One of the recent driving factors of synthesizer prices seems to be the ability of a synth to pump out solid bass tones. But what if you are on a limited budget?

A truism in today’s synth market is: if you want a rich bass sound you are going to pay for it. But what if you don’t have a wad of cash to spend on your equipment? The purpose of this article is to shed some light on affordable synths that can push out bass with the best of them. I have deliberately focused on synths that cost under 600 dollars-including any MIDI to CV devices that may be required to integrate them into a modern setup; I have also focused on some of the modern virtual analog synthesizers, which are often a safer bet for the budget conscious musician.

There are a number of affordable synths that produce a great bass other than the expensive, quirky, often unreliable and difficult to obtain vintage synths. One of the great difficulties in compiling a list are the great numbers of awesome synths that have been put into production over the last six or seven years since the pioneering Nord Lead I killed the “sound-alike” ROMPLER workstation craze of the late 80′s and early 90′s. However, when taking into consideration flexibility, sound, price, power and availability I believe that the following synths represent the best value and bass sounds in a sub-600 dollar synth:

Novation Super BassStation: Tons of bass power oozes out of this tiny, single unit rack that is reminiscent of the great Roland analogs such as the SH-101, Jupiter 8 and Juno 60.

The Novation Super BassStation is a frightfully deceptive machine due to its small size; however, don’t let its looks decieve you-the Super BassStation is capable of producing killer monophonic bass sounds with little fuss, muss or trouble. The great secret to the BassStation is its all analog design, utilizing stable DCO’s (digitally controlled oscillators); don’t let anyone fool you-DCO’s ARE analog, they sound analog, and quite frankly can create punchier bass than a “true” VCO type analog due to their pitch stability. (Remembering that VCO’s, which tend to drift in pitch, will often create phase cancellation that results in a weakening of the fundemental pitch-tight basslines must have a solid fundemental pitch in order to be effective!)

Overall, the Novation Super BassStation has a very Roland feel to its oscillators and filter which is a big plus among the hordes of Moog/Oberheim wannabe virtual and real analogs on the modern market. The squelchy, self-oscillating filter is very effective indeed for creating driving sounds and a rich bottom end. Envelope speed, which is a critical factor of bass sounds, is rapid and responsive as it should be. The SuperBass Station improves upon its predecessor by including envelopes for both the filter and the amplifier. Ring modulation, which is always a good plus in my book, is also thrown in for additional weirdness.

Other great features include a total of 200 presets-150 of which are user presets, dual oscillators PLUS a sub-oscillator that appears to be modeled after the SH-101, pulse width modulation by envelope or manual or LFO, mixable noise is available, 2 pole/12 db and 4 pole/24 db lowpass filtering, onboard distortion for really extreme sounds, two low frequency oscillators, and more! All in all, the Super BassStation is packed with tons of well implemented and useful features.

The only shortcomings of the BassStation is Novation’s fairly sketchy performance as a manufacturer. If you get a Super BassStation, make sure to replace the power supply with something more robust than what ships with the unit; this has been linked to a number of failures and system crashes with the BassStation. The small size of the unit makes tweaking on the fly a bit difficult due to the shared nature of many of the controls. The Super BassStation is monophonic, but this isn’t very worrying because of the specialized nature of the unit.

Typically, a Novation Super BassStation will fetch between 350 and 400 dollars on the used market. A palrty sum compared to the amount of power that this unit will bring to your music with its muscular bass.

Waldorf Pulse: Killer rack unit that offers a triple oscillator configuration and tons of real analog power. The amazing matrix modulation of the Pulse makes this a hell of a deal.

Unfortunately, the Waldorf Pulse was recently discontinued after a highly successful 6 year career, which alone is noteworthy in the hectic synthesizer market. However the Pulse can still be readily found on the open market, typically costing about 350 dollars on average.

The Pulse is a monophonic, triple oscillator design featuring the standard saw/pulse/triangle configuration, dual oscillators, two LFO’s, a 24db lowpass filter with resonance, and a good compliment of editing features as well. Controlability of the Pulse is very good, and it features modern MIDI implementation as well as a MIDI to CV converter and CV outs for controlling older analog gear; this makes the Waldorf doubly useful. There are also 100 preset memories onboard… 49 of which are dedicated for user programs.

Soundwise the Pulse is very high quality, like all Waldorf products. Don’t let the inexpensive price tag fool you either, the Pulse has been featured by many professional recording artists (read: can afford anything they want) such as Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, who used the Pulse successfully for years side by side to his ARP 2600, Minimoog and Oberheim Xpander. Overall, the Pulse sounds very Minimoog-ish, albeit a little brighter in timbre and perhaps harsher in nature.

In fact, if harsh basslines are what you are after, look no further than the Pulse. For, unlike many affordable bass synths, the Pulse has an impressive amount of modulation available via Waldorf’s matrix modulation system. A single patch can have as many as four seperate matrix modulations active at once. If odd, hard driving sounds are what you are after the Pulse will deliver.

Studio Electronics ATC-1: Novel VCO analog synth features swappable filter cartridges that faithfully recreate the classic ARP, tb-303, Moog and Oberheim SEM sounds.

Granted, the price of the ATC-1 pushes the outer envelope of the sub-600 dollar limit, even on the used market; however, the sound quality versus price ratio of this incredible synth warrants its mention here.

The ATC-1 is the brainchild of analog guru’s Studio Electronics and incorporates much of their technology that was later put into the SE-1, which is one of the best bass synths ever made in my opinion. The ATC-1 features real voltage controlled oscillators, a real analog filter and the innovative concept of switchable filter cartridges that recreate vintage sounds such as the Moog filter, Oberheim SEM, Roland tb-303 and ARP 2600. Each additional filter cartridge costs about 100 dollars.

Internally the ATC-1 boasts two VCO’s with sync, a noteworthy three envelopes, two low frequency oscillators, white noise, and an external audio input to process sounds via the ATC-1′s filter. The LFO’s of the ATC-1 are particularly versatile and feature triangle, sawtooth, reverse sawtooth, square, noise, random, as well as sample and hold waveforms-very impressive stuff! The ATC-1 also features full MIDI as well as a CV/Gate. Also available are an incredible 512 memories that can be programmed to “remember” which filter cartridge they utilize.

The only downsides to the ATC-1 are its ugly looks and the “alpha wheel” method of control first introduced by the Moog Source in 1981. For those of you that are unfamiliar with this type of control, it consists of pressing a parameter button, such as VCF cutoff, and then manipulating the value with a centrally located knob. Needless to say, this cuts down on the “fiddle and fart” fun factor of real time control. However, for programming patches it is less annoying than you may think-and certainly a better interface than any menu-driven synth ever was. Another annoying fact is that only a single filter cartridge can be slotted at any time unless you purchase the optional filter expansion module for another approximately 150 to 200 dollars from Studio Electronics.

So what does the ATC-1 sound like? Classy. Deep. Rich. Authentic. Of all of the machines featured in this article the ATC-1 easily is the best sounding unit. It is also the most expensive, but worth every penny if you demand uncompromising quality analog bass lines.

Waldorf Microwave I: Amazingly affordable digital-analog hybrid that features wavetables, an analog filter and a deep, grungy tone that is absolutely unique.

Strangely enough, it seems that the used market has forgotten about this classic start to a now classic line of synthesizers, the Microwave I. Designed as the first mass product by the newly created Waldorf company which rose from the ashes of PPG, the original Microwave became, over time, somewhat of a grassroots revolution.

If hardcore, grainy bass sounds are your thing you need to look no further than the Microwave I, regardless of your budget. Remember those dense synth lines on the classic Lords of Acid album Lust? That was the original Microwave in all its glory. In a word, the Microwave I sounds amazing, and most importantly-it sounds unlike anything else out there.

Designed as the “less powerful” version of the monolithic, intensely expensive Wave synthesizer, the Microwave is certainly no slouch either. Featuring 8 voices of polyphony-plus the ability to go into unison mode or operate multitimbrally, a gutsy 4 pole/24db low pass analog filter, the classic PPG-ish wavetables, noise, some built-in effects, a ring modulator, and a programmable arpeggiator. Also available are 64 memories in which to store your preset sounds.

Right now is a good time to hook up with a Microwave I, if you can find one for sale. Although a difficult catch, the Microwave averages about 500 dollars on the open market these days. For a MIDI rackmount with 8 voices of polyphony, multitimbralism and high quality sounds this is quite reasonable.

Clavia Micro Modular: Features the sound of the Nord Lead, the flexibility of a modular synth and a price tag so cheap it is impossible to ignore.

The Clavia Micro Modular has to be one of the all-time classic deals in electronic music. Featuring the power and flexibility of a modular synthesizer, the sound of the Nord Lead series, the convenience of MIDI and presets, and a 450 dollar price tag, the Micro Modular is a hard act to follow. Seriously, brand-spanking new these things cost a measly 450 dollars.

For starters, the drawbacks: because the Micro Modular consists of a tiny chassis with only a few hands-on controls all programming must be done via software ran on your computer. However, the software is elegantly designed and easy to use-certainly easier than patching a Moog III or Serge ever was; after all, you will never run out of patch cables.

However, one thing that is often overlooked is that the Micro Modular offers the same great sounds as found on the Nord Lead at a fraction of the price. Granted, the Micro Modular has, at most, 4 voices of polyphony and no multitimbral capabilities, but the amount of flexibility is simply staggering. And one of the things this flexibility adds is the potential for driving, strange bass sounds.

With the ability to harness up to 6 virtual oscillators, a mind numbing number of processing options and modules, as many envelopes as you could conceivably ever need, the ability to assign real time controls to the front panel knobs, many different types of filters, random pattern generators, 99 user memories… the list could go on for a very long time. Needless to say, the Micro Modular is very well equipped for ANYTHING that could possibly require analog sounds or processing and this includes bass sounds as well.

Simply put-if you like the sound of the Nord Lead series but cannot afford the “big boys”, give the Micro Modular a chance… it may surprise you as much as it did me. Classic machine.

In this article I have attempted to cover the best of the newer, more affordable synths that produce good bass sounds as well as have a degree of flexibility. This is NOT a comprehensive list nor does it attempt to be-I only covered the most noteworthy examples that I have owned or played with and that have caught my personal attention. Hopefully, after playing around with one of these affordable bass monsters, you will realize that good bass sounds don’t have to be pricey after all.

Until next time.
James Meeker

Pro AudioUnit and VST plugins