Nord User Forum

...in truth I use my controller with an old roland electric piano only at home...

I finally opted for the Novation Bass Station II, the most economical and lightweight solution (I think).
Right now I need only a small keyboard to play bass lines; for synth lead I still have my Nord Lead A1.

Thanks to all for the tips I'll tell you how the Bass Station II plays when it comes ...

minitaur sound is great, i love it, but if you do not need a lot of presets it may be a hassle because it has no display. And you need an extra keyboard too (or control it from your main keyboard).
Did anyone mention the novation bass station? edit sorry i did not read your last post.....

...after a few days that I use, I can give you my first impressions of this "beast"

It 'very light (it seems absurd to have a so powerful machine in such a short space and weight!) so much so that my impression touching was "what I bought? a child's toy?"
Instead from the first moment, using it, I have seen the excellent dynamic response of the keys and the accuracy of each control (oscillators, filters, ADSR, dynamic aftertouch...) and it's very easy to use and to program (it comes with a very interesting manual on subtractive synthesis theory; is a free download from Novation too, for those interested).
Thanks to his little weight, I made a stand dedicated to mount the Bass Station II on my SV1 with two small bars of aluminum and some velcro: very stable, portable (fits in Bass Station bag) and very cheap (under 8€ all the necessary material).

The pure analog sound is instantly recognizable, fat, full of harmonics; just exaggerate a minimum with the controls to get mess up hair from the speakers
The secondary filter (Novation calls it "Acid") modeled on a classic filter design (Roland TB-303), remember me the Moog sound.

It has only a mono output, it's a shame does not have the possibility to use effects in stereo... but my live setup is a single speaker, so for me that's great.

It cuts beautifully through a mix (I've already used it in my bands five times), and in addition to the bass sounds you can use the powerful lead sounds for solo parts.

An amusing feature: the external input. You can use an external audio and change it with the Bass Station Filter section... very funny!


In short: I thought of buying a "toy" just for the bass lines and instead I find myself with a new keyboard that I do not think I will leave home easily.

The two things that stopped me to buy the Novation Bass Station 2 are:

1- It's monophonic (too limited for my tastes);
2- I don't like synths with less then 49 keys (I know I could connect them to a midi keyboard, but in that case I'd prefer a desktop synth).

Hi Orcoaffamato, thank for your reply.
...each has its own needs

however, all the polyphonic synths, tend to "restrict" the operation of the own sound chain to generate polyphonic sounds (even more evident in Virtual Synths keyboards).
(Since you're Italian, you should read this: http://www.audiocentralmagazine.com/per ... onofonico/)

However I understand the need to have at least 49 keys and the need to have a polyphonic keyboard, but if I had to choose only one synth; in my case both of these features are not of interest to me (I have other keyboards and other polyphonic synth, if I ever need it)

Finally, in the market, today, there is better than the Bass Station for sure; I had started this thread for have suggestions for a keyboard to be dedicated to the bass lines, small and light; I wanted to share my impressions on the Bass Station II, hoping to be helpful to someone else.

Out of curiosity, what synth did you get?
As polyphonic synth and 49-key, I'm in love with my Nord Lead A1

Blofeld (700 €)
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Prophet-08 (3000 €)

I have an Elektron Analog 4 that I'm currently trying to sell or to trade with a Nord Lead A1
And I finished to build a preenFM2 two weeks ago (http://ixox.fr/preenfm2/).
Edit: I forgot that I have also a Waldorf Streichfett
I have also a couple of app synths on my iPad, but I don't like very much twiking on its touch screen.

I'd like to have something like Access Virus Ti2 keyboard (that I didn't buy cause by now It's a 7 years old synth).

I'm a newbie in the world of the sound synthesis so I bought this book to acquire the basis:



I don't know much about how to make synth patches but I'm using Syntorial to learn.

I know the book "Manuale di musica elettronica" but I haven't read it... great book I think.
(the web page I suggested in my last post is made by the author of this book )

AinTziLLo wrote:(the web page I suggested in my last post is made by the author of this book )

I saw, I already read it