Author Topic: Lightwave sound -vs- Alembic sound (Read 152 times)

hifibassman · « **on:** August 04, 2003, 05:43:09 AM »

Hello Gentlemen,

Over the weekend I did an audible comparison test of sound samples between a lightwave equipped bass and the root sound of an alembic series bass. The lightwave to me sounds just as natural as an alembic, But the alembic sounds better in some ways. The alembic pickups sense two small sections (almost 2 inch aperature per pickup) of the vibrating string whereas the lightwave sensor reads the entire length of vibrating string. The lightwave does have the root signal down like an alembic- a pure, natural, resonating bass tone with endless sustain. But the alembic sounds better harmonically to me because it reads a combination of string areas that give it the complimentary harmonics that are pleasing to the ear (between the two pickups) as well as pure natural tones. Alembic pickups do not sound magnetic at all to me- they sound transparent or absolutely pure which is what makes them the best on the market. If anything the lightwave sounds more like an acoustic bass that can only generate one defined natural tone. Don't get me wrong, lightwave basses have an awesome bass tone that rivals the alembic. However, because of the way the lightwave photo sensors are designed, i doubt if you can configure them to read portions of the string to get the specific harmonics that make up the classic alembic tone or any other bass tone for that matter. If they did come out with that- it would be hard to beat. I also noticed that lightwave basses do not have to be built up to extreme high quality like alembic to get the natural bass tone out of it because of the way the photo sensor operates.
If the lightwave signal could be applied to an alembic bass and run thru a Q filter instead of a piezo pickup, that may make an interestingly new natural type of sound- something that maybe alembic should consider. Maybe they can actually develop a lightwave setup that reads the two string sections like the series bass pickups and digitize the entire signal for even more awesome definition and control- that would be an idea!
Overall though, i think alembic basses are still the best sounding out there- so much flexibility and an awesome variety of natural tones.

What do you guys think about lightwave?

jake · « **Reply #1 on:** August 09, 2003, 06:10:35 PM »

lightwave to me was always one of those things that was so weird and seemingly unnatural that ive stayed away from it alltogether

rockandroller · « **Reply #2 on:** August 10, 2003, 03:07:16 AM »

I have never heard a lightwave-equipped bass ... can you post the sound samples somewhere??

David Houck · « **Reply #3 on:** August 10, 2003, 02:18:08 PM »

There are some samples here:
http://www.lightwave-systems.com/artists.html

hifibassman · « **Reply #4 on:** August 11, 2003, 05:23:21 AM »

This is where i got my samples from:

http://www.langcaster.com/Sounds.html

I listened to them again, and maybe the root sounds are a little unnatural. Listen to demo #2- McGrath explains how the piezo pickup brings out the acoustical character and blends in with the lightwave tone. Maybe this is where i thought it sounded similar to the alembic. That tone sample had endless sustain and harmonics and it was seemingly flat and even like an alembic. Of course that bass could never have the awesome tonal range and flexibility that the alembics have. I just thought that for a photo sensor type setup it tracks and articulates impressively well. Maybe that bass would be good for certain things- like fender type basses are good for certain things.