New Gear Review: AFX Station by Novation
In collaboration with Aphex Twin, Novation bestows upon us a supercharged and limited edition of their popular Bass Station II.
Novation’s Bass Station II has been around for a few years now, and the flexible analog monosynth has found its way into many a producer’s studio and/or live rig.
This is not surprising, given its lightweight stature and bevy of hands-on controls. Yet somehow we here at SonicScoop have never given this synth a proper review, and we found no better time to do it than with the release of the AFX Station, officially set out into the wild late last year.
How do the AFX Station and Bass Station II relate to each other? Well, Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin), a known fan of the BS2, reached out to Novation about a few firmware tweaks that he had thought up, and this in turn led to the two entities collaborating. Thus the AFX Station was born, dressing up the Bass Station II in a sleek new exterior (and new packaging), along with adding a few key updates along the way.
While the AFX Station is a limited edition of the Bass Station II, it’s also possible to update the firmware of the standard Bass Station II, bringing its functionality up to speed with the AFX Station. The most important update, as you might have guessed, is a new way to program the synth called AFX Mode (which we’ll get into shortly), but the new firmware update also adds a few other key improvements to the previous functionality of the synth.
Features and Use
The design of the AFX Station/BS2 has quite a lot of functionality packed into a fairly small surface area. On the rear of the synth, a mono output jack is joined by a headphone output, external input via 1/4” jack, a sustain pedal input, full size MIDI in/out ports, a USB port (which can also be used to power the synth), and an input for a normal DC power supply.
The 25-key keyboard feels springy to the touch and also transmits aftertouch, a nice feature that you don’t see at this price point often. There are full size modulation and pitch wheels, and two easily accessed octave buttons that make jumping around the octave range a breeze. It’s worth noting that the octave range is huge (+/-5 octaves in either direction). There are 64 preset patches that can’t be saved over, and an additional 64 user patches available to be stored. The AFX Station comes with a ton of new and inspiring patches made by cutting edge electronic artists from James himself, Noyze Lab, Lightbath, and more. These patches can also be loaded onto any Bass Station II.
Looking at the feature set of the Bass Station II reveals a monosynth that is actually suited to handling far more than just bass sounds, as its name suggests. There are two fully tweakable oscillators, each with a choice of four waveforms (sine, triangle, sawtooth, and square with variable pulse width). There’s also a sub-oscillator, which, unlike most sub oscillators, also has the choice of three waveforms itself (sine, square, and narrow pulse square wave). Each oscillator can be individually tuned, and there’s a wide octave range for each. It’s also possible to sync the oscillators for those classic sync sounds we have all come to know and love.
All three oscillators flow into the mixer section, where each one has its own level control, as well as level controls for either a noise source, or controlling the volume of an external audio signal. The mixer also adds the ability to include ring modulation, further increasing the palette of sounds available from this synth.
Moving along the front panel brings you the filter section, which again features quite a range of controls. There are two filter modes available—a Classic mode, which is carried over from the original Bass Station from the 90’s, and an Acid diode filter that, as you have probably guessed, gives the overall sound just a bit more squelch, and can compete with any 303 you throw at it. The filter has a large, easy-to-grasp knob for cutoff (something that all synth manufacturers should follow), as well as an overdrive control, which greatly increases the sonic bite.
Playing with the resonance, cutoff, and overdrive in addition to the two filter types gives such a wide range of sounds that it’s easy to get lost! The Classic filter mode is made even more flexible by the fact that it can be used in Low Pass, High Pass, or Band Pass modes, and it has a selectable slope of either 12 or 24dB/octave. I didn’t hear a huge difference in the two slope variations, but given that you also have the Acid filter, this didn’t seem to matter much.
There are two full ADSR envelopes (one for the amp and one for modulation), though these share the same faders. You select which one you’d like to edit via a switch on the front panel, a system that is used for a few other features on the synth to maximize real estate. It’s also possible to control both envelopes at once.
Conveniently, any time you do edit a parameter, there are two small arrows next to the LCD screen that indicate whether or not the stored value is higher or lower than the current value. This is very handy and again, something I wish other synth manufacturers included. It’s possible to control pitch, pulse width, and filter frequency all from the modulation envelope.
Further modulation comes via two LFOs, which each have four available waveforms (triangle, sawtooth, square, and conveniently, a sample and hold setting). Each LFO has its own rate and delay setting—again, something you don’t usually see on a synth at this price point. Adding to the flexibility of the AFX Station/Bass Station II is a very fully featured arpeggiator, complete with latch control for full, doubled handed tweaking. Not only does the arpeggiator have six different directions and a four-octave range, it also has the ability to choose between 32 different patterns, making simple arpeggios much more syncopated than most vanilla arpeggiators. Inputting a few notes, hitting the latch key and then cycling through some of these patterns creates a lot of variation, and can form the basis of a whole slew of rhythmic ideas.
As mentioned, the AFX Mode can be added to any BS2 via a firmware update. This new mode is significant because it allows for one small but highly important change—each key now has the ability to trigger and save a different patch. This renders the AFX Station a highly refined sequencing instrument, making this not just a monosynth, but essentially a super flexible analog drum machine with full tweakability.
To enter AFX mode, you simply press the function button and tap the Key labeled “Swing” twice. The display now blinks “o 0”, indicating that 8 ”overlays” are possible. (An overlay is what Novation calls a collection of 25 patches saved together.) One thing to note is that you must be in the center of the octave range to access these overlays. While tweaking sounds, you must hold down the key for the sound that you want to edit. Overlays can be saved and accessed whenever you’d like.
Firmware update 4.14 adds more than just AFX mode, however. Also new are fixed envelope length (good for percussive sounds where you want to keep each hit the same length), a new Glide Diverge setting, and the ability to independently tune the sub oscillator, making three note chords now fully possible. All of these new features, combined with the already flexible sonic engine of the Bass Station II, make you really forget that you are playing ”just” a monosynth, as so much sonic potential is at your fingertips.
To Be Critical
There’s not much to be critical of regarding the AFX Station, as you’ve probably already guessed by the bulk of this review! Really the only fault is that the limited edition status of the AFX Station means not everyone is going to be able to get their hands on one (in fact, they are already sold out through normal retailers). And though the Bass Station II can replicate the AFX Station’s functionality, there’s something quite sleek about the new visual identity of the AFX model.
Summing it Up
Novation has a long history of listening to their user base and updating their products long after release, and the AFX Station is no different. Its flexible signal path, knob-laden front panel, and novel AFX Mode make it an instrument with as much versatility as it has personality. Even if you can’t get your hands on a now highly-coveted AFX model (priced at $439.99), you can turn your Bass Station II into an even more powerful studio tool with this new firmware update. My hat goes off to Novation for this synth—it was a hard one to send back!
Leo Maymind is a producer, DJ, and writer living in Los Angeles, CA. He is obsessed with sound, and you can reach him at lmaymind@gmail.com.
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