Hi everybody, what about novation bass station and arturia minibrute ?!?!

I'm saving some money to buy my first hardware synth, and i'm interested in the analog sound of these two synth. the price is pretty much the same. i've only tried Arturia Minibrute and i loved it. i would like some suggestion about people who have tried both or like me love the monophonic analog sound and know these gear. thanks

 

The choice over the bassstation and the minibrute (and the dsi mopho...) is mainly a matter of personal taste, of which sound you like most. They are all relatively similar.

 

dont get a minibrute special edtion anyway,there's a problem with the 1st key on each one,it makes a weird sound,also theres know issues with the lfo on some of the special edtions,

i prefer the bass station out the two,haven't tried the the mopho,just seen vids on youtube,looks cool

 

This post is a bit OT because I won't mention neither BassStation II nor MiniBrute, but my other band member and I were just compiling a list of best hardware synths today because we plan on acquiring some more gear and this is the result of our brainstorming what's the best bang for the buck and best hardware synths in general nowadays:

Our wishlist:

1) Doepfer A-100 eurorack case and some modules, of course.

2) Access Virus TI2 desktop, maybe keyboard version

3) Dave Smith Prophet-12 desktop [cv/gate I/O], maybe keyboard version

4) Dave Smith Pro-2 [cv/gate I/O]

5) Yamaha moXF6

6) Korg MS-20 kit

7) Novation Ultranova

8) Oh yes, now you reminded me of Dave Smith Mopho x4 - also really good synth.

I think we'll end up with A-100 custom modular, Virus TI2, and Prophet 12 or Pro-2, Virus TI2 being the best bang for the buck of them all, but a combination of Prophet-12 or Pro-2 with the modular eurorack synth is just so much fun and possibilities... These are all really great synths [except maybe Ultranova] and most of them are almost entirely purely analog synths except Yamaha, Virus, and Ultranova. I think the analog ones will win in the end and Virus TI2. I really really like Prophet-12 and Pro-2, and he likes Virus TI2 a lot. We both crave for some modular madness, though. :P We're sick and tired of collecting half-arsed synths for half the money or less like the on topic ones. Rather be patient and save money, then buy just modular and Pro-2 if nothing else, than wasting money on these cheap plastic, completely DSP based synths. VSTi synths nowadays sound the same as these. Only Virus is somewhat special and Ultranova is just really interesting to program, too.

Just something for your consideration. We've been into this shit for a looong looong time. [late 80s] I don't want to even list what synths have passed through my studio since then, it would take too long. It's just interesting to note how there aren't as many good Japanese synths these days as there were back in the day. We were crazy about Roland and Korg, mostly, back then.

I posted this also to give me something to brainstorm on. It's best when you write it all nicely down and maybe help someone else to decide what to demo/buy, too. *yes*

I would go with DSI Mopho x4 in your place or Pro-2. Bloody good almost 100% analog synths. Novation and Arturia cannot compare to these.

Cheers!

 

Even though the list you mentioned has some very nice synths, its clear that the OP is looking at the small monophonic analog range, so to recommend a TI for that is not really useful probably.

Also, FYI the DSI Pro 2 runs with 4 DSP based oscillators, the 2 mention by the OP do not however, they use actual VCOs, so saying "wasting money on completely dsp based synths" and then suggesting a Pro 2 doesn't really make much sense.

Some time-proven classics like the SH-101 and MC-202 fit in the same category as the two mentioned by OP. Personally i love the basstation II, on first glance it doesn't seem that special, but after playing with it in a friends setup i went out and bought one myself, they cost nearly nothing comparatively. It has the makings of becoming one of those classics, a cheap plastic synth which turns out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing. As usual, the factory presets are quite misleading.
The minibrute didn't impress me much, felt more like a sheep in wolf's clothing to me.

Another option the OP should consider is the Dark Energy from Doepfer, its in similar price range and especially version 1 has a very nice sound, because they were using the curtis cem3394 chip for vco, vca & vcf, which are the same as in many oldschool analogs. The second version is nice in its own way as well, but it uses modern chips so they sound different. You can do some really twisted FM stuff with these.

 

The way I see it, it's 1OSC vs 2OSC. Of course it's not only that, but the bells and whistles are a matter of taste.
If you crave the OSC drifting (like I do), go for the Novation.
If you don't know what i'm talking about (or don't care), go for the Arturia. I'd go for the Microbrute, though...

Check the youtube channel of AutomaticGainsay, he made in-depth reviews of both Mini and Microbrute, so you can get the differences.
He didn't reviewed the Bass Station, but SonicLab did.

And yeah, if you like presets, Bass Station is your choice (I'd also look into the Sub Phatty if it's your budget)
Anyway good luck and enjoy

 

thanks for the replies. @Sine Waves thanks for the detailed list i've looked all of them and i get your point, but how can you enumerate such synth without talking about the moog (at least one of them)?

@Black Mental i've already saw many many in depth reviews of both synth. The only reason why i made this topic is because i don't "trust" novation. Many of their products are made whith bad material and are well known for breaking soon as launchkey, Impulse etc.

Personally i'm on the Arturia Minibrute, think is more versatile (don't care about presets) and looks cool ok it's not so easy, but i really don't like novation as a brand

 

How about a nice Waldorf Pulse 2, but it will be a little bit more expensive.

http://www.waldorf-music.info/pulse-2-overview

 

As an owner of the Bass Station II I'm biased... It lends itself well to not only bass sounds but pads and leads as well! I would put it slightly ahead of the Brute series because of its versatility, and the filters are pretty nice, I run drums through them every now and then just to see what sorts of craziness I can come up with. The only real drawback is automating parameters in Ableton... it works great in other DAWs like Bitwig though

 

I'm with you on Novation, seems cheap to me too.

However, talking about versatility I would seriously consider a Microbrute instead of a Minibrute, plus you can save dough.

The reason I've mentioned Marc Doty (AutomaticGainsay) is because he's not a random guy on youtube (or worst, a sales pitcher). The guy knows his stuff.

I tried the Minibrute myself and was not so impressed, I found the sound a bit static (but I'm not very good at synthesis).
On the other hand, I tried the Sub Phatty and it was massive, really easy to get good sounds. Built like a tank too.

 

agree that the sub phatty it's something massive, now that you remind me the sub i could really save money a bit more and make a big step ahead in terms of sound quality.

@m2314 you are not he first that tell me things like this of the novation. but i only use ableton first, second i only tried the Minibrute, i got to try the bass station too.

@tek909 thanks for the suggestion i didn't know that brand (Waldorf). they make pretty cool instruments