12am.com.au : Mixing Music Media

For years now, Novation has been producing fantastic synths suitable for live and studio setups. This month we get up close and personal with their K Station and MDFU discovers why Novation are a brand of choise across DJ's and producers worldwide...

What is it?
performance synth with 2 octave keyboard, with analogue-modelling monotimbral sound engine featuring three oscillators, ring modulator and two-stage FM envelope.

What's it got? :
· Stereo out ¼", headphone out, ¼" mono input
· 400 user-writable banks (200 are pre-set)
· arpeggiator
· 25 knobs and 4 faders - send/receive midi
· pitch wheel and mod wheel
· monotimbral, eight voice polyphonic
· two octave keyboard with nice firm feel
· seven FX
· 12dB or 24dB/octave resonant filters

Who needs it? :

Everyody - ideal for a home or pro studio. Perfect live as extra colour in a larger rig, or even on its own in a hobby DAW set-up.

Anyone who wants THE sound, and also wants the analogue-esque control that only decent knobage can provide could find a place for this little puppy.

How'd you use it? :

mono input - an external signal can be mixed in with the k-stations own oscillator outputs and then routed through filters FX and envelopes, or it can be used in the traditional vocoder sense 25 knobs and 4 faders for major analogue style control - all send and receive midi CC signals so record your fiddling, and then cut and shut on your midi editor and spit back out to the synth to create the bestest stompingest lines you've ever made.

monotimbral, eight voice polyphonic - one type of sound at a time, but you can have an eight note chord
two octave keyboard with nice firm feel - use latch in conjunction with the octave up/down buttons on a monophonic patch, and its instant walking bass line - a bit of portamento (slide) and then play the midi live and edit later for the level of shuffle you need

arpeggiator - all the basic patterns you'll need. Can't program new arpeggio's in for one-finger riffs, but the standard patterns can make a simple bass line really rock. You can adjust gate time and range, so there's enough there for all but the most creatively challenged.

All parameters for arpeggiator, delay, modulation and LFO can be synced to incoming midi clock for easy and tight timing. Also, you can specify the note-on instance, as in "immediate" "next beat" or "next bar" so you can play in time, even if you aren't. Don't laugh - this would have to be one of the handiest yet least acknowledged features on modern synths!

Whats it sound like?

You remember those fat bass sounds that made you go nuts and the speaker cones stand to attention? All of them? And all of those leads that shredded and squealed all the way? Chances are, you can find it here.

Filters to die for and a vocoder for all your Daft Punk impressions. Two LFO's and a ring mod, plus fully assignable pitchbend and mod wheels. All those stats add up to one thing - a synth that is built for a bruising. And by gum, if anyone has the analogue modelling thing down pat, then Novation are the ones!

Batteries required? What else do i need!

Firstly, download the latest software update from novation website - this will remove all evidence of "zipping" (noise bursts) when changing patches.

Apart from that, you don't really need anything apart from headphones or a stereo and some kind of amp/speaker type set-up in order to have a wow of a time.

Combine with a midi sequencer, and you can capture all the great tweaks, bass lines and lead lines in midi for later manipulation. Combine with an audio multitracker (or DAW) and revel in the lush filters and thick bass. Or the pads. Or the leads.

I record the midi and a guide audio in protools, and then spit the midi back out to the k-station, or my sampler, or another sound module. Maybe with some mod-wheel and transpose action going on, for more complex layering (pads beneath leads for extra whoosh, maybe).

The whole mono-synth type concept doesn't really get in the way - sure you have to overdub different timbres, but you can do that through pre-programmed midi and everything works beautifully.

Conclusion :
Hell - I love this unit. The best thing any musician can do for themselves is buy another sound-source.
The analogue modelling engine is just magnificent, and the control you have over it is so much better then the Novation A-station, which holds the same engine in a single 19" rack case.

The best thing is, the sound engine isn't the only trick to this little pony. As a performance synth with heaps of controllers which send and receive midi CC messages, it's possible to hook up the midi to your other hardware synths, and even easier to do so with soft synths (try cooking up on Reason with 25 knobs and 4 faders under your fingers, instead of a mouse!)

So in terms of having ones cake and also getting to eat it, you've got a fantastic sounding synth bundled together with a comprehensive soft-synth controller surface.

Price: $1995 RRP. Call distributor to find your closest Novation stockist and the latest price deals.

Distributor: Innovative Music. For any information on this product please contact Innovative Music on +613 95400658.

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