A used Digitone.
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BS2 it’s an incredible synth not very suitable for bass sounds, actually, imho. I would say Moog Minitaur or Minilogue or Hydrasynth Ex. The last two are the best “budget” synths I ever played and they are great on everything (for the price).
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Dreadbox typhon is the boom, and so fun
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If you have some dough, you can always splurge for a Dominion 1
My favourite Moog Minitaur video just to show how deep it gets
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If you want that LOW low, then Minitaur all the way. Untouchable.
For less specialized but wider variety of synthesis options, I’d go Grandmother, Toraiz AS-1 or the O.G. SE-1 (can be found close to $700 sometimes…)
The Dreadbox options are solid too, and get low/grimey easily. One last suggestion: Analog Four Mk1. Takes a while to find the sweet spots but worth it, especially since they’re dirt cheap these days.
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A few thoughts: decide if you need presets, or not.
I had a Minitaur for a while, which sounded nice but drove me nuts because there’s no way to see what preset you’re on, and you can only increment an decrement presets on the unit itself. Lost a couple of patches by accidentally writing to the wrong place. If you just dial in your sounds, that might not be an issue.
Unless you are specifically after a 303 sound, the TD-3 might be be too limited for you, because it only has one oscillator.
I have an AS-1 and a Pulse 2, both are excellent for basses, but they sound very different. The Pulse 2 is pretty straightforward to use, and rather flexible because of the modulation matrix.
Programming the AS-1 is a PITA unless you have a midi controller, however, but onboard effects are great, for bass I especially like distortion, chorus and phaser.
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I’d save up a little more and go for the Moog Sub25.
Minitaur is nice but Sub25 blows it out of the water.
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I have a bunch of monos. Neutron, Model D, Pro-1, 2600 Blue Marvin, TD-3, TD-3-MO, and a Roland SH-01A. They’re all good bass synths. But I didn’t wanna work with modules, and none of them except the Roland had the modern amenities that I prefer. So I bought a Bass Station 2 last year and it’s the only mono in my setup. All that other gear is stored away. It really crushes all of them when it comes to bass sounds, among other things.
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I’d like to avoid going that route and that seems like it would get $$$
Funny enough I have one already, maybe I just need to work on my bass skills there or find some juicy bass presets to work with
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I don’t know if this would sit in your budget range (and it’s a lot more than a bass synth…) but… Syntakt. I’m pretty impressed with the analog synth engines on the ST for mono basslines. Not a Minitaur but can get seriously fat and deep. ST has become my go-to for bass synth duties now.
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Of the synths mentioned in the original post, I only own the DB-01. It’s a lot of fun, but it does have some limitations, notably that the VCA and VCF envelopes can’t extend beyond one step. The FM is hardwired to the LFO and so largely useless, and you have to use an external patch cord for filter tracking. Also the accent modulation does almost nothing. There are a bunch of positives, and there’s a recent Richard DeHove long deep dive that is worth watching.
If I were to contemplate another bass monosynth today, I would seriously consider the Novation Bass Station 2. Or, if I wanted a 303-style device that wasn’t the DB-01, maybe the Cyclonic TT-303 Bassbot.
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I really enjoyed the sub 25.
I’m someone who really likes having keys, FWIW.
The sub 25 was nice and classic moogy for me, but I also appreciated the additional tones you could get with the multi drive and single /double filter pole modes (hidden behind shift menus)
All in all, it was a great mono to program and play. If Moog nails anything, it’s their knob ranges. That’s I think most of the “musical” comments out there come down to. The whole range of the knobs are well tuned and usable anywhere. All sweet spot.
If anyone has questions about it, lmk. I loved that thing and have also owned Slim Phatty, Boog, m32 and played s37 of similar moog flavor. I’d re-buy the -S25 if I was on the market again.
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It’s the thing I use it for most lately, it’s so good.
Recommendations on your list: only ones I’ve used more than once are the TD-3, T-8, and BS2. Out of those I’d go for the BS2. Easy to use, sounds massive. Unless the sound you really want is the 303 sound, in which case I’d get the T-8. It sounds incredible but is much easier to sequence than the TD-3.
Recommendations not on your list: I’ll add my voice to the “Check out the Typhon” crowd in here. I tried the Hades in a store, but in the end found the Typhon a bit more appealing. It’s currently my favorite synth for basslines.
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unless you plug in a laptop…
Don’t forget about the Vermona Mono Lancet, I really miss that synth, so rich and deep sounding.
Can’t go wrong with the BS2 though, only Synth I’ve never been without.
I set up my Faderfox UC4 to scroll through presets on the Minitaur, and it works great. Now I can see the number of the active preset as well.
Overall, I like it much more than I liked the BS2 (which is versatile and powerful, but way less fun), but I think I still prefer the Typhon. I really dislike the shift functions on the Minitaur, especially since my glide button gets stuck all the time, I ended up remapping my UC4 to control them all as well.
Quoting myself on the BS2:
It’s a good synth, but I’ve ultimately decided to sell it. Still haven’t sold, since it needs some repairs, apparently it doesn’t handle high humidity well.
It’s easy to make it sound good, but making it sound great takes some time. I think most people fall into the trap of “good enough” sounds, that’s why most demos don’t really show off its power.
It’s very versatile, but a lot of the functionality added by the later firmwares isn’t obvious, you have to keep checking the manual or to buy an overlay (the Minitaur suffers from the same).
It’s knobby, but the interface still could be better. The shared envelope controls bug me out so much.
It’s big, and you can’t turn it into a module. I had to put mine on the wall, which made using it a bit inconvenient.
Ultimately, it’s not a “wow” synth, it’s a workhorse that does its job well, and I’ve come to a conclusion that if a synth isn’t exciting to me, then a plugin would do just as well.
The best thing about it is that it’s Novation. Their support is hands down the best. If you want a synth that you can rely on, get the BS2. Yes, it may handle humidity worse than others (some pots got noisy and most knobs got mold on them), but whatever happens to it, you know Novation has spare parts.
I vastly prefer the Typhon over the BS2, it doesn’t have a 3rd oscillator or some of its crazier functions like separate glide settings for different oscillators, but it just sounds better, is much smaller, has more modulation and is way more fun to use.
The Minitaur is legit as well, but quite limited compared to either.
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