Novation V-Station/B-Station now free

[Eprom]

Novation V-Station and Bass Station plugins are now freeware.

https://downloads.novationmusic.com/nov ... n-software

[DaveyG]

I've never tried the V Station but the Bass Station is worth having. It's quite old so very light on CPU but still sounds excellent. Maybe a candidate for a Combi?

I guess these going free is an indication of Novation's reluctance to put any resources into updating them for M1 compatibility.

[huggermugger]

V-Station does that clean, polished early VA sound superbly. For free, it's a no-brainer.

[joeyluck]

I saw this earlier too and thought they were already available for free.

I think I had Bass Station back in the day and the reason why I didn't have it installed might've been because it was 32-bit only. The Computer Music article I saw today mentioned they might not work based on OS or DAW, so I figured it was probably because they might be 32-bit only... https://www.musicradar.com/news/free-vs ... th-plugins

But these are both 64-bit and work in Reason. Was that a more recent update along with them deciding to make them available?

Bass Station seems to steal focus from Reason's on-screen keys, even if I turn off 'numpad' in the preferences. So can't easily browse patches while also using the on-screen keys (have to give focus back to Reason/on-screen keys). Is there a Bass Station setting I'm overlooking? Not a huge issue, but it does make it difficult to use the on-screen keys when on the go.

The V-Station after registering shows it is registered to 'Bob Wood'. Easter Egg? Is that a reference to Bob Moog + the popular wood paneling of Moog synths?

[joeyluck]

I've never tried the V Station but the Bass Station is worth having. It's quite old so very light on CPU but still sounds excellent. Maybe a candidate for a Combi?

They're both great

Aside from combis, it might be very useful to save Reason VST device presets for each patch, since these both seem to lack proper patch browsers. Then the patches could be browsed freely and even grouped into folders. The VSTs only allow me to enter numbers or choose patches incrementally, unless I'm overlooking something...

[EDIT] Nevermind, they seem to both be in FXB format already and aside from making folders or using Reason's browser, they can both be browsed a little easier from Reason's VST rack device.

[Aquila]

Will be interesting to see how the v-station compares to my x-station

[michael.jaye]

I think I had Bass Station back in the day and the reason why I didn't have it installed might've been because it was 32-bit only. The Computer Music article I saw today mentioned they might not work based on OS or DAW, so I figured it was probably because they might be 32-bit only... https://www.musicradar.com/news/free-vs ... th-plugins

I've had both of these for at least a few years, always been 64-bit.

I did notice that some arp patches drift out of sync though.

[arnigretar]

I still have my BassStation licence. Used to own three hardware of it as well -- two racks and the original bass station. Still love the plugin Never tried the V-Station, so I'm looking forward in checking that out. Thanks for the heads up!

[Neo]

Owned the original hardware last lifetime ago.

http://retrosynthads.blogspot.com/2021/ ... r-90s.html

novation_basstation1_br93p1.jpg (794.66 KiB) Viewed 2434 times

[LABONERECORDINGS]

Will be interesting to see how the v-station compares to my x-station

V-station has similar achitecture in regards to how it operates, but the X-station / K-Station has more oscillator types. VStation has 4 waveshapes, while the X- / K-station has 17 for each osc.

Filtering also a bit different on V-station compared to X/K: you only get LPF 12 / LPF 24 on V, while you get LP/BP/Notch/HP on the X/K.

NOTE: We've got V-station Powercore as well, which they added in the HPF for that version (handy)

So summary: V-station is like having a X/K-station-Lite. Still sounnds good and you can get some great sounds out, only the X/K has those extra added functions and raw sounds to get that bit deeper in sound design

[Aquila]

Will be interesting to see how the v-station compares to my x-station

V-station has similar achitecture in regards to how it operates, but the X-station / K-Station has more oscillator types. VStation has 4 waveshapes, while the X- / K-station has 17 for each osc.

Filtering also a bit different on V-station compared to X/K: you only get LPF 12 / LPF 24 on V, while you get LP/BP/Notch/HP on the X/K.

NOTE: We've got V-station Powercore as well, which they added in the HPF for that version (handy)

So summary: V-station is like having a X/K-station-Lite. Still sounnds good and you can get some great sounds out, only the X/K has those extra added functions and raw sounds to get that bit deeper in sound design

Nice! Really appreciate the info, thanks

[Aquila]

Owned the original hardware last lifetime ago.

Always wanted an original Bass Station. I've seen them going cheap-ish on ebay (a couple were <£200) ...so still tempted despite this handy plugin

[moneykube]

Owned the original hardware last lifetime ago.

Always wanted an original Bass Station. I've seen them going cheap-ish on ebay (a couple were <£200) ...so still tempted despite this handy plugin

good deal compared to this

[moalla]

I used the Bass Station on the begining of my electronic music composing around 2003, had a lot of fun with it, thought it was released earlier...

I found a lot of this bassstation synths at ebay-kleinanzeigen here in germany, but sometimes really expensive, so what´s the big deal with it, also found a IK multimedia UNO bassynth next my door for 80€ and i know meawhile it isn´t worth to have such a cheap stuff, so is it better to collect money and get some volca nubass or arturia microbrute!?

[joeyluck]

I had a quick look around for patches. Since these have been around a while, I figure there might be some really great patches out there.

I found these towards the top of the search:
https://rekkerd.org/patches/plug-in/v-station/

However, the first set of patches, 'trancestorm' don't seem to work. They are .fxp but it doesn't change the patch. Reason doesn't complain, the VST rack device shows the patch loaded, but it doesn't actually load (the most recent patch loaded in the plugin remains).

The second set of patches, 'EDM Underworld' does work, but that is a .fxb file (bank of patches).

Any idea why the fxp patches aren't working? Was there an update to the plugin that caused this or perhaps another issue?

[EDIT] I tried using the import function on the plugin itself (under global settings) and it says 'invalid file'. So perhaps an update was the culprit? Opening the patches in TextEdit, it doesn't look like it includes much in comparison to fxp patches I've saved. I don't know how to decipher what I'm looking at and if it can be fixed.

On this topic, does anybody have any banks they'd recommend checking out?

[joeyluck]

Here's another free bank:
https://sounds2inspire.com/revivalserie ... n_presets/

There's some good patches in there

[arnigretar]

Here's another free bank:
https://sounds2inspire.com/revivalserie ... n_presets/

There's some good patches in there

Nice! Thanks for sharing

[danc]

I used the Bass Station on the begining of my electronic music composing around 2003, had a lot of fun with it, thought it was released earlier...

SAME... I bought a Bass Station when it was launched... in... wait for this... 1993. That's 30 years ago! Loved it then - and have had the VST version for ages, as it was free with my Focusrite audiocard.

Haven't used it much... me thinks I will open it up and play, as it certainly does have a distinct and pleasing sound for bass and top-end squelches.

Background story on the Bass Station.. https://novationmusic.com/en/news/bass-station-story

[joeyluck]

Anybody else notice a constant noise/hiss from the V-Station? Is that a part of the emulation? I don't get the same with Bass Station.

With factory presets like Arpeggio7, you can hear a siren like effect while not playing anything because of the chorus with a high feedback setting being applied to the noise.

[ordjob2]

Anybody else notice a constant noise/hiss from the V-Station? Is that a part of the emulation? I don't get the same with Bass Station.

With factory presets like Arpeggio7, you can hear a siren like effect while not playing anything because of the chorus with a high feedback setting being applied to the noise.

Everything is ok for me, but I don't use presets. Perhaps you have some effects enabled.

[joeyluck]

Anybody else notice a constant noise/hiss from the V-Station? Is that a part of the emulation? I don't get the same with Bass Station.

With factory presets like Arpeggio7, you can hear a siren like effect while not playing anything because of the chorus with a high feedback setting being applied to the noise.

Everything is ok for me, but I don't use presets. Perhaps you have some effects enabled.

Oh you're right. It seems to be attributed entirely to the effects section, regardless of what is dialed in. Just by turning the effects section on/off you can hear the hiss.

[joeyluck]

For those of you who like the factory presets and would prefer to browse them via Reason's Browser, here they are organized into folders. Scrolling the VST program in the patch window of the Reason's VST device works ok, but it also groups things by number and not by category like this does.

I feel like many of these patches could fit in other categories, such as some soft leads seeming more like hard leads, some of the brass sounding like strings, etc. But this was just to organize them exactly as they are categorized in the factory bank. I also made no changes to levels even though some of them need them (looking at you 'Soft Lead8') lol

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11vtFp3 ... sp=sharing

V-Station Factory Bank.png (24.35 KiB) Viewed 1925 times

[joeyluck]

I think I've encountered a sort of bug?

If I load a .fxp patch and then make changes to the master level (volume) on V-Station and then load another .fxp patch, it will be silent. When I open the V-Station interface, the master level is still up, but it's not outputting any sound. If I make a slight adjustment up or down to the master level the sound will come back. Any ideas why? I have no controllers connected with anything assigned to master level.

[Trefor]

Just tried it. The graphics are all messed up and I can't get a sound out of it.

Screen Shot 2022-07-17 at 3.35.47 PM.png (219.29 KiB) Viewed 1892 times