It’s about time. British synthesis history can get short shrift compared to the legends of the USA and Japan. Alex Ball has made the documentary that the Novation Bass Station deserves, from its roots with EDP and OSC, to the massive bass synth’s 1992 debut, up to the present day.
Enough AI voices and influencer content. This is a relaxing dive that feels like sitting down to tea and history with host Alex. He begins in pre-Novation times with engineers/designers Chris Huggett and Paul Wiffen and the Oxford Synthesizer Company, whose OSCar lives on at GForce in a nice recreation as the impOSCar3 (on sale now). History was made there, because Paul was able to save Chris from a job making washing machine control systems. (Chris had accumulated some debts running Electronic Dream Plant (EDP), makers of the Gnat and Wasp.)
And OSC lovers, you get really quite a lot of OSC history, which helps to better to understand the Bass Station’s ethos.
This video is a true labor of love. What’s impressive is that it traces the Bass Station DNA through every single hardware and software instrument to come after. Even Novation themselves haven’t presented a history quite this exhaustive, at least not in anything like this form. It’s beautifully shot with lots of the gear, as well.
Everything’s here. Software plug-ins, old and new. AFX Station. Bass Station II. Peak and Summit and Mantis and tributes. Great stuff. Alex has a Patreon where he interacts with folks, too.
Itching for some Bass Station action?
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Hardware:
Bass Station II Analog Keyboard Synthesizer Swifty Edition [pictured] – Perfect Circuit
Novation Bass Station II Swifty Edition – Thomann
Novation Bass Station at Perfect Circuit
Novation Bass Station at Thomann
Novation Bass Station at Sweetwater
Software:
The plug-in is really, really good; I’ve been using it — now I’m inspired to get it out again! I wrote a review at the start of this year:
If you’re into this, too, we can dive in with some of the Novation folks on the history. (Heck, even if you want to go into Launchpad history, I’m sure that’s not one anyone has really done.) Let us know.
And if you enjoyed that, make sure you caugh this conversation with Tom Oberheim: