Was hoping to get some recommendations for a hardware bass synthesizer to purchase! I love bass and it’s the one dedicated piece I’m missing from my setup right now. I was hoping to find something that is versatile. I’ve had a Volca Bass in the past but sold it. I’ll be using it both in my hardware setup and to sample from.
There’s a lot of options out there at various price points. I’m in Canada, so what I am seeing breaks down into a few price categories. I’d like to keep my budget at around $700 CAD at worst, but something cheaper would be ideal
Cheaper End ~ $300 CAD:
Donner B-1
Roland T-8
Behringer TD-3
Sonicware Beats & Bass
Higher End - $500 - $700
Erica Synths Bassline
Novation Bass Station 2
Korg Minilog Bass
Dreadbox Hades Reissue
Even Higher End
Moog Minitaur
Would love to hear any thoughts on any of these or something that I am missing from my list that I’ve seen available. Thanks!
I like grimy fat basses but having something that can create some easy sounding smooth basses would be handy. If there’s something that can handle a decent range of bass that would be great.
Ok, maybe also consider Hydrasynth Explorer and MiniFreak as they will probably take you a lot further with more extreme bass patches while still being able to make “normal” bass patches
Edit : I took off the Minifreak as I think if you want a dedicated Bass Synth, it would be too distracting. I would personally go with a more knob-per-function Synth for Live tweaks like the Minitaur. In my Live setup, my Bass Synth is a Moog Sirin.
I haven’t used all of those by any means. But I will say, that I love my Bass Station 2 and I don’t think I’d ever sell it.
Such a workhorse, you can get plenty of different sounds from it and it’s great for leads too. Also has a really fun arpeggiator, and a nice feeling keys with aftertouch.
Oh and if you are a preset-surfer mostly, there are a ton of great patch packs out there for the BS2
Highly recommend the Uno Synth Pro X, that’s the standalone mono I settled on. Can be grimy or smooth. Preset storage, solid sequencer and useful fx. Very little menu diving, though you have to switch between pages to adjust the oscillators/envelopes/LFOs.
In that price range, Waldorf rocket makes a pretty good bass synth if you don’t need something with a sequencer. Definitely have never regretted buying one and I’ll likely never sell it.
It is one of the very few synths that I’ve bought once and has never left my small collection until present.
A quite hands-on interface, reminding of a (beefed up) 101, and very, very versatile!
Oscs can do sine and tri for very smooth basses, a versatile -and good sounding- filter and built in analog overdrive and distortion allow for some very fat and bold sounds.
With afx-mode it can even be used as a drum-machine.
My main bass synths are;
Moog Sub 37, Moog Matriarch, Roland SH01a and the Arturia MiniFreak… if I had to choose one from your list I’d grab the Novation Bass Station 2 (over the Minitaur too).
AFAIK the minilogue bass is just a new colorway for the minilogue (and perhaps some new factory patches) - so you can probably save some money by going with a regular minilogue.
I like the BS2 quite a bit for this, though I am starting to question how much I really want a dedicated mono at all anymore, as some polys can do this very well.
Will you be playing it much or mostly sequencing? The ones with keybeds will vary in feel as far as that goes.
Erica Bassline is an industrial monster. One of the best sequencers that Ive tested. Deep enough and very easy. Massive construction. If you’re interested, Richard de hove has a ton of different videos.
