12 thoughts on “Roland SH-01A Synthesizer Review

      1. 4 note poly is just underwhelming, not especially powerful for a digital synth. It would be so easy for Roland to add NEW creative features to these digital little boxes, but nooo, it’s just a samey-but-worse recreation of equipment that’s already used to death…

      2. I have a 101. It’s cheaply built, finicky, big and uses a big power brick. A modern version would have been nice. The 101 has a super simple voice and modulation architecture. People love it for the sound not the very limited modulation and feature set. Makes a lot more sense for this to be analogue than any other boutique they’ve done for that reason.

  1. LOL, 4 voice polyphony on digital synth is not powerful, it’s a VST in a box.

    A real SH101 costs a ~$1k for used one, and doesn’t have MIDI, and could crap out any day.

    If the SE-02 is a 3 osc analog for $500, creating a 1 osc mono for ~$250-$350 is more than possible.

    At least the D-05 is 16 voice digital for $350. Much more sensible price/value.

    1. Exactly, odd choice to not make this analogue in my opinion. Single oscillator, single LFO, single envelope, single mode filter would have been very cheap and easy to make analogue compared to the 3 OSC SE-02 with dual mode filter.

      They could have even cheated and made everything but the oscillator and filter digital and no one would notice. How is this better than the 101 plug out or Lush-101 which is digital poly VST of the 101 with extra features?

  2. The SH-101 was always too puny for me as a mono design. When it first appeared, I immediately began thinking of its possibilities as a poly synth, which we got with the Junos and JXs. Also, without at least 2 oscillators, a synth feels like a weineee to me. You have to take on what works for you, not what *I* think is cool, but the D-05 is the boo-teek for me. 8-voice poly and the secret analog synth you can get from the PCM waves make it the best pick for my needs. You must admit, the Boutiques are popping up in a lot of rigs. Opinion aside, its a lot of Best-Of-Roland for rational prices. I’m going to build a tough Boutique case for any travel, though. Double protection for anything with a mini-jack is wise.

  3. I wish they’d gone down the true analog route and just made it mono.. From what I’ve heard of this the oscillators don’t sound too bad but the filter just doesn’t hack it. I have plenty of nice emulations on my Mac, if I’m paying for hardware I want to hear a difference.

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