Novation Bass Station II

Suprised no one has posted this yet but Novation are going to be bringing out the Bass Station II. Its gonna be an all analogue beast. I expect its to compete with Arturia and Korg although superficially it doesn't seem as powerful as the Minibrute or MS20mini. Much nicer looking synth though I'm sure you'll agree. Price is £399 tho if they could have brought it out for £299 I reckon it'd be a real steal.

 

 

More info can be found here http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2013/04/08/novation-bass-station-ii-updates-classic-analog-design/novation-bass-station-ii/

  On 4/9/2013 at 12:16 PM, The Bro said:

I expect its to compete with Arturia and Korg although superficially it doesn't seem as powerful as the Minibrute or MS20mini.

 

The operative word being "superficially" - there are some things hidden away in this that make it rather unique IMO...

better looking than the ms 20 mini? u mad.

Bass Station is the best name for a synth, regardless of actual quality.

looks alright!

lol @ the freq knob. i like the switches, reminiscent of the mg1

beautiful!

This happened:

As well as nice "modern"/"futuristic"/whatever FM sounds and general niceness, it also clones vintage "tones" very very well.

  On 4/9/2013 at 2:44 PM, Gocab said:

better looking than the ms 20 mini? u mad.

Novation definitely make good looking products and that is easily nicer looking than the MS 20 mini.

U mad bro

  On 9/26/2013 at 2:38 PM, futureimage said:

This happened:

 

 

As well as nice "modern"/"futuristic"/whatever FM sounds and general niceness, it also clones vintage "tones" very very well.

 

 

nice1!

I can remember the Baastation 1 coming out!

Bump! Is that all WATMM can say about the Bass Station II or did the past year go with more experiences with it? I'd also be interested in opinions about older Novation Bass Station models, even if the keyboard is missing.

i have a bass station 2, had it for about 3 months and am loving it - really versatile synth, certainly more than just a bass machine - has pretty deep synthesis capabilities and plenty of hands-on immediate control for most parameters...very good for percussive and drum sounds too. not sure what else to say about it really, you can hear it used in most of my newest tracks...

  On 9/26/2014 at 3:23 PM, BCM said:

i have a bass station 2, had it for about 3 months and am loving it - really versatile synth, certainly more than just a bass machine - has pretty deep synthesis capabilities and plenty of hands-on immediate control for most parameters...very good for percussive and drum sounds too. not sure what else to say about it really, you can hear it used in most of my newest tracks...

 

cool. the thing which bothers me is that the model with keyboard is a bit above my budget and the rack format doesn't suit me as I'm looking for a bass synth which would have a very important role (aciiid) in a live set, and I imagine a rack format wouldn't be the easiest thing to go for right now (don't want to bother with buying or building a rack yet). That sucks because it seems to provide just the right controls I would expect from such a synth.

wow! just came across an ad for a used one for 280€, seems rather new, still under waranty. Maybe I should go for it before it flies away but I'd have like to test it before. My other choices could be a Minibrute or a DSI Mopho but I have to check some vids of the Novation BSII to hear how it sounds.

i tried out a minibrute and also a moog sub phatty at the same time as the bass station (all were within my budget and i wasn't sure which i wanted)...after a reasonable bit of testing in the shop i decided i didn't like the tone of the minibrute - sounded too raw and dirty for my needs, seemed more suited to industrial or noise stuff...nearly went for the moog but in the end decided the bass station was more versatile and overall sounded "creamier" and smoother...(creamier than a moog, surely not! i hear you cry), but that's definitely what i found to my ears.

 

nothing wrong with the rack mount bass station at all - better in some ways in fact...and you certainly don't need a keyboard for acid, just a decent mono sequencer to feed it patterns...five12 numerology is probably best for this, but if you're not on a mac, fruity loops and renoise are also great for creating nice acidy riffs. acid is all about the sequencing - essentially slide and accent...never really found piano roll type sequencing to be great for acid, much prefer pattern sequencers.

thanks for your opinion. I saw the Sonic Lab video about the Microbrute and the guy shows how you overdrive the oscillator once you get passed the 12 o'clock position on each waveform's level knob. If the sound is clean before reaching that point that's really ok for me, I actually like to make dirty basselines and this brute factor thing might be a funny thing to play with. The thing bothering me with the Microbrute is the fact it has just one oscillator. As I want a synth able of doing solid bass it would be cool to have the possibility of using extra oscillators for more thickness.

 

Mopho looks really cool but I heard the filter is not so crazy. I'll compare the both units in a store tomorrow, hopefully they also have the bass station.

 

I find it ok to sequence acid with a piano roll but I know what you mean with pattern sequencers, I guess you can get more unexpected things with a tracker. Although I stopped programming acid with Renoise because I found its features for automating parameters not satisfying (in particular real-time performed parameters, which sucks).

BS2 > Minibrute > Microbrute

Jus' sayin'

  On 9/29/2014 at 11:17 PM, futureimage said:

BS2 > Minibrute > Microbrute

 

Jus' sayin'

 

I don't remember every difference between the Minibrute and the Microbrute but they both have features the other one doesn't have. The Minibrute has more features but the Microbrute has some modular capabilities, which is why I'd be more interested in getting one. But I don't know I have to try and see how it feels / sounds. BS2 could be great but I'd have to find a good deal for budget matters.

microbrute is very limited and crude. it's nice and all but kinda not worth it considering the price. bass station II is a way better choice. i loved the arpeggiator (something i found annoying in brute). i had it for a few weeks but decided not to buy in the end as ms20 fulfills all my monosynth needs, but it's a nice little machine.

 

i hate the color though. i wish it was red or black or anything else other than blue.

Edited September 30, 2014 by kinski

I reeeeaaaalllly want to get one of these. Imma start saving my pennies now.

Just saw the Sonic Lab video. Ok this synth looks great. What did you mean BCM with the rack version of it being "better in some way"? thanks!