try and do it maybe in a couple of weeks when I get my 5-string but if someone feels like doing it before feel free to do it.

[firekorn]

So here it is : http://www.mediafire.com/.../In-Flames_Land-Of-Confusion_v1_p.psarc

 

It's the lead bonus arrangement for the bass part with 5 strings (if anyone with a bass even a 4 strings can confirm me that it works fine, it's kinda impossible for me to try it out with a guitar...)

[dave]

well picking up a five string this weekend so will be trying to trick the guitar part for a bassline real soon.

 

Any suggestions for an easy 5 string track???

[Ross]

well picking up a five string this weekend so will be trying to trick the guitar part for a bassline real soon.

 

Any suggestions for an easy 5 string track???

I haven't done any research, but I feel like there is a strong negative correlation between a song actually utilizing all of the 5 strings and the song being easy :P

 

I should be getting my 5 string sometime next week.

[firekorn]

On my song since the Bonus arrangement is in a lower tunning, it ruins the sorting of the lead part (RS use the lower tunning between the normal arrangement and the bonus one).

 

I really would love a tester even with a 4 strings bass so that i know it's the good tunning that is set and it's actually playable as it is.

[Ross]

On my song since the Bonus arrangement is in a lower tunning, it ruins the sorting of the lead part (RS use the lower tunning between the normal arrangement and the bonus one).

 

I really would love a tester even with a 4 strings bass so that i know it's the good tunning that is set and it's actually playable as it is.

How do the bonus arrangements even work? It asks you to choose when you're picking the song? Or do they show up as 2 separate songs so to speak? I have 0 experience with them.

[firekorn]

When you choose a song the last line in the menu just before launching the song allow you to change the arrangement. The name is pretty self explanatory.

[Ross]

Ok, gave the bonus lead arrangement a try. Something's not right, the low C string is still 500 cents above my high G string, so it's a C3 note apparently. What did you set the tuning as?

[Rockfirstlast]

On my song since the Bonus arrangement is in a lower tunning, it ruins the sorting of the lead part (RS use the lower tunning between the normal arrangement and the bonus one).

 

I really would love a tester even with a 4 strings bass so that i know it's the good tunning that is set and it's actually playable as it is.

 

You wanted someone to test the bass part in Land Of Confusion?

 

I didn't see a bonus arrangement so I played the regular bass part.  It worked out well.  I got a 99.3% accuracy so the tuning worked out.

[Ross]

 

On my song since the Bonus arrangement is in a lower tunning, it ruins the sorting of the lead part (RS use the lower tunning between the normal arrangement and the bonus one).

 

I really would love a tester even with a 4 strings bass so that i know it's the good tunning that is set and it's actually playable as it is.

 

You wanted someone to test the bass part in Land Of Confusion?

 

I didn't see a bonus arrangement so I played the regular bass part.  It worked out well.  I got a 99.3% accuracy so the tuning worked

It's the lead guitar bonus arrangement, we're trying that with a bass.

[bokkiej]

Followed your comments from our private conversation (posting them for other people to use):

 

1: Have the song charted as a bass part as it should be played in the desired tuning. B-E-A-D in this case.

 

2: Change the tuning to +7,+7,+7,+7 in EoF (normally B-E-A-D would be -5,-5,-5,-5 compared to E-A-D-G, but for the trick we need to transpose them an octave higher, -5+12 = 7)

 

3) In the Rocksmith toolkit change the tuning of the bass arrangement to +7,+7,+7,+7 too. For me it does this automatically sometimes when you import the arrangement, but if it doesn't click on the "..." button next to the tuning and edit it.

 

4) Then change the tuning pitch of the bass arrangement from 440 Hz to 220 Hz, this is the most important part, otherwise you would tell people to actually tune their basses an octave higher, and that could result in some snapped strings. With this we have countered the +12 transpose earlier in the tuning so we are at B-E-A-D.

 

Result: http://customsforge.com/page/customsforge_rs_2014_cdlc.html/_/pc-enabled-rs-2014-cdlc/along-for-the-ride-r3363 :). Seems to work fine on my emulated bass. Rocksmith throws some in-game errors (doesn't show the name of the tuning, warns me about playing bass while I have it on emulated bass) though. They're probably not preventable?

[firekorn]

The bass tunning should be A#0 C1 F1 A#1 D#2 and for the 6th strings during tunning you should play the 5th fret of the 5th strings in theory with a 5 strings bass. With a 4 strings, during the tunning phase you should play the 5th then the 10th fret on the highest string once you've tuned down to a C drop Bb. I'm not sure it's crystal clear...

 

I will take a look at what is actually set in the toolkit and EOF when i will be at home and have acces to the file but the strings name should be displayed correctly in RS.

[Rockfirstlast]

 

 

On my song since the Bonus arrangement is in a lower tunning, it ruins the sorting of the lead part (RS use the lower tunning between the normal arrangement and the bonus one).

 

I really would love a tester even with a 4 strings bass so that i know it's the good tunning that is set and it's actually playable as it is.

 

You wanted someone to test the bass part in Land Of Confusion?

 

I didn't see a bonus arrangement so I played the regular bass part.  It worked out well.  I got a 99.3% accuracy so the tuning worked

It's the lead guitar bonus arrangement, we're trying that with a bass.

 

 

Ok, I played the Bonus Guitar Arrangement using a real 5-string bass guitar.

 

I played the entire song in riff repeater and missed 0 notes, so the detection works well.

 

Tuning was easy enough.  I  bet there will be at least one person who doesn't read the release notes and try to tune his bass up too high and snap strings.  It'll be a good lesson though.

[Rockfirstlast]

Result: http://customsforge.com/page/customsforge_rs_2014_cdlc.html/_/pc-enabled-rs-2014-cdlc/along-for-the-ride-r3363 :). Seems to work fine on my emulated bass. Rocksmith throws some in-game errors (doesn't show the name of the tuning, warns me about playing bass while I have it on emulated bass) though. They're probably not preventable?

 

I played this on a real bass too.  Works good!

[Ross]

 

Ok, I played the Bonus Guitar Arrangement using a real 5-string bass guitar.

 

I played the entire song in riff repeater and missed 0 notes, so the detection works well.

 

Tuning was easy enough.  I  bet there will be at least one person who doesn't read the release notes and try to tune his bass up too high and snap strings.  It'll be a good lesson though.

 

Huh, I must have done/looked something wrong then. Pretty cool that it's working.

 

You just played the open strings in tuning and it worked? For me it seemed the tuning was too high.

[firekorn]

@@Ross : You can compared to the bass part for the note, it's exactly the same only on 4 strings

 

By the way, i'm not really used to the standard 5 strings bass tunning is there anything special here or the way it is actually done in Land of Confusion is ok?