Novation Bass Station II Analogue Synth

The Novation BassStation II is an analogue monophonic synthesiser based on the original BassStation, However, re-imagined for the modern environment. For an analogue synth in this price range, you'd struggle to find another synth that can match the BassStation on capability. The BassStation features the addition of two oscillators and a third dedicated sub-oscillator for adding even more punchy low end, resulting in thick basslines that are guaranteed to liven up any track.

Even though named, the BassStation II, this synthesiser has many capabilities and is versatile enough to produce beautiful arpeggios and razor-sharp leads. Add in the other brilliantly designed functions to change your musical parameters expertly; you know that including this in your studio setup will add not just one but many strings to your bow as a music producer or sound designer. 

The BassStation II is comprised of three purely analogue oscillators and a noise generator. Oscillators One and Two are completely independent and feature many changeable signal types including Sine, Square, Sawtooth and Pulse width. The third sub-oscillator is where the magic happens by playing one or two octaves below the first oscillator, giving your basslines a thicker and more powerful sound. Also, choose from either square, sine or narrow pulse width waves for your third oscillator.

The two filters included, 'Acid' and 'Classic', can beautifully change the timbres, generated by your oscillators. The 'Classic' filter comprises low pass, high pass, and bandpass settings at 12 or 24 dB axis, whereas the 'Acid' filter is modelled on a diode ladder filter design that can incredibly realistic, 303 sounding effects. Perfect for when you want to in-depth on your sound design.

The two additional effects help to push your sounds to real extremities if you so wish. The BassStation 2 comes with a distortion function that can provide soft distortion for subtle changes or filthy when you really want to overdrive a sound to the limit. 'Osc Filter Mod' is the second effect that uses an FM type effect on oscillator two to modulation the filter frequency of oscillator one. Handy for beefing up lead and bass sounds.

There is AFX Mode which has involvement from Aphex Twin / Richard James'. AFX mode allows you to assign multiple variations of patch parameters to individual keys. This allows the user to have a different patch on each key, expanding the Bass Station II's capabilities even further.

The BassStation II comes with two envelope generators, the ADSR amp envelope, and a mod envelope to modulate filter frequency, oscillator pitch, and osc pulse width. Also, the BassStation comes with two low-frequency oscillators. Collectively these can modulate pitch, osc pulse width and filter frequency.

Finally, the BassStation comes with a dedicated Arpeggiator and Step Sequencer. These functions are where this synthesiser shines as not just a production tool but as a live performance tool as well. Switch octave ranges and run through 32 different multi-directional rhythmic patterns extremely quickly.

Novation's BassStation II is such a robust, powerful and diverse synthesiser that you would be mad, not to add this to your studio setup.