Saved, just in case I buy this in the future. Actually, I'll watch it here and there and I will probably learn something. Nearly 2 hours man, that's crazy. I'm sure a lot of people appreciate the hell out of this and the work you put into it!! Take care!
Thank you for doing this! I just got my Bass Station, I know, I’m late to the party, and this video has been the best one I’ve run across! Super helpful!
I puchased this unit over a year ago. It is great. Background: i come from the era when analogue was giving way to fm (can you say dx-7). I had forgotten how much i loved the idea of hands on tweaking, but a vst synth made me hungry for that and i bought this. Now i am hard pressed to got back to the vsts. Thanks for the vid very helpful in getting the power out of this beast.
Hey mate, very nice job with the tutorial. You're very well spoken and have a great understanding of the mighty Bass Station 2. Got mine yesterday and this video is perfect. Thanks for taking the time to do this!!
Just wanted to say a massive thank you for this. I've finally got through the whole video and have learnt loads (and much more than I have from the manual). I'm so glad for us inexperienced types that there are people like your good self who are prepared to do vids like this. Nice one.
Well you couldn't of chosen a better synth if it is your first. It is perfect for an introduction into subtractive. Glad you found the video helpful, it can be so confusing if you can't get pointed in the right direction, but these things are always simpler than you think. Enjoy!
H4NDCRAFTED Thanks man! So what would you recommend as an amp? i have a 4 x 12 speaker stack i could use for sound, but no amp to run it through. I'm guessing the bass station 2 won't put out much on its own even with the power supply, but i couldn't find anything about it in the manual. are there any cheap options to get me by for now? *btw my speaker stack is 8 ohms if that matters?
Experiment, but if you want to hear the subtleties, get a soundcard for a pc or a usb soundcard and a cheap pair of studio monitors would be best. You can even buy cheap monitors with soundcards built in if you are really on a budget. These would do but they are not as reliable as a separte sound card an dmonitor setup www.dv247.com/studio-equipment/alesis-m1-active-320-active-monitors-with-built-in-usb-soundcard-pair--46261
M audio stuff is cheap, look for a usb soundcard and their cheapest monitors and then have a browse of ebay maybe ? M Audio tend to good bang for buck stuff that is reliable.
***** you wont be able to power a 4x12 cab with a bass station since it doesn't have a power amplifier. It can deliver line output level or power a set of headphones and thats about it. If you don't have a keyboard amp or a monitor system you could hook it up to a normal stereo system or a radio provided it has an external input.
This was very comprehensive and I appreciate your review. Apparently my mod envelope as well as one of my LED numbers do not work already. But aside from these QC issues I am enjoying the concept of it. It has a great sound and can be made to sound like many of my favorite songs.
Thanks for the tutorial! Would you mind sharing how you got the patch around the 1:31:20 mark, where you demo the arpeggiator? I've tried dialing that bouncy, rubbery bass, but I can't quite get it to have that snap. Would it be just a square wave with little resonance, 0 attack, little decay, 0 sustain, and little release? Any help would be awesome!
+no Cannot remember, sounds like a sqr wave with maybe a pitched up saw for texture. Full env on filter with no attack time, shortish decay, tiny bit of sustain and no release.
Nice one Craft!! I want one!!! Tbh, I really want to start getting back in to all this again and produce some serious tunage but time as well as money is a serious factor at the moment. Keep it live bruv
This video is the reason why i didn't sell my Bass Station II. This video is my reference to be able to make the sound i exactly want to. Never take it back from UA-cam, please!!
Very thorough demo, thank you for this. One comment though - your demonstration of oscillator sync is compromised by the high resonance setting on the filter, which obscures the gorgeous sound of the sync sweep. Some synths do sync well, others not so well. It'd be nice to hear the full range of the sync sweep here, unobscured by the intense resonant sweep. (your demo gets a bit better partway thru, after you switch to the INIT patch).
Very likely, this was done , pretty much as I went along so easy to miss things. Sync is ok on the bass station , but not nearly as nice as my Micromac. A lot of it comes down to how well the env sweep I guess. Thanks for your comments.
Still, thanks for the demo, I'm debating buying one right now, and this has really clarified some of its functions for me. I found another demo that A/Bs the BassStation and the Microbrute. The hands in the demo look like *your* hands. Is it you?
Great in-depth look at all of the functions, this was extremely helpful! Would you mind explaining or referring me to a video that explains the relationship between Oscillator 1 + 2 in more detail? For example, if I'm creating a sound from scratch, would you recommend I mute 1 until 2 is perfected?
any idea why on my BS2 the "Function/Exit" button does not work at all. does not flash any control on the screen when holding or pushing the button Thus not enabling me to use any of the "On Key" functions? any help would be appreciated it's doing my head in
Eric Persing's Trillian has more studio practical use for Bass, loads more patches and half the price. Its a soft synth, not as cpu heavy like N.I. products. Super easy to use to get fast results! If you own omnisphere, Trillian will load inside giving you further parameter options to shape your tone. #spectrasonics
Tony Battle I have all the Specrasonic stuff. There really isn't any point in comparing, Trillian is obviously going to have more modulation effects etc, but that is totally missing the point of a analogue hardware keyboard. I do stuff I wouldn't think to do in Trillian, the env aren't as snappy in Trillain either, the filters is clearly digital sounding in Trillian too. If I had to chose between the two, obviously Trillian, but I don't, I can use both. Can you use Trillian without a computer ? etc etc. Apples and Oranges.
Of course, i have the BSII and I love it, especially the dedicated Sub Osc! But many of my colleagues find the pre-loaded patches to be useless which is true.
Tony Battle So wipe them and make your own, thats the point of a synthesiser , if you want presets buy a rompler. Personally I like analogue but not so keen on the control, I will make a patch I like then multisample it into a sampler and control it from there. Essentially that is what Trillian does on the synth side, but I like to chose my starting wave. Now if I could use my own waves in Trillian that would be awesome, you kind of can with granular in Omnisphere. In fact I'd love to see Spectrasonic make a full on sampler based around the steam engines control.
Indeed I kind of regret not turning midi clock off. Slow arps can really add a lot of nice filter stuff and you can get some great dynamics running it fast with lots of sub. Ah well it wil be fun for ppl to discover that for themselves ;)
Hi, great walk through, you have good style. Just a couple of quick questions. Is it possible to have the lfo amount set to each vco seperatly? For example have it modulater vco 1 but not 2. Also is it possible to have the lfo trigger when you take your finger off a key so it only effects the release stage? Cheers.
You can set lfo depth independently, yes. I've never come across a synth where you can do the second part of your question, you can set a fade so the lfo comes in on a curve with 'lfo delay' time. May be if you set a long fade and have lots of release you can time it so the lfo kicks in as you release, but your note ons would have to be all the same length.
Thats great thanks. The second one aas just a thought, now you mention it i cant think of one where you can either. Idea just popped into my head last night, would be a pretty sweet feature to have though, cant have everything eh. Thanks again gor the guide. Im trying to pick between this and the ms-20 mini at the moment and its proving too hard of a choice. Patch bay and those sweet filters or patch memory and aps and so on.
I have both. Different beasts really. The MS20 has patching and processing, but having to patch even simple functions can be annoying. If I had to choose, the MS20 for Sound, but the BS2 does a lot more and gets used the most. If it is your only analogue , I'd prob go for the BS2 for patch recall. Personally I have come round to the fact that I don't want digital anything on an analogue synth, mainly bc all the 100% analogue synths I have , have way more character and I prefer softsynths if I need patch recall.
I don't have an MS-20 so this is pure speculation but, being semi modular, couldn't you route an envelope to the lfo depth and set the lfo to trigger on the release phase. Not sure if the MS-20 has a delay on it's envelopes but, if it does, you should be able to dial it in perfectly.
Stephen Church Got the MS20 mini at the weekend, love it. Got it by hooking up the reverse output of EG1 to the spare VCA control and then ran the LFO through it. Now the LFO fade in with the release stage of EG1. Cheers.
Have you ever seen an online tutorial? This video is not a tutorial, it's going through each button on the synth one after another with no description. Useful to hear how the synth sounds, but it's not a guide to using it.
Paul Biechmann That is why there is a timestamp list, I explain what each function does and even physically demo it. What is it specifically you need to know ? What this isn't is subtractive synthesis 101, it is 'guide to every function' which is a tutorial on how to use the Bass Station 2. What would you consider a tutorial, what were you expecting ?
I was thinking for a tutorial, putting a description perhaps of each of the controls eg. the oscillators/mod gens etc. first - describing the structure of the machine overall, then getting into the patches.
Re: the 'seq retrig' function. I know this has to do with midi sync from an external drum pattern, but its giving me a bit of aggravation at the moment (i.e. its not working.. or, more likely, I forgot how to activate it properly). Can you go over this for a sec? Do I have to hit the 'save' button or something after I switch it to the ON mode? Right now Im just syncing by matching tempo on both my units (which keeps everything in time, but it isn't the best way cuz its not really midi-synced I guess?). A bit confused, please help?!!
Hi, I imagine - in the sequencer section - you could just program your sequence via midi (in your computer), and then adjust it from there? I guess that you could trigger your iPad (and its synth) via your Bass Station, enabling you to have a polyphonic keyboard, and also to play back a polyphonic sequence that you'd programmed into a DAW? --- Great video, big thanks.
Really nice overview! I am looking forward to watching it all! One question I am curious about is if there is a way to turn off the blue led's on the wheels in the settings? I find that blue wavelength of light is actually hard on the eyes over time. I think the mininova has the ability to turn off the leds but not sure if the BSII can do this...
Tx, I just bought the bs2 and it seems nothing more than a noise machine, and I was hoping to learn from you. Your bit about the external input, using the synth has given me ideas to breathe life into the bs2. I'm missing the poly, so to send a poly into it may make it work for me. PS, you don't need clamps to latch an un-latchable key, I use a guitar plectrum on my microbrute and it works great.
question about the sequence record mode, is it expecting you to record a given number of steps defined in advance (16 in your video), or can you stop at whichever step you like, thus allowing you to set the time signature as well and create whichever signature you like, say record 7 steps and create a 7/8 pattern ? cheers!
Thanks for the info. Sorry i'm new to MIDI and stuff but could you explain how to connect an ipad to the bass station? I have the DM1 app and would like to use it with my bass station 2, thank you. What do I need?
No it isn't multitimbral and you can't sequence the Osc individually. It very quick to lay the midi down in a DAW though, so this could be done quite quickly there.
Thank you for the effort you put in this video. The interface confused me, as the LFO section and their depths are placed in different sections as opposed to my SH-32. I'm no keyboard player, either. Just a dude who loves to play with sounds :)
It depends what you want from the synth. The Minitaur has a superb sound but is much more limited. Do you have other synths ? As a first analogue this is probably the best out there because there is so much you can do with it. The Minitaur has a classic 'modern' Moog sound and arguably a better quality sound overall. If you don't have any other mono synths this is very easy to ingrate, sits in a mix very easily and can do bass and leads. It can easily do Roland and Moog sounds. It is up to your requirements, but I do know that you will not be disappointed with the BS2, if it were me, it would be a no brainer, this or the Minibrute. But if you don't need CV this. If your not fussed about analogue then the Roland Aira system 1seems to be a great bet with a very good SH-101 emulation plugin too. However with that you will want to have some sort of midi keyboard already as the one it comes with is very basic. Oh I don't think the Minitaur can go up the range very high either as it is ment as a bass synth, so that it a big consideration if you want to be able to play higher octaves.
H4NDCRAFTED Thanks for the great and rapid reply. I've got a Korg EMX-1 Electribe, a Microkorg and a Korg Koaoscillator Pro but lack the really serious lows. I like the idea of the keys on the BS2 and price. So my only decision is which performs better on the low frequencies. Thanks again. Cheers!
Well if it just the lows you want, as in sub frequencies, then that is what the Minitaur excels at. Despite what people say some of the best solid lows come from digital synths. Some of the best sub bass I have heard has come from logic's VSTi.
I sold it, although it had the Moog sound, even without driving the osc into the mixer it was way too harsh for my ears. Also the hidden functions were hard to remember if you don’t want to use the software. It was a nice modern take on a Moog though , had plenty of bass too.
Thanks for making such a comprehensive video, so many just skim the surface. If you've got time would you mind answering a quick question, do the arp settings save with the patch?
ben1210 Sorry missed this one, you probably know by now, but for anybody else, arp setting are saved with patch, however user sequences are not patch dependant, you save 5 on machine and if you change one it will change for all patches using that sequence.
Graeat Video ! :) Question : how can I save simple patch with elected level of volume ? Meny of my sounds are louder then rest of my sounds ... Help me please :)
If you are using mac search for SystemEx Librarian or for Windows use Midi-ox. Both will let you dump to your computer. It is basically writing all the midi perameters for a patch in a midi file. You can save one patch or all 128 at once. Dumping midi is very straight forward and it is better tosearch google than me explain it here. You can do it in DAWs but sometimes you have to ajust speeds etc for OS updates etc. So best to use Midi-ox. Search google 'midi-ox how to dump patches'
I have to say that you are not getting enough credit for the service you have done for me and for others. you have saved me SO much time and I am very grateful. thank you very very much!
Thanks, just happy to help, it is all basic stuff , there is no point keeping info this basic a secret. Once you get deeper into subtractive synths look at modular stuff. That is where the real power is ;)
So I noticed that you have your arp sync'd to your DAW. I have been trying to get this to work with FL Studio 11 and have had no such luck. I'm using the midi usb cable only, should I try to use a midi usb cable do you think? I have FL sending a master sync to the BS2 but it won't lock the tempo. Any help would be appreciated!
Sweet tutorial! Thanks. Now i don't feel so bad for never reading the manual :) do you find that the arpeggiator sometimes goes out of sync with your daw or drum machine? A few other people have also said this.
Not in live 9, it is solid. But there are so many factors in this you will have problems trouble shooting it, maybe your DAW maybe the BS2, or some other issue? a bad plugin etc.
hey, I don't know much about music but I heard analogue sounds better. I want to create a heavy sub bass kick. I was wondering if I could achieve that with this? I see this is a bass station but didn't kno if it was capable of making a kick drum sound.
You can make one with any synth analogue or digital, or just record you kicking a football of something. Most of the strong dance kicks are heavy bc of the processing, not the sound used. Get an 808 sample for a 808 subby kick, nothing has ever come close. Search for Goldbaby Tape 808 samples.
H4NDCRAFTED so do you think if I went the hardware route and purchase a synth and create my own 808 drum and I created the sound I was looking after on the hardware. Do you think that if I tried to sample it into a Daw for use with my other software instruments that I would lose sound quality?
Thanks a bunch handcrafted. I actually might go this route ...might purchase this as well as Sonic Academy KICK drum synth after a bit more research...thanks a lot tho...
He did the sub-bass sound at 7:20, patch 72, but skipped over it for some reason. Sounds really good. Or you could just pick up Rob Papen's SubBoombass VSTi. I'd rather have the BS II, but any decent DAW like Ableton Live will include an 808 kit. Cheers.
I notice you said you can store patches across any of the 128 slots.. On the the novation site i see it says 64 slots for user presets, 64 factory. Are you able to save over the factory ones?
+BULLSH!T MAN Yes you can all 128 are avaliable to the user for saving. You can save banks and individual patches to your computer using a sysex app or Novations own app as well.
+H4NDCRAFTED Thanks for that. I'm torn between this and the sub phatty. Have you used that at all? I make jungle and the synth would mostly be used for aggressive, industrial type basses.
BULLSH!T MAN Yes I have owned the Sub. The bass station was sampled a lot in Jungle days as a cheaper option. Personally I'd get this over the Sub I much prefer the envelopes for jungle type stuff. Although you could look at a system 1 or 1m by Roland and buy the sh101 plugin, that will give you some tasty jungle basses. Digital but sounds just as good as the real thing to me. Then a sampler and a 808 kick drum with long decay can pretty much give most jungle basses from the early days.
When you switch through patches and you haven't touched any parameters such as your ADSR, does switching a patch also switch too what you saved as or just to what is on the knobs in real time?
Switches to what you have saved. How this relates to getting to the settings of the new patch is explained in the intro. Just go to the relevant section in the description, it is listed ;)
Thanks, I appreciate your kind and immediate response. I can tell that you're a really nice person at heart. I hope you have a wonderful day doing what you do (;
Different beasts really, ones digital , ones analogue. You need to be using a softwear editor for the mini, if you want hands on and that big analogue sound, this.
I'm pretty sure you get the software with it. You can control it without the software, but with such a limited amount of encoders, it will drive you to crazy, trust me on this!
Have you looked at the Ultranova, that could be a good option for you, best of both worlds. That is fully digital, but the Nova engine still sounds great.
They have identical sound engines, the software is the same for both pretty much, where they differ is, the Ultra has more encoders and they are touch sensitive. If you don't mind editing in software to get deeper , i'd recommend the Mini. It still has a fair amount of hands on control to be fair, with a nice big filter knob. I have considered getting one myself bc the size is great and you get a pretty nice vocoder and all of the same functions, like arpeggiator etc as the Nova. They only differ in amount of hands on control, they both have all the same features under the hood, like wavetables etc. Here is a great review... Novation Mininova Synthesizer - Sonic LAB review
It depends what you want to do I guess. What I will say is real analogue sounds different. I have the Roland Aira stuff and it is very good, I even sold my sh---2 as the plugin is that good. But analogue just sounds more real, I can't honestly describe why, but I own analogue stuff for a reason, it just has more texture and body to my ears. So if you just need bass, probably not. The only way to tell is borrow one.
These Monosynths are making it so damn hard to pick one, therefore you end up getting all of them. For me the Minibrute is a must, there's nothing that sounds like it but now after watching this I'm second guessing getting the MiNitaur to get this. I'm so torn. I'm not as impressed with the sounds but the functionality is WAY better than the other two.
Ja'Maul Redmond You will be surprised, you can can get some very Moog style sounds, maybe not that deep quality of bass. Also remember the Minitaur is a bass synth and i think it doesn't go up the octave range far. This is much more on an Roland SH series tip. I guess it comes down to quality or quantity but the BS2 can knock out some pretty HQ sounds too. I end up getting an Roland SH-2 for that quality sound, that gets pretty Moogish too.
I had the microbrute, I found it boring without the preset,I ended selling it to get the bs2,it's more fun,the moog werkstatt is another nice sounding synth...
The minitaur is pretty limited in my opinion. I never owned one but my friend did, and I had the Bs2. To be honest the moog sound and filter were nice , but my bass station blew it right out of the room. I'm sure someone will say otherwise and that I didn't know how to use it . But I know my ears and the minitaur didn't make the walls shake like the Bass Station did.
This man is my savior. I've had my bass station for like 4 or 5 years and I still don't know everything
Saved, just in case I buy this in the future. Actually, I'll watch it here and there and I will probably learn something. Nearly 2 hours man, that's crazy. I'm sure a lot of people appreciate the hell out of this and the work you put into it!! Take care!
just curious, did you ever get one?
Thank you for doing this! I just got my Bass Station, I know, I’m late to the party, and this video has been the best one I’ve run across! Super helpful!
Glad it’s been helpful , you should always be fashionably late to parties
just got one a few days ago. I love it. though I also got a bass station 2 the day after and I like that even more! kept both. Both are awesome
Novation should have paid you money for such a tutorial! You did a better job than them explaining lol
2021 and still the best tutorial on youtube! Thanks!
THIS is how every guide to a synth should be. Well done, and thank you!
i have just acquired a bs2. this is extremely helpful. 100 stars my friend.
Got my BS2 three days ago and I know there is went two big updates, but your video gives much more info than manual =)
Thank you ;)
I puchased this unit over a year ago. It is great. Background: i come from the era when analogue was giving way to fm (can you say dx-7). I had forgotten how much i loved the idea of hands on tweaking, but a vst synth made me hungry for that and i bought this. Now i am hard pressed to got back to the vsts. Thanks for the vid very helpful in getting the power out of this beast.
Halfway through this and it has already helped me a ton. Thank you very much for taking out the time to post this!
Just got my BSII... awesome video mate. Helped me get up to speed real quick.
Yw, it’s a great little synth.
I bought bass station yesterday as my first synth and today I found this vid. Best thing that I could find. Amazing walktrough! Thanks man!
yw, Njoi
Wow omg so great and deep tutorial! Have ordered a Bass Station 2 and can't wait to start patching
Hey mate, very nice job with the tutorial. You're very well spoken and have a great understanding of the mighty Bass Station 2. Got mine yesterday and this video is perfect.
Thanks for taking the time to do this!!
You're welcome, glad you found it of some use.
The patches at the start are probably the best I've seen just to show what this thing is like.
Just wanted to say a massive thank you for this. I've finally got through the whole video and have learnt loads (and much more than I have from the manual). I'm so glad for us inexperienced types that there are people like your good self who are prepared to do vids like this. Nice one.
very creative, underrated synth, i guess, makes great… noises
Thanks for taking the time to do this mate
Welcome.
Damn, now that's a demo/walkthrough!!! Great Video!
mine comes tomorrow, I've watched this video twice! thanks for taking the time for the noobs!
Well you couldn't of chosen a better synth if it is your first. It is perfect for an introduction into subtractive. Glad you found the video helpful, it can be so confusing if you can't get pointed in the right direction, but these things are always simpler than you think. Enjoy!
H4NDCRAFTED Thanks man! So what would you recommend as an amp? i have a 4 x 12 speaker stack i could use for sound, but no amp to run it through. I'm guessing the bass station 2 won't put out much on its own even with the power supply, but i couldn't find anything about it in the manual. are there any cheap options to get me by for now?
*btw my speaker stack is 8 ohms if that matters?
Experiment, but if you want to hear the subtleties, get a soundcard for a pc or a usb soundcard and a cheap pair of studio monitors would be best. You can even buy cheap monitors with soundcards built in if you are really on a budget.
These would do but they are not as reliable as a separte sound card an dmonitor setup www.dv247.com/studio-equipment/alesis-m1-active-320-active-monitors-with-built-in-usb-soundcard-pair--46261
M audio stuff is cheap, look for a usb soundcard and their cheapest monitors and then have a browse of ebay maybe ? M Audio tend to good bang for buck stuff that is reliable.
*****
you wont be able to power a 4x12 cab with a bass station since it doesn't have a power amplifier. It can deliver line output level or power a set of headphones and thats about it. If you don't have a keyboard amp or a monitor system you could hook it up to a normal stereo system or a radio provided it has an external input.
Thank you for your efforts creating this video and especially for creating the shortcut links in the description. Nice touch ;)
Just wanted to say a massive thank you for such an in depth tutorial!! All the best
This was very comprehensive and I appreciate your review. Apparently my mod envelope as well as one of my LED numbers do not work already. But aside from these QC issues I am enjoying the concept of it. It has a great sound and can be made to sound like many of my favorite songs.
Just bought one because of this video
Thank you so much! This is such a great way to learn what it can do, sounds like you are really good at synthesis and a great teacher!
This is great! Thanks for the time code. Very much helps to focus on stuff I don't already know.
Thanks for the tutorial! Would you mind sharing how you got the patch around the 1:31:20 mark, where you demo the arpeggiator? I've tried dialing that bouncy, rubbery bass, but I can't quite get it to have that snap. Would it be just a square wave with little resonance, 0 attack, little decay, 0 sustain, and little release? Any help would be awesome!
+no Cannot remember, sounds like a sqr wave with maybe a pitched up saw for texture. Full env on filter with no attack time, shortish decay, tiny bit of sustain and no release.
33:30 When I want to turn on the Square-Wave, it doesn't has any effect at all on the sound. What am I doing wrong?
Excellent vid. Cheers.
Thank you mate for a great tutorial
agrelista yw
Love this BS2 such a wide range of sound and functionality. Great video. I wanna get one
Nice one Craft!! I want one!!!
Tbh, I really want to start getting back in to all this again and produce some serious tunage but time as well as money is a serious factor at the moment. Keep it live bruv
Amazingly helpful thank you
just finished this! nice tutorial mate
thanks very much for making this video. it was insanely informative and it must've taken you quite a bit of work !
Excellent rundown cheers. Also love the sound at 13:46. Love to know how you made that lol :)
This video is the reason why i didn't sell my Bass Station II.
This video is my reference to be able to make the sound i exactly want to.
Never take it back from UA-cam, please!!
A bottle of red later + H4ANDCRAFTED = I'm getting this synth!
Bless your kind soul for the video.
Thank you man, great video! Really appreciate the thorough explanation.
Very thorough demo, thank you for this. One comment though - your demonstration of oscillator sync is compromised by the high resonance setting on the filter, which obscures the gorgeous sound of the sync sweep. Some synths do sync well, others not so well. It'd be nice to hear the full range of the sync sweep here, unobscured by the intense resonant sweep. (your demo gets a bit better partway thru, after you switch to the INIT patch).
Very likely, this was done , pretty much as I went along so easy to miss things. Sync is ok on the bass station , but not nearly as nice as my Micromac. A lot of it comes down to how well the env sweep I guess.
Thanks for your comments.
Still, thanks for the demo, I'm debating buying one right now, and this has really clarified some of its functions for me. I found another demo that A/Bs the BassStation and the Microbrute. The hands in the demo look like *your* hands. Is it you?
karmafarm No it isn't me on that one ;)
Great in-depth look at all of the functions, this was extremely helpful! Would you mind explaining or referring me to a video that explains the relationship between Oscillator 1 + 2 in more detail? For example, if I'm creating a sound from scratch, would you recommend I mute 1 until 2 is perfected?
I still don't understand about RHYTM in arpeggiator. How is it worked? At what principle?
I greatly appreciate the time and effort you put into this. I learned a lot from your video.
any idea why on my BS2 the "Function/Exit" button does not work at all. does not flash any control on the screen when holding or pushing the button Thus not enabling me to use any of the "On Key" functions? any help would be appreciated it's doing my head in
Eric Persing's Trillian has more studio practical use for Bass, loads more patches and half the price. Its a soft synth, not as cpu heavy like N.I. products. Super easy to use to get fast results! If you own omnisphere, Trillian will load inside giving you further parameter options to shape your tone. #spectrasonics
Tony Battle I have all the Specrasonic stuff. There really isn't any point in comparing, Trillian is obviously going to have more modulation effects etc, but that is totally missing the point of a analogue hardware keyboard. I do stuff I wouldn't think to do in Trillian, the env aren't as snappy in Trillain either, the filters is clearly digital sounding in Trillian too. If I had to chose between the two, obviously Trillian, but I don't, I can use both. Can you use Trillian without a computer ? etc etc. Apples and Oranges.
Of course, i have the BSII and I love it, especially the dedicated Sub Osc! But many of my colleagues find the pre-loaded patches to be useless which is true.
Tony Battle So wipe them and make your own, thats the point of a synthesiser , if you want presets buy a rompler. Personally I like analogue but not so keen on the control, I will make a patch I like then multisample it into a sampler and control it from there. Essentially that is what Trillian does on the synth side, but I like to chose my starting wave. Now if I could use my own waves in Trillian that would be awesome, you kind of can with granular in Omnisphere.
In fact I'd love to see Spectrasonic make a full on sampler based around the steam engines control.
this is really great. thanks bro :)
Great tutorial, this cleared a lot of fonctionalities! Thanks very much!
Indeed I kind of regret not turning midi clock off. Slow arps can really add a lot of nice filter stuff and you can get some great dynamics running it fast with lots of sub. Ah well it wil be fun for ppl to discover that for themselves ;)
Very helpful. I just got one if these!
Hi, great walk through, you have good style. Just a couple of quick questions. Is it possible to have the lfo amount set to each vco seperatly? For example have it modulater vco 1 but not 2. Also is it possible to have the lfo trigger when you take your finger off a key so it only effects the release stage? Cheers.
You can set lfo depth independently, yes. I've never come across a synth where you can do the second part of your question, you can set a fade so the lfo comes in on a curve with 'lfo delay' time. May be if you set a long fade and have lots of release you can time it so the lfo kicks in as you release, but your note ons would have to be all the same length.
Thats great thanks. The second one aas just a thought, now you mention it i cant think of one where you can either. Idea just popped into my head last night, would be a pretty sweet feature to have though, cant have everything eh. Thanks again gor the guide. Im trying to pick between this and the ms-20 mini at the moment and its proving too hard of a choice. Patch bay and those sweet filters or patch memory and aps and so on.
I have both. Different beasts really. The MS20 has patching and processing, but having to patch even simple functions can be annoying. If I had to choose, the MS20 for Sound, but the BS2 does a lot more and gets used the most. If it is your only analogue , I'd prob go for the BS2 for patch recall. Personally I have come round to the fact that I don't want digital anything on an analogue synth, mainly bc all the 100% analogue synths I have , have way more character and I prefer softsynths if I need patch recall.
I don't have an MS-20 so this is pure speculation but, being semi modular, couldn't you route an envelope to the lfo depth and set the lfo to trigger on the release phase. Not sure if the MS-20 has a delay on it's envelopes but, if it does, you should be able to dial it in perfectly.
Stephen Church Got the MS20 mini at the weekend, love it. Got it by hooking up the reverse output of EG1 to the spare VCA control and then ran the LFO through it. Now the LFO fade in with the release stage of EG1. Cheers.
One of the best tutorial I've ever seen. Thx mate! ;D
+Paolo Salvi Yw sir!
Have you ever seen an online tutorial? This video is not a tutorial, it's going through each button on the synth one after another with no description. Useful to hear how the synth sounds, but it's not a guide to using it.
Paul Biechmann That is why there is a timestamp list, I explain what each function does and even physically demo it. What is it specifically you need to know ? What this isn't is subtractive synthesis 101, it is 'guide to every function' which is a tutorial on how to use the Bass Station 2.
What would you consider a tutorial, what were you expecting ?
I was thinking for a tutorial, putting a description perhaps of each of the controls eg. the oscillators/mod gens etc. first - describing the structure of the machine overall, then getting into the patches.
Paul Biechmann You mean, exactly like I did already ?
Re: the 'seq retrig' function. I know this has to do with midi sync from an external drum pattern, but its giving me a bit of aggravation at the moment (i.e. its not working.. or, more likely, I forgot how to activate it properly). Can you go over this for a sec? Do I have to hit the 'save' button or something after I switch it to the ON mode? Right now Im just syncing by matching tempo on both my units (which keeps everything in time, but it isn't the best way cuz its not really midi-synced I guess?). A bit confused, please help?!!
getting. I'm only used to virtual synthesisers so its a bit intimidating.
Hi, I imagine - in the sequencer section - you could just program your sequence via midi (in your computer), and then adjust it from there?
I guess that you could trigger your iPad (and its synth) via your Bass Station, enabling you to have a polyphonic keyboard, and also to play back a polyphonic sequence that you'd programmed into a DAW? --- Great video, big thanks.
Really nice overview! I am looking forward to watching it all!
One question I am curious about is if there is a way to turn off the blue led's on the wheels in the settings? I find that blue wavelength of light is actually hard on the eyes over time. I think the mininova has the ability to turn off the leds but not sure if the BSII can do this...
Can anyone explain how he's locked the midi clock to Ableton's clock?
how do we set up the midi out and in to sync with other synths?
Great video! Any where I can download your patches? :)
I still plan to upload some, i'm compiling a list slowly.
Thank you so much for this video! I learned a lot from it.
Omar Haggag yw
Tx, I just bought the bs2 and it seems nothing more than a noise machine, and I was hoping to learn from you. Your bit about the external input, using the synth has given me ideas to breathe life into the bs2. I'm missing the poly, so to send a poly into it may make it work for me. PS, you don't need clamps to latch an un-latchable key, I use a guitar plectrum on my microbrute and it works great.
question about the sequence record mode, is it expecting you to record a given number of steps defined in advance (16 in your video), or can you stop at whichever step you like, thus allowing you to set the time signature as well and create whichever signature you like, say record 7 steps and create a 7/8 pattern ? cheers!
akypar you can do as many steps as you want, i don't use the seq much so can't remember for the minute, but almost sure.
H4NDCRAFTED thanks man
I think its up to 32 steps though, it also has a kind of wrap around function that you can alter, I think I go into this in the seq section.
Great movie. KUDOS!
Great, this is really useful. Many thanks!
Thanks for the info. Sorry i'm new to MIDI and stuff but could you explain how to connect an ipad to the bass station? I have the DM1 app and would like to use it with my bass station 2, thank you. What do I need?
Great vid. Question: can you use the step sequencer to layer multiple sequences on top of each other? Thanks
No it isn't multitimbral and you can't sequence the Osc individually. It very quick to lay the midi down in a DAW though, so this could be done quite quickly there.
Thank you for the effort you put in this video. The interface confused me, as the LFO section and their depths are placed in different sections as opposed to my SH-32. I'm no keyboard player, either. Just a dude who loves to play with sounds :)
Np, that’s 95% of us, right. Glad it helped.
Thanks for this, awesome info
How does the BS2 compare to the rack mount super bass station ?
From what I remember , the BS2 is much improved in every aspect.
@@H4NDCRAFTED copy that thx
Would it be possible to connect a guitar through a 1/4 inch jack? (Like you did with the iPad).
13:53 that’s what I wanted to hear!! BASS!🔊🔊😁🔥
Would you recommend this over the Moog Minitaur aside from the keys? I've been researching the options for over a year now.
It depends what you want from the synth. The Minitaur has a superb sound but is much more limited. Do you have other synths ?
As a first analogue this is probably the best out there because there is so much you can do with it. The Minitaur has a classic 'modern' Moog sound and arguably a better quality sound overall.
If you don't have any other mono synths this is very easy to ingrate, sits in a mix very easily and can do bass and leads. It can easily do Roland and Moog sounds.
It is up to your requirements, but I do know that you will not be disappointed with the BS2, if it were me, it would be a no brainer, this or the Minibrute.
But if you don't need CV this. If your not fussed about analogue then the Roland Aira system 1seems to be a great bet with a very good SH-101 emulation plugin too. However with that you will want to have some sort of midi keyboard already as the one it comes with is very basic.
Oh I don't think the Minitaur can go up the range very high either as it is ment as a bass synth, so that it a big consideration if you want to be able to play higher octaves.
H4NDCRAFTED Thanks for the great and rapid reply. I've got a Korg EMX-1 Electribe, a Microkorg and a Korg Koaoscillator Pro but lack the really serious lows. I like the idea of the keys on the BS2 and price. So my only decision is which performs better on the low frequencies. Thanks again. Cheers!
Well if it just the lows you want, as in sub frequencies, then that is what the Minitaur excels at. Despite what people say some of the best solid lows come from digital synths. Some of the best sub bass I have heard has come from logic's VSTi.
I created my own analogue bass synth out of an old shoebox and some rubber bands
Rubber bands ? They still make those ?
BEAST! Anyone know if you can connect a guitar MIDI Controller thing to it?
It has a midi input, if your guitar gives out midi data, like note on and off, pitch bend etc, it will respond to it!
Hmmmm...that could be very interesting. Thanks for your help! :D
Stunning video!
You say you also have the Moog Sub Phatty. How does it compare to the BS2?
I sold it, although it had the Moog sound, even without driving the osc into the mixer it was way too harsh for my ears. Also the hidden functions were hard to remember if you don’t want to use the software.
It was a nice modern take on a Moog though , had plenty of bass too.
@@H4NDCRAFTED You sold the sub phatty?
Or the bs2?
Good clip man,very useful thank u
Thanks for making such a comprehensive video, so many just skim the surface. If you've got time would you mind answering a quick question, do the arp settings save with the patch?
ben1210 Sorry missed this one, you probably know by now, but for anybody else, arp setting are saved with patch, however user sequences are not patch dependant, you save 5 on machine and if you change one it will change for all patches using that sequence.
Graeat Video ! :) Question : how can I save simple patch with elected level of volume ? Meny of my sounds are louder then rest of my sounds ...
Help me please :)
I don’t think there is a volume normalisation option like on DSI synths.
@@H4NDCRAFTED hmmm... so what can I do if some of my sounds are too loud ? Any other idea ?
If you are using mac search for SystemEx Librarian or for Windows use Midi-ox.
Both will let you dump to your computer. It is basically writing all the midi perameters for a patch in a midi file. You can save one patch or all 128 at once.
Dumping midi is very straight forward and it is better tosearch google than me explain it here. You can do it in DAWs but sometimes you have to ajust speeds etc for OS updates etc. So best to use Midi-ox.
Search google 'midi-ox how to dump patches'
Awesome tutorial! You're the man!!
Does it have start stop sync?
Do another one with the updates
My sub oscillator doesn't turn down at all. Can't for the life of me figure out why. Is my BS2 broke?
I have to say that you are not getting enough credit for the service you have done for me and for others. you have saved me SO much time and I am very grateful. thank you very very much!
Thanks, just happy to help, it is all basic stuff , there is no point keeping info this basic a secret. Once you get deeper into subtractive synths look at modular stuff. That is where the real power is ;)
So I noticed that you have your arp sync'd to your DAW. I have been trying to get this to work with FL Studio 11 and have had no such luck. I'm using the midi usb cable only, should I try to use a midi usb cable do you think? I have FL sending a master sync to the BS2 but it won't lock the tempo. Any help would be appreciated!
I don't know if you noticed but answered you he just made it a regular comment instead of replying to you.
Sweet tutorial! Thanks. Now i don't feel so bad for never reading the manual :) do you find that the arpeggiator sometimes goes out of sync with your daw or drum machine? A few other people have also said this.
Not in live 9, it is solid. But there are so many factors in this you will have problems trouble shooting it, maybe your DAW maybe the BS2, or some other issue? a bad plugin etc.
I use fl studio,can you tell me how can i use Dump function.
What exactly dump means ?
Thanks
hey, I don't know much about music but I heard analogue sounds better. I want to create a heavy sub bass kick. I was wondering if I could achieve that with this? I see this is a bass station but didn't kno if it was capable of making a kick drum sound.
You can make one with any synth analogue or digital, or just record you kicking a football of something. Most of the strong dance kicks are heavy bc of the processing, not the sound used. Get an 808 sample for a 808 subby kick, nothing has ever come close. Search for Goldbaby Tape 808 samples.
H4NDCRAFTED so do you think if I went the hardware route and purchase a synth and create my own 808 drum and I created the sound I was looking after on the hardware. Do you think that if I tried to sample it into a Daw for use with my other software instruments that I would lose sound quality?
Honestly if I was after just 808 sounds I'd buy D16's Nephton VSTi. The kick on that you can sculpt and it sounds huge!
Thanks a bunch handcrafted. I actually might go this route ...might purchase this as well as Sonic Academy KICK drum synth after a bit more research...thanks a lot tho...
He did the sub-bass sound at 7:20, patch 72, but skipped over it for some reason. Sounds really good. Or you could just pick up Rob Papen's SubBoombass VSTi. I'd rather have the BS II, but any decent DAW like Ableton Live will include an 808 kit. Cheers.
Nice video. What is the v synth you use on the iPad? (The one that like like a JP8000)
antenasub It is a jp8000 clone called Sunrizer synth, it is being released as au/vst soon as well.
I notice you said you can store patches across any of the 128 slots.. On the the novation site i see it says 64 slots for user presets, 64 factory. Are you able to save over the factory ones?
+BULLSH!T MAN Yes you can all 128 are avaliable to the user for saving. You can save banks and individual patches to your computer using a sysex app or Novations own app as well.
+H4NDCRAFTED Thanks for that. I'm torn between this and the sub phatty. Have you used that at all? I make jungle and the synth would mostly be used for aggressive, industrial type basses.
BULLSH!T MAN Yes I have owned the Sub. The bass station was sampled a lot in Jungle days as a cheaper option. Personally I'd get this over the Sub I much prefer the envelopes for jungle type stuff. Although you could look at a system 1 or 1m by Roland and buy the sh101 plugin, that will give you some tasty jungle basses. Digital but sounds just as good as the real thing to me.
Then a sampler and a 808 kick drum with long decay can pretty much give most jungle basses from the early days.
When you switch through patches and you haven't touched any parameters such as your ADSR, does switching a patch also switch too what you saved as or just to what is on the knobs in real time?
Switches to what you have saved. How this relates to getting to the settings of the new patch is explained in the intro. Just go to the relevant section in the description, it is listed ;)
Thanks, I appreciate your kind and immediate response. I can tell that you're a really nice person at heart. I hope you have a wonderful day doing what you do (;
Do you sell your patches?
how do you go back 1 step in the sequencer?
You don't ;) you redo it.
how do I sync this up with a korg volca beats???
MIDI cables...
Hiya. Great vid. Do you fancy swapping some patches?
Excellent.
Thank you for this tutorial
thanks man great tutorial
is this one better than the Mininova? If you had to choose, which one would you take?
Different beasts really, ones digital , ones analogue. You need to be using a softwear editor for the mini, if you want hands on and that big analogue sound, this.
I'm pretty sure you get the software with it. You can control it without the software, but with such a limited amount of encoders, it will drive you to crazy, trust me on this!
Have you looked at the Ultranova, that could be a good option for you, best of both worlds. That is fully digital, but the Nova engine still sounds great.
They have identical sound engines, the software is the same for both pretty much, where they differ is, the Ultra has more encoders and they are touch sensitive. If you don't mind editing in software to get deeper , i'd recommend the Mini. It still has a fair amount of hands on control to be fair, with a nice big filter knob. I have considered getting one myself bc the size is great and you get a pretty nice vocoder and all of the same functions, like arpeggiator etc as the Nova. They only differ in amount of hands on control, they both have all the same features under the hood, like wavetables etc.
Here is a great review...
Novation Mininova Synthesizer - Sonic LAB review
Oh the keys on the Mininova are tiny though, but you can control it from any midi keyboard.
Would it make sense to buy this when you already have a roland Fa 06?
No
It depends what you want to do I guess. What I will say is real analogue sounds different. I have the Roland Aira stuff and it is very good, I even sold my sh---2 as the plugin is that good. But analogue just sounds more real, I can't honestly describe why, but I own analogue stuff for a reason, it just has more texture and body to my ears. So if you just need bass, probably not. The only way to tell is borrow one.
H4NDCRAFTED true
These Monosynths are making it so damn hard to pick one, therefore you end up getting all of them. For me the Minibrute is a must, there's nothing that sounds like it but now after watching this I'm second guessing getting the MiNitaur to get this. I'm so torn. I'm not as impressed with the sounds but the functionality is WAY better than the other two.
Ja'Maul Redmond You will be surprised, you can can get some very Moog style sounds, maybe not that deep quality of bass. Also remember the Minitaur is a bass synth and i think it doesn't go up the octave range far.
This is much more on an Roland SH series tip. I guess it comes down to quality or quantity but the BS2 can knock out some pretty HQ sounds too. I end up getting an Roland SH-2 for that quality sound, that gets pretty Moogish too.
I had the microbrute, I found it boring without the preset,I ended selling it to get the bs2,it's more fun,the moog werkstatt is another nice sounding synth...
The minitaur is pretty limited in my opinion. I never owned one but my friend did, and I had the Bs2.
To be honest the moog sound and filter were nice , but my bass station blew it right out of the room.
I'm sure someone will say otherwise and that I didn't know how to use it . But I know my ears and the minitaur didn't make the walls shake like the Bass Station did.