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.

[TheBestAlex]

Haha, I'll just stop now, I'm gonna try charting some 5-string songs and see how this all plays out. I'm very excited, but like I said, I think there is going to be a HUGE learning curve and close to impossible to fluidly switch between 4-string and 5-string charts for me using only my 5-string bass. 

I'm not talking about charting songs either, I mean actually playing and reading what is to be played correctly.

I don't think anyone is understanding my dilemma or maybe you all pretty much have the same problem and are only playing a 5-string bass, but it's not a big deal.

[firekorn]

I understand but nobody can help you there... Playing a 4 strings part with a 5 strings is the real problem here from the start, you had to learn that the red string isn't the lowest string of your bass and changing this might take some time to adapt. But at least now you can correctly play with 5 strings displayed as it should be in the first place!

[dave]

I can upload the test file i did if you wish, it's not correctly synced and the tone is awful but it shows that 5 strings can be used.

[TheBestAlex]

I understand but nobody can help you there... Playing a 4 strings part with a 5 strings is the real problem here from the start, you had to learn that the red string isn't the lowest string of your bass and changing this might take some time to adapt. But at least now you can correctly play with 5 strings displayed as it should be in the first place!

Lol, yeah I know, unfortunately I don't have a 4-string and if I did I would have played with that, and may not be having any problem. So excited, but bummed at the same time. Thanks for understanding, lol. Now I just need every existing song changed to a 5-string chart, lmfao. QQQQQQQQ

[dave]

http://www.mediafire.com/download/qsgvad17ta0qx33/Disturbed_Monster_v1_p.psarc

 

this is a quick test track i did to try out the theory for a five string bass. It's not synced and just grabbed a random tone for it.

to play it  you must use a five string bass. look in the guitar track for the bonus lead track and when tuning fret the first string around the 8th or 9th fret with a little pressure to get the tuner to pass.

Picked a bad track really as it requires some tapping techniques at one point, or incredibly fast fretting hands.

[TheBestAlex]

I can upload the test file i did if you wish, it's not correctly synced and the tone is awful but it shows that 5 strings can be used.

Thanks, I saw your video. Are there any charted 5-string bass songs available that are charted like yours above that I can try out just to see how bad I will fail :( ? 

[firekorn]

Take a look here : http://customsforge.com/page/customsforge_rs_2014_cdlc.html/_/pc-enabled-rs-2014-cdlc/land-of-confusion-r3645

[TheBestAlex]

Thanks

[dave]

 

I can upload the test file i did if you wish, it's not correctly synced and the tone is awful but it shows that 5 strings can be used.

Thanks, I saw your video. Are there any charted 5-string bass songs available that are charted like yours above that I can try out just to see how bad I will fail :( ? 

 

not sure if anybody else is trying to actually tab out five strings onto guitar tracks just yet other that myself and firekorn, hopefully as the knowledge gets passed around more people will try it, and as for sucking the track i done kicks my ass, I would do a vid but not until i get a bit better at it lol

probably because i don't actually know the song and that tapping section totally threw me.

 

I just grabbed the first 5 string tab file I found on songster and quickly knocked it up in EoF. next one will be better......promise.

[Ross]

I have a few songs in mind I might chart, none of them need the G string though.

[dave]

I've noticed a lot of 5 string tabs rarely use the 5 strings, they seem to just use bottom 3 mostly.

[TheBestAlex]

Alright, that wasn't so bad just played that In Flames track. Got 98%. Not sure why they did a Disturbed cover, but that's another thread I guess. That song was easy though and has no actual string jumping, this will probably be a different story, but still not too bad. Hopefully I'll get used to it. Now I'm going to try and fix one of my CDLCs that was meant for a 5-string bass.

[TheBestAlex]

I've noticed a lot of 5 string tabs rarely use the 5 strings, they seem to just use bottom 3 mostly.

Don't worry, mine will ;)

[dave]

look forward to it, paid extra for the extra string so really want to use it lol.

[TheBestAlex]

If I get this working, first up is Haken, and then more Haken, and then more Haken. Haken - Premonition is what I'll be trying.

[dave]

can you do some Haken if you get a chance

[firekorn]

Yeah about that cover, it's a genesis original song not a disturbed one :wink:

 

A lot of bass part don't use all the strings but that doesn't really matter.

 

I've got another two in flames tab with 5 strings bass that i will do during the week.

[dave]

Yeah about that cover, it's a genesis original song not a disturbed one :wink:

 

A lot of bass part don't use all the strings but that doesn't really matter.

 

I've got another two in flames tab with 5 strings bass that i will do during the week.

I've started to try out some bass tones and got a couple saved that sound quite good but cant find the bloody folder outside of the game to upload them

[TheBestAlex]

Yeah about that cover, it's a genesis original song not a disturbed one :wink:

 

A lot of bass part don't use all the strings but that doesn't really matter.

 

I've got another two in flames tab with 5 strings bass that i will do during the week.

Haha, should have been ready for someone to burst my bubble like that, lol.

[TheBestAlex]

can you do some Haken if you get a chance

I could arrange, I'll try some after I'm done with Haken.

[TheBestAlex]

Alright got Haken - Premonition working for w/e reason I had to use 110 for the frequency. I'll submit this when it's complete. Is there a special place to submit these other than the database and just put in the description FOR 5-STRING BASS ONLY lol.

 

Will probably be submitting another Rush song around the same time, so keep eyes open if interested.

[Ross]

Alright got Haken - Premonition working for w/e reason I had to use 110 for the frequency. I'll submit this when it's complete. Is there a special place to submit these other than the database and just put in the description FOR 5-STRING BASS ONLY lol.

 

Will probably be submitting another Rush song around the same time, so keep eyes open if interested.

Hmm, what did you set the tuning as in EoF and the toolkit?

[firekorn]

@@dave : For the tone folder look here : http://customsforge.com/topic/2027-tone-creation-process-for-rocksmith-2014/

 

@@TheBestAlex : i'm curious about the tuning to use a A110 which means you're two octave lower than a E standard guitar tuning.

 

Might be good to make a workshop or something to list all those 5 strings bass track and if it's only a 5 strings bass track indicate it as a bass only custom even it's not using the bass part could be a good way to make sure that people are reading the release note.

[TheBestAlex]

@@dave : For the tone folder look here : http://customsforge.com/topic/2027-tone-creation-process-for-rocksmith-2014/

 

@@TheBestAlex : i'm curious about the tuning to use a A110 which means you're two octave lower than a E standard guitar tuning.

 

Might be good to make a workshop or something to list all those 5 strings bass track and if it's only a 5 strings bass track indicate it as a bass only custom even it's not using the bass part could be a good way to make sure that people are reading the release note.

Exactly what I was thinking.

[TheBestAlex]

 

Alright got Haken - Premonition working for w/e reason I had to use 110 for the frequency. I'll submit this when it's complete. Is there a special place to submit these other than the database and just put in the description FOR 5-STRING BASS ONLY lol.

 

Will probably be submitting another Rush song around the same time, so keep eyes open if interested.

Hmm, what did you set the tuning as in EoF and the toolkit?

 

In EOF the tuning was set to B-standard: so in this order

7

8   put 8 because 7 is F#

7

7

7

7

 

In the toolkit I set the tuning again to B-Standard (last option BEADGB).

And then obviously used 110, because 220 was an octave too high.

I played Premonition through, struggled a bit and for some reason on E-string my frets 2+3 were having a little difficulty picking up (had to play really loud for those to pick up)

But other than that went well.