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Novation Bass Station II

BassIsFun17

BassIsFun17

Jan 16, 2006
1,773
709
36
Atlanta
www.landtband.com
#1
I'm not sure if this is the appropriate forum to open this topic of discussion. However I am considering purchasing at Novation Bass Station II. My goal with this is to replace my EHX bass micro synth from my pedalboard and do all of my synth parts on the Novation instead. Will this synth accomplish this task for me? I typically only ever use synth for long filter sweeps (low to high frequencies). I feel with the Novation I'll have a much greater variety of synths to inspire my writing as well. I'm just looking for some feedback before i make the switch my self. How many of you TalkBass players are using synth bass units live?

Novation Bass Station II Analog Synthesizer
 
#2
The Novation is a lot of synth for the money (especially second hand) and should be able to keep you busy for a long, long time. Another option I see for around the same price or cheaper second hand is the Korg Monologue which has a pretty similar feature set.

Keep in mind both these options are monophonic but that should be fine for bass synth duties.
 
#4
I have one as well. Its an awesome tool for that synth stuff and deep deep bass. As long as you have a basic understabding of the piano keys and notes yoy should be fine getting started and moving forward.

I may be unloading mine soon as well, havent had mush desire to bring it with me to gigs, and its just been sitting here.
 
#5
adamaarts said:
I have one as well. Its an awesome tool for that synth stuff and deep deep bass. As long as you have a basic understabding of the piano keys and notes yoy should be fine getting started and moving forward.

I may be unloading mine soon as well, havent had mush desire to bring it with me to gigs, and its just been sitting here.
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that is sort of my concern with getting a synth unit. I'm afraid i'll grow tired of setting it up and breaking it down, especially with how efficient and stream lined my rig already is. Having one more piece of gear to set up, when i'd only probably use it for 2-4 songs very briefly. Doesn't really seem worth it to me, but in the studio i think i'd probably love it the most.
 
#7
BassIsFun17 said:
that is sort of my concern with getting a synth unit. I'm afraid i'll grow tired of setting it up and breaking it down, especially with how efficient and stream lined my rig already is. Having one more piece of gear to set up, when i'd only probably use it for 2-4 songs very briefly. Doesn't really seem worth it to me, but in the studio i think i'd probably love it the most.
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I've only brought my BS2 once so far, but I used a Boss LS-2 and ran the synth through the rest of my rig, so just one cable to my board, a power cable, x-sytle keyboard stand, and the BS2.
 

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#8
Novation makes some cool stuff, I have the Ultranova which I scored very cheap used in semi rough condition. But everything works on it and it sounds great, geared more towards EDM stuff but it's very versatile and has some really interesting features like programmable touch sensitive knobs that can be used for modulation or to tweak different parameters. Only downside is editing on it is not the best, but it's not too bad and the PC editor is awesome.

Personally I've never gotten the appeal of bass synths, mainly as you can use all sorts of more versatile synths for bass lines. Though stuff like the Moog Minotaur could be really cool, or just any synth and midi foot controller.

Anyways synths can be very cool, but if you don't plan on using them live much you can easily get by with free VST synth programs many of which are amazing for being freeware. Hardware is certainly more convenient but you can do a crazy amount of stuff with the thousands of free VST's out, lots of accurate emulations of rare vintage gear as well as cool sample based programs for authentic drum lines or various other instruments. Tons of fun to mess with.

Here's a great source for VST's: Invalid Link Removed

There are some really strange VST synths out, found a series of sound FX synths recently made to emulate different ambient sounds like insect/animal noises, thunder, rain, and car/mechanical sounds. Also some VST effects are amazing.
 
#9
eddie16 said:
I've only brought my BS2 once so far, but I used a Boss LS-2 and ran the synth through the rest of my rig, so just one cable to my board, a power cable, x-sytle keyboard stand, and the BS2.
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I did that the first time I used it live. FOH hates having both on the same line, they said the synth had to be high passed a lot and it affected the bass tone. I’ve tried matching them as much as possible, but in the end it was actually easier to set it up separate and have more control over it.
 
#10
adamaarts said:
I did that the first time I used it live. FOH hates having both on the same line, they said the synth had to be high passed a lot and it affected the bass tone. I’ve tried matching them as much as possible, but in the end it was actually easier to set it up separate and have more control over it.
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Yeah I figured they'd tell me no, but we were out of IEM channels so we went for it like this. Maybe it wasn't the ideal setup, but I didn't mind it being simple.
 

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