Synthmania has introduced a new software editor, for Mac & Windows, for the Novation Bass Station 2 synthesizer.

Thank you for purchasing this Bass Station II digitally-controlled analogue synthesizer. Based on the classic 1990s Novation Bass Station synth, it combines traditional analogue waveform generation and processing with the power and fl exibility of digital control, plus a.
The latest firmware update for Bass Station II adds five powerful and innovative new features to Novation’s hugely popular monosynth, all of them developed in response to user feedback and requests, one of those users being particularly noteworthy Read More.

Here’s what they have to say about it:

Since release in 2013 the Novation Bass Station 2 becomes one of the best monophonic synthesizers. But till today, there was no nice looking and perfect working editor available.

The editor can be used as Standalone and VST version for Windows 32/64 Bit and MAC OSX (tested with OSX 10.9; AU 32Bit for testing purposes only. The AU is not compatible with LOGIC PRO X). The included AU runs only with Logic 9 Pro, Logic 9 Express.

How to export User presets on Bass Station II. Bass Station II. Bass Station II can export User presets as individual Sys-Ex files. This is useful if you want to load the keyboard with certain presets whilst leaving the rest intact as you can place a patch anywhere you like. Also, if you restore the factory presets file it will initalize all.

Most of the parameters are implemented and you can change these within your DAW. Be sure you´ll have a lot of more fun with the editor. One of its feature is, that you can record every movement of the knobs. Optimized for a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 px.

Here’s a video demo of the Editor in action:

The Novation Bass Station 2 Editor is available for now for 15,00 Euros. A demo version is also available.

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?

So 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 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 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 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.

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.

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 threa

Novation Bass Station 2 User Manual