Novation Bass Station 2. A good first synth?

[fretmeister]

As it says really.

I’m loving the demos of it and quite fancy a go.

 

Is it easy to use or would I get frustrated?

[BigRedX]

19 hours ago, fretmeister said:

As it says really.

I’m loving the demos of it and quite fancy a go.

 

Is it easy to use or would I get frustrated?

 

What do you want to do with it?

 

A few things to be aware of. It's a mono synth - only one note at a time so no chords. The two octave keyboard could be a limiting factor for playability. Some of the more interesting sound shaping functions do not have a dedicated front panel control which includes the fact that both the oscillators and both envelope generators share a single set of controls with switches to chose which one you are adjusting; so you can't just look at the controls and know what everything is doing in a quick glance.

 

If you can live with all of those then it's a pretty good introduction to hardware synthesis. 

Edited May 8, 2022 by BigRedX

[fretmeister]

Mainly thinking of using it for writing funk synth bass lines. Probably not a lot of sound changing during a track.

[BigRedX]

3 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

Mainly thinking of using it for writing funk synth bass lines. Probably not a lot of sound changing during a track.

 

In which case so long as you are OK with only being able to play a single note at a time, you should be OK.

 

However don't under-estimate the desirability of having a dedicated front-panel control for every parameter. I used to own a Waldorf Microwave XT which has an impressive number of knobs and switched on the front panel (the XT rack version is an additional 3U bigger than the standard version to accommodate all of these). However, as soon as you needed to access any of the more interesting modulation functions including the additional envelope generators and LFOs, you were back to parameter access and a relatively small display. I know that the switch selection for the Oscillators and EGs would very quickly get on my nerves as I'd be forever adjusting the wrong one. I'd be looking for a computer-based editor that shows all the controls on a single screen for any serious programming.

[fretmeister]

Can you recommend something else that is still hardware at the same sort of money (£375 ish)?

 

I don't mind editing on computer, but I don't want anything that would force me to take a computer to a gig if I ever ended up needing it for a gig.

[BigRedX]

I don't think you'd need the computer for gigging. It's just for creating the sounds in the first place. If you did find yourself needing to tweak the oscillators and envelope generators as part of the performance you'd need to make sure that the switches were set to the right ones for each patch (which would need to be done manually) before you started playing. It's one of these things you'd won't know is a problem or not until you've spent some time with the synth. Personally I'd be more worried about the limitations of the two octave keyboard.

 

At you price point there is very little in the way of alternative especially if you want a full compliment of sound editing controls on the front panel. Off the top of my head only the Korg Monologue comes close...

[sammybee]

Behringer MS-101 - (a very accurate/good) copy of a Roland SH101. Front panel controls for everything and less than £375. 

[BigRedX]

On 12/05/2022 at 19:30, sammybee said:

Behringer MS-101 - (a very accurate/good) copy of a Roland SH101. Front panel controls for everything and less than £375. 

 

That's a lot of money for a mono synth with only a single VCO and envelope generator and no programmable patch memories.

 

Back in the day when the Roland SH101 was new, there were three reasons why you bought one:

1. You wanted a decent 2 VCO, 2 EG synth but the SH101 was all you could afford.

2. You wanted a keytar and this (with the modulation grip) was all you could afford.

3. You wanted an arpeggiator and/or sequencer, and this was all you could afford.

 

No-one I knew back then bought one as a first choice. It was bought because it was about the cheapest new synth available.

 

I had one back in the early 80s. It was fine for the less important synth sounds (like background sequencer parts, sound effects and percussion) but not for any of our bass or lead sounds without external help. These days there are far better sounding synths with programmable patch memories for that kind of money.

 

[Snook]

Bass Station 2's are fantastic first bass synths! In fact mine works absolutely fine live too!

[itu]

I had the V2 few years ago. The only reason I sold it was that I wanted a rack version, and bought the earlier one without keyboard. Fun, to say the least.

[Rich]

If only you'd been looking for one a couple of months back when I was trying to sell my Novation K-Station...  

[Sibob]

18 hours ago, itu said:

I had the V2 few years ago. The only reason I sold it was that I wanted a rack version, and bought the earlier one without keyboard. Fun, to say the least.

 

Just gonna park this here  

https://novationmusic.com/en/synths/peak

 

Si

[BigRedX]

7 minutes ago, Sibob said:

 

Just gonna park this here  

https://novationmusic.com/en/synths/peak

 

Si

 

The Peak is indeed a lovely synth, but it doesn't have a keyboard and costs as about 4 times as much as the Bass Station...

 

I'd love to see a synth as fully featured as this in both sound shaping and user interface areas with a built-in 2 1/2 to 3 octave keyboard, but I suspect I'm very much in a minority.

[Sibob]

13 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

The Peak is indeed a lovely synth, but it doesn't have a keyboard and costs as about 4 times as much as the Bass Station...

 

I'd love to see a synth as fully featured as this in both sound shaping and user interface areas with a built-in 2 1/2 to 3 octave keyboard, but I suspect I'm very much in a minority.

 

Sure, but Itu mentioned not wanting a keyboard.

We have Summit too, but that's 61 keys. That said, when you get to the sound-design levels of Summit (which is effectively 2 Peak engines and then some), more keys help realise it's potential. 

 

Si

[itu]

The reason I wanted it without keys, is that after 13 years of piano lessons I hate keyboard, and love Misa Tri-bass.

[BassTractor]

Going back to the OP: yes, the Bass Station 2 is a good first synth if two octaves is enough.
BRX's posts all nail it, IMHO.

There's a difference between a first synth used for learning synthesis and a first synth used to reproduce sounds from 60 years of hits, to name just a few uses.
For the use @fretmeister indicates, I'd say: go for it. It's simply a good synth, and the patch memory comes in handy as well.

[FinnDave]

I used a Bass Station for a few gigs after motorcycle accident left my right hand hand rather damaged - I had never played keyboards before but worked out a few bass patterns and was able to play a few songs on it in order to give my injured hand

a rest. Sounded fine!

[sammybee]

On 16/05/2022 at 09:44, BigRedX said:

 

That's a lot of money for a mono synth with only a single VCO and envelope generator and no programmable patch memories.

 

Back in the day when the Roland SH101 was new, there were three reasons why you bought one:

1. You wanted a decent 2 VCO, 2 EG synth but the SH101 was all you could afford.

2. You wanted a keytar and this (with the modulation grip) was all you could afford.

3. You wanted an arpeggiator and/or sequencer, and this was all you could afford.

 

No-one I knew back then bought one as a first choice. It was bought because it was about the cheapest new synth available.

 

I had one back in the early 80s. It was fine for the less important synth sounds (like background sequencer parts, sound effects and percussion) but not for any of our bass or lead sounds without external help. These days there are far better sounding synths with programmable patch memories for that kind of money.

 

 

Well the used synth market would have a more positive view of the SH101 Even tatty examples are approaching £1000. Even the Behringher MS101 which retailed for about £240 new, changing hands used for around the £350-400 mark.

 

Score one at a decent price, you'll learn something about synthesis (the OP i mean), and if it's not for you... punt it on for a profit... 

 

 

 

 

[funkgod]

you can gets some really fat funky bass sounds out of the Novation KS rack (or the keyboard version)

i dont know why any one has not picked up on these yet, seems people go for the supernova,  which i dont understand

as the ks is less than half the price as the supernova and i think much better, i had them both and dumped the supernova on ebay as it just did not sound as good,

but yea, you can tweak bass sounds till the cows come home on that thing.

also has a load of other usable cool sounds in it

Edited May 22, 2022 by funkgod