Novation Super Bass Station

THIS thing is AMAZING and SOOO easy to work with!

LOADED!!

FANTASTIC presets and lots of users space to make your own sounds...

I've gigged with it for 3 three years and i've played Industrial,Trip-hop,Goth,Heavy,Punk,Techno,etc with this awesome machine.It's built like a tank

Never needed them

The best bass machine ever built.

The synth have a good number of knobs, so it's very intuitive. But, I find tedious to switch between the two OSC: before you change the sound you have to be sure to select the right OSC.
The menu/display is to much compressed. Anyway, I think the ease of use is a habit issue.

This is the best part. The super-bass station is full of feature:
1-2 OSCs synth+1 sub OSC. The OSCs are DCO(like juno 106 or other famous techno oriented synth)with sufficient possibilities to model your sound.
2-It's an analog filter processor(LPF).
3-It's a midi to CV-gate converter

with a half the price of a juno 106 (IN THEORY) you can buy a Juno 106+a converter+a simple filter processor.

This is the worst part and I think Expresiveness/Sounds are the most important question to point before buy a musical instrument so: shame on novation.
It's hard to describe the sound... so I can say, in a few words, that this synth is the less musical synth I have had. I have: yamaha cs30,an1x,rm1x,tx802, roland juno2,jupiter4,jx8p, solina SE and other things... So I think I can judge it in an objective way. Oppositely the name, I find the bass sounds very dull. The only type of sound I like are percussive sequence in the mid-hi register.
DCO means Digital Controlled Oscillator in few words an analog oscillator digitally controlled making it more stable than old pure analog VCO. BUT, alphajuno, juno 106 and jx8p have DCO too and sound more musical than superbass station... I don't know why.
Other bad point is the small size of knobs and the fact the they are too close each other.
As filter to process external audio is mediocre.

I bought it used. Frequency filter knob doesn't work correctly probably due to previous user's abuse or weak materials. Other than this no problem.

For what I paid I'm satisfied. I suggest it if you need a cheap midi-cv gate converter(that was my case). It's not the best choice if you are looking for an analog synth.

Pretty inuitive to use -- basic patch editing can be accomplished just by moving the knobs, and there are a few more in-depth options available via menus, too. Manual is much better than its brothers for other Novation products!

Obviously, the Super Bass Station is a monosynth; it has two oscillators, plus a sub osc. There is a fiarly useful onboard chorus. The distortion effect is good; those who overdrive their synths by overloading the mixer channel may feel it to be a little polite, but, well, then you just overload the mixer channel like you used to! ;) I haven't experienced any of the MIDI problems reported by some other users. It transmits every knob over MIDI including master volume. I'm afraid I can't comment on the arpeggiator, as I never use it! Some quirkier options such as a ring modulator.

It's not quite my Moog, but it's still a really good sounding synth, for both bass and many lead sounds (plus some effects and weirdness). Some will consider this heresy, but I sold my SH-101 because I was using the Super Bass Station far more than it! Only slight issue is that the output is slightly noisy, but as I have it running through permanent compression anyway, it's simple to gate that out.

The knobs give a slight impression of flimsiness, but only due to their dinky size. Other than that, it's been pretty solid.

Never dealt with Novation.

This synthesiser is definitely worth what I paid for it. I can understand why someone who bought it new when it came out might now think it wasn't worth almost #500 / US$900; however, at the time, Novation had a captive market. For less than #100 / US$180 used you can get a very versatile, fully MIDIable, great sounding genuine analogue monosynth (despite some reports, it is NOT a VA, it's a real analogue -- having DCOs doesn't disqualify it from that!) which despite being only a 1U rack still has loads of real-time controllers on it. I don't know why they aren't selling better!

Quite easy, the manual was a bit pants though.

It done what the reviews said it would (just)

I thought 95% of the sounds were pretty awful and a little cheesy even after alot of tweaking your still left with a very tired out sound.

It worked OK for 3 years. Although the build quality is really bad so I was surprised it did'nt fall apart.

Never needed to call them.

I sold it last year because I just found all the sounds very weak even after running through loads of processors. It really didn't live upto the hype. I do have the Drumstation and now that's beginning to wear a little thin with my use. I always use my Studio Electronics ATC-1 synth for every track which never sounds weak but then again it is a PROPER Analogue synth.

Lot's of knobs and buttons to your pleasure, but some of them double for other purposes, for example the LFO and Oscillator settings that you switch between LFO1/2 and Osc1/2 -makes it hard to get an overview and even harder to make any fine adjustments to either set (of LFO or Osc) after changing back from the other. Some stuff doesn't even apply to Osc1 but to Osc2 so it gets a bit confusing at times. And there's menues! I hate menues! They're not too deep but they are still menues... Most essential controls are very upfront, with their own dedicated knobs so simple soundediting is easy. Manual is good and there is a navigation map to the menues on the back of the sleeve. Presets are nice, showing many of the sounds you didn't think you could do with the machine. And there is also a kind of demo feature that demos a few of the synths sounds.

Monophonic bassmachine is the best way to describe it, although it has some more up it's sleeve. It can do some nice leads and fx too if you push it a little. Built in chorus and dist and a nice panning feature, but the chorus and dist don't really show that much. Very nice arpeggiator, syncable to midi clock (which also applies to the LFOs), lot's of patterns including glide for TB emulation. Every knob sends midi so any tweaks can be recorded into your sequencer which is very nice. Every parameter also takes midi CC messages so you easily can control the little box from the sequencer, try switching the waveform very quickly as you play a line -or on every note, it rocks and makes your sound a bit more interesting. It also takes pitch bend and velocity via midi, which is nice.

I feel that the sounds tend to be a bit metallic and almost to clean. I guess that's due to the digital oscillators, and I'm more into the liquid soft, warm feeling of analog. But don't misunderstand me -the filter is analog and it sounds absolutely great and makes this synth really shine. In 24 dB mode it is a killer, but for more mellow stuff you can switch down to 12 dB. Fast envelopes that also go away to really long times makes sure there is a good chance of getting the sound you're after. A little weak in arpeggio and LFO speed though... There is some feeling to this instrument but I wouldn't say that it lives.

Very reliable, it's not that old and construction seems solid so I'd gig with it. Never had any trouble with it locking up on me or anything, just a stuck note now and then but nothing serious.

Never dealt widdem.

I paid a little more than I think it's worth having had it for a while so only if I could find a cheap used one I'd get it again if I lost mine. But I'd probably go for something else with more character, something with VCOs instead of DCOs.

Great Presets! You can get about any analog sound you want just out of the presets. Great examples of lfo modulation, arpegiation, and slide 303 type sounds. Editing presets is a bit difficult, but nothing a quick glance at the manual can't answer. Everything is editied via knobs and a two digit led display. The manual explains everything you would want to know about this synth and the analog synthesis behind it.

This is an analog mono synth so you get one voice, with 2 osc + sub osc. Has built in chorus and distortion which are decent. There are no expansion posibilities, other than hooking a cv synth to it to be played via midi (I have not does this yet). It accepts key velocity and chanel aftertouch. All knobs send midi continous controller data which makes it simple to sequence complicated sweeps and other effects. It lacks an on board sequencer, how ever it does have a somewhat sophisticated arpegiator.

The sounds are simply awesome. If you are looking for room shaking moog style basslines this is the machine for you. I use it mostly for synth bass lines in techno and techno pop style music. It responds well to velocity and I have yet to experiment with the aftertouch. It reacts very well to playing live or seqeunced. You can sometimes get stuck notes if you overload it with data or forget a note off, which is anoying sometimes.

This thing has given me absolutely no problems. The only thing that irks me is sometimes I get stuck notes and I usually just reset it by cycling the power (no power button!) I would definately gig this w/o a backup.

I only emailed novation once, with a question about the demonstration song that they created. I recieved an email with in a few days.

If this were lost or stolen, I would get another one immediately. This is a key piece of my studio where the bassline and the drums make or break the song. I was looking for room filling bass and the novation definately has this.

It is used in conjunction with:
Roland XP-30 (controller/synth)
Roland R8, R8M (Dance, Electronic, Ethnic, Effects, and Mallet Cards)
Alesis MidiVerb 2 (decent delays and verbs)
Behringer 1604 Mixer.

I really love the sound and the over all tweakabilty of this synth. I really whish it had midi sync'ble delays like the korg ea-1 but once I have the money saved up for a decent studio delay, that problem should be solved.

Two things I dislike about it is the filter input doesn't take a line level source (or at least I haven't been able to figure out how) and the notes getting stuck.

Some good presets for once. Easy to make even better sounds by modifying existing presets (hint: modify preset 96 for a good 303).
Editing is a pain in the ass because there is only one set of knobs for both oscillators and LFOs so you have to flick a switch to go back and forth between unit 1 and 2. This means there is no way of seeing exactly where each oscillator and LFO are at a glance. Manual is very good.

Monophonic, built in chorus/distortion. The distortion sucks and even at 99 isn't hard enough. Lots of midi control although mine couldn't handle it (see reliability.) Has lots of features per program like arepg, midi controller assign, etc.

Took a while (and I actually had to read the manual) but I managed to get some great sounds out of this. The filter is nice and gritty. Very nice sounds with res near max and freq all the way down.

I'm returning the unit after having it for a week. It would constantly crash and lock up for no apparent reason. Seemed to get overloaded by midi and not respond to note offs. This makes me very sad as I know that this was a unit I could have grown to love and use in every song. Back to my old faithful Protone! :)

Didn't want to deal with it. Just returning the unit to the retailer.

Overall rating is moot since I have to return the unit. If it was reliable I woudl have given it an 8 or 9. Maybe I just ended up with a dud.

From the intuitive standpoint the machine suffers in its akward two character display. For actual editing of the inner workings of the patches the manual needs to be within reach for the first few sessions but soon the interface becomes second nature and easy; at first, though, the display tends to confuse rather than inform. This box is more geared for tech-heads, so grab a knob and fly away.

This box was created for basslines: from smooth, soft bass to hard squealing acid. The unit has a built in chorus and distortion which add versatility to the sound. The real kicker are all of the midi controllable KNOBS!! LFOs, sub osc, filter envelopes, etc all transmit / recieve midi data. Of course, it's monophonic, cos it was made to be. 2 oscillators, ring mod, and also it can be used as a resonant filter for external inputs... No power switch!?!

Do you techno? If so, this machine is very usefull and its very presence often causes tracks to be produced. Very warm, very cool, very analog. The sound can approach 303 but in many respects its versatility conquers it (and it's midi, and it's 1/2 price!) Get a dedicated FX for this machine and it will overwhelm.

Its nature is very basic and there is no real room for the machine to become unstable. Straightforward-- will always work, just like a good analog machine should.

Novation techs answer questions online via the novation website. They interact with actual users. Other companies should follow suite.

Great sound, it 303s, with FX it is killer. Monophonic, but happy that way. If you techno go for it. For jungle it might be a little less suited because it is a different type of bass sound, but lately jungle has been moving toward a unified goa style jungle sound... for the chill ambient it is perfect as well-- perfect sound for the mind as well as for getting the bodies to move.

Well, ease of use.....not very.....in fact it's a bit of A PIG. On the plus side there are millions of knobs to twiddle to your heart's content. On the minus there's a really lame two-digit NUMERIC readout, with numbers that sometimes mean absolutely nothing unless you refer to the manual. Also saving a patch is several menus of the poxy 12-way keypad away from many of the patch-tweaking menus. Sorry but it should have a decent LCD and a cursor like everything else.

Monophonic, no effects...sounds a bit poor until you find out it has 2 sound oscillators PLUS a sub-osc, 2 syncable LFO's 100 arpegiator patterns and EXTREMELY extensive midi control. You can sync the arp to the LFO's, the LFO's to midi etc in all sorts of wonderful ways.....also don't forget those knobs. Wanna tweak Rez ? Pulse width? Keyboard track? love it.

This is where it scores. If you want basslines, acid squawks, screaming porta leads, sub-bass drones etc it does it all. Sometimes it makes noises that I would never have thought of, never mind tried to programme. Brill.

Ah, now.... the filters on this baby aren't analog modelling...they are REAL ANALOG. This may explain why when feeding oscillators into each other and back again it occasionally locks up. No problem unless you're using it live...... Also no mains switch...why ??

Novation have a chat area at DANCETECH, and their techo's actually answer posts, questions and abuse..... THIS SHOULD BE COMPULSORY FOR ALL SYNTH MANUFACTURERS.... more power to Novation I say.

It took me months to learn how to approach this baby, but now I'm getting the hang of it I love it. It makes noises like nothing else.Forget all your 303 clones, give this a try....