Novation Bass Station Owner's Manual page 19

Addendum Addendum
Set Up For Roland TB303* Emulation
ABOUT THE ROLAND TB303 .......
The Roland TB303 Bass Line has a very familiar and unique sound for an analogue synthesiser. The
BassStation can emulate this sound and indeed create a much wider range of sounds. The TB303
has a single oscillator and single envelope that control both the level of the sound and the way in
which the filter contours that sound. The most frequently used controls on the TB303 are the CUT
OFF FREQ, RESONANCE, DECAY and ENV MOD and by "tweaking" these the well known "bleeps
and burps" are attainable.
THE BASS STATION .......
With its dual oscillators and two envelopes, the BassStation has far greater sound creating
capability than the TB303, however to produce the sound of the TB303 it is important to use just a
single oscillator and mimic the single envelope. The filter section on the BassStation has been
designed such that when the CUT-OFF switch is in the 12dB position the FREQUENCY, RESONANCE,
MOD DEPTH and ENVELOPE 2 DECAY controls act in a similar fashion to the TB303.
SETTING UP A TB303 SOUND
Turn the PORTAMENTO control to 2. In the OSC 1 section, turn the MIX control fully anticlockwise in
order to only listen to oscillator 1. The WAVEFORM switch may be set as desired since the TB303
also has this selection switch. For the moment set it to Sawtooth.
In the OSC 1-2 MODULATION section set the OSCILLATOR 1 2 switch to position 1 and make sure
that the ENVELOPE and LFO controls are set to 0 ( Central position ). The TB303 does not have
these controls so we want to make sure they have no effect.
In the filter section set the CUT - OFF switch to the 12dB position. Set the MOD SOURCE switch to
the LFO position and turn the MOD DEPTH control to its middle position. Again, the TB303 does not
have this control so any LFO modulation must be removed. Now, set the MOD SOURCE switch
back to the ENV 2 position. In the 12dB position the MOD SOURCE control does not act as shown
on the label i.e. there is only positive MOD available between 0 ( fully anti-clockwise ) and 10 ( fully
clockwise ) as on the TB303.
Set the ENVELOPE switch to 1 so the envelope controls have an affect on envelope 1. Set the
ATTACK to 0, DECAY to 4, SUSTAIN to 10 and RELEASE to 3. Move the ENVELOPE switch to 2 and set
the ATTACK to 0, SUSTAIN to 0 and RELEASE to 3. The DECAY control can now be adjusted as on the
TB303.
The VELOCITY can be adjusted as desired but for now, set it to 0 so that the volume is always the
same no matter how hard the keyboard is played. To get the"twangy" TB303 sound turn the
RESONANCE control up. When the control is set to 8 the sound should get more "Watery". To
simulate the glide on the TB303, switch to AUTOGLIDE in the ENVELOPE section. If you play a note
and then, whilst holding it, play another one, the new note will glide or 'slur' up to the new pitch. If
it goes instantly to the new pitch adjust the Portamento control a little until the glide is noticeable.
Once you are happy with this new sound save it in a memory for future use.
ADDITIONAL NOTE
The BassStation is capable of saving the Pitch Bend and Controller wheel settings with a sound
thus allowing you to customise these effects specifically to each sound. If you want to alter these
settings without changing the sound, you must remember to go through the save procedure
otherwise the changes made will be lost.
* Copyright Roland Corporation, Japan