Novation Bass Station II

I run this along my Arturia MiniBrute when I need additional effects, leads and bass lines during client productions, and I'd be hard pressed to name any other analogue synth that scrores more bang for your bucks than this one.

The two analogue filters sound great and cover a wide range, from gnarly (lovely!) distorted bass lines, to cleaner yet character-laden plucks. And don't let the name fool you: it's a great synth for leads as well!

Although in some ways similar, it's a different beast compared to the aforementioned MiniBrute. Both add slightly different characteristics and they both have their respective sound. The Novation reviewed here has a slight edge in features and is - to me, so completely subjective - easier and faster to dial in, when heading for a sound I'm looking for in any given moment. Another added bonus with the Bass Station II is the possibility to save user presets, a feature the Arturia lacks.

Quality, for this price, is fantastic. The keys are lightweight and slightly plasticky, but they perform nicely enough, and aftertouch can add a lot of variation and movement when implemented correctly. Knob action has just the right amount of resistance to me, somewhat on the heavier side, which makes it easy to perform even filter sweeps for example. Some of the small levers on my unit give away the cost-saving side of things (the action is slightly different across the panel), but for this price I can't really complain much.

Very inspirational when you need to add something a bit different than all those software synths lurking in the depths of your harddrive. The time to go down the analogue synthesizer rabbit hole has never been better. Or cheaper, for that matter.

The Bass Station II does indeed perform well above its price point. Highly recommended.

En helt begriplig analog monosynth (nu även parafon!) Vad som är däremot är obegripligt är att Novation fortfarande - åtta år efter release - släpper stora, kostnadsfria uppdateringar till den. Den har några år på nacken, men den håller utan tvekan fortfarande.

Det positiva: Gör leads lika väl som bas. Rimliga filter och modulationsmöjligheter. Väldigt behagligt att man kan spara patches, så att man slipper börja om varje gång man råkar ratta lite för ivrigt och planlöst.

Det inte så bra: Hantverkskvaliteten är helt ok. Den känns lite plastig, mitt ex wobblar lite när man går loss och elsladden är väl kort.

Sammanfattning: Det är verkligen inte mycket med den här synthen man kan klaga på med tanke på vad den kan göra efter förra årets uppdatering och med tanke på prislappen.

Sound:

This synth obviously do bass sounds really well, but it is more then capable of producing a wide range of other sounds as well. In the bass department it's able to do anything from your typical "80s" kinda bass sounds to squelchy acid basslines to agressive and distorted monster bass sounds. I like a good distortion/drive and the BS2 delivers the goods here, it has a drive pre the filter and a distortion post the filter (all analog), that let's you create some really fat & nasty bass sounds.

The whole bass part aside, it does your leads, pads, effects and so on. 2 octaves is really cutting it close when doing leads though.

It has a shared oscillator section and ADSR section on the panel. The shared ADSR is'nt an issue, but the shared osc section can be annoying while switching back 'n forth between osc 1 & 2 having to re-dial the knobs. That said it is still a very fun synth to use.

It has audio-in, which is routed thru the drive/filter/distortion. Basically that makes it a great analog drive/dist effect unit as well (for drums/drumloops in my case).

Although not made for being a clone I have to say that this synth really is a modern day SH-101 both when it comes to sound and look. No wonder why they put a filter on it named "acid". Soundwise it gives you plenty of that old techno and acid flavor with a vintage quality to it. It can sound very polite and soft but cranking up the volume of the oscillators and max the drive on the filter can really make it scream. Although the name of it says Bass there is of course everything you need to make you leads, sfx and percussive sounds as well. The sequencer is another great feature on this little beast. It's dead easy to use and the fact that it sends data through midi make it even more useful. With the price tag in mind, the features and the sound make the Bass Station 2 a real winner compared to many other new analog synths out there. The only thing I miss on it is that I'm not able to control filter key tracking. But all in all it's a keeper.