Novation Bass Station II is now available, an upgraded version of their popular analog mono-synth with modernized features.

This new bass synth hardware is released in conjunction with Novation's 21st birthday, and it honors the original hardware that helped Novation grow into the company that it is now.

The original Bass Station was released back in 1993, it was intended to be a compact synth that bassists and keyboardists can add to their rig - to conjure analog low register synth sounds.

The unit was hard to program, and missed its intended market. But soon musician performers found some great use for it by processing it externally through effects units. These sounds helped set the standard of what we now call "acid" music.

Now Novation finally takes the Bass Station into the 21st century, retaining the classic sound of the original synth while adding to its versatility, portability and power. The Bass Station II comes with two filters, two oscillators plus a third sub-oscillator, a step sequencer, an arpeggiator, a modulation section and a host of analog effects designed for easily conjuring the bass and lead synth lines that you hear in your head.

Everything about the Bass Station II is re-worked, resulting in what Novation describes as a bigger sound, that can also produce arpeggios and leads. The controls were also improved, laid out in modules with dedicated pots, sliders, switches and buttons for all major parameters.

The 25 full sized keys offer modern playability features including assignable aftertouch and velocity sensitivity. Each keys are individually sprung so it is light to the touch and responds well to the synth engine.

To ensure sound quality, this unit comes with a pure analog signal path, from the oscillators, to the modulators and including the effects section. Other features include MIDI I/O ports and USB connectivity.

Here is an in-depth video demo of the Bass Station II :

The Novation Bass Station II is now available with a street price of around $500. For the complete specifications, you can visit Novation Music.

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