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Novation V-Station & B-Station Are Now FREE (Discontinued)

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Novation offers the discontinued V-Station and B-Station virtual instruments for free download.

To say that I have a soft spot in my heart for the hardware version of Novation’s V-Station synthesizer would be an understatement. It was the very first hardware synthesizer I ever bought, and it was incredible at the time. Thanks to the built-in effects, it sounded huge and was relatively easy to program when paired with the software editor.

I played quite a few gigs with the V-Station (not to mention countless band rehearsals), programmed dozens of patches on it, and decided to sell it after a few years because I needed something with a wider keyboard. The thing is, none of the other synthesizers I used in my band setup (Alesis Micron, Korg MS-2000, and most recently the Minilogue) matched V-Station’s raw sound.

I know it’s an ancient virtual analog synthesizer, and it’s not supposed to sound good as such, but I really loved that little synth. Great for basses, arpeggios, and leads that literally cut through all other instruments.

Needless to say, I purchased the plugin edition after selling the hardware V-Station in order to get some of that old magic back into my setup. The plugin V-Station is powered by the same synthesis engine as its real-word twin and offers all the advantages of the software format. Yes, it probably sounds exactly the same as the hardware, but it just doesn’t sound the same to me.

The grass is always greener, as they say. Or, in this case, the hardware always sounds meaner.

Anyway, you can now get Novation’s discontinued V-Station and B-Station plugins for free. They are old plugins and no longer supported, but I guess that also makes them vintage in a way. And who doesn’t like a good vintage synthesizer nowadays, right?

You can download both instruments from the Legacy page on Novation’s website. The instruments are available in VST2, VST3, AU, and RTAS plugin formats for 32-bit and 64-bit digital audio workstations on Windows and macOS.

Want more virtual instruments? Check out our list of free synthesizer VST plugins.

Download: Novation Legacy Software 

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About Author

Tomislav is a music producer and sound designer from Belgrade, Serbia. He is also the founder and editor-in-chief at Bedroom Producers Blog.

39 Comments

    • Numanoid

       on

      I am all for it. But even though it is stated clearly by devs that old software set free will not be updated and must be used at own risk, a lot of newbies will nevertheless come complaining “it doesn’t work for me”. So setting old software free often ends up being bad publicity for companies.

      Reply

      • Hellektrix

         on

        Aha it’s funny, the first hardware synth I bought was also the Novation K-Station (hardware version of V-Station plug-in)
        ;)

        Reply

      • Jed

         on

        It is always good to set and old (PAID) back in the days software FREE. I do not think that Synth1 VST is getting much updates since the 1st time we started to use it. But, it still Rocks.

        Reply

  3. Numanoid

     on

    One of the first VST, released in 2003, almost 20 years ago! Last update I think was in 2018. Gave it a spin now for old times sake, and have to say it still sounds rather great :-)

    Reply

  5. MAX

     on

    VST3 version is really unstable for me. I’m on Windows 11 + Reaper 6. It was hell to activate it as it kept crashing 3 seconds after opening it. And now it’s putting off a nasty +256 dB signal (luckily I had my speakers off the first time I opened it). I’m gonna go back and still other versions to see if they work better.

    Reply

    • Ike

       on

      I would highly recommend to put Ice9 Automute as the last plugin on your Stereo output (use it as the last plugin in your DAWs default template). It saved me a few decades worth of hearing loss.

      Reply

  6. guruX

     on

    Interesting license agreement:

    “You must permit the Licensor and his representatives, at all reasonable times and on reasonable advance notice, to inspect and have access to any premises, and to the computer equipment located there, at which the Software or the Documentation is being kept or used, and any records kept pursuant to this Licence, for the purpose of ensuring that you are complying with the terms of this Licence.”

    Never mind. Deleting.

    Reply

        • Numanoid

           on

          This is an example why not more devs set their old VSTs free. There is always some users who will get caught up on a detail, and rather than enjoy an old VST for what it is rather want to ride a statement in a license agreement. This just means that devs will think twice about setting their old plugins free, because they will just get up getting heat from that kind of user :-(

          Reply

          • Adam

             on

            How ungrateful people become these days -_- . That synth has been cracked for like milion years thus every producer wanted to have it in his own arsenal back in days. Now given for free they start post bad comments about licence agreement. Shame on you. I bet they don’t even bother to pay for other software they use and read those la’s….

            Reply

          • guruX

             on

            Then the dev shouldn’t put stuff like that in the fine print. It’s always good practice to read whatever you’re agreeing too whether it’s free or not.

            Reply

  7. F.

     on

    When I opened it on FL, it literally made me go back in time, to when I started learning production. It’s a bit of a mixture of Sylenth and Spire. Sounds good, the filter is good.

    Reply

  9. Neychev

     on

    What i found (as an Atari user) that when “click&hold”
    UP – DOWN patch program selectors roll x10 faster.
    (Logic Pro X 10.1, OSX 10.10, AU vers.)

    Thank you!

    Reply

    • Adam

       on

      Atari running OSX? How cool is that :) Tell us your system specs – that is really unusall – running DAW wich was made for other system on other kind of machine (exept from hackintosh wich by the way is just pc holding mac to specs).

      Reply

  10. Christian H

     on

    V-Station can sound good (for example, preset 146 Strings5) and is quite CPU-efficient. But in FL Studio on Windows 8.1 it does not Smart Disable, meaning it consumes almost as much CPU when idle as it does when playing.

    Reply

  11. DK

     on

    Can you guys enlighten me how to activate these two gems? The “activate” button has no effect, and the “install license” button opens a random folder with another vst, persumably for manual search of license file. Please help)

    Reply

    • RV

       on

      You might need to use an old web browser to activate it, like Internet Explorer. I can only advise for Windows 10, go Start/Windows Accessories/Internet Explorer, then set it as your primary browser and try activating it again.

      Reply

  13. Numanoid

     on

    Novation Sound Collective members get FAST balancer free:
    collective.focusrite.com/products/fast-balancer

    Reply

      • Numanoid

         on

        I bought my Novation LaunchKey Mini, three years ago or so, and I still keep getting free software! It has have paid itself back in the free software I have got from the Collective. A highlight was getting the Minimonsta synth VST for free :-)

        Reply

  15. RV

     on

    HEADS UP: Novation has taken down both the V-Station and Bass Station, as well as the FX Suite, off their website. There is also no way to authorize them now either.

    :-(

    Reply

  16. AP

     on

    I’ve just found this out :-(((, the wee guy on the live chat said there is no way to do it at their end !.. still got them working on one system at least but can’t have another now!! …plenty cracked copies out there I guess

    Reply

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