Before the famous Novation Bass Station Rack module came the small and portable Bass Station keyboard! This synthesizer uses digitally synchronized analog oscillators (DCO's) to reproduce the sounds of a monophonic dual-osc analog synthesizer with simple and intuitive controls via 17 knobs, 10 switches and 2 Moog-style pitch/mod wheels. Think EDP Wasp and ARP Odyssey.

The Bass Station can faithfully reproduce analog bass sounds similar to a TB-303, Micromoog or Pro One synthesizer. The small keyboard and monophonic architecture set this keyboard up for strict bassline, lead synth lines, and synth fx. It also transmits MIDI continuous controller data from its pitch/mod wheels, frequency cutoff, resonance, filter modulation depth, env1 attack, decay and env2 attack and decay.

Unlike the Rack version, however, the keyboard lacks basic patch storage features. There are only 7 memory patches and 1 manual patch (what the knobs are doing right now). The memory can be stored externally using MIDI SysEx dumps. But for the low price (under $500) this makes a great and compact analog bass synth for any user with simple but tasteful bass needs. It is used by Apollo 440, RZA, and Lo Fidelity AllStars.

Liquidyzer

August 18, 2011 @ 6:16 am

Cute & very usefull. I dare anyone to find a (near) analog keyboard as small cute and handy as this and yet have that certain dark magic inside. Filter screams when you push it :) Throw this in a rucksack as a portable MIDI controller keyboard aswell as producing decent basses on the road.

Martin

June 10, 2011 @ 7:29 am

Lovely little synth, designed with input from Chris Huggett who also designed the classic EDP Wasp. According to Huggett the Bass Station has the Wasp filter

Suicide Sushi

April 1, 2011 @ 2:31 pm

It sounds fantastic!!!
I just got a Bass Station Keyboard, and to me it sounds like the resonance is always on, or never at zero. Compared to my Mono/Poly the filter sounds very aggressive, which is cool for some stuff, but I would also like to make som softer arpeggios etc. Is that possible with the bass station. Is it just my Bass Station that has a faulty chip? The resonance pot works fine and it self osc's when turned all the way up. But it never seems to turn off completely.

lightman

February 8, 2011 @ 2:12 pm

The BassStation is a capable monophonic machine that sounds great and is easy to use, can't count the many tracks I've made with it as a bass, lead or effects synth. It also acts as a mini master keyboard in my setup. Don't underestimate it based on its slightly flimsy look & feel, it's more durable than you think, I've dragged it to dozens of gigs but it never failed on me. About VA or analog, the BassStation is a real analog synth, no VA or anything.

dirtykeys

November 18, 2010 @ 4:38 pm

god lives underwater
also used this
...

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