Novation Bass Station II Reviews

solid sound, perfect for beginners

i mainly will use BS2 for DNB and techno

pros:

solid all-round performer, easy to get in sync with, easily reachable commands, perfect for beginners (like me LOL), good build quality, the software works

cons:

manual is short vastly incomplete (i am used to yamaha/roland ones that are far better).

sometimes (expecially when both oscillators and ring are active) the white noise cannot be heard

just an amazing synth! powerfull and very rich sound! would be better if it had some more effects but still, amazing machine!

A great analog synth with it's own character

Very happy that i have purchased Novation Bass Station II.

Pros:

1. Has unique characteristic sounds.

2. Great analog and warm sound as you would expect.

3. Easy to learn , the knobs are very well situated and organised.

4.Great value for money.

Cons:

1. The only con that i can find is the built of the synth itself feels a bit cheap and plasticky and it seems that i have lost some of the friction from some knobs and they turn easier that they used to.

Overall great synth , necessary for your analog synth arsenal

Versatile Monosynth!

I've been using this for the past year on a home studio as a staple for any kind of synth bass and lead.

One thing that becomes apparent right from the start is it's ability to always cut through a mix.

You can get a great array of sounds, from harsh cold and super agressive like you're used to seeing in demos on YouTube but also warm, soft, almost lush sounds. Of course you can't do anything other than monophonic, but it's much more than you can see on Demos. If you want a sound you can make it.

The only thing I'd love to have different is the pickup mode of faders and knobs when you switch between patches.

Other than that USB connection to the PC provides a very stable link, and if you have Max for Ableton Live you can control and modulate parameters of the synth that aren't modulatable by default (eg. LFO Rate). Everything on the synth is controllable by MIDI CC though.

Best in it's price range

I have owned the BSII for a couple of years now without any complaints. The build quality feels good and the sound is spectacular. This synth offers many features that other more expensive synths do not such as ring modulation,7 filter types,on board sequencing and arpeggiator which sends MIDI information out, 2 LFOs, aftertouch, pre and post filter distortion and much more.It is an absolute joy to use. The majority of features are knob per function and those which are not are easily accessible through the use of the function key and pressing the corresponding key on the keyboard. I would recommend this synth to anyone who is starting out in electronic music and also those who are more experienced. I am consistently amazed with this synth, the more time I put into it the more it gives back.

Good Synth

Brilliant synth, good for aggressive lead lines. It also adds a nice bulk to metal guitar riffs.

Bass Station II is great synth!

In that price range it is greatest synth ever. Very good bass sounds and can be updated.

Novation Bass Station II

I wanted something analogue for my small studio and I certainly got it with this. Powerful sounding and very intuitive to use with lots of neat features. You can quickly come up with something interesting to use in any musical situation. It really stands out from anything else. It beats me why anyone would pay £1000+ for a 30 year old SH-101 when this is much superior. The only downside I can see is the keyboard could do with an extra octave. Apart from that it's perfect.

A great analog synth for beginners

This synth features high build and sound quality. The knobs all feel durable and are not shaky. The variable sliders have rubber coats under the sliders to prevent dust from gathering inside the apparatus.

The keys themselves are a bit too large and feel like cheap plastic. But since I'm using a midi controller anyway, then it does not really matter for me.

The only problem I have with mine is that the 0-position on some knobs are shifted. In order to zero out an LFO, I have to set it to -5.

100% worth purchasing, especially if this is your first analogue synth.

My usage:

For home recording, also have Korg Electribe Sampler and Volca Sample, Volca Keys, Mixing board.

Summary:

Very good analogue synth. Great sounds, tweaking options and patches. Great synth for learning about how analogue synths work and sound patch creation. Arpeggiator is fun. Latch is useful for sound creation (latch simply makes the key continue to play even when you remove your finger from the key). Midi works well, but I must point out better as a slave device than as a master. It goes out of sync if I set it as master with Volca devices (which only can act as a slave device if not Korg branding), but is flawless as slave for any other midi out device.

Hardware:

Knobs and keys are all of good quality and become familiar like "old friends" after a period of usage. This, to me, symbolizes a quality instrument created for human interaction and experimentation.

Synth can be a little intimidating at first if you have never had an analogue synth, but you will learn analogue from using it and grow to love it. Price is great for what you get!

Recommendation:

Send audio thru sound effects like rooms or halls to really make it fun to tweak and come to life. You can use the provided effects in Ableton Live Lite or a mixing desk with built in effects.

Outstanding synth

Outstanding synth for the price! Great sound, very intuitive operation. When recorded it sits in the mix just right without too much tweaking - that's the best part for me.

Brilliant synth

This synth sounds great, there are endless options to modify the sound, but the presets are very handy and many sound really good. It's fantastic to have access to this analogue sound for reasonable money. I will be using it for special effects and soundtracks for short videos and films. I tried the Arturia Minibrute and the Korg Ms20 mini in a music shop in Dublin but find the Bass Station more useful (even though the others were good fun). It doesn't feel rock solid in build quality but for my uses I'd say it's fine.

The best Analog Synth under 1000?

What can i say , this is actually my 2nd BassStation II i own. I had to sell mine only as my car needed fixing. As soon as i had the money i bought it back.

This synth has all the features you would expect from a mono synth. It is extremely well built. Knobs are very sturdy and the whole synth albeit being made of plastic is very stiff ( the plastic is of good quality).

One of the great things many synths lack that the Bass Station II has is the ability to be powered from USB. Imagine hooking this to a laptop without the need to use any additional Power supplies !

Speaking of sound , it has it all , 2 oscillators + Sub, 4 Filters with 12/24db switch.

2 Lfos that can be synced in any possible way.

It can sound warm and rubbery or hard and harsh if you so desire due to the 2 Overdrive and Distortion effects.

Fm Synthesis is also possible with some tweaking , and the Synth has Velocity and after-touch !

All this for less than 500? ! It's competitors have only 1 oscillator and can't do half of the sounds this baby can. Grab one !

Great little machine!

Great arpeggiator, well conceived, always on time as you change keys (transpose). The keybed itself is very comfortable to use. You need a little knowledge to begin creating sounds with an "analog" type synth like this one, so don't give up. Despite not being able yet to create sounds with it, it is the kind of instrument that I would never trade or sell. Never! Congratulations Novation!

Sturdy and Feature-full

The Bass station II is a very sturdy keyboard with some really solid modern presets.

It is quite simple to use as all controls are intuitive and it is easy to get an awesome sound out of it.

Bass Station II

It is fantastic to see that some companies still produce analog synths in 2014. Novation has a long history with synthesizers, both digital and analog. I have owned the Super Bass Station (rack) for about 10 years now and was very interested with Novation launching a new Bass Station II. I got one very soon after the release, and I am very satisfied with it.

By looking at the features, it is very similar to the original Super Bass Station, with 2 oscs + sub and LFOs and distortion. The only thing missing is actually the analog chorus of the SBS. However, the BSII offers many other up-to-date features, and is much easier and quicker to use. The 1u rack of SBS has very tiny knobs and several double function switches that slow you down. The BS2 has very straight forward user interface, and although there are several extra features that can be activated using the keyboard and a shift-key, most of the time you are tweaking what is immediately available at your finger tips. The keyboard is of good quality. The synth feels solid.

The BS2 is surprisingly well made and sounds huge considering the price-point (and even without considering it). The sound character is very close to the original Bass Station, and reminds me of some older Roland stuff. You can easily program soft and warm analog tones of the 80's. The filters are of really high quality, and although there is a special acid filter, I somewhat prefer the Novation's own 12 and 24 dB low pass filters. The pre-filter drive works wonderfully with the oscillators, try it with the sub osc and hear how it changes the tone in a really nice way. There are not many analog synths available at this price point, and this is about the only one that comes with proper patch memory. Although the name is "Bass Station", it can do all kinds of sounds. I typically use it for dirty and noisy lead sounds instead of bass.

Bass Station II is a very fast-to-use synth. Sonically it is quite versatile, although you can't get too far away with it, as modulation cabilities are quite limited. But where it shines, is quickly creating a bassline or a sketch of a sound (perhaps for further processing). Also tweaking a sound is a very satisfying process, as there is no menu's - everything's there right in front of you.

The built-in arpeggiator with its rhythm variations is very useful, and there is even a very simple step sequencer (no chords). This said you can also you use the Bass Station as a midi controller. (You should know, that BSII does not send midi clock, nor does it pass it through through its midi out - there is no midi thru.)

The basic character of the sound is a bit coldish, imo. (Not that everything should be warm.)

Bang for the buck but not bug-free

It definitely sounds much better than any VA or software synth. It's really easy to use and there are plenty of usefull features. It's very much suited for both live and studio use. What buged me the most though was that it's oscillators are out of phase. It's normal with a vco synth but it's unacceptable on a dco synth and there is no apparent way of fixing it. Novation support is unresponsive as well. There is no keytracking amound knob and the arpegiator drifts. Novation hasn't released a firmware upgrade yet in order to fix those issues. It's a petty 'cause its built quality is very good.

great sound!

+ I love the sounds it makes! I can recreate many of my old Sh101 sounds.

the step sequencer is wonderful to work with. keyboard is fast and it has a good aftertouch feel.

- It feels a bit cheap and wobbly to tweak knobs and faders.

UPDATED: sequencer handles midi start & stop commands.

As of firmware 2.5, the filter key tracking now has 8 modes . Oscillator slop is available, envelopes are loopable, and the oscillators can be played in paraphonic mode. A major upgrade indeed!

Great piece of kit for producing bass!!!!!

I mostly produce techno and have found this synth to be my go to synth for bass! The keyboard is well built but light enough to carry around should you need to, the console is well laid out and the switches and knobs feel positive, no slack and cheaply made. Would recommend this to anyone producing electronic dance music