Novation Bass Station II Reviews

Awesome Fun!

My first Mono Synth...Great fun...Easy to use! This little Synth just invites you to tweak and play, which is exactly what I wanted it for. I was fed up with menu diving in other Synths. I always enjoy sound designing on this instrument and the addition of the Paraphonic Mode just elevates the fun factor. 100% satisfied with my Bass Station 2.

Bass Power

A great sounding bass synth with very intuitive controls. I love how all essential features have their dedicated controls. You can quickly go from an idea of a sound in your head to creating it. The keyboard doesn't have lots of keys but they're plenty for a mono synth, especially since they have aftertouch. I'm not a great fan of the faders for the ADSR but they're decent. Overall a great synth to jam with, and to create bass tracks with, since it's almost impossible to NOT make a great bass sound.

This has to be in any professional musician's home

This thing is invaluable to me now. I have used it in pop, jazz-fusion, and rock gigs to add that synth-bass vibe. The only thing is that it feels cheap (Plasticy feel). BUT For the price, you're getting so much! This thing is amazing!

best synth in it's price range

no comparison it's the best within it's price range

Backgroung HISS/NOISE

UPDATE: They say it must be a faulty unit/defect.. so pretty good - my first purchase. It costs 500e, without testing if it's not faulty? If I buy synth for 3000e, and it won't work? Why does this shop has so many good reviews?

The sound of it is weird as it leaves some artifacts in the high end, and making it sound cheap.

This is happening even internally, only by using headphones. So it's not the cable's issue.

It's NOT the sound of the Noise/Ring/Ext that is built to the synth since I kept the levels for these additional things at zero.

This hiss is bit reduced when I turn the "Distortion" know at the low levels, but it's just still there. Distortion only multiplies it.

What's the point to use this? I have VSTs that sound clean and not like this.. dissapointed

Absolutely love it

Bought the bass station when upgrading my studio and its amazing, got a load of features visible and hidden (but easily found) features too

Beautifully rich sound that it produces.

Great for beginners and more vetted people too with the amount of options and the quality of sound

A very good engineered instrument. Can do effectively what was designed to do.

A great little synth and a great purchase

This is a great little mono-synth that is much more versatile than it's name suggests. It can be used for bass but it is much deeper than that ! This synth has had several firmware upgrades since i purchased it one of which introduced paraphony and another was involved with Aphex Twin !In addition this synth can also be used as a midi controller. All in all a great purchase.

Best choice starter synth

The BSII was my first hardware synth but I have some synthesis experience programming patches on VSTs for a few years now.

Now that I’ve made the switch to hardware, I’ll never look back. Don’t let the name fool you, this synth is not just for basses. I primarily use it for leads and the arp function is great.

As a starter synth, the layout is amazing, very easy to follow the signal flow on the synth. It also has a great function that shows how far you are away from a selected patch’s original setting when you twist a knob, a great learning tool.

The sound and capabilities for the price are outstanding.

Pros:

- powerful synth at a very reasonable price

- easy to use and great for learning synthesis

- a different beast when connected to external effect units (delay, reverb)

- lovely filter choices

- major firmware update released by Novation 5 years after initial release with a ton of new features, including duo mode, which turns this mono synth into a paraphonic weapon.

Cons

- for the price, none!

Novation Bass station 2

Excellent bit of kit.

I have managed to get hoover sounds, deep and dark bass noises and emulate loads for the early rave sounds I produce.

Well made, strong and sturdy

Defo recommends

Bass Station II

Great mono synth with plenty of functionality. The filter is amazing and when combined with the onboard sequencer, you can create some nice bass lines. It can also be used as a midi keyboard to control other gear. It now also has paraphonic mode.

The only con is the keyboard is a little short for but is fine for simple bass line patterns.

Everything in it is so handy, all the knobs are well made and work perfect. The keys are little lower with quality and after work some of them stay like they are pushed half. Also the plastic bottom would have been much better to change with metal or something stronger, because it twists a little when i need to take it off for live show or just move it off the stand. Overall is great value for the price paid.

Great value

Very good synth for the money. Really like using it for bass sounds

Decent Analogue Synth

A nice feeling, sturdy, and distinctive sounding analogue synth. Just wasn't blown away by the sound of it. Reasonable, but heard better.

This is probably the best Mono/bass synth I've used so far.

I have had many mono synths, and I had about 6 of them already when I got the bass station 2, but this one still blew me away beyond expectations.

The sound of the BS2 is great, and features like drive and distortion allow for those dirty gnarly bass roars, while the clean sound can give you very lush, milky bass.

The set up of the synths is not groundbreaking with its 2 oscillators, Filter and ADSR, but it uses its tool very well.

The synht is built out of solid plastic, but this does not feel like low quality or fragile build. The knobs feel good, and the larger cut off is a very nice touch, allowing for better and finer manipulation during live play.

The keyboard is really nice, and allow for velocity play. I even start using it to control other synths via my DAW.

The added features of afx mode and an array of under the hood possilibites makes this a very powerful instrument, and in my opinion the best for its value currently available.

juke808

Impressive synthesizer. Its my 3d bass station 2 :)))))))

Beautifully aggressive

The machine sounds great! The filter makes it scream and the subs are robust.

Very easy-to-handle and fun to play with the arpeggiator, easiest I found so far. The Overdrive and Distorsion functions offer a wider range of "dirt", and the oscillator filter Mod is simply magic.

Truly recommended!

Loved it

I loved the bass station in general. I loved the sounds, the feel of the keys and the limitless possibilities its offering. I always use it in my basslines. Sometimes even replacing my jazz-bass with it :p

Wow ... what a machine

My first proper synth and tbh it's f*cking amazing. Loads to play with, loads of great patches, easy to update, create, store new patches etc. Great construction for the price ? everything feels solid and well made and does an amazing job at sound creation for the money outlayed.

I seriously could not be happier with the Bass Station II ? get one :)

Great synth, great price

Don't let his name fool you: this synth is great for both sweet and aggressive lead sounds too.

Easy to use and great to learn subtractive synthesis, it has a wide range of sounds for a monophonic synth.

My only big complaint is the fact that you can't trigger the sequencer and arpeggiator via external midi keyboard.