Fun story. We used to play live with a superbassstation. During one performance the bass kept disappearing each time there was a big bass hit. Eventually we worked out it was the bass vibrating the cutoff knob, which was set to zero and overriding the preset value. So yes, all the bassstations have wobbly knobs
I dont think I ever said it before, but its so refreshing to see the set up recordings without some fake shit in frame....unlike how it tends to happen on all those channels where you wonder if theyre influences. And table that isnt spotlesslly clean with no wear which shows its actually being used outside of being a recording backdrop
I've got a beer, it's the weekend and there's a new Bad Gear video: what a great combination! I kept missing these when they used to go for £80-£100 in London a few years ago for the keyboard version. Definitely worth having if you don't have other monosynths.
I bought a Novation Bass Station when the came out. There were no real new analog (vco or dco) alternatives at the time. It has been used live many times and literally traveled around the world twice with me since and it still works perfectly. Several of the patches are the same ones I programmed into it when I first got it. I bought a Bass Station 2 several years ago and the knobs are already falling off. It has never traveled anywhere except from from the store to my studio. No screen? I grew up on ARPs, MiniMoogs and MicroMoogs. No screen needed. :)
My semi dyslexic self saw the word “Bass” and the letter “N” in the thumbnail and wondered why your Alesis Nanobass had blue instead of orange knobs. Great vid as usual!
I bought one back when it was released...then sold it...then regretted it. YEARS later, I was gifted one, along with a DrumStation. I LOVE them all over again. A great wee synth for putting another layer on your sounds. Granted, you have to work it, but I really like it, and won't let it go again!
so happy you do these videos, it keeps gear prices low and makes an audience that sells more gear. Can you do one on the Yamaha cp (tell them theres no presets or something) that thing is a little out of my budget and hasn't dropped price much.
My first analog synth was a Bass Station keyboard. I traded an Ensoniq EPS for it. It was '96, filter-sweeps were still a thing. Much, much later, I bought another one, and still love it. Even more than the first one. I like the filter.
You mentioned a Bass Station plugin. There is also a Bass Station 2 plugin. I got it for free with my MiniNova. It has some pretty strong sounds but I’ve yet to use it in a track. I’ll get there eventually.
Novation's problem was marketing this as 303 clone, which it isn't. It's just a standard two Osc mono synth. Way more like the 101 than the 303. It also has plenty of bass, no doubt. And yes, DCOs ARE analog, they're just under digital control. Their output is 100% analog.
They never marketed this as a 303 clone. there was a preset on it that was setup to act like a 303 but that’s about it. The magazines took to that far too literally. I got mine the day it came off the ship here and it’s still working and I use it for some things.
I think the bass-station realy shines when you use external audio (pads,vocals) and you can control the filter with midi-notes so you get realy funky stepped filterchanges aaaaaand if you turn up filter 24db selfoscilate and use it for sinewave basses it generates the most deep subbasses
I feel you :) Had one of these since 1995 or so. Filled the memory up to slot 99 and that was it. Finally I found out about the quantization of the CV-in (what? no quarter tones?), sold it, together with all other 19” stuff (such as mb33, ms-404). Such a relief. So much happier with xoxbox and monologue. Great episode! Thanks a bunch!
Totally got one yesterday, so stoked!... It only has 1 wiggleKnob.... I'm super excited about the CV!I forget but theres something special about the CV, volt per octave kinda thing... Also distortion pedals- Outlaw Effects - Widowmaker, Boss Xtortion. Wicked awesome overdrive - Earthquaker devices - Plumes(green and yellow)
@@AudioPilz Thank you for the tip! .......| I only just got this moments ago... The bass station is an outstanding piece. Driving it with the model:samples for example is quite ample.... babample.... Youre doing the good work!
I've got one. I bought it to use as a MIDI - CV bridge for a Yamaha CS15. It turns out the voltage scale is all out of tune on the CV output even when configured correctly, so it was useless for that. The knobs on my one aren't wobbly like the one in the video.
As a proud owner of a Bass Station Rack, and who is actively looking for more of them to put in my rack, I am a bit flabbergasted seeing it in this series. Naturally, it's no TB303 emulation, but if you don't have it with that mindset, I think it's one of the silkiest monosynths out there. Also, I think the form factor is excellent, great if you have narrow studio space that relies on racking gear. And... I find myself confused when people say it can't do bass. It's mostly what I use it for. But again, I guess it depends on the kind of things you are looking for here. I guess next you will feature the Andromeda A6 and I will realize that I just have bad taste in gear. :P
The channels a bit "tongue in cheek" so to speak. I mean he had a DX7 on two weeks ago, one of the greatest synths ever made. ;) I own two bass stations myself, keyboard and rack, they are amazing machines. Every bit of gear has its "cons". This channel just shows those off in a fun way.
@@SPAZZOID100 Oh i know it was terrible! But... the sales they amassed don't lie ;) That being said, there are any number of great SYSEX controllers (I use Patchbase on iOS which is amazing)
Maybe it lacks bass, but it compensates for this with a smooth silky vanilla sound. Much better than a lot of the harsh modern analogue monos, Arturia comes to mind.
great video. Also you corrected yourself when you used the word "employ" but you used it correctly meaning "put to use" when referring to a non-person. It's subtle, but very very common English usage of "employ" and you got it exactly right.
I have a Novation Xio, and would recommend it for this series. It’s powerful virtual analogue, but that power is hidden behind layers of menus with only a few knobs that have multiple functions. I couldn’t get in to programming it until I set it up in Ctrlr, and found a lot to like (e.g. decent multi-fx, arpeggiator, one-shot LFOs), but I also found the sound quality degrades as your sound gets more complex, like the CPU can’t crunch the numbers quickly enough ...
The Bassstation was the first synth I bought as an adult in the early 2000s. I always enjoyed it. I was new to working with synths so I didn’t have a reference to judge it against other than 80s and 70s classic gear I only read about. Once I bought a few other synths I did find myself using the novation less and less, but it always had a special place in my heart. I found the sound to be fine if not overwhelming.
I got to try all manner of old gear in the 90s, but the first one that really clicked for me was the OG keyboard bass station. It was out of my league pricewise, I was broke but I really liked the sound of it.
It's worth mentioning they all sound different. The BS keyboard sounds different to the rack, the 2 is superb but lacks the weirdness of the originals and the Super Bass Station wants to sound like 101 all the time. The Bass Station's biggest down fall wasn't so much with the product but rather the marketing which pitched it as some kind of 303 emulator, which it wasn't. The design had nothing to do with the 303 and was actually based on the EDP wasp albeit whilst it annoyed people on the internet I don't think this hurt sales as they sold an absolute shed load and with the success they were able to fund the their virtual analogue technology used later. My biggest complain with the old Bass Station line (2 not included) was not it's DCO's but rather the software control which limited a lot of old analogue/digital hybrid synths at the time and not just the BS. The Bass Station has software generated envelopes which are slow and sound kinda shitty. These were improved a little on the rack and then the super bass station. If your BS keyboard is lacking low end it could be dry joints on the output capacitor or just a crappy capacitor which will make it sound like a HPF has been put on the output
I've never tried an original BS1, so I don't know the weirdness you're talking about, but I recently got a BS2 and it has almost more weirdness than I know what to do with! That said, I think most of the weirdness came from the recent firmware update (designed with input from Aphex Twin) which, among other things, lets you put a different patch on every key, which allows you to use it as a VERY weird drum machine.
In fact I sold my super bass station because of the lack of bass... I should have checked the caps first... Oh well 😅 it had sloppy midi timing as well though, despite replacing the firmware EEPROM
I completely understand your sentiment. I have a BassStation Rack that I've owned for about five years, and although it sounds out-dated and one-dimensional, I just can't bring myself to part with it. It's now a patched into my Eurorack modular as an additional oscillator and a MIDI-to-CV converter. BTW, I contacted Novation about the loose knobs and they sent me replacement potentiometers that fixed that issue (if you're handy with a soldering iron and don't mind cracking the case open). Ultimately, I purchased a Hypersynth Xenophone to take on the analog monosynth duties in my studio--love the sound of that thing!
@@AudioPilz i think at the time i found a forum post confirming someone else with the problem. I bought a Korg SQ-1 a year or two ago, and i had to make a cable with a voltage divider in it to get it down to the scale of the CS-15. I might try that cable in the bassstation to see if it corrects the issue
KP3 i have a major love hate relationship, actually all of them.. they add rediculous noise to signal chains and have stupid RCA outs. but are also super fun. In my early 20s I spent years chaining various Kaos products together. And they were awsome until I moved into learning to record. I think they are nice when used sparingly. ...yes do these!
LOL Your "rack" at 2:35! I had nearly that same "rack" in the early 90s. A bandmate was complaining that we needed to purchase a rack to hold the accumulation of rack gear. I stacked them up, wrapped duct tape around them and said, "there you go, a rack."
I had an original Bass Station. I kinda wish I didn't get rid of mine. It was a great little keyboard, can be battery-powered, and was immediately programmable. I used to use it a lot in this Indie-Rock improv band (hey it was Chicago in the mid 90's). The guitarist/bass player used to have a joke about the keyboard, based on a famous Star Wars quote (we were also nerds). "That's no Moog... It's a Bass Station!"
The Bass Station is like that one tool in your Swiss army knife that you never ever use, except for that one or two times when it was exactly what you needed to open that can of beans and stave off starvation. In that instance, it was absolutely that tool that you needed. Unfortunately, the cans all have pop-tops now making it totally useless.
I bought a Bass Station in the middle of the 90s and use it until today. Now, most time for analog effects during a song. I also use it on stage, but sorry the plastic-body isn't made for it. But the first time I tested it in the store the windows vibrated. It was love at a first side.
Owned a Bass Station in 93' and the rack in 94' long with the Drumstation either that same year or one after. None came with wobbly knobs. I now only have the Bass Station 2, and it is indeed a mightier beast than it's predecessor. Really ticked all the boxes that may have been crossed off before, great response from Novation.
@@thepauloapo DCOs are generally more precise. Some say that's good, others say it's somehow a bad thing. However, things like analogue FM work much better with DCOs because of the precision.
I love your channel, I too have soft spot for the Metal Zone. I have the Super Basstation and like it a lot. I use it with Roland PK-5 for a Faux Moog Taurus setup and it works well, no lack of fat bottom end there. The knobs are too close together and the way it sits in a rack make hard to be a live knob tweakers dream, but I do like it a lot.
I'v got the keyboard one from new, and it's a keeper, it was the only analog mono synth you could get at the time so it was a no brainer plus you can use it for more than bass alone. I have got the bass station 2 too and the ultra nova i realy love the things.
A naked 303 without any overdrive or delay is well er... cute I suppose. I believe it found redemption in acid after being hated on by a lot by people. Fiddly sequencer, plastic body and being so old it's probably quite cheap by now. Could do an episode?
@@AudioPilz Have you heard about: "Widara Distant Voices Theremin". I don't own one yet but it's on my radar. Could it be decent? Or could it be some sort of deadly mutation of the "dubreq stylophone beatbox" in a new theremin form?
I have the keyboard version. My only real criticism of the synth is having one set of knobs for multiple functions, such as the envelope generator for setting both the filter and volume envelopes. I suppose panel real estate was a bit short so I'm probably nitpicking.
Although the plugin doesn't integrate very well with Ableton, the sounds I get out of it are fantastic. It makes for a very strong low end with the filter turned down and brilliant leads higher up. I would recommend the plugin to everyone.
You made it sound really good. It does some things quite well, and adding some effects really opens it up a bit. I agree with everything you said. I get some of the criticism. I especially would not personally care for trying to tweak a rack unit like that (especially with wobbly knobs), so the immediacy of something like the TB-303 (or rather, the Behringer TD-03 since that's all I can afford) is a lot more interesting and inspiring than the Bass Station. I will say that I'm in love with the Bass Station II and I really want to get one fairly soon, before Novation stops making them and they become impossible to find. It's got a few unique aspects that other synths in the
I have to say, I was slightly baffled by the title. The Bass Station rules! It's got the same kind of sound as the Nord Lead, but without the annoying metallic filter. I think the BS2 does a better job at delivering the sub, though. It's still a super neat little racksynth. Also as an owner of a QY10, if you ever end up learning how to operate it, please tell me too. The drum sounds on that are great, but so far it's only been a source of samples for my sampler.
The QY10 is clunky, but it had some good ideas. I like the 70 though. Pair it up with a KS Pro or preferably a Novation SL mk3 and you have something that doesn't sound out of place today. Hmm.. I know what my first video in a fucking age will be now.. QY x SL..
Agreed, the BS2 is definitely better for sub bass, but the BS rack isn't lacking. That said, I've got a BS rack, but it's the BSII I usually turn to. Odd with the knobs being loose though, I picked mine up used and all of them are rock solid even though the case says it has been through a war or two. The build quality is pretty industrial.
Deine Show ist der Hammer! Love it and learn everytime from it !!!! Schön produziert sauberes englisch und bei den ganzen Fakten immer noch n Lächeln ins Gesicht zu zaubern ist 1. Klasse !!! Nimm do mal ne Roland tr 8 s in die Mangel. Big up to u !!!
AudioPilz ahahahah I did two track with my qy70, released them and said « come on ! Are you gonna spend your life on it! » now I use it as an expander sequenced with my digitakt
I had a QY10 for a while. I couldn't find out what to do with it. I managed to sell it with a profit. Even worse than the QY10 is the Korg PSS60. In its time it was a promising box with auto accompaniment, PCM drums and FM sounds. But the software was like beta version 0.1. It had so many foults that it was practically useless. Could there be anything worse than a Korg PSS60? What about the Philips PMC100 Music Composer. You have to be masochistic trying to get any music out of that thing. It's very hard to understand and operate and the membrane keys aren't playable at all.
I have a QY-10 too. I used it for years as a general portable notepad for ideas. About 12 years or so ago I ended up buying a QY300 going dirt cheap, and surprisingly I still use it regularly as a kind of general sequencer (as I tend to shy away from using DAWs). As for the BassStation I never bothered with one but I do have a Novation XioSynth. The sounds are OK-ish, but the interface is absolutely the worst I've ever used. The screen is unreadable and the idiotic printing is dark on a dark background. It would be night on impossible to tweak this live unless you knew it inside out. That's probably worht having a look at some time - see if you agree about how utterly dreadful it is to use.
@@AudioPilz Oh why am I not surpised? I'd like to say "great minds think alike" and all that, but I'm as dumb as a bag of hammers. I look forward to seeing that one - keep up the great content.
I coincidently almost bought one of these yesterday. Got a circuit instead. Now I’m jamming w the trio of circuit, mono station and bass station 2. Very fun dawless setup. I remember the OG bass station making serious waves when it came out but somehow never ended up with one. To my shame I have a couple Mc-303’s though, I’ve had a bunch of other novation gear over the years, controllers and synths, but never liked the novation sound or build quality but the new stuffs is so good. I’ve got a couple beat step pros as well, but getting a launchpad pro for cv next within novation ecosystem.
I owned the A-Station also. It was pretty good, but think I wanted the JP-8080 at the time instead. I have the bass station 2 now. I wish it had 3 oscillators. Oh well.
@@AudioPilz Ja ich fand den eigentlich ganz cool. Ein netter Mono Synth aber auch nicht viel mehr. z.B. find ich einen Volca Bass sogar besser, liegt aber eher daran das ich gern direkt an den Knöpfchen drehe und keine Presets brauche wo ich nicht weiß wie die Regler grad stehen. Jetzt hat die Maschine ein Keyboarder der genau die Presets gut findet, der hat aber auch ein ganzes Arsenal und spielt die Synth über ein Masterkeyboard.
Ich hatte mal mit ner Bass station 2 das Vergnügen und finde, es ist mehr ein klassischer synth und eher vergleichbar mit dem Monologue von Korg... nur das sich der Monologue nach einem deutlich hochwertigeren Instrument anfühlt
Great video! Keep 'em coming. Would love to see you try out a Novation A Station. I suffered with that thing for years. Oh and a Roland D110. Another synth with a rabbit hole of a menu system.
We were using the original keyboard version of this during our first live act at the club at a time when we were still underaged thus techically not even allowed to enter the club and couldn't afford a TB-303. The crowd was singing the distorted rising acid line with it so obviously it was doing the job very well.
Tolles Video! I bought my BassStation keyboard back in 1995, for half the price, as it was a demo model. Used it in my band on top of my AceTone-organ for bass notes. I never tried to make it sound like a 303, I had a 303 for that. :) Certainly no Moog, but great for bass keyboard playing. The two oscillators is a nice touch.
Awesome video. I had the keyboard version in the 1995 when I got my first computer programming job before that as a teen I had Yamaha PSRs and casios so it was awesome compared to those then sold around 2002 for £20, then bought the BSII a few years ago and got back into making sounds instead of playing samples.
I played with the keyboard version of this in a jam space rock warble band once when I wasn't plugging away at a fretless bass. Immense fun at the time as it had all the nobs!!!! In other news my first proper sequencer was a QY10 and I quite liked it, wrote my first proper track on it. I left it in the USA by mistake with a friend I was visiting and the story is he lost it when his home got hit by a hurricane. Still miss it a bit.
If you ever do that QY-10 video, it was good for one thing besides being a paperweight/doorstop. It's built in preset sound for 'moog' or something is the sound used in the beginning of the Elastica song 'Connection'.
I'm curious...what kind of Zoom amp sim were you using on the guitar? I have a certain Zoom processor that's highly...coveted in the industrial music scene and it would be perfect for bad gear. Don't get me wrong, it's one of my favorite pieces of gear and you'd have to kill me to get it but it definitely checks all the bad gear boxes.
For some reason my bass station has survived in my ever evolving studio. It's badly behaved, impertinent and irreverent! The ability to use (and automate) the filter for anything you plug into it's audio input is great! Got mine for £60 years ago! Thanks for the great video!
The akai test tone was the most popular, from the valley of shadows to original nuttah that sine wave got rinsed and still does, even a lot of tunes with '808s' in were just tightly a enveloped akai test tone, it just seems to carry more weight than any other sine.
Those little rackmount synths are an ergonomic disaster, but they sound great! I've never had a BS1, but I think the Bass Station 2 is probably my favorite monosynth of all time. The sounds are huge and the user interface is perfect, with full-size keys, aftertouch, nice mod/pitch wheels, and well-spaced knobs and faders. It even has an "original value" led. The filter is perhaps the weak point, as I have never once used the "acid" mode on the filter (it sounds nothing at all like a 303!). However I think it does do moog, cs-15, and dx-100 sounds with style and ease.
00:30 I've always wondered why the QY-10 has never made an appearance on Bad Gear. I loved my QY-10 (still have it), but it's certainly not "good" and I was warned away from it at music stores before buying it even back then. But I know it well enough to have noticed that the first 15 seconds of Elastica's 1994 Connection seem to have been played on a QY-10. Or did Yamaha produce another sound-creating device with those "distinctive" (to be polite) drums and "guitar" sounds?
@@AudioPilz I did okay with the sequencer, although I bought the separate Accessory Pack which had a Companion Guide booklet with user-friendly step-by-step tutorials. It was also the only sequencer I had so either I figured it out, or I didn't have a sequencer.
Obi Wan: That's no Moog... it's a Bass Station!
The bass is strong in you
Well played, sir. Well played.
Seeing you here was a pleasant surprise!
@@prodby_trxllo I'm always here. One of my favourite channels.
Hello there!
Fun story.
We used to play live with a superbassstation.
During one performance the bass kept disappearing each time there was a big bass hit. Eventually we worked out it was the bass vibrating the cutoff knob, which was set to zero and overriding the preset value.
So yes, all the bassstations have wobbly knobs
Wow, that's REALLY wobbly😂😂😂
Strange... Mine doesn't have wobbly knobs at all and I've never encountered such problems when performing live...
DCOs are totally analogue, I mean my grandmother has a pace maker but I'd still say she's more human than robot.
That's the greatest metaphor I've heard for a long time
Strike! I think with this statement we can end this issue forever!
Next up on Badgear... The Pace maker!!
So that is why another DCO synth by Waldorf is called Pulse.
Hilarious but oh so true
Novation has a secret weapon that makes it impossible to criticize them. Chris Calcutt is a blessing to synth community
Freaking legend!
I dont think I ever said it before, but its so refreshing to see the set up recordings without some fake shit in frame....unlike how it tends to happen on all those channels where you wonder if theyre influences. And table that isnt spotlesslly clean with no wear which shows its actually being used outside of being a recording backdrop
Happy to hear that! Thanks!
The quality of these videos is second to none. You're doing an amazing job on them, you nail it every time. I love this series!
Thanks! Very happy to hear that!
I've got a beer, it's the weekend and there's a new Bad Gear video: what a great combination!
I kept missing these when they used to go for £80-£100 in London a few years ago for the keyboard version. Definitely worth having if you don't have other monosynths.
Thanks! Those synths were bloody cheap a few years back
G&T but hell yes!
Cheers, Chris! I somehow knew we both would met here. Greetz!
@Slater Slater aw man what a steal!
@@KlaraKopf prost!
I bought a Novation Bass Station when the came out. There were no real new analog (vco or dco) alternatives at the time. It has been used live many times and literally traveled around the world twice with me since and it still works perfectly. Several of the patches are the same ones I programmed into it when I first got it. I bought a Bass Station 2 several years ago and the knobs are already falling off. It has never traveled anywhere except from from the store to my studio. No screen? I grew up on ARPs, MiniMoogs and MicroMoogs. No screen needed. :)
True, we are spoiled nowadays
I had the rack and the keyboard for decades. Nothing but love for both.
It's a classic
My semi dyslexic self saw the word “Bass” and the letter “N” in the thumbnail and wondered why your Alesis Nanobass had blue instead of orange knobs. Great vid as usual!
Thank you!!! Lol
Cursed VHS cassette. I fell off my chair.
It's haunting me!
@@AudioPilz Me too and I don't even have one.
You’ve become one of my favorite UA-camrs. Wishing you all the best bro 👍🏿
Thank you so much!
Oh sweet, another episode of my favourite UA-cam show, "Really Not Actually All That Bad Gear". ;)
What's bad after all?😅
I bought one back when it was released...then sold it...then regretted it. YEARS later, I was gifted one, along with a DrumStation. I LOVE them all over again. A great wee synth for putting another layer on your sounds. Granted, you have to work it, but I really like it, and won't let it go again!
Why don't I get presents like that?😅
I felt like I was back in the 90s playing Wipeout when you turned on the distortion
LOVE Wipeout
Man, that was/is a great game and the soundtracks were great.
so happy you do these videos, it keeps gear prices low and makes an audience that sells more gear. Can you do one on the Yamaha cp (tell them theres no presets or something) that thing is a little out of my budget and hasn't dropped price much.
Great suggestion, thank you!!!
My first analog synth was a Bass Station keyboard. I traded an Ensoniq EPS for it. It was '96, filter-sweeps were still a thing. Much, much later, I bought another one, and still love it. Even more than the first one. I like the filter.
C'mon, filter sweeps are still a thing ;)
@@AudioPilz Yes, they are :)
You mentioned a Bass Station plugin. There is also a Bass Station 2 plugin. I got it for free with my MiniNova. It has some pretty strong sounds but I’ve yet to use it in a track. I’ll get there eventually.
I used the old one and it was, erm, not my thing ;)
I use the plugins Bass Station and V-Station
Not my gotos but I think that's down to the GUIs
The sounds they make are fine.
Novation's problem was marketing this as 303 clone, which it isn't. It's just a standard two Osc mono synth. Way more like the 101 than the 303. It also has plenty of bass, no doubt. And yes, DCOs ARE analog, they're just under digital control. Their output is 100% analog.
The WaspStation;)
Thx for clearing that up
They never marketed this as a 303 clone. there was a preset on it that was setup to act like a 303 but that’s about it. The magazines took to that far too literally. I got mine the day it came off the ship here and it’s still working and I use it for some things.
Woah, I've struck UA-cam gold this morning! Brilliant channel!
Thanks for watching, stick around!
I think the bass-station realy shines when you use external audio (pads,vocals) and you can control the filter with midi-notes so you get realy funky stepped filterchanges aaaaaand if you turn up filter 24db selfoscilate and use it for sinewave basses it generates the most deep subbasses
The filter input is a nice feature, indeed
I feel you :) Had one of these since 1995 or so. Filled the memory up to slot 99 and that was it. Finally I found out about the quantization of the CV-in (what? no quarter tones?), sold it, together with all other 19” stuff (such as mb33, ms-404). Such a relief. So much happier with xoxbox and monologue. Great episode! Thanks a bunch!
Thanks for watching!
Just gonna put it out there... I'd like to see some hated plugins on this channel.
What would be your plug of (not) choice?
AudioPilz nexus
Look no further than Delay Lama VST, the script to this episode (includung all the half assed jokes) is basically going to write itself 👍
@@AudioPilz please do D-Verb
@@AudioPilz V-Koder
Totally got one yesterday, so stoked!... It only has 1 wiggleKnob.... I'm super excited about the CV!I forget but theres something special about the CV, volt per octave kinda thing... Also distortion pedals- Outlaw Effects - Widowmaker, Boss Xtortion. Wicked awesome overdrive - Earthquaker devices - Plumes(green and yellow)
There's a jumper inside the unit for switching CV/Midi direction
@@AudioPilz Thank you for the tip! .......| I only just got this moments ago... The bass station is an outstanding piece. Driving it with the model:samples for example is quite ample.... babample.... Youre doing the good work!
NOTIFICATION SQUAD! i'm totally into this synthwave & roll jam.
A new genre!!!
I've got one. I bought it to use as a MIDI - CV bridge for a Yamaha CS15. It turns out the voltage scale is all out of tune on the CV output even when configured correctly, so it was useless for that.
The knobs on my one aren't wobbly like the one in the video.
Doesn't Yamaha use another CV scale?
@@AudioPilz yes, but the bassstation purportedly lets you select that scale. It just turns out even if you do, it still doesn't work properly
As a proud owner of a Bass Station Rack, and who is actively looking for more of them to put in my rack, I am a bit flabbergasted seeing it in this series. Naturally, it's no TB303 emulation, but if you don't have it with that mindset, I think it's one of the silkiest monosynths out there. Also, I think the form factor is excellent, great if you have narrow studio space that relies on racking gear. And... I find myself confused when people say it can't do bass. It's mostly what I use it for. But again, I guess it depends on the kind of things you are looking for here.
I guess next you will feature the Andromeda A6 and I will realize that I just have bad taste in gear. :P
The "lack of bass" - comments surprised me as well
The channels a bit "tongue in cheek" so to speak. I mean he had a DX7 on two weeks ago, one of the greatest synths ever made. ;)
I own two bass stations myself, keyboard and rack, they are amazing machines. Every bit of gear has its "cons". This channel just shows those off in a fun way.
Brett Anthony DX7 was great??? Not with that interface.
@@SPAZZOID100 Oh i know it was terrible! But... the sales they amassed don't lie ;) That being said, there are any number of great SYSEX controllers (I use Patchbase on iOS which is amazing)
I’ve been waiting for a video on this!!
So glad it’s from you!!
Always a pleasure, thanks!
Maybe it lacks bass, but it compensates for this with a smooth silky vanilla sound. Much better than a lot of the harsh modern analogue monos, Arturia comes to mind.
True, it always stays smooth
I agree in full.
Maybe as a lead?
You would NOT like the BSII then
@@gelatinous6915 why? It does both really well.
great video. Also you corrected yourself when you used the word "employ" but you used it correctly meaning "put to use" when referring to a non-person. It's subtle, but very very common English usage of "employ" and you got it exactly right.
Thank you so much!
The best sounding and most used Distortion for the 303 is the ProCo RAT.
That's most probably true. I have to get one
MXR Distortion+ is up there too
DS-1 is most common but Rat is #2 and arguably better.
Blues Driver, anyone?
@@thedoublek4816 tb+bd1 , i do.
you keep getting better and better!
Thanks!
I have a Novation Xio, and would recommend it for this series. It’s powerful virtual analogue, but that power is hidden behind layers of menus with only a few knobs that have multiple functions. I couldn’t get in to programming it until I set it up in Ctrlr, and found a lot to like (e.g. decent multi-fx, arpeggiator, one-shot LFOs), but I also found the sound quality degrades as your sound gets more complex, like the CPU can’t crunch the numbers quickly enough ...
Great idea!
The Bassstation was the first synth I bought as an adult in the early 2000s. I always enjoyed it. I was new to working with synths so I didn’t have a reference to judge it against other than 80s and 70s classic gear I only read about. Once I bought a few other synths I did find myself using the novation less and less, but it always had a special place in my heart. I found the sound to be fine if not overwhelming.
Bass Station is a classic and often misunderstood
I got to try all manner of old gear in the 90s, but the first one that really clicked for me was the OG keyboard bass station. It was out of my league pricewise, I was broke but I really liked the sound of it.
It's worth mentioning they all sound different. The BS keyboard sounds different to the rack, the 2 is superb but lacks the weirdness of the originals and the Super Bass Station wants to sound like 101 all the time. The Bass Station's biggest down fall wasn't so much with the product but rather the marketing which pitched it as some kind of 303 emulator, which it wasn't. The design had nothing to do with the 303 and was actually based on the EDP wasp albeit whilst it annoyed people on the internet I don't think this hurt sales as they sold an absolute shed load and with the success they were able to fund the their virtual analogue technology used later. My biggest complain with the old Bass Station line (2 not included) was not it's DCO's but rather the software control which limited a lot of old analogue/digital hybrid synths at the time and not just the BS. The Bass Station has software generated envelopes which are slow and sound kinda shitty. These were improved a little on the rack and then the super bass station. If your BS keyboard is lacking low end it could be dry joints on the output capacitor or just a crappy capacitor which will make it sound like a HPF has been put on the output
Yeah, back then there was no internet to complain about the marketing😅
I've never tried an original BS1, so I don't know the weirdness you're talking about, but I recently got a BS2 and it has almost more weirdness than I know what to do with! That said, I think most of the weirdness came from the recent firmware update (designed with input from Aphex Twin) which, among other things, lets you put a different patch on every key, which allows you to use it as a VERY weird drum machine.
In fact I sold my super bass station because of the lack of bass... I should have checked the caps first... Oh well 😅 it had sloppy midi timing as well though, despite replacing the firmware EEPROM
When I closed the filter the sound disappeared 😔
I completely understand your sentiment. I have a BassStation Rack that I've owned for about five years, and although it sounds out-dated and one-dimensional, I just can't bring myself to part with it. It's now a patched into my Eurorack modular as an additional oscillator and a MIDI-to-CV converter. BTW, I contacted Novation about the loose knobs and they sent me replacement potentiometers that fixed that issue (if you're handy with a soldering iron and don't mind cracking the case open). Ultimately, I purchased a Hypersynth Xenophone to take on the analog monosynth duties in my studio--love the sound of that thing!
I have to get new knobs!
Although I'm a pretty big novation fan I still do agree with most of the stuff that you said, but I still do use it quite often.
I think it comes down to a matter of taste
I bought one years ago to use as a CV to MIDI bridge, but the CV scale was all out of tune on my CS-15, irrespective of which scale I selected.
Strange, haven't heard of that issue
@@AudioPilz i think at the time i found a forum post confirming someone else with the problem. I bought a Korg SQ-1 a year or two ago, and i had to make a cable with a voltage divider in it to get it down to the scale of the CS-15. I might try that cable in the bassstation to see if it corrects the issue
Hey, do kaossilator and kaoss pad (small ones) and poly 800
Yeah! Kaossilator Pro and Poly800 are hard to find, unfortunately
KP3 i have a major love hate relationship, actually all of them.. they add rediculous noise to signal chains and have stupid RCA outs. but are also super fun. In my early 20s I spent years chaining various Kaos products together. And they were awsome until I moved into learning to record. I think they are nice when used sparingly. ...yes do these!
AudioPilz you mean Poly 800 are hard to find... for what they’re really worth!
@@raistaparta really ?. i had poly 800 mk 1 poly 800 mk 2 and poly 61 before. they are sucks. i get rid of it
@@s.fleming2441 yes i have kp3+ and i used with my mixers fx send return. i think its really useful. i ment small ones. kp2 maybe i dunno
LOL Your "rack" at 2:35! I had nearly that same "rack" in the early 90s. A bandmate was complaining that we needed to purchase a rack to hold the accumulation of rack gear. I stacked them up, wrapped duct tape around them and said, "there you go, a rack."
...that's how you get racks ;)
I had an original Bass Station. I kinda wish I didn't get rid of mine. It was a great little keyboard, can be battery-powered, and was immediately programmable. I used to use it a lot in this Indie-Rock improv band (hey it was Chicago in the mid 90's). The guitarist/bass player used to have a joke about the keyboard, based on a famous Star Wars quote (we were also nerds).
"That's no Moog... It's a Bass Station!"
It's a cool "band"-synth. Alex Ball quoted that, erm, quote somewhere in the comments
@@AudioPilz DOH! He beat me to it! But like I said, it was the 90's man...
I got an idea for Bad Gear, what about making a video on the Delay Lama VST?
That's literally the worst😅
The Bass Station is like that one tool in your Swiss army knife that you never ever use, except for that one or two times when it was exactly what you needed to open that can of beans and stave off starvation. In that instance, it was absolutely that tool that you needed. Unfortunately, the cans all have pop-tops now making it totally useless.
That sums it up nicely!
I bought a Bass Station in the middle of the 90s and use it until today. Now, most time for analog effects during a song. I also use it on stage, but sorry the plastic-body isn't made for it. But the first time I tested it in the store the windows vibrated. It was love at a first side.
Yeah, heard in a few times used by live bands. Lotsa bass
the Bass Station 2 is an incredible synth that will make the thunder come from the subs. It definitely brings the bass!
Never tried the 2. Looks nice
@@AudioPilz it gets a thumbs up from me
Owned a Bass Station in 93' and the rack in 94' long with the Drumstation either that same year or one after. None came with wobbly knobs. I now only have the Bass Station 2, and it is indeed a mightier beast than it's predecessor. Really ticked all the boxes that may have been crossed off before, great response from Novation.
If I need to smile and can't I just watch your tube. It work's every time !
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
DCOs are just VCOs with a digital parameter controlling the voltage.
You know, I know,... ;)
@@AudioPilz Yes but does gearslutz know? :)
Sure they're both analog, but do they sound the same?
@@thepauloapo When left at static positions yes
@@thepauloapo DCOs are generally more precise. Some say that's good, others say it's somehow a bad thing. However, things like analogue FM work much better with DCOs because of the precision.
I love your channel, I too have soft spot for the Metal Zone. I have the Super Basstation and like it a lot. I use it with Roland PK-5 for a Faux Moog Taurus setup and it works well, no lack of fat bottom end there. The knobs are too close together and the way it sits in a rack make hard to be a live knob tweakers dream, but I do like it a lot.
Thank you so much!
2:05, "Novation Bass Station Analog Monophonic Synth TB-303 Moog"
Obviously a natural-born salesman
I'v got the keyboard one from new, and it's a keeper, it was the only analog mono synth you could get at the time so it was a no brainer plus you can use it for more than bass alone.
I have got the bass station 2 too and the ultra nova i realy love the things.
Yeah, it indeed was a pioneering product
They were alright. Just sucked at being a 303 clone, but they were good for lot's of other things. Fiddly though.
Let's call it the LeadStation;)
Thank you!!!
Thanks for this insight into the original Bass Station! Its successor is a classic, but I never really looked at the original before.
Always a pleasure, thanks for watching!
I wonder if there are any bootleg-style synths / noisemakers you can find on wish.com or similar sites?
Is there anything that isn't on wish?
Sounds more like the territory of Simon the Magpie
Just my two cents
The tb303 is the bad gear it was supposed to emulate a real bass guitar!
I like your show it is informative!
True that! Thanks!
A naked 303 without any overdrive or delay is well er... cute I suppose.
I believe it found redemption in acid after being hated on by a lot by people.
Fiddly sequencer, plastic body and being so old it's probably quite cheap by now.
Could do an episode?
Heard about that one ;)
@@AudioPilz Have you heard about: "Widara Distant Voices Theremin". I don't own one yet but it's on my radar. Could it be decent? Or could it be some sort of deadly mutation of the "dubreq stylophone beatbox" in a new theremin form?
dunno about cheap, i see them going for 3000-4000$ on ebay (mindblowing since i feel like i saw em for under 1000$ a little over a decade ago)
I'd love to see a showcase of what you think would be the most essential tools for DAWless setups. Love your stuff!
Great idea! Thanks!
Kafka in the background metamorphosis great story
I agree. Also liked "The Castle"
I have the keyboard version. My only real criticism of the synth is having one set of knobs for multiple functions, such as the envelope generator for setting both the filter and volume envelopes. I suppose panel real estate was a bit short so I'm probably nitpicking.
That confused me, as well
That Snythwave&Roll-track sounds SO much like a PSX MegaMan X (4-6) track!
The vintage console feel is strong in this one
Decent bit of kit.!!! I've still got mine somewhere. Haven't used it since about 2001. Watching this, makes me want to dig it out...🤗
A lot of fun can be had with this one!
Managed to completely forget about the QY10 for at least 25 years now..
Sorry for bringing that up😢
@@AudioPilz qy10 for another episode
Although the plugin doesn't integrate very well with Ableton, the sounds I get out of it are fantastic. It makes for a very strong low end with the filter turned down and brilliant leads higher up. I would recommend the plugin to everyone.
Haven't used it for ages
makes sense to use a metal zone in an episode of „bad gear“
There's the iconic "Metal Zone for everything but metal in stereo"-episode. Doesn't sound so bad;)
I have been curious about the 1st bass station. Then the BS2 Afx mode came out. Waiting patiently to nab one.......
The AFX mode seems to be super nice
You made it sound really good. It does some things quite well, and adding some effects really opens it up a bit. I agree with everything you said. I get some of the criticism. I especially would not personally care for trying to tweak a rack unit like that (especially with wobbly knobs), so the immediacy of something like the TB-303 (or rather, the Behringer TD-03 since that's all I can afford) is a lot more interesting and inspiring than the Bass Station.
I will say that I'm in love with the Bass Station II and I really want to get one fairly soon, before Novation stops making them and they become impossible to find. It's got a few unique aspects that other synths in the
You can't have enough mono synths😅
I have to say, I was slightly baffled by the title. The Bass Station rules! It's got the same kind of sound as the Nord Lead, but without the annoying metallic filter. I think the BS2 does a better job at delivering the sub, though. It's still a super neat little racksynth.
Also as an owner of a QY10, if you ever end up learning how to operate it, please tell me too. The drum sounds on that are great, but so far it's only been a source of samples for my sampler.
QY10 is a neverending story for me;) I was surprised by all the comments saying it's got no bass
The QY10 is clunky, but it had some good ideas.
I like the 70 though. Pair it up with a KS Pro or preferably a Novation SL mk3 and you have something that doesn't sound out of place today.
Hmm.. I know what my first video in a fucking age will be now.. QY x SL..
Agreed, the BS2 is definitely better for sub bass, but the BS rack isn't lacking. That said, I've got a BS rack, but it's the BSII I usually turn to. Odd with the knobs being loose though, I picked mine up used and all of them are rock solid even though the case says it has been through a war or two. The build quality is pretty industrial.
Deine Show ist der Hammer! Love it and learn everytime from it !!!! Schön produziert sauberes englisch und bei den ganzen Fakten immer noch n Lächeln ins Gesicht zu zaubern ist 1. Klasse !!! Nimm do mal ne Roland tr 8 s in die Mangel. Big up to u !!!
Besten Dank!
We need a bad gear about qy serie stuff. I have... mixed feelings about them
As I said, I would have to take half a year off to make an episode about them
AudioPilz ahahahah
I did two track with my qy70, released them and said « come on ! Are you gonna spend your life on it! » now I use it as an expander sequenced with my digitakt
I had a QY10 for a while. I couldn't find out what to do with it. I managed to sell it with a profit.
Even worse than the QY10 is the Korg PSS60. In its time it was a promising box with auto accompaniment, PCM drums and FM sounds. But the software was like beta version 0.1. It had so many foults that it was practically useless.
Could there be anything worse than a Korg PSS60? What about the Philips PMC100 Music Composer. You have to be masochistic trying to get any music out of that thing. It's very hard to understand and operate and the membrane keys aren't playable at all.
I was looking at some of the QYs recently to use as some sort of MIDI song recorder. I quickly regained my sanity
To be fair, tricky did the core of his LP maxinquaye on a qy22. Facts
Had one, love it..had the 808/909 "clone" also, loved it all
Nice, I'd love to have a DrumStation!
I have a QY-10 too. I used it for years as a general portable notepad for ideas. About 12 years or so ago I ended up buying a QY300 going dirt cheap, and surprisingly I still use it regularly as a kind of general sequencer (as I tend to shy away from using DAWs).
As for the BassStation I never bothered with one but I do have a Novation XioSynth. The sounds are OK-ish, but the interface is absolutely the worst I've ever used. The screen is unreadable and the idiotic printing is dark on a dark background. It would be night on impossible to tweak this live unless you knew it inside out.
That's probably worht having a look at some time - see if you agree about how utterly dreadful it is to use.
The xio is on the list
@@AudioPilz Oh why am I not surpised? I'd like to say "great minds think alike" and all that, but I'm as dumb as a bag of hammers. I look forward to seeing that one - keep up the great content.
I had one of this when it came out. In the era of the rompler this thing was fresh air... Sometimes i miss it.
So many alternatives around these days
I like the bass station 1, but not for bass sounds.
The LeadStation ;)
I coincidently almost bought one of these yesterday. Got a circuit instead. Now I’m jamming w the trio of circuit, mono station and bass station 2. Very fun dawless setup. I remember the OG bass station making serious waves when it came out but somehow never ended up with one. To my shame I have a couple Mc-303’s though, I’ve had a bunch of other novation gear over the years, controllers and synths, but never liked the novation sound or build quality but the new stuffs is so good. I’ve got a couple beat step pros as well, but getting a launchpad pro for cv next within novation ecosystem.
If the price is right it can be a cool purchase
Owned an A-Station many years ago, regret selling it though. Check out the Korg nanoPAD, now THAT was bad gear!
Yeah, the Korg nanos can be quite annoying
I owned the A-Station also. It was pretty good, but think I wanted the JP-8080 at the time instead. I have the bass station 2 now. I wish it had 3 oscillators. Oh well.
Have you heard about the Super Bass Station MIDI Lag when it’s being sequenced? Does the original Bass Station have this issue?
The BS 1 seems to be pretty tight
This puts out more bass than my TD-3 does. I don't care much for the filter, though.
I agree
@@AudioPilz tweak the pots then.
Oh, yeah I also got one of these, but selled it. Your verdict points it out really well.
Thanks! It just never clicked with me
@@AudioPilz Ja ich fand den eigentlich ganz cool. Ein netter Mono Synth aber auch nicht viel mehr. z.B. find ich einen Volca Bass sogar besser, liegt aber eher daran das ich gern direkt an den Knöpfchen drehe und keine Presets brauche wo ich nicht weiß wie die Regler grad stehen. Jetzt hat die Maschine ein Keyboarder der genau die Presets gut findet, der hat aber auch ein ganzes Arsenal und spielt die Synth über ein Masterkeyboard.
Ich hatte mal mit ner Bass station 2 das Vergnügen und finde, es ist mehr ein klassischer synth und eher vergleichbar mit dem Monologue von Korg... nur das sich der Monologue nach einem deutlich hochwertigeren Instrument anfühlt
Musste auch an den Monologue denken
Great video! Keep 'em coming. Would love to see you try out a Novation A Station. I suffered with that thing for years. Oh and a Roland D110. Another synth with a rabbit hole of a menu system.
Thanks! Yeah, have to do one of the oldschool digital Rolands
Dieser Kanal wird 100% explodieren.... Editing ist herausragend!
Besten Dank!
Er hätte es verdient ;)
Sein Akzent hört sich gar nicht deutsch an... ?
@@WenzelAudio Österreicher is er, der Bursch! :D
Wait, did you just make Metal Zone actually useful?
Plenty of gain and a parametric EQ, what's not to love;)
It was a noisy piece of gear, but thick sounds.
Yes, it's phat;)
We were using the original keyboard version of this during our first live act at the club at a time when we were still underaged thus techically not even allowed to enter the club and couldn't afford a TB-303. The crowd was singing the distorted rising acid line with it so obviously it was doing the job very well.
Liked this video for the reference to the exhaustive debate about DCOs. That kind of wankery is my guilty pleasure.
What is more, I think there's nothing wrong with digital oscillators
Tolles Video! I bought my BassStation keyboard back in 1995, for half the price, as it was a demo model. Used it in my band on top of my AceTone-organ for bass notes. I never tried to make it sound like a 303, I had a 303 for that. :) Certainly no Moog, but great for bass keyboard playing. The two oscillators is a nice touch.
Saw a lot of bands using it for that!
DUDE CLEARLY DOESN'T REALIZE THIS SYNTH WAS LEGENDARY FOR IT'S OTHER BASS SOUNDS NOT A TB 303.
...but it was sold as a 303-type synth;)
Awesome video. I had the keyboard version in the 1995 when I got my first computer programming job before that as a teen I had Yamaha PSRs and casios so it was awesome compared to those then sold around 2002 for £20, then bought the BSII a few years ago and got back into making sounds instead of playing samples.
Thanks!
one month before the announcement of the Aphex Station... you released this video too early, could've gotten those hype cycle views! :)
Damn, that totally slipped my attention. Thanks for posting
I played with the keyboard version of this in a jam space rock warble band once when I wasn't plugging away at a fretless bass. Immense fun at the time as it had all the nobs!!!!
In other news my first proper sequencer was a QY10 and I quite liked it, wrote my first proper track on it. I left it in the USA by mistake with a friend I was visiting and the story is he lost it when his home got hit by a hurricane. Still miss it a bit.
BSes are great as a "band"-synth
ok, but who else wants to have "Bad Gear" T-Shirts? me for sure :D
Working on it!
@@AudioPilz Nice! :D
And me
If you ever do that QY-10 video, it was good for one thing besides being a paperweight/doorstop. It's built in preset sound for 'moog' or something is the sound used in the beginning of the Elastica song 'Connection'.
Yeah, great sample!
my bass station survived a 160 km/h car accident on the Autobahn together with me. I will never part with her
Happy to still have you around. Be careful with the velocity at max;)
So romantic!
I'm curious...what kind of Zoom amp sim were you using on the guitar? I have a certain Zoom processor that's highly...coveted in the industrial music scene and it would be perfect for bad gear. Don't get me wrong, it's one of my favorite pieces of gear and you'd have to kill me to get it but it definitely checks all the bad gear boxes.
Good question! I assume I was just switching through the emulations unitl I found sth I liked
For some reason my bass station has survived in my ever evolving studio. It's badly behaved, impertinent and irreverent! The ability to use (and automate) the filter for anything you plug into it's audio input is great! Got mine for £60 years ago! Thanks for the great video!
Thanks for watching!
Back in the day I thought all the OG Jungle producers were using the Bass Station for their sub bass sounds. They both popped up around the same time.
Ok, I’m not crazy, just looked it up. The #1 go to for Jungle sub bass back when. I was composing some myself in 93-94
Good to know
I thought the quintessential jungle sub was sampled 808 kicks?
The akai test tone was the most popular, from the valley of shadows to original nuttah that sine wave got rinsed and still does, even a lot of tunes with '808s' in were just tightly a enveloped akai test tone, it just seems to carry more weight than any other sine.
@@DubsnSubsSessions Anything with long tails that made cool bass when going through fuzz, distorted, etc.
This station is BASS, but does it SLAPP?
CHECKMATE!!!
Those little rackmount synths are an ergonomic disaster, but they sound great! I've never had a BS1, but I think the Bass Station 2 is probably my favorite monosynth of all time. The sounds are huge and the user interface is perfect, with full-size keys, aftertouch, nice mod/pitch wheels, and well-spaced knobs and faders. It even has an "original value" led. The filter is perhaps the weak point, as I have never once used the "acid" mode on the filter (it sounds nothing at all like a 303!). However I think it does do moog, cs-15, and dx-100 sounds with style and ease.
Some sounds reminded me of the DX range, too
That’s a bassless accusation 😬
Lol, good one!
00:30 I've always wondered why the QY-10 has never made an appearance on Bad Gear. I loved my QY-10 (still have it), but it's certainly not "good" and I was warned away from it at music stores before buying it even back then. But I know it well enough to have noticed that the first 15 seconds of Elastica's 1994 Connection seem to have been played on a QY-10. Or did Yamaha produce another sound-creating device with those "distinctive" (to be polite) drums and "guitar" sounds?
I still have the QY10 here as a last resort in case of gear shortage;) I am a bit afraid of the sequencer tbh...
@@AudioPilz I did okay with the sequencer, although I bought the separate Accessory Pack which had a Companion Guide booklet with user-friendly step-by-step tutorials. It was also the only sequencer I had so either I figured it out, or I didn't have a sequencer.
OH boy here we go.... ☕
Danger Zone!