Product:
Modo Bass 2
Summary: Add ‘fretless mode’ option to the upright models to make them better suited to note bends in live playing.
Problem / Use Case:
With the upright models (but not the fretless electric, or the other electric models in fretless fingerboard mode), it’s not possible to play in-time, live, while also using the pitch wheel. This is because moving the wheel starts an automated trajectory of pitch bend–a trajectory that is quite slow such that, well after the musician has moved the pitch wheel to its desired location, the pitch continues to move. Thus, with the uprights, the musician can easily control the timing of when the pitch starts to bend, but cannot control the timing of when the pitch-bend stops. In contrast, fretless fingerboard mode (which is not available for the uprights) is well-behaved and does allow the player to stop the pitch-bend immediately by simply ceasing to move the wheel.
Proposed Solution:
My idea of how this could work is to add the fretless fingerboard mode option to the upright models. To avoid confusion of terms, rather than call it fretless fingerboard mode in that case, the options might be called something like “Bend Mode: Simple,” and “Bend Mode: Complex” (with “Bend Mode: Simple” being the one that allows the musician time-accurate, live control of the pitch-bend trajectory).
Priority / Impact:
High.