Mopho Keys or Novation Bass Station 2?

nedavine · 2013-12-22T10:34:18.000Z

The mopho is amazing. It has a great sound and is pretty damn versatile. The keys has a much better interface than the module and it’s a pretty sturdy unit. The bass station sounds good. Has a few other features that the Mopho doesnt such as the TB style filter but I would go mopho every time, but that’s because I love the sound.

The track in my signature has a lot of mopho on it. That huge boards of canada type bass etc.

sixto · 2013-12-22T10:49:40.000Z

if i were to buy an analog synth for bass , or basslines perhaps a moog would be my choise. I have heard a lot about how great are the basses sounds in the moog minitaur and all the moog synts in general.

noxical · 2013-12-22T10:58:28.000Z

Thanks Nedavine!

Although I was not able to hear the bass sound accurately deep through my laptop speakers, I got your point. Sounds good. How about available presents, any good? Loved the percussion in that song btw.

I think the Mopho keys could be great performance keyboard. Although I am not a keyboard player, the 32 keys on the Mopho are perfect for me and it is transportable.

noxical · 2013-12-22T11:07:06.000Z

Hi Sixto

I sold my Minitaur.

The bass sound on the Minitaur is unbeatable. It is very deep and I loved the moog sound.

However, I was not able to work with it in consistent manner. The firmware is not yet good (Moog is putting al their efforts in the Sub Patty). So I had to continuously change the knobs to reclaim the sound I wanted. It delayed my music production.

Also the sound was too deep and fatt for my speakers…I could not hear its full potential ;)…`but believe me, I have been partying on Minitaur live-set’s in big (industrial) techno clubs and this thing is banging!

But I am looking more for the board of canada sounds

njeremic · 2013-12-22T11:10:50.000Z

Go mopho!
great synth, great sound, way better build quality. BS2 is quite plasticky, mopho is metal+wood, better keyboard… will last longer for sure.
i would personaly choose DSI even over Moog
best
niko

Housecliche · 2013-12-22T14:53:26.000Z

I agree with all of the above - Mopho is far superior build etc but I’d go BS2 for one reason - immediacy, fun, real time tweaking.
(Edit: okay that’s three reasons )

You say your not a keyboard player, neither am I, so that extra octave on the mopho is kinda moot, and what do non keyboard players love? Sequencers and Arps! The BS2 sequencer/arp is an instant gratification module - it’s super old school SH101 style, dial in some notes and play - store sequences, mess with timing, switch between em in real time etc. I tried a BS2 in a store and fell in love just on the strength of that. I know the mopho has a seq too, and it’s cool but maybe a bit too old school I mean it’s modelled on a 4 x 4 grid matrix thingy like old analog units right ? - is it smooth to work with live? Easy to dive in and tweak real time with one hand?

Of course BS2 sounds great too, has some nice presets which I’m sure the mopho also has - but now we get into the realms of subjectivity - they both sound great right? They both have the heritage, the vintage whatever you wanna call it - both can easily do the BOCy vibes.

Tough choice - try do a side by side comparison - for me, BS2 workflow is The Boss, and probably a better choice on stage for a non keys player - less complicated but just as complex (if that makes sense ).

r05c03 · 2013-12-22T15:16:26.000Z

If you have the money to by a Mopho Keyboard, I would buy the BS2 and with the left over $ I would go ahead and pick up Microbrute or Minibrute. They would be the BEST companion because they can be controlled via voltage and the A4 can sequence/modulate them. Consider the Slim Phatty, MS-20 Mini, etc for this reason as well.

r05c03 · 2013-12-22T15:19:24.000Z

Adding the ability to sequence other synths via the A4 is exponential fun.

noxical · 2013-12-22T16:19:09.000Z

I don’t believe you can controller BSII with CV voltage as it has no CV in?

kirlian · 2013-12-22T17:41:33.000Z

i just picked up a BS2 last week, and i can’t stop playing it. easily the most fun, playable and immediate synth i have. the sound is very very fat. i can’t speak on the mopho keys, but the bass station 2 is a no brainer.

no CV in on the bass station.

Housecliche · 2013-12-22T17:47:39.000Z

I think what roscoe is saying - is because the mopho is more expensive, if you’ve got the funds, buy a BS2 and use the extra money to get a microbrute that gives you 2 synths for the price of 1 plus cv control fun with the micro

r05c03 · 2013-12-22T17:55:00.000Z

yes. exactly.

AtaRaxis · 2013-12-22T18:12:55.000Z

I bought the mopho keys a few months back. It is awesome. The build is amazing. I’ve owned a lot of boards with aftertouch and the mopho was the first one that responded the way I always thought aftertouch should. It makes a great controller for the A4 too. The sound is great and records well, sits in a mix well.
Haven’t had a chance to play the BS2. I do own a sub phatty and minibrute too and if I had to make sacrifices , The mopho would be the one I held on to.
fwiw

smokyfrog · 2013-12-22T18:47:12.000Z

I’d go for the Bass Station II. More tonal variety, sequencer is simple and fun, build quality is absolutely fine. The Mopho’s extra half octave is nice though.

PES · 2013-12-22T19:08:21.000Z

You can make very expressive patches with the Mopho Keyboard, freely assigning parameters to controllers, modulators etc. There’s an expression pedal input that accepts CV (Analog Four CV track? I have yet to do this), and an envelope follower on the audio input.

If you want to play it’s hard to match the MK - I’d take it over any of the old mono classics I can think of at the moment.

Basstation 2 seems very nice too though. Its interface is perhaps a little bit more immediate. If you prefer its tone and the mod routings fit you, I don’t think you could go wrong with that one either.

noxical · 2013-12-23T14:50:17.000Z

Thanks for the replies.

I have ordered the BSII

The fun/performance/usability aspect was the reason for doing so. I am not very good programmer and already have the Elektron gear to cope with, so I feel it should be simple and straightforward, which is believe BSII is designed for this purpose more.

Orwell · 2013-12-30T04:41:31.000Z

basstation, absolutely lush sh style bass and a sleeper synth
is on my must buy list after the ms 20 mini

rhizome · 2014-01-03T17:04:13.000Z

to me the strength of the DSI stuff is in all of the modulation possibilities. 3 env, 4 LFOs, 4 seq lines, all routable to pretty much anything… deep.

Padevil · 2014-12-23T06:44:36.000Z

""rhizome"":

to me the strength of the DSI stuff is in all of the modulation possibilities. 3 env, 4 LFOs, 4 seq lines, all routable to pretty much anything… deep.

Pardon resurrecting an old thread, but I just wanted to share that I had the same question!
Although BS2 sounds nice, it has far less sound possibilities than Mopho… you can have 4 seq and 4 LFOs tärouted to nearly anything you want, besides having an independent aux envelope that can be routed anywhere…
I can say i chpse the Mopho (used) and i am deeply happy with my decision! Fantastic sounding and flexible machine!

Automux · 2014-12-23T17:57:23.000Z

The Mopho certainly has the better build quality but for the price the BSII isn’t that bad.

Spec wise I can see the Mopho being better. I just never have been able to get anything good out of it in my local Guitar Center. My BSII has made some amazing sounds. Like really weird out there stuff that I have not seen anyone showcase online. I guess I should make a video of some of my patches because I think people do not realize just how flexible the BSII is.

Fun fact. I just saw Haujobb live and one of the only hardware synths on stage was a Bass Station II