Novation Bass Station II
Following the introduction of the Ultranova and Mininova over the last couple of years, Novation return with an updated version of the 90s classic Bass Station. The Bass Station was originally released in 1993 as a keyboard, followed by a 1U rack module, then the updated Super Bass Station rack and even a plugin. Nominally a TB-303 clone, it ironically wasn’t particularly outstanding at bass but wasn’t a bad all-round analogue monosynth for the money.
The Bass Station II looks to be based around the Super Bass Station synth engine with an additional diode filter option, built-in analogue distortion and an arpeggiator/step sequencer. The £399 RRP will pitch it against the likes of the £429 Arturia MiniBrute and £499 Korg MS-20 Mini. Shipping in June.
Novation’s accompanying video shows off a wide selection of the company’s products from over the last 21 years:
Doepfer announcements
Doepfer have announced a series of new products, focussing mainly on their extensive range of Eurorack format synth modules. The highlights include a new A-100LCB low-cost Eurorack case (€320), the A-171-2 voltage-controlled slew processor (€120) based on Ken Stone’s Serge VCS, the A-190-5 polyphonic USB/MIDI to CV/gate converter (€250), the A-190-8 USB/MIDI to sync (€120), the A-157 trigger sequencer subsystem (€400) and a special edition black MAQ16/3 sequencer (€750).
Doepfer played an instrumental role (no pun intended) in revitalising the modular synth market back in the mid 90s, and their range continues to offer one of the most comprehensive collections of bread-and-butter synth modules you’ll find anywhere, with an ever-increasing number of slightly more esoteric options. The black MAQ16/3 is perhaps the least innovative of the new products, sporting a new paint job and Dark Energy-style knobs to mark the 20th anniversary of the sequencer developed in conjunction with Kraftwerk. You have to admit it looks pretty good though, right?
Image-Line News
Image-Line have announced that they’ll reveal FL Studio 11, Deckadance 2, FL Studio Mobile 2.1 for iOS, FL Studio Mobile 1.0 for Android and FL Groove at Musikmesse. Coming only just over a year since the release of FL Studio 10 (take note, Apple), version 11 isn’t a radical overhaul of the popular DAW; Image-Line’s list of new features shows that the headline upgrades include multi-touch support and a handful of plugin updates.
It’s a little unclear exactly what FL Groove is, but the smart money seems to be on a mobile version of Groove Machine. Image-Line’s new mobile focus can also be seen with the release of the first Android version of the popular FL Studio Mobile app (a re-skinned and modified version of Xewton Music Studio).
Next page: Jomox goes modular, u-he tape emulation and Korg Volca series…
04.36 AM
I will probably take a spin with the Novation Bass Station II and the U-HE Satin. Always love trying out some new gear/plug-ins. Great update Attack, thanks!
01.59 PM
Novation should consider getting Dorian Concept to do all of their product tests.
http://youtu.be/9dZWJFKyUSc
10.47 PM
It’s great that so many companies are embracing analog synths again (finally), but Korg seems to be riding the crest of that wave. I like that they’re focusing on affordable yet decent sounding analog gear.
10.50 PM
It’s also about damned time that Doepfer released a polyphonic MIDI to CV module