Teach me thursday : version virtuelle de la novation Bass Station

You have undoubtedly heard that Novation partnered with analogue-modelling pioneers GForce Software to create the definitive virtual version of the Bass Station. GForce Bass Station is included for free with Novation Launchkey MK4, SL MkIII, and FLkey MIDI keyboard controllers, and can be purchased directly from GForce. But do you know about the rich history of the Bass Station?

Released in 1993, the original Bass Station synthesiser was the second piece of hardware ever created by Novation and it's now hailed as one of the most important in the company’s history. The success of Bass Station resulted in a demand for more, leading to the release of Bass Station Rack in 1994. This was much more than just a key-less version of Bass Station and featured several huge improvements. The next addition to the range, Super Bass Station, featured a sub oscillator that greatly expanded its sonic palette. A ring modulator and a white noise generator further increased Bass Station’s sound design abilities.

Now a classic in its own right, the latest addition to the Bass Station family has all of these famous qualities distilled into one feature-packed unit. Bass Station II is a fully analogue monosynth with digital control for instant patch storage and recall. In 2019, Novation released the Bass Station II Firmware v4.14 update, the headline feature of which came about through a direct collaboration with electronic music legend Richard James, aka Aphex Twin.

Le résultat fut l'AFX Mode, grâce auquel n'importe quel patch du Bass Station II pouvait être modifié touche par touche pour introduire des changements subtils en haut et en bas du clavier, diviser le clavier en plusieurs zones, chacune jouant son propre son, ou créer des kits de batterie entiers dans un seul préréglage. Véritable source d'inspiration, le mode AFX a ouvert le Bass Station II à un tout nouveau monde de possibilités de conception sonore et d'interprétation.

La gamme Bass Station a été utilisée dans de nombreuses productions populaires par des artistes tels que Massive Attack, Orbital, Everything Everything, Josh Wink, Nine Inch Nails, Super Furry Animals, Underworld, Apollo 440, RZA (Wu Tang Clan), Radiohead, Jimi Tenor, Laurent Garnier et Sneaker Pimps, pour n'en citer que quelques-uns. Ajoutez le son classique de Bass Station à votre production, soit avec le matériel Bass Station II, soit avec la version plugin incluse dans votre contrôleur Launchkey MK4, SL MKIII ou FLKey.