Does Anyone use a Novation Bass Station 2 ?

Breaknz

Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2013
Considering buying one or something similar , theres very little cheap Analog Synths available in NZ (Cheap being under 1k)

Any thoughts welcomed :)
 
Well from what I could tell by messing around with one, you can get some super nice warm basses from it.
Definitely getting one eventually :).
 
I have one..it's a fun little synth..much prefer it over my minibrute and sh101. Not a fair comparison really though as the basstation is two OSC and the others just one..in the mono synth category though I would go for the basstation.
 
It's a pretty good synth. The extra OSC is great in that you can achieve that "two osc detuned" sound that's the basis of many bass/lead noises. There's loads of flexibility/options/parameters and the two distortion modules are nice–as is the wonderful arpeggiator. However, there are some issues with it–some more major than others:

  • having to constantly hit the function command in order to dive deeper into mod options can become a bit cumbersome. Though, being able to have those additional mod options in the first place can be worth the headache (sometimes).
  • unlike the two ADSR sliders present on the minibrute (filter and amp env respectively), the Bass Station 2 has only one set of sliders that be switched between envelope, filter and env + filter. The problem I have is that I often would go back and forth between env and filter and would lose track of my values–and would have to rely on the LCD readout. I'm sure they wanted to keep costs low which is why they opted for the single set of sliders.
  • the fucking thing always returns to patch 00 instead of the last patch that was loaded when it's powered off and on again.
  • finally, and this is the BIG one for me: the arpeggiator cannot be triggered by any MIDI In whether it be a sequencer or MIDI keys. To add, the BS2 cannot be clock synced via 5-pin MIDI. So if you wanted to sync it to something like VolcaBeats for example, you cannot–only via USB will clock sync occur. So to sum, BS2 has MIDI IN/OUT capability, but it's on an extremely basic level. If you want to utilize any syncing, you have to have it connected to your computer via USB running a DAW.

I ended up returning mine and hope Novation will either release a rack version of BS2 or will address the various shortcomings many users have been posting about in the forum. BS2 was released last September, yet not a single update/firmware release has occurred.

Again, it's a great synth capable of ground sounds. If you're not worried about the various issues, then it's certainly worth the price tag. However, I would encourage you to atleast visit Novation's forum prior to dropping the cash.
 
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Thanks heaps for the feedback , I found a access virus indigo 1 for great value on Trademe , I had to buy that as i have never seen one for sale in nz (bar the TI)

Would love to know anyones thoughts on it, Its yet to arrive
 
Thanks heaps for the feedback , I found a access virus indigo 1 for great value on Trademe , I had to buy that as i have never seen one for sale in nz (bar the TI)

Would love to know anyones thoughts on it, Its yet to arrive

It's a great synth that mimics the Virus B, which has a wonderful timbre. There are a couple great patch librarian/editors available as well, VCommander is a great one!

Make sure you have the latest firmware for it--it opens up several extra banks to store more user patches. Also, when you register the serial if you find that it's still registered under the previous user, simply email Access and they'll reset it. Joerg is really fast at responding.
 
It's a pretty good synth. The extra OSC is great in that you can achieve that "two osc detuned" sound that's the basis of many bass/lead noises. There's loads of flexibility/options/parameters and the two distortion modules are nice–as is the wonderful arpeggiator. However, there are some issues with it–some more major than others:

  • having to constantly hit the function command in order to dive deeper into mod options can become a bit cumbersome. Though, being able to have those additional mod options in the first place can be worth the headache (sometimes).
  • unlike the two ADSR sliders present on the minibrute (filter and amp env respectively), the Bass Station 2 has only one set of sliders that be switched between envelope, filter and env + filter. The problem I have is that I often would go back and forth between env and filter and would lose track of my values–and would have to rely on the LCD readout. I'm sure they wanted to keep costs low which is why they opted for the single set of sliders.
  • the fucking thing always returns to patch 00 instead of the last patch that was loaded when it's powered off and on again.
  • finally, and this is the BIG one for me: the arpeggiator cannot be triggered by any MIDI In whether it be a sequencer or MIDI keys. To add, the BS2 cannot be clock synced via 5-pin MIDI. So if you wanted to sync it to something like VolcaBeats for example, you cannot–only via USB will clock sync occur. So to sum, BS2 has MIDI IN/OUT capability, but it's on an extremely basic level. If you want to utilize any syncing, you have to have it connected to your computer via USB running a DAW.

I ended up returning mine and hope Novation will either release a rack version of BS2 or will address the various shortcomings many users have been posting about in the forum. BS2 was released last September, yet not a single update/firmware release has occurred.

Again, it's a great synth capable of ground sounds. If you're not worried about the various issues, then it's certainly worth the price tag. However, I would encourage you to atleast visit Novation's forum prior to dropping the cash.

This editor here helps with the one set of sliders issue and also having to hit the function button...it dosent show the patch reflected though in the editor but is good when u start from an Init patch.
http://filthyfilterz.com/bass-station-2/
 
Yeah, I owned that editor. It's quite good. The author plans on implementing bi-directional communication, but he wanted to get something out ASAP. You have to run it as a control panel with app from CNTRL.
 
Yeah, I owned that editor. It's quite good. The author plans on implementing bi-directional communication, but he wanted to get something out ASAP. You have to run it as a control panel with app from CNTRL.

Nah this isn't the ctrlr panel..it's a dif standalone editor ..costs like 6 euros.
 
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