h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I recently saw a rack version of the Novation A-Station in a mail order ad for not much money (something like £240 brand new) and I read all the spec's; 3 oscillators, 2 LFO's blah blah, woof woof. But what I want to know is how does it sound and perform. Has anyone here got one, or even used one once. I've used Novation's Bass Station before (and very nice it was too, if a bit tricky to get used to) and the Novation Nova (cum in your pants time!), but how does the A Station compare?

I think Dawsons are selling them mail order for £169. Check some current magazines for the (UK) advert. Looks like a bargain at this price!

The Sound on sound website has some MP3s you can download of the A-Station. Search the reviews for the A-station on http://www.soundonsound.com/ . Also, Novation's website has pretty good details and they are supporting the A-station by placing an upgrade to the operating system online.

The A-station is essentially the same hardware as a Bass-Station. So the display is a little small and plenty of functions are rather well hidden. It's a shame this isn't a 2U (rack unit height) synth as it wouldn't feel so fiddly then. I've only mucked around with an A-station in music shops so I can't really say much other than the A-station like all the Novation synths I've tried have a good, useable, rich sound. Good for basses and brass filter swept patches. The Nova uses a more modern synth engine (C series IIRC) for its sounds and is more flexible as a result. The A-station uses (perfectly good) 2001 era tech.


I think the odd thing about the A-station is that it's *not* multi-timbral (able to play more than one voice or patch on more than one MIDI channel, such as a bass and a lead sound at the same time.) This isn't a problem if you already have a large set up of instruments/sound sources but it would be unwise to have the A-station as your main synth.

You might want to check out the Korg 2000R rackmount - more expensive but also more capable. But the A-station is a bargain at the moment.

Hope that helps in some way.