Novation Bass Station 2 - Novation E

on test
Novation Bass Station 2
Analogue Synthesizer
In the 20 years since its launch, the Bass
Station has become something of a classic —
and with analogue monosynths enjoying their
biggest revival since the early ’80s, what better
time for a sequel?
Paul Nagle
S
o many of life’s most poignant
moments have a tendency to
roll back around if you wait long
enough, whether it’s the fuzzy squelch of
a resonant analogue filter or the unexpected
56
warmth of incontinence. Casting my mind
back a couple of decades, I remember
Novation’s Bass Station well, and not only
because of my enduring fascination with
fuzzy squelches. The Bass Station and
subsequent rack versions had a distinctive
timbre and packed their analogue goodness
into MIDI-fied, affordable packages. They
September 2013 / w w w . s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
were rightly seized upon by respected artists
and by those of us with shallower pockets.
With monophonic analogue synths
enjoying something of a renaissance, the
time is ripe for the Bass Station’s triumphant
return. The Mk 2 version has a new
keyboard, a sequencer, an arpeggiator
and a host of other refinements to breathe
life into an old idea. Acknowledging that
we’ve entered the 21st century, a selection
of software (including Ableton Live Lite) is
thrown in too, and the box has a friendly
carrying handle.
Bass Two
Small, light and portable, there’s no
mistaking the Bass Station 2’s heritage, but
this isn’t simply a reissue; it’s a confident
step — actually several steps — forwards.
Externally, the black plastic facia and
rounded edges are still present and fragile,
but the former’s rather cheap ‘toy-town’
row of stubby knobs is gone, replaced
by a deeper panel of well laid-out knobs,
switches and sliders. With the possible
exception of its sky-blue undercarriage, the
new boy is instantly classier than its ancestor,
and the controls handle better, especially
the large knob in the right-hand corner.
Let’s face it, if you’re going to have a large
knob on an analogue synth, it should bally
well majestically sweep the filter’s cutoff
frequency, which is exactly what it does.
Battery power isn’t an option this time;
power is either via USB or the supplied
adaptor. Connect a regular quarter-inch
guitar lead to the output and the Bass
Station 2 is eager for you to audition
patch 1. Annoyingly, it powers up pointing
to patch 1 every time, even if you were
previously playing the 128th (and last).
Incidentally, the first 64 memories are
populated at the factory and the remaining
locations are empty. You’re not stuck with
them if they don’t appeal, as all can be freely
overwritten, which wasn’t the case with my
old Bass Station rack.
A quick perusal of the factory sounds is
an ideal introduction to the synth, its wheels
and its transpose keys. The two wheels are
backlit in blue and, as before, the keyboard
is a mere two octaves. It’s a length that’s
become inexplicably popular — at least
amongst synth manufacturers — but it’s
the choice we’re faced with. It’s not all bad,
though. The keys are full-sized and transmit
velocity, and it only takes a small amount of
pressure to generate a useable aftertouch.
There’s no screen or conventional menu
system; the three-character display is
Novation
Bass Station 2 £399
pros
• A fab-sounding, affordable analogue synth
with patch memories.
• The sequencer is instant fun — and
transmits its output via MIDI.
• Keyboard generates velocity and
aftertouch.
• MIDI data is sent from every control.
cons
• Keyboard length is restrictive.
• No ‘pot pickup’.
• Multi-functionality; not WYSIWYG.
summary
The Bass Station 2 is a synth with
personality that produces ripping, gnashy
solos as readily as solid analogue bass. If you
can adapt to the short keyboard, it’s a delight
to play and to sequence.
perfectly adequate for patch selection and
for showing the numeric values arising from
panel tweaks. I frequently turned to the
display when adjusting the various bi-polar
controls, because spotting a ‘0’ there was
usually easier than finding the mid-point
of a fairly small knob. An ‘original value’
display (consisting of two arrow-shaped
LEDs) helpfully indicates whether the
twiddled control is currently higher or lower
than the value stored.
A dedicated Save button positively begs
you to program original sounds. When you
get into this, you’ll appreciate the simple,
effective system of auditioning destination
memory slots prior to completing the
save. As I mentioned already, there’s no
conventional menu system, but there is
a way to access deeper functions you’ll
rarely need instant access to. These are
the ‘On-Key Functions’ and include MIDI
channel assignment, the export of patches
(in System Exclusive format), tuning the
synth, and the routing of the wheels. Some
‘On-Keys’ will inevitably become regular
stopping points. For example, the Function
button combined with the keyboard’s
second ‘D’ synchronises oscillator 2 to
oscillator 1, while other combinations alter
the behaviour of the LFOs. Options there
include ‘keysync’ (whether the LFO restarts
each time you play a key) and setting the
LFO’s clock sync to bar divisions over an
impressive range of values (starting at one
cycle in 16 bars up to 32nd-note triplets).
Generally, the panel has everything
you’ll need to program some quite intricate
patches, either by modifying existing
factories or by starting from an empty
location and setting to it with gusto. Which
is what I did next.
Digging In
The sharing of controls is a well-established
Novation tradition, here continued as
painlessly as I’ve known it. The synth has two
oscillators, two LFOs, two envelopes and
two filters. With more huddled twosomes
than Clapham Common and only a finite
amount of panel space, sharing is as logical
as it is inevitable. For LFOs and oscillators,
this works well enough, thanks to intelligent
use of switches. The user interface also
has a second type of switch — of the
programmable type. For these, there are
LEDs that indicate stored values adjacent
to each switch.
The Bass Station 2 boasts an analogue
signal path, leaving the modulation sources
(LFOs and Envelopes) in the hands of
very capable software. Like the original,
its oscillators are DCOs rather than VCOs
and anyone who takes this information as
justification to flounce away like a wounded
teenager could be missing out. For a start,
the coarse and fine tuning controls have
a higher resolution than many synths
with patch memories. Perhaps due to the
limitations of seven-bit MIDI CCs, subtle
tuning and detuning is often neglected.
Here, although you’ll never hit Minimoog
swirliness, the oscillators rub up against each
other with more warmth than DCOs typically
manage. Each oscillator’s nominal range is
16’ to 2’, with sine and triangle joining the
regular saw and pulse waves. Pulse width
and pitch may be swept by an envelope or
an LFO, and since there are two LFOs, you
can indulge in the luxury of slow, spooky
vibrato and fast PWM.
An incurable sync addict, I didn’t wait
long before assigning oscillator 2’s pitch to
the mod wheel. Then, having activated sync,
I wallowed in wheel-waggling delusions
of Prodigy. Admittedly, the Bass Station
2 (along with almost every synth on the
planet) doesn’t threaten the Moog Prodigy’s
richness of sync, but it’s not half bad. With
a few thoughtful filter tweaks, the raw tones
can be pushed in many directions, from
dark, grungy basses to razor-sharp, piercing
leads. Sync is good.
With a name like Bass Station 2,
it’s completely reasonable to expect
a serious presence in the lower regions,
and my subwoofer would not disagree.
Extra assistance comes in the form of
a sub-oscillator tied to the frequency of
oscillator 1. Pitched at either one or two
octaves down and with a choice of sine,
square or pulse waveforms, this sub is even
more versatile than that of a Roland SH101.
I’ll quickly mention the small mixer that
follows. It’s got knobs for both oscillators
and the sub, plus a fourth (with selector
switch) that sets the levels of white noise,
ring modulation and any external source.
Having dedicated controls is always a bonus.
Often, two oscillator levels are combined
into a single balance control, which is never
as satisfying.
Novation’s Bass Station filter was
designed by Chris Huggett of Wasp and
Oscar fame. Here, it’s known as ‘Classic’,
a state-variable creation switchable
between 12dB and 24dB slopes. Fresh
for the BS2, a further switch offers low-,
band- and high-pass modes, greatly
extending the filter’s usefulness. In all
modes, you’re quickly aware of the edgy
but sparkly maximum resonance, and also
that it takes just a smidgen of overdrive to
w w w . s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m / September 2013
57
on test
N o v a t i o n b a ss S t a t i o n 2
The Bass Station 2’s rear panel features a headphone socket, a mono line output and inputs for an
external input and a sustain pedal (all on quarter-inch jack sockets). Moving further to the right, we find
MIDI I/O sockets, a USB port, a power switch and an input for the external power supply.
squash any fear of lack of balls. Winding
the overdrive higher turns the Classic filter
into a pleasantly mashed-up monster.
It follows that varying combinations of
cutoff frequency, resonance and overdrive
yield everything from humongous bass to
sound effects and shrieks that will vibrate
your granny’s teeth out, assuming you’re
heartless enough to expose her to them.
Warm, fluffy and Moogy it isn’t.
If this were the full story of the filter I’d
be content, but it isn’t. There’s a second
filter on board; a diode ladder design
called Acid. This 24dB fat boy operates
in low-pass mode only and is noticeably
darker than the Classic. Its resonance is
wetter and smoother, too. I became an
instant convert. As both filters react very
differently to high levels of overdrive
and resonance, you occasionally get the
not-unpleasant feeling that two synths are
occupying the same space.
Bi-polar modulation is rife in the Bass
Station 2 and for the filter, its sources are
the mod envelope and LFO2. Ordinarily,
with small controls, my preference is for
positive modulation only, but here the
ranges are so effectively spread over each
half of the knob’s travel that I forgot my
usual prejudice.
For the final splash of sonic mangling,
there’s an ‘Effects’ section. It’s just possible
that Novation’s terminology guys got carried
away one Friday afternoon because the
knobs concerned are: distortion (a post-filter
overdrive) and ‘osc filter mod’ (audio level
modulation, the source oscillator being 2).
However, you won’t bemoan the creative
labelling once you realise how valuable the
two are. Distortion is thrashingly excellent
and is the ideal stimulant for the 303-curious
everywhere. I won’t risk the wrath of the
Bassline Gods by claiming you can exactly
match that fabled silver box, but when
you’ve engaged the Acid filter and spread
resonance akimbo, distortion is clearly the
last piece of the jigsaw. There’s further
dirt, too, thanks to that second effect.
Audio-level filter modulation adds its own
distinctly toothy bite, and when you begin
exercising the mod source’s pitch, the
currently-selected filter gets an electrifying
workout. Filter FM also works wonders when
processing external signals.
Having examined photos of the panel
(we all do this, right?), some of you will
have noticed that the filter lacks variable
keyboard tracking. I queried this with
Novation and discovered that, regrettably,
this was one of the controls that fell by
the wayside. I’m told the Classic filter
includes built-in 100 percent tracking and
the Acid filter has a pre-programmed 50
percent, therefore the former would be the
MIDI Matters
In addition to its five-pin In and Out ports, the
Bass Station 2 is a USB class-compliant MIDI
device, speaking the dusty digital interface with
no need of special drivers. It’s therefore equally
at home with MIDI hardware or your PC or
Mac, although my iPad 2 didn’t want to know.
Turning the large cutoff frequency knob
is a smoothly satisfying experience, and the
display gives a hint as to why this might be.
Instead of the 128 possible values of a 7-bit
MIDI controller, filter cutoff insists on twice
that amount for itself. An extra bit is gained
(rather neatly) by reserving two CC numbers
instead of one, and this doubled resolution
58
pops up in several other parameters, making
a worthwhile contribution in each case.
Novation’s MIDI specs have always
been quite enlightened but not everything
is freely configurable. I wished, for example,
to suppress transmission of patch changes,
but there’s no way to do this directly. A more
significant omission is the lack of a ‘pot pickup’
implementation. This is desirable, as it avoids
sudden jumps in value when patches recalled
from memory are tweaked in performance.
Whether this feature is subsequently added
depends on how many requests Novation
receive for it. I’ll start us off.
September 2013 / w w w . s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
best choice for matching higher notes to
increased brightness. Although there’s no
room for a knob, I’m holding out hope that
Novation could include filter tracking as
a purely MIDI control in a future update.
Everything else is straightforward. When
running freely, both LFOs lurch effortlessly
from really slow up to audio frequencies.
LFO2’s speed can be modulated dynamically
by aftertouch, while if you need the LFOs to
sync to a clock signal, they’re happy whether
this comes in from MIDI or the internal clock.
Additionally, having two physical knobs
means that the speed of both LFOs can be
adjusted independently. There are separate
waveform selection buttons too, further
reducing the need to keep flipping switches.
If you’re an inveterate envelope tweaker,
the concept of sharing will never feel
totally comfortable. Here, you can at least
set the basic shape of both envelopes
simultaneously, before flipping a switch and
controlling the mod envelope alone to make
fine adjustments. Perhaps this just felt easier,
to me, than former Bass Stations because
the sliders are a big improvement over the
original knobs.
Autoglide is once again present,
meaning that legato playing can be used
to introduce portamento. Forgetting those
waking dreams of endless prog-rock solos,
portamento is an essential component in
TB303-like bass lines, whether played from
the keyboard or the sequencer.
Sequencer
OK, I admit it, there’s an arpeggiator too,
but let’s leave that for a moment, because
it’s such a pleasure to encounter a step
sequencer on a modern synth. Perhaps
it’s my ongoing SH101 fixation, but I can’t
help noticing that, apart from the maximum
length of a sequence (32 steps, compared
to the SH101’s 256), the two are functionally
very similar. The Bass Station 2, though, has
not one but four separate sequences to
draw from. It even remembers them after
a power cycle.
When recording a sequence, it’s worth
keeping an eye on the display, because this
is the only visual cue to which sequence
on test
N o v a t i o n b a ss S t a t i o n 2
The Bass Station 2, like many other monosynths
at the moment, only has a two-octave keyboard,
but then so did the original.
you’re about to overwrite. This is one of
just a few anomalies; it arises because the
selected sequence is stored in each patch
and its number might conflict with the
sequence-selector switch’s actual position.
Notes are entered in step time, along
with rests and ties. As an extra bonus, the
sequencer faithfully captures note velocity
and transmits the patterns out into the world
over MIDI/USB. It’s therefore very practical
to send the results into your DAW.
Sequences are transposed by playing the
keyboard, and if you want to break them up,
gaps can be introduced non-destructively.
When you turn the Rhythm knob all the
way to the right, your sequences and
arpeggios play as expected, but when you
turn it to the left, an increasing number of
rhythmic gaps are introduced, culminating in
a spaced-out series of crotchets.
While you’re entering a pattern, the
display keeps count of how many notes
you’ve played, although there’s no way
to go back if you hit one too many. If you
end up with an odd length, the On-Key
function ‘Seq Retrig’ might still save the day;
it forces the sequence to be retriggered
every two bars, regardless of its natural
length. A further On-Key function sets the
amount of swing.
60
For rapidly improvised sequencing,
complete with slides and accents, the
Bass Station 2 is heaps of fun. Without
interrupting playback, you can jump
between the four sequences or slip into
arpeggio mode, then back. With its range
of up to four octaves, the arpeggiator is
no slouch, either, thanks to an effective
mixture of modes such as the much
sought-after ‘Random’ and the far more
useful ‘As Played’. Lastly, and providing
further evidence that Novation know about
sequencers and arpeggiators, there’s a Latch
button. Latch is also useful for hands-free
bass drones or for giving your fingers a rest
while processing external signals.
Clock sync is so subtly implemented
that it’s practically invisible. The BS2
automatically locks to MIDI clock received
via USB or the regular MIDI input. If the
clock source is interrupted, the tempo
remains unchanged until you tweak the
tempo knob — say, for some impromptu
mad acceleration. Later, when reconnected,
the sync is automatically restored. This works
so similarly to pulling the clock input lead on
an SH101 that I’m starting to think someone
on the BS2 team is also a fan.
Conclusion
Twenty years ago, Novation’s original Bass
Station was a zappy little synth influenced
by the TB303. Today’s model retains all
September 2013 / w w w . s o u n d o n s o u n d . c o m
its ancestor’s charms but is better laid out
and has a nifty sequencer, a sub-oscillator
and a whole other identity courtesy of
that Acid filter. The Bass Station was never
exclusively a bass machine, but the new
model is a serious proposition whatever your
analogue monosynth requirements.
The keyboard is frustrating and
endearing in almost equal measure.
Frustrating because it’s simply too short
for a variety of tasks and endearing
because of its sensitivity. The aftertouch
response is pleasant enough and velocity
is capably handled by the synth engine,
delivering accents to liven up any bass line.
In the absence of major shortcomings, I’m
confined to a few quibbles. The missing
functions ‘pot pickup’ and variable filter
tracking top the list, unless you count the
inability to ‘see’ your patch at a glance,
which is a natural by-product of having
patch memories. Fortunately, the user
interface is about as effective as it could
be, squeezed into this much space, and the
price is tempting too. Personally, as I have
a weakness for step sequencers, it took just
a few hours with this one to swing it for me.
I reckon Novation have a winner! ££ £399 including VAT.
TT Novation +44 (0)1494 462246.
EE [email protected]
WW www.novationmusic.com
Mix with the best!
“Besides the excellent interviews and fascinating,
in‑depth recording and mixing articles, I can
always depend on Sound On Sound for
complete, unbiased reviews of the latest
pro‑audio gear. “
Bob Clearmountain, engineer, producer and
mixer, Grammy Award winner (Bruce Springsteen,
The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, INXS)
“As a professional I admire Sound On Sound
as one of the most trusted and credible
sources of inspiration and information.”
Jack Joseph Puig, mixer, producer, Grammy
Award winner (Rolling Stones, U2, Mary J
Blige, Black Eyed Peas)
The World’s Best Recording Technology Magazine
This article was originally published
in Sound On Sound magazine,
September 2013 edition
follow us
on Twitter
find us on
Facebook
go to the SOS
YouTube channel
visit the
SOS forum
Subscribe and Save Money!
Visit our subscriptions page at www.soundonsound.com/subscribe
for more information on the Sound On Sound App go to: www.soundonsound.com/app
Sound On Sound, Media House, Trafalgar Way, Bar Hill, Cambridge, CB23 8SQ, United Kingdom
Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 (0) 1954 789888 Fax: +44 (0) 1954 789895
All contents copyright © SOS Publications Group and/or its licensors, 1985-2013. All rights reserved.
The contents of this article are subject to worldwide copyright protection and reproduction in whole or part, whether mechanical or electronic, is expressly forbidden
without the prior written consent of the Publishers. Great care has been taken to ensure accuracy in the preparation of this article but neither Sound On Sound Limited
nor the publishers can be held responsible for its contents. The views expressed are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of the publishers.