Novation Circuit Mono Station Review
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- We're looking at the Novation Circuit Mono Station - its a 2 oscillator analogue paraphonic synth combined with the sequencing power of the Circuit.
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Every time I hear Nick Batt talk about pulse width modulation I feel happy.
Nick is actually Santa for musicians bringing his happy pwm to us all lol
if it doesnt go thru 0 im disappointed - i dont really understand what this means - lol.
@@GB3770 means it doesnt go from no pwm to 100% which is kinda wave folding? But its not deal breaker, also this box has some good updates...but look around cus price varies.
No one ever mentions just how great these pads are. It has plenty of weaknesses, but its pads are a work of art. I've tried many different pads - Korg's, Akai's, Roland's, Yamaha's, even Novation's (on SL MK III keyboard). Wasn't impressed and never thought I would switch to pads from piano keys. These pads were the first that made me think of doing exactly that. They have so much control - it's like playing a real wooden string instrument, the sound properties wholly depend not only on the initial speed, but on how fast you release, how long and with how much pressure you hold the finger on it, and if you alternate the pressure - the sound will wobble like a real guitar string. Really well calibrated pads
You're my favorite gear review guy.
Yea I enjoy this guys character a very strong amount and I've just stumbled across this content within the last week. Already can see this is just a great person. Great instruments too
There can be only one😉😂
I'm impressed by the amount of clever tricks Novation has crammed into this range, which unfortunately means a lot of Shift functions.
The Circuit has had a lot of game-changing additions in later firmwares, maybe we'll get a few surprises from this one as well.
You soon get used to shift functions and Novation are kings for free super updates😉
Looks and SOUNDS pretty darn nice, knowing that its got that Sync to stuff like Volca/SQ1 is a big plus. The price, I agree is probably the only hard point... I might wait on this one but i'll be keeping my eyes out for a good price. More Mod Matrices!!!
Thanks again for another review. Having one synced alongside a conventional Circuit sounds interesting.
Fantastic overview Nick - thank you! I already have a BS2 so this gives me bad GAS for an original Circuit. Although I can see the MonoStation being declared a classic in the future!
Wow, amazing flexibility, plays well with Volcas, Eurorack and MIDI gear! Now reduced to $399 USD.
Yes, Delay instead of Distortion IMHO. Nice outgoing jam!
It's a modern SH-101 in my eyes!
Funny you should say that I thought that r possibly an SH-09
@@sonicstate Or maybe an SH-2?
Excellent review! I love how you get deep and explore what this can really do! Well done.
I just traded some gear for one of these & a NYX too... Perfect demo to pull up for my acquisitions... thanks
Great to see Brick Top has left the illegal boxing scene, cheers!
i finally got one myself and is absolutely loving it...i was able to create my 1st Video using it on my channel...
The Dreadbox sounds amazing!
To be fair, the BSII was also $500 when it launched (and was more than worth it). You still do have a point about the price, though
He could sell sand on a beach.
Sonic State is actually selling one of these right now, probably gone by the time you read this.
They are selling off some gear on ebay!
Novation probably can make very cool standalone or even eurorack sequencer, would be very cool
Julian 28 the peak
The Peak have no sequencer, but an Arpeggiator.
What a well thought out flexible peice of gear. Defo one for my future list . Good in depth review Nick ;-)
first! Actually this will be my next synth over here - I have the Circuit and no analog gear in my setup. So while being a tad expensive as Nick mentioned, I am glad that I'm reaching towards an already familiar grounds in terms of sequencing. and I won't have another, completely different device in my setup which sometimes I fill I can hardly handle together (E2, microgranny, volca fm, circuit). The audio-in into filter and distortion is a great thing to have and also the sound is great.
second actually! ;)
mishpult I think you're better off getting the Bass Station 2 if you have the Circuit. No point getting this
I just bought a BS2 and they aren't that big, at least in width. I have it on a laptop stand above my midi keyboard. Nice compact bit of kit.
I'm not a keyboard player myself but the keys are always useful to have. Also the BS2 has a pretty good sequencer in it. The synth is pretty small as well. Tbh I see absolutely no point In getting the mono circuit if you already have a circuit.
The bass is very fat for only one/two voices. Thanks for the vid. I have it already - but you have filled in the gaps for me with your explanation and demo. It has the circuit workflow but adding great analogue , versatile , intuitive bass. Both together does compliment (circuit and this) . - You can not get that sound fro the digital circuit.
Yes it may be expensive - but if you love this workflow style/pads and controls so quick to utilise. its a no brainer imo.
Love my Circuit. Love my BS2.
This one... IDK. The sound just doesn't do it for me for some reason. Cool machine though. More forward thinking than a lot of stuff coming out right now IMO.
Matt Greer Music I'm thinking of getting both Circuits right now. The ability to sequence other gear and have drums and an extra analogue mono is great.
I agree Matt, but after a long and hard think, I went for this rather than bs because although I could control from digitone....well I just too lazy also bought for £274 new! So no brainer really, monostation controlling neutron through neutron delay.....mmm what can I put through mono station too....mm mm😂😂😂
what a beautiful neat little synth. they are evolving
Interesting little device. Sweetwater has it for $329.00, and Novation customers that are registered on their website are being offered this for 45 percent off. I don't have any use for an instrument like this, but it certainly has a nice sound and capability for the price.
DAMN IT! It sounds so good...
Great review as ever!
Overhead cam seems to be recording interlaced video - any chance to switch that to progressive for the next review? Cheers
I just love these demos! - and Nick is about the best technical presenter! - i have this machine for me to get it from the postoffice today!
This does look awesome and addresses one of the key issues I had with my Circuit - i.e. lack of voices. You could base a live set on this and a CIrcuit.
great review as always Nick. I totally agree with you on your comment about this not having some sort of simple delay or reverb like the circuit, I said this from day one of seeing it. also, yes it does seem very expensive for what it is.
The Ring Mod sound at 7:50...sounds very much like one of the sounds in the intro to This Is My House by Gary Numan.
This was a nice little surprise as I was going through this channel once again
Nick I'm loving the track you made here, awesome 👏
I want full songs of the two tracks in the video. Can we get them up on the Sonic Lab Bandcamp?
Brilliant in depth review ,, thank you .
Love the circuit as I can take it anywhere was considering the mono station but didn't realise it isn't battery powered until now. Even though it is tinny the internal speaker on circuit is also useful for ultimate portability. Two balls dropped imo
Sold. Definitely falls into the category of modern classic.
Best review on Mono station I've seen. I was thinking about buying a 2nd Circuit but the ms just enhances the Circuit. Anyone know if the Circuit editor can be used with Mono Station?
Why is it so hard to get regular MIDI In/Out/Thru nowadays and like 128 polyphony from like every synth of the Mid 90's til like the last few years, we got past the crappy ipad/tablet control and support from a few years ago and now this crap, also you want a bomb ass Monosynth with lots of other coolstuff in the same box get a Roland JD-XI.
Great review. You have a knack of answering the questions I have as I'm thinking them ... 0.o
I've been wanting to see it interact with other gear, most reviews don't go that far!
They're set to cost $850can ... I can get a beat step, monologue and a microbrute for close to that ... all new, too. Used prices I can get a beat step pro, monologue, and Minibrute. For the cost I'm not sold on the sound of it, it's good, but not that great (from other demos I've heard). Not $850 great.
where on earth did you find it at 850. its 499 canadian.
jason mastrandrea my bad, it's $750
www.long-mcquade.com/87248/Keyboards/Synthesizers/Novation/Circuit-Mono-Station-Paraphonic-Analog-Synthesizer-and-Sequencer.htm
21:47
Novation obviously heard Nick's concern about price and reduced it (to $400) in the USA. Not sure about other countries . . .
I hope after mono station, Novation doit fm station. :)
stop giving them good ideas lol
Haha, what a nice track you put together in this preview! Nice one!
awesome workshop as always
You can get this now for $329.99 on eBay and pretty much anywhere else right now
Hey Nick quick question pls, does the amp envelope always trigger in the mod matrix, regardless if you use the envelope on the filter or pitch? Or can I use the envelope on the filter and pitch without affecting the amp? I have a mono Station and it seems that the amp is always affected by the envelope. Nice vid btw
Cant do osc merge on sq 1 to free up sq 2 for external midi control. Cant record long notes thru few sequences. Played and sold :(
ok is paraphonic, but can it be bi-timbral? can it run in to a sequencer in for of two tracks?
This one has price dropped with almost 200 euro in Sweden. Still, can anyone justify buying this instead of BS2 with all its new firmware features at 399?
As a sequencer for modular gear, I think it this is still too limited for the price.
so can I plug this into an electric piano (alesis recital pro etc) and use this to change it's sound?
Nice review and demo.
Thank you.
I want to see Gaz raving about this! My 2 cents: Pricey and a bit of an odd combination of features that isn´t very obvious in terms of integration to a pre-existing workflow or as a standalone but packed with possibilities. To be honest, its a bit confusing this ugly little box, but who knows..
i wish he would have done a review on roland tb 03
odes he said you can use the oscillator as two synths but they share the same filer and envs and stuff? that kinda sucks...
It’s kind of like one channel of the Elektron Analog four
Love the track
Would be nice to see a Fun Friday with it and pulsar 23
Not sure about this...but good review as always...✌🏼❤️
I am not understanding this "novation" device. Is it like arranging piano to sound right whichever key you hit?! Hope not.
The big downfall is the lack of any reverb on so many of these models. Each channel should have its own independent reverb (stereo if possible). Raw mono does NOT sound good without reverb.
TakeSomeAdvice I can’t exactly think of many analog monosynths with reverb. Maybe Nyx? You just have to buy it separately, which will sound so much better than some stock reverb anyhow.
Agree, FX knob instead of the Distortion knob ... three choices below the knob could be delay/reverb/both
FYI for anyone wondering, Mono Station is analog, so you can plug any guitar pedal into the output and it works. Novation literally shows the Mono between a guitar and pedal on their example setups page. Provides infinite sonic possibility, an advantage over digital hardware like Circuit.
I eBay’ed a TC Electronics Flashback delay/looper and a Boss Super Chorus for cheap. They open a whole new sonic palette (does wonders for the Arturia MicroBrute as well).
I disagree. I prefer FX to not be on my synths generally as it keeps costs down. Whatever crappy reverb they did include isn't going to hold a candle to a £400 reverb pedal
Groovebox is the word you're looking for.
Dear sonicstate. zou make the best synth reviews on youtube. but please stop filming in interlaced (1080i) and start filming in progressive (1080p).
kind regards,
a film school student and big fan
Actually this synth sounds rather vintage to my ear
Apart from the lack of FM, it's hard to fault this great little synth from Novation!
yes Osc.-FM would be great, i think it have Filter-FM like the BS2.
amazing
where you get that shirt, dawg?
Volca Bass will take my money before this, or the Roland TB3... love my circuit though!
I just bought a Bass station 2 and am thinking of buying a normal circuit to use for a drum machine. Can you give me a heads up on anything I need to know (I'm pretty new to all this stuff)?
Polecat Slam sure you can connect the two synths using midi connection, either sending midi clock or midi signal... if you send midi signal the bass station uses synth ch 1 or 2. I suggest just sending the clock signal so you get an extra channel of sound. How is the bass station II? I was considering a volca bass, how much did you pay?
Polecat Slam you need the mpc live
This or the mini nova?
I absolutely hate that the tempo sync of the LFO also makes the LFO retrigger with note on signals. That limits the rythmic effects of the LFO so much. It is funny how little details like that can turn us off of a really decent synthesizer so easily.
That is a dumb choice indeed
Is it the kind of thing that might get sorted in a firmware update?
same here, hate it...i wrote to novation about this for the bass station 2 ..i said it is a BUG how the lfo "sync" works..but they did not answer me :)...really cool synth but i sold it now...get the minibrute for the rythmic LFO's works really nice and tight. EVEN if you change the LFO division out of time..it will be in time...something the bass station 2 could not do without silly trix, recording a little midi CC# for the LFO sync-enable on a external sequencer every time the sequence start over.
But its good for oneshot LFO so you have a second Env.
i dont think this is oneshot...it's just reset like the bass station 2...OOOOOOR?
Are there presets on this? Can I save patches?
ua-cam.com/video/MKiJ7iccFYk/v-deo.htmlm
yes you can save 64 presets, 2x bank with 32. I wish it had more, 512 like Toraiz AS-1, Roland SE-02 and Waldorf Pulse 2.
it's like half of the bass station
half the size but with more features like motion recording and cv capabilities
Just bagged for £274 NEW! WINNER WINNER!! CHICKEN DINNER LOL
I'm sure it's fun and useful but... it's just such an odd form factor.
Ross Jackson my thoughts exactly
there are so many ways to wofk/play however this setup is... different to me. if we are talking a sketch pad or what ev. i have korg emx... much love to all the the ways people make music...i imagine this would has a learning curve for me, a dummy lol
sounds beefy though
agreed, looks like a bad photoshop of a new product before released :D
But to add to a computer-less hardware jamming setup it's perfect. Not for me though as I already have a BS2 :)
I would say it's not either or in terms of DAW-less or not. With my circuit I often come up with ideas and then later on plug it into my DAW and let the circuit play the notes into the DAW and develop it from there. I'm finding that's a great way to work. This will most likely be my choice of bass synth moving forward for that reason - great for capturing ideas away from the 'studio'.
This seems more powerful than monologue
but its much expensiver, momologue have 12db lowpass filter only, but its not a bad synth.
The filter sounds way better even though they both have 2-pole filters
MC202 update
7:18 I thought I had a Facebook message
Well, would be much awesome if circuit was just 8 voice sample player and this would be great addition, since circuit have 2 synths this is bit reppetetiv...
That noise sounds like you did it with your nose xDD
Seems like a bit of a mis step. I'm having a hard time justifying this over the $100 cheaper Bass Station 2.
well the motion sequencing alone puts it above imo. you can still play it with keys too.. who doesn't have a midi keyboard ?
So essentially this piece of gear is shit as a standalone unit without add~ons. Transmission received.
but combined with omnisphere 2.5, it is quite a different story.
(and the MS is 200 bucks off atm)
Anyone else bothered by the deinterlacing errors on one of the cameras?
really, I checked it I wonder if the YT compression or resizing did something. Sorry about that
Nope, just you. :)
Hazel Shanks nope didn't notice
Those kinds of things are more noticeable in the early stages of a psychotic break. You should get that looked into.
Argh...Why did they REMOVE the battery option and the internal speaker?
Using it as a portable idea machine is what the circuit was ALL about and now they effectively chained us to a wall and to wired headphones.
It is a great piece of kit no doubt, but it is already bigger than the circuit so a little more for batteries would have been no big deal...and the little $2 speaker takes up practically no space (and amp circuitry is less than $1 and is minuscule).
Silly omissions by novation... and ones that now cannot be remedied by a firmware update.
Without true no-wire portability, size is irrelevant...can’t imagine what they were thinking.
Perhaps: “Hey the circuit is a major hit! Its so popular I think we should cripple this with no batteries and no speaker...then we can lose half of our customer base! Think of how much this will reduce the sales and tech support calls! Great idea, right?”
Unfortunately the guy responsible for firing people with stupid ideas must have been out on holiday when the issue came up.
Argh. Argh. Argh.
Circuit is fully digital and requires significantly less power to run than a synth with analog circuitry and all that control voltage connectivity. Just because the form factor is the same doesn’t mean the power requirements are the same.
@@nilslobie9934 yep they are incredibly different devices. circuit is way more tailored to being useful as a portable sketch pad. 2 synths, drums, polyphony .. the mono station is 1 paraphonic synth.. that's it. i mean being portable would be cool.. but way less useful than the original circuit.
not too into the sound
same sound as the bass station 2 which people rave about
There's something about Novation stuff that just feels wrong to me. Their gear comes across as cold and sterile.
Too rushed, Nick!
he's got the digitakt review to cover!
Dan Szeles yeah, I've really been looking forward to the Digitakt review!
For the price, I’d just buy another iPad.
Jollo Jakar a valid point, but I've found the iPad to be impractical in performance situations. if it's the tiniest bit humid I can't use the touch screen how I'd like to.
Also true. I tried to incorporate iPad into my rig and then Apple stopped supporting the hardware I had. At that point no choice but to upgrade or make other plans. My 1995 Kurzweil workstation on the other hand is still rocking.
and the connections to a ipad suck.
No CV inputs/outputs on iPad. No analog on iPad. iPad has come a long way, but until I can run multiple programs simultaneously, its fun, but not a serious performance took. Its great to use WITH other gear. I usually use mine to program my Eventide H9.
monotribe sounds better
same sound as the bass station 2 which people rave about
Pure crap
...it's mono, though. :(
Sounds terrible
it sounds like a toy.
eh ? about as much as a 303 did
same engine as the bs2 .. which people rave about