Moog M32 is my bass specialist, controlling via A4 C.V. is a blast.
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agree on the minitaur - has memory and can use your cv track.
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I own an A4 and a Minitaur. After two days of trying to get the Minitaur to “pitch” correctly, I gave up. The sound of both together was absolutely perfect but the setup woes were just too much. I want to give it a try again soon but I haven’t been able to find any new info that gives me hope that it will work.
To the OP, the Minitaur is one of the best sounding synths I’ve ever owned and I’ve had a lot of gems, but the very necessary editor is still a little buggy and the CV setup is a PITA (for me at least).
To everyone else, are there any solid guides to get this setup working?
Another vote for the Moog Minitaur. I drive it through the Monomachine.
This.
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To everyone else, are there any solid guides to get this setup working?
Tried these?
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Wow, that was quick!!! Thanks Rics, I’m gonna dive back in.
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get a bass guitar
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I love moog but after testing Minotaur and Mother 32… well… Ok moog is great for a lot of reason but i fall in love with Pulse 2 which is way more versatile and has memory for your patches. This synth is crazy, give it a chance 
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I’m still saying he A4 is my favorite sounding bass synth right now.
Someone made this kit and it is a lot of fun
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Yes WALDORF PULSE 2
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Shruthi-1!
Yeah, Roland SH2 is fantastic!
This is good advice … much depends on the intended use.
@Cisa If we look at what you have already …
The A4 is capable of deep, punchy, and also crunchy bass sounds. The use of the resonant HP-filter can get your speakers to pump heavily. But it will never sound as an original analogue Moog, if this is, what you are after.
The Virus has many options for bass. Two independent filters like the A4 give you at least one resonant HP-filter to generate punch. The various OSC-modes and waveshapes support many different sound characters. Using ring-modulation or FM-modulation can generate dirt and grit and unusual textures. The distortion section and the filter-bank section provide plenty options to tweak a sound … and let’t not forget … there is an EQ too
Both synths are multitimbral and from a technical point of view you seem to have already much, what you need. But if you want a dedicated bass synth, follow the advice of @42 and first define, what you want, then listen to various synths and decide, which is giving you the most.
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yup
Thank you all for the replies!
@42: you have reason, I forgot to say what I want from this bass synth.
I play in a Electro-new Wave band. We have 2 setups:
- one with full band (so there is also a real bass-man)
here’s some examples:
http://wearewaves.net/release/promises/
and one only me and singer (more electro one, I plays almost everything).
here’s one example:
https://soundcloud.com/wearewavesmusic/1-what-happened-today-is-useless-promixes-version
NB: in these examples I didn’t owned yet A4 and Ob6, in the next album we are working on, I have changed/improved my sounds very much using OB6 and A4 for everything except VIRUS for leads, fx, strange sounds. The result is more fat/analog and less aggressive/digital one (I don’t want the bass to sound like vst massive or virus patches)
I need either for studio but mainly for live (I use all my setup live, so I need only little desktop stuff, as I use the VIRUS TI as master keyboard for everything).
In my current setup I’m very happy with:
LEADS, STRANGE SOUNDS, FX -> VIRUS
PADS, 80’s sounds -> OB6
some 80’s leads, DRUMS, some bass sounds -> A4
What I miss is some kind of bass sounds like first MODERAT / Trentemoller ones…
I have made many bass patches from scratch and modifying presets with A4 (that I like), and VIRUS (that I don’t like after I owned analog stuff like A4 or Ob6, they sounds too digital)
What I need/want is a bass DEEP and with a sound “easy to tweak with knobs in realtime, easy to program”, with lots of easy “sweet spots”.
The example of what I need is like the reverb I’ve chosen: I want a bass synth that is like the STRYMON BIGSKY in reverb: easy to program, very low menu diving, portable, with presets (I need them to play live with my band), and with a sound that is “always sweet spot”.
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Do you mean the bass in MODERAT, 2009, A New Error, or 2013, Bad Kingdom?
IMO this grittyness depends on the OSC/filter combo. There might be some synths, which deliver this straight out of the box, but I can’t tell.
I have made similar sounds with support of audio-FM modulation of the VCF (Voyager/MatrixBrute or the like), with cross-modulation of the VCOs or with digital synths using FM, distortion, etc. It could be possible to do this with the A4 now too, because the new OS provides LFOs at audio-speed AND following the keyboard.
But … maybe I am wrong and there is a much simpler way to get there. Maybe you can get information about their set-up.
Deep and gritty sounds can be achieved easy with the MiniBrute. The Dreadbox synths could also be worth to check out.
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someone mentioned this to me last time i asked this same question…
I went ahead and decided to move up to the Ambika (poly shruthi) because I had been wanting one of those for a while, and also wanting to get an analog poly for pads, and I figured it could do both with the 6 voices + 6 outputs configuration
turned out to be one of best purchases Ive ever made… its definitely in my top 5 of favorite synths Ive ever owned… I got the one with the Roland Juno/MKS filters, built new, only cost me about $625 (which is why I finally pulled the trigger)
yeh it does insane bass, super smooth pads, nasty leads, all kinds of other weirdness in between… plus its a nearly perfect synth companion for the OT (all MIDI CCs implemented, can switch patches via program change instantly, so it follows part changing perfectly, has 6 outputs for routing up to 4 mono inputs for fx, etc. etc) … just an amazing little synth box overall… cant recommend it highly enough
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The Behringer D might be a choice to consider. Failing that, a small eurorack box with either a SE Tonestar or Intellijel Atlantis in it would suit me just fine.
Ok, now first of all–I love that track you linked “What Happened Today Is Useless” and it reminded me of some strange combination of New Order, Depeche Mode, The Cure, and Type 0 Negative mixed together (in a very good way). I’m very impressed!
I know the synth that ties all those bands together, but it doesn’t fit all of your needs (0 knobs, although you CAN use it for live performance with the buttons etc). You might want to consider one regardless of whether you use it for bass or not (it can do very nice bass sounds, though most people never learn to use it well because it takes some effort). You pretty much are missing a Casio CZ-101, CZ-3000, CZ-5000, or CZ-1. The 101 is the only small one. It is a digital synth but very warm sounding (if you leave the ring mod and noise OFF). Every band that you (probably) were inspired by used the CZ-101. BUT, it doesn’t really fit your criteria for bass/knobs, so I’m just mentioning it in case you haven’t thought about it before. Be careful judging the CZ synth family too quickly from youtube videos, it was a BIG part of the entire late 80s-mid 90s sound, including the new wave, post punk, and synth pop stuff. They are much more versatile than most youtube demos show. About 24 seconds in and 2:49 in, the type of sound that many bands used for that synth sound back in the day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9iIHNVh36A Vince Clarke was a big fan and was almost a spokesman for the CZ-101 he loved it so much.
As for something that meets all your criteria, I’m sure some of the other guys will give you some good answers, but here are mine:
First on my list is actually the new MFB Dominion Club because it does what you asked for and sounds amazing, truly. Bad news is that it is not yet released, so we can’t be too sure that the demos are accurate until they begin to ship them out mid-late summer in several months. Also, it does look to have a fair amount of “Function + other button” built in, so perhaps that might put you off. It’s made for live performance though, so I feel like a bit of practice will be all that’s needed.
If that one doesn’t work, I could mention the Moog Slim Phatty (it’s hard to find analogs that do great bass, have plenty of knobs, are small, AND have presets, but this one does). I’ve heard somewhat mixed reviews about these and haven’t used or owned one myself, but the bass examples I’ve heard were HUGE and very fat and warm. I strongly considered it for my live setup until I saw the video from Superbooth for the MFB Dominion Club. I’m sure some other members here could tell you more about this one. Moog was also a big part of that sound in the 80s-90s (for those who could afford it). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL0sRcuop28
For a third option, a Novation Bass Station II (or the new Circuit Mono with a better sounding version of the same synth) does all that you ask. To me, it has always sounded a little…something, I don’t know. I know a lot of people love it, but it sounds sort of VST-ish to me or VA-ish. It is very versatile, great for live performance, and has all the features you requested, but the issue might be the sound. It depends on what YOU think about the sound.
It’s a lot of work to actually try to find the right synth to meet all your requirements (presets are the big challenge imo), but I’ll keep going through my bass synths and see if anything else pops up that I think might help.