Fretless bass in GB '08

The fretless sound comes from the bass ... ehm ... having no frets (especially vibrato and glissandi). I don't see a way to emulate that sound using filters etc.

There's a software instrument fretless bass - maybe you're more lucky with that!

Have you tried messing with the Bass Amp effect? (under the Details section from one of the dropdown effects menus).

BassMeister17 wrote:
I wanted to plug my fretted electric bass into my Macbook Pro and simulate the sound of a fretless bass through GarageBand. But, in the bass instrument panel under the Track Info pane, there is no bass effect/emulator for a fretless bass. I've read a lot online and I can't seem to find anything that helps in particular. Does anyone have any idea how I could make my fretted bass sound like a fretless?

I would greatly appreciate any help on this, as I don't have the resources to obtain a real fretless. Thanks!!

Interesting question! And one for which I'm sure there's a really good answer, although I'm not sure you'll get it here. You may want to check out some of the more hardcore engineering forums where a question like this is like throwing chum to sharks. In a good way!

If you're able to get tweaky, offhand, I would try 2 things: First, I'd use some kind of compression, which will help fatten up the sound. Then, I'd EQ it. With the EQ, you'd first want to find the frequencies where the electric bass has its telltale snap and twang (exaggerate the EQ setting while you're doing this to help you target the right frequencies) and then CUT back on those snap and twang frequencies to make it sound more like a fretless.

You also might want to start with one of the presets that gets you part of the way there, and then experiment with the settings (mainly EQ) to further defretify.

Good luck!