Novation Bass Station – Bold, Booming, and Buzzing.

The original Novation Bass Station, launched in 1993, is celebrated for its raw, punchy, and unmistakably analogue character. Designed during a period when digital synthesisers dominated, the Bass Station brought analogue warmth and grit back into the spotlight, making it a cult favourite among producers.

The Novation Bass Station by GForce, whilst remaining sonically faithful to the original, has been extensively enhanced, now offering polyphony, unison modes, a powerful modern sequencer, and expansive modulation capabilities with the advanced X-LFO and X-ADSR. These updates bring unprecedented depth and flexibility to the Bass Station’s iconic sound.

And if you are a registered customer of the Novation Launchkey MK4, FLKey, or SL MK3, Novation and GForce are delighted to offer you this plugin for free. Simply log in to your Novation account for more information!

Ferocious Basslines and Monstrous Polyphonic Sounds

The GForce Bass Station delivers a sound as powerful and textured as the iconic Roland TB-303® that its 24dB filter is meant to emulate. Its distinctive filter sweeps and lively oscillators allow for expressive bass lines and leads, from smooth, rounded tones to biting, edgy textures.

Whether you’re shaping intense bass grooves or slicing through leads, the Bass Station is your ultimate ally in redefining the low end. Break free from the ordinary and let your bass lines take centre stage with the timeless energy of the Bass Station.


How Was It Augmented?

The Novation Bass Station by GForce has been entirely crafted from the ground up and richly enhanced to bring the best of both worlds—vintage charm aligned with modern possibilities. Here are the key enhancements:

1. Enhanced Signal Path: The Bass Station retains the authentic, rich tones of the original while benefiting from a new waveform alongside, a sub OSC, FM, noise, LFO sync & retrig, discreet key tracking for the 24dB filter, additional mod sources, pan spread, vintage knob and more.
2. Polyphony up to 16 Voices and Unison: Unlike the monophonic original, we’ve added polyphony and mono unison.
3. X-Modifier: Unlocks unparalleled creative possibilities by enabling direct modulation of most parameters, transforming your sonic landscape with ease. A scope shows the sum of the modulation.
4. High Pass Filter: This addition allows for more precise control over the frequency spectrum, enabling cleaner mixes and more intricate sound design.
5. Distortion, Chorus, Delay, and Reverb Effects: Integrated effects expand the sonic palette, allowing for lush, atmospheric, and dynamic soundscapes.
6. Two Versatile Macros: These provide real-time control over key parameters, enhancing expressive performance and sound customisation. Macros can be modulated by the sequencer. This can get very creative!
7. Built-in Arpeggiator and modern Sequencer: These tools simplify creating dynamic rhythmic and melodic patterns, adding depth and complexity to your music. The sequencer includes individual step length, velocity, slide, swing, accent, probability, two Macro tracks, arp chords, scales, and extensive randomisation options.
8. Advanced Patch Browser: Quickly find and customise the perfect sound from a vast preset library, streamlining the creative process.

These enhancements ensure that our Novation Bass Station is a powerful, fun and versatile musical instrument.


The Original Rebel of Analogue Bass

The Novation Bass Station debuted in 1993 when digital synths dominated the market and analogue synthesisers were just beginning to make a comeback. Known for its punchy bass, portable size, and affordable price, it quickly became a favourite among producers and electronic musicians who craved an accessible analogue sound with a modern twist.

The Bass Station, a classic of the 90s and 00s, was extensively used in the electronic music scene, both in professional studios and the burgeoning home studio culture, as well as at rave parties. Those familiar with its capabilities know that it’s much more than a simple bass synth—it’s an instrument with a unique voice and undeniable character.


Create hugely Complex, Yet Musical, Sounds With X-Modifier

Using our unique X-Modifier technology, the scope of sound modulation possibilities is immense. The intuitive X-LFO and X-ADSR section enables you to work faster without having to set up modulation paths; they’re already set up for you. X-Mods provide you with the ability to create extensive modulations of almost every parameter, allowing you to create hugely complex, yet musical, sounds. So, while the tone and character at the heart of the synth remain authentic to the original, the additional features turn it into a true sonic canvas. We’ve added a dedicated screen to monitor the output of the X-Modifier.


Unleash Your Musical Ideas

The Novation Bass Station, with its fully resizable UI, powerful Preset Browser, Scope, and over 300 brand-new production-ready presets from top-level sound designers, is fully ready to inspire your future musical ideas.

Novation Bass Station features the aforementioned preset browser, giving you the power to organise your sounds in a way that suits your workflow. With extensive tagging, sorting and search possibilities, it’s quick and easy to find the presets you want. We’ve enlisted an array of diverse sound designers and artists including Zardonic, Alex Jann, Jogging House, Polydata, GEOsynth, Jordan Passmore, Boudicca Bass Service, Dave Spiers, Graeme Rawson and more. The patches span from edgy and modern to passionately classic, featuring many recreations you’d expect from GForce.



More info:
https://www.gforcesoftware.com/products/bass-station/

 

I used to own the Novation Bass Station II hardware (and the VST version). The hardware is one of the best small form factor synths I've ever used. It's also loved and used regularly by aficionado's like Aphex Twin and Chemical Brothers too. GForce normally make great VST emulations too, so I'll definitely be picking this one up!

Thanks for the heads up as I'd seen nothing about this release!

 

oh great. its blue. my favorite color. also that v stage is also blue. interesting

 

The Novation Bass Station was first released on August 12, 2003 and is no longer available. In the meantime, the Bass Station was also available for free. Thanks to the GForce team for reviving it and revising the new version with new, modern features. The Gforce company is very thorough, innovative and fairly priced.

 

So what's the difference between the first & second hardware edition? Are they simulating the first edition or the second?
My son have the BS2 and it's really great. Hope that this VST gonna do the groove for me too like this guy...https://youtube.com/shorts/0pBDjxlp6e8?si=8VaZbhTz6YsUlW4m

 

I had the first version hardware. Build quality was not perfect and missing a few synthesis features. Sound was a bit thin compared to concurent mono bass synth of this era.
The GForce version has a lots more features even if the visual design reminds the v1 hardware more than v2.
The Novation VST version was meh as well ... Hope GForce will sound greater ...
V1 hardware was pretty cheap at release, just like a Behringer synth before the date, that's probably why it was so successfull ... they marketed it as a Tb-303 capable bass synth, but nothing except the glide feature really sound like a real TB-303.
It was more SH-101-ish.

 

The second version of the hardware was pretty epic for the money I thought:

 

It sounds really great, but what would one expect from GForce.

 

Has anyone bought it yet? How does it compare to the Novation VSTi version?

 

These are two completely different synthesizers, listen to a few sound samples and you will hear the difference. It is best to install both.

- The new GForce Bass Station AU / VST is an exact emulation of the original Bass Station
- The Novation V-Station is a plug-in version of the hardware K-Station

EDIT: Sorry, I missed something..., just forget the answer, I'll get to it in the next post!

 

Last edited: Jan 21, 2025 at 1:17 PM

Umm, I think he was talking about Novation's own version of the Bass Station VSTi...

 

Not talking about the V-Station but the Novation Bass Station VSTi ;-) (which was free during its final era)

 

Oh sorry! Here is the difference to the VSTi version:

Additional features of the GForce Bass Station

Of course, GForce is not satisfied with this standard range. With the X-Modifiers, the new Bass Station has much more modulation capability than the original. A separate LFO with eight waveforms and another envelope are added via X-LFO and X-ADSR.

This means you can modulate practically every sound parameter of the Bass Station - with the exception of the switchable parameters such as the oscillator range and the waveform knobs. You can copy any settings and use them with other parameters. GForce has solved the whole thing in a practical way, but it takes a little patience until great modulations emerge.

The internal effects allow for further sound options. In addition to high-pass filters and distortion FX, these also include chorus, delay and reverb. You can edit each of these five effect blocks - their sound is at least average.

Sequencer and handling of the GForce Bass Station

It can definitely be said that the Bass Station is musically inspiring as a plug-in. The arpeggiator alone is a great help - even with chord mode and probability. The sequencer of the GForce Bass Station is even more sophisticated. I like the randomization of pitch, note duration, dynamics and macro 1 and 2. You might be surprised by the phrases that the Bass Station creates with a click of the mouse. Two individual sequences are available for the two macros. You also get accent and slide for the TB-303 lines. The sequencer has a lot to offer rhythmically and melodically, even if I only count 16 steps in total.

The GForce Bass Station sounds so versatile

Is everything bassy? Even more: With up to 16 voices and the additional functions, the GForce Bass Station turns out to be a virtual analog synthesizer that delivers more than typical basses and leads. The Factory Library with over 300 presets also proves this. I was particularly impressed by the interesting pads and textures - and some of the arpeggiator and sequencer phrases were also able to inspire me.

Source: https://www.bonedo.de/artikel/gforce-bass-station-test/

 

Windows demo is broken, times out immediately removed from website.

Not buying anything new from Gforce till they fix the VST3 automation in imposcar3, its totally borked and has been since release in May 24.

 

EDIT: nevermind, I didn't understand he was talking about the vst

 

Novation launched the original Bass Station in 1993 and it became an instant favourite. Its digital oscillators and analogue filter defined countless dance and electronic hits of the 1990s.
www.kvraudio.com/product/bass-station-by-novation

Novation Bass Station VSTi released - 12 Aug 2003
www.kvraudio.com/product/bass-station-by-novation/news

 

GForce makes great products, so I'm looking forward to this one. I wonder how it will compare to the VSTs made by Novation. I own those ones, but have barely used them, to be honest. I'm a big vintage nut, so maybe I should actually check those out.

 

Novation's website says that they are releasing the new Bass Station together with GForce. In my opinion, the V-Station VSTi is one of the best sounding software synths. You can also import the SYS from the original hardware using the IMPORT function.

 

Thanks, I've recently got my hands on a LaunchKey MK4 and missed this. Just installed it and my sub is thumping