Novation Circuit Mono Station Review 

Every time I hear Nick Batt talk about pulse width modulation I feel happy.

No one ever mentions just how great these pads are. It has plenty of weaknesses, but its pads are a work of art. I've tried many different pads - Korg's, Akai's, Roland's, Yamaha's, even Novation's (on SL MK III keyboard). Wasn't impressed and never thought I would switch to pads from piano keys. These pads were the first that made me think of doing exactly that. They have so much control - it's like playing a real wooden string instrument, the sound properties wholly depend not only on the initial speed, but on how fast you release, how long and with how much pressure you hold the finger on it, and if you alternate the pressure - the sound will wobble like a real guitar string. Really well calibrated pads

Excellent review! I love how you get deep and explore what this can really do! Well done.

You're my favorite gear review guy.

Not for me but i'm very glad this exists.

Nick I'm loving the track you made here, awesome 👏

Thanks again for another review. Having one synced alongside a conventional Circuit sounds interesting.

awesome workshop as always

what a beautiful neat little synth. they are evolving

The Dreadbox sounds amazing!

What a well thought out flexible peice of gear. Defo one for my future list . Good in depth review Nick ;-)

Brilliant in depth review ,, thank you .

This was a nice little surprise as I was going through this channel once again

Looks and SOUNDS pretty darn nice, knowing that its got that Sync to stuff like Volca/SQ1 is a big plus. The price, I agree is probably the only hard point... I might wait on this one but i'll be keeping my eyes out for a good price. More Mod Matrices!!!

Fantastic overview Nick - thank you! I already have a BS2 so this gives me bad GAS for an original Circuit. Although I can see the MonoStation being declared a classic in the future!

I just love these demos! - and Nick is about the best technical presenter! - i have this machine for me to get it from the postoffice today!

great review as always Nick. I totally agree with you on your comment about this not having some sort of simple delay or reverb like the circuit, I said this from day one of seeing it. also, yes it does seem very expensive for what it is.

DAMN IT! It sounds so good...

Haha, what a nice track you put together in this preview! Nice one!

This does look awesome and addresses one of the key issues I had with my Circuit - i.e. lack of voices. You could base a live set on this and a CIrcuit.

Nice review and demo.

Great review as ever! Overhead cam seems to be recording interlaced video - any chance to switch that to progressive for the next review? Cheers

Wow, amazing flexibility, plays well with Volcas, Eurorack and MIDI gear! Now reduced to $399 USD. Yes, Delay instead of Distortion IMHO. Nice outgoing jam!

I'm impressed by the amount of clever tricks Novation has crammed into this range, which unfortunately means a lot of Shift functions. The Circuit has had a lot of game-changing additions in later firmwares, maybe we'll get a few surprises from this one as well.

Thank you.

Best review on Mono station I've seen. I was thinking about buying a 2nd Circuit but the ms just enhances the Circuit. Anyone know if the Circuit editor can be used with Mono Station?

Love the track

so can I plug this into an electric piano (alesis recital pro etc) and use this to change it's sound?

Great to see Brick Top has left the illegal boxing scene, cheers!

Hey Nick quick question pls, does the amp envelope always trigger in the mod matrix, regardless if you use the envelope on the filter or pitch? Or can I use the envelope on the filter and pitch without affecting the amp? I have a mono Station and it seems that the amp is always affected by the envelope. Nice vid btw

I want full songs of the two tracks in the video. Can we get them up on the Sonic Lab Bandcamp?

Not sure about this...but good review as always...✌🏼❤️

I just traded some gear for one of these & a NYX too... Perfect demo to pull up for my acquisitions... thanks

amazing

ok is paraphonic, but can it be bi-timbral? can it run in to a sequencer in for of two tracks?

It's a modern SH-101 in my eyes!

To be fair, the BSII was also $500 when it launched (and was more than worth it). You still do have a point about the price, though

The Ring Mod sound at 7:50...sounds very much like one of the sounds in the intro to This Is My House by Gary Numan.

i finally got one myself and is absolutely loving it...i was able to create my 1st Video using it on my channel...

first! Actually this will be my next synth over here - I have the Circuit and no analog gear in my setup. So while being a tad expensive as Nick mentioned, I am glad that I'm reaching towards an already familiar grounds in terms of sequencing. and I won't have another, completely different device in my setup which sometimes I fill I can hardly handle together (E2, microgranny, volca fm, circuit). The audio-in into filter and distortion is a great thing to have and also the sound is great.

The bass is very fat for only one/two voices. Thanks for the vid. I have it already - but you have filled in the gaps for me with your explanation and demo. It has the circuit workflow but adding great analogue , versatile , intuitive bass. Both together does compliment (circuit and this) . - You can not get that sound fro the digital circuit. Yes it may be expensive - but if you love this workflow style/pads and controls so quick to utilise. its a no brainer imo.

Sold. Definitely falls into the category of modern classic.

21:47 Novation obviously heard Nick's concern about price and reduced it (to $400) in the USA. Not sure about other countries . . .

Interesting little device. Sweetwater has it for $329.00, and Novation customers that are registered on their website are being offered this for 45 percent off. I don't have any use for an instrument like this, but it certainly has a nice sound and capability for the price.

i wish he would have done a review on roland tb 03

Novation probably can make very cool standalone or even eurorack sequencer, would be very cool

where you get that shirt, dawg?

Would be nice to see a Fun Friday with it and pulsar 23

Love my Circuit. Love my BS2. This one... IDK. The sound just doesn't do it for me for some reason. Cool machine though. More forward thinking than a lot of stuff coming out right now IMO.

Love the circuit as I can take it anywhere was considering the mono station but didn't realise it isn't battery powered until now. Even though it is tinny the internal speaker on circuit is also useful for ultimate portability. Two balls dropped imo

This or the mini nova?

Great review. You have a knack of answering the questions I have as I'm thinking them ... 0.o I've been wanting to see it interact with other gear, most reviews don't go that far! They're set to cost $850can ... I can get a beat step, monologue and a microbrute for close to that ... all new, too. Used prices I can get a beat step pro, monologue, and Minibrute. For the cost I'm not sold on the sound of it, it's good, but not that great (from other demos I've heard). Not $850 great.

It’s kind of like one channel of the Elektron Analog four

Cant do osc merge on sq 1 to free up sq 2 for external midi control. Cant record long notes thru few sequences. Played and sold :(

You can get this now for $329.99 on eBay and pretty much anywhere else right now

odes he said you can use the oscillator as two synths but they share the same filer and envs and stuff? that kinda sucks...

I am not understanding this "novation" device. Is it like arranging piano to sound right whichever key you hit?! Hope not.

I hope after mono station, Novation doit fm station. :)

I want to see Gaz raving about this! My 2 cents: Pricey and a bit of an odd combination of features that isn´t very obvious in terms of integration to a pre-existing workflow or as a standalone but packed with possibilities. To be honest, its a bit confusing this ugly little box, but who knows..

Dear sonicstate. zou make the best synth reviews on youtube. but please stop filming in interlaced (1080i) and start filming in progressive (1080p). kind regards, a film school student and big fan

Why is it so hard to get regular MIDI In/Out/Thru nowadays and like 128 polyphony from like every synth of the Mid 90's til like the last few years, we got past the crappy ipad/tablet control and support from a few years ago and now this crap, also you want a bomb ass Monosynth with lots of other coolstuff in the same box get a Roland JD-XI.

Are there presets on this? Can I save patches?

Groovebox is the word you're looking for.

Actually this synth sounds rather vintage to my ear

Volca Bass will take my money before this, or the Roland TB3... love my circuit though!

The big downfall is the lack of any reverb on so many of these models. Each channel should have its own independent reverb (stereo if possible). Raw mono does NOT sound good without reverb.

This one has price dropped with almost 200 euro in Sweden. Still, can anyone justify buying this instead of BS2 with all its new firmware features at 399? As a sequencer for modular gear, I think it this is still too limited for the price.

Apart from the lack of FM, it's hard to fault this great little synth from Novation!

MC202 update

7:18 I thought I had a Facebook message

it's like half of the bass station

Just bagged for £274 NEW! WINNER WINNER!! CHICKEN DINNER LOL

That noise sounds like you did it with your nose xDD

Well, would be much awesome if circuit was just 8 voice sample player and this would be great addition, since circuit have 2 synths this is bit reppetetiv...

This seems more powerful than monologue

I'm sure it's fun and useful but... it's just such an odd form factor.

Seems like a bit of a mis step. I'm having a hard time justifying this over the $100 cheaper Bass Station 2.

So essentially this piece of gear is shit as a standalone unit without add~ons. Transmission received.

I absolutely hate that the tempo sync of the LFO also makes the LFO retrigger with note on signals. That limits the rythmic effects of the LFO so much. It is funny how little details like that can turn us off of a really decent synthesizer so easily.

Anyone else bothered by the deinterlacing errors on one of the cameras?

Argh...Why did they REMOVE the battery option and the internal speaker? Using it as a portable idea machine is what the circuit was ALL about and now they effectively chained us to a wall and to wired headphones. It is a great piece of kit no doubt, but it is already bigger than the circuit so a little more for batteries would have been no big deal...and the little $2 speaker takes up practically no space (and amp circuitry is less than $1 and is minuscule). Silly omissions by novation... and ones that now cannot be remedied by a firmware update. Without true no-wire portability, size is irrelevant...can’t imagine what they were thinking. Perhaps: “Hey the circuit is a major hit! Its so popular I think we should cripple this with no batteries and no speaker...then we can lose half of our customer base! Think of how much this will reduce the sales and tech support calls! Great idea, right?” Unfortunately the guy responsible for firing people with stupid ideas must have been out on holiday when the issue came up. Argh. Argh. Argh.

not too into the sound

Too rushed, Nick!

There's something about Novation stuff that just feels wrong to me. Their gear comes across as cold and sterile.

For the price, I’d just buy another iPad.

monotribe sounds better

...it's mono, though. :(

Pure crap

Sounds terrible

it sounds like a toy.