Roland's New Synth.. SH-201

But I'm not looking for 'new stuff' I'm just looking for good stuff. I don't have any of the old machines they're re-hashing so I don't give a sh*t whether or not it's re-hashed. To me this looks like a good companion to my Fantom... and if the price is right, and I like the way it sounds, I'll probably be getting one.

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"Real musicans don't need expensive equipment to create... a true artist will make music with anything that is around them." ~ Mom

Pearls of wisdom, no mistake, but I bought a Fantom-Xa anyways

Box Drone, I guess we are in same boat here. I also don't have ANY of the old stuff, that's why I am asking the above questions.
Right now, you can get a used JP-8080 in a very good condition for like $400-500. So, if this "new" SH-201 is a repackaged 8080, I think I'll go for the old product here.

Also, I am thinking of the competition, namely the ION. As of now, I think the ION for $600 new is quite tempting. How the SH-201 will measure up to it, that is a very interesting question. Specially that it seems the SH-201 will be in the same price range.

Best.

Yes, I'll be comparing it to the microKorg, which I rented & fell in love with, despite it's apparent shortcomings. The one thing I had wished it had was more knobs & realtime controls, and this baby looks like she has them in spades!

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"Real musicans don't need expensive equipment to create... a true artist will make music with anything that is around them." ~ Mom

Pearls of wisdom, no mistake, but I bought a Fantom-Xa anyways

Like I said this is one sexy little synth, 10/10 for the Roland cosmetic dept. (and the same comment to a certain extend for the new Juno-G)

However the more I look at this synth the more I m dissapointed/puzzled by Roland.

Limited 10 voice poly a la JP8080.
No multitimbrality (dual timbral at most).
32 preset patches and 32 programable that s it.
No Screen. (fun when adjusting tempo and tune)
Very limited reverb and delay with 2 parameter.
NO MFX, not even a chorus.
No syncable delay (?)

What the hell is this, unless it has a sub 450 price tag and/or a killer sound that rival a true JP8, it s already destroyed by the ION.
It looks like Roland took a SH-32/JP8000 and trimed a lot of features and put the result in a pretty case.

I m also very surprised by the Juno-G, another sexy beast outside, but a lame repackage on the inside of the FXa with a couple of new features.

And finally one SRX each year, at NAMM.
Is it that hard and complicated to expand seriously this line of expension when already 4 of them are JV repack and 4 other are around 5 years old.

Juno-G (or Guno as I think I'm going to call it from now on) does indeed look like a re-packaged Xa... the audio tracks would be a godsend, but It looks like it doesn't do sampling, and I'd take sampling over audio tracks anyday.

As for the SH-201, No synchable delay is a disapointment for sure, and I'm having a hard time imagining getting the tempo precise without a screen... so yeah, I'll definately have to take a closer look before I do anything potentially stupid like buying one - not that I'd be able to afford it anytime soon, I still owe another $500 on my FXa!

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"Real musicans don't need expensive equipment to create... a true artist will make music with anything that is around them." ~ Mom

Pearls of wisdom, no mistake, but I bought a Fantom-Xa anyways

Where are you guys getting this info about the Roland SH-201 and what features it's missing? I'm only seeing preliminary info on rolandus.com - nothing about polyphony, multi-timbrality (is that a word?), etc... Personally I would like to know how it functions as a USB-MIDI controller - i.e. sending CCs to a DAW, and how it integrates as a VSTi like Roland talks about. Will this be like the Virus-TI's - the SH-201 shows up as a soft-synth in your DAW? That would be cool - a 49 note VA synth, hopefully multi-timbral, that shows up as a VST in your DAW.

in reply to what quinnx said about roland just coming out with rehashes, almost all manufacturers rehash their ideas with new iterations. heck the korg oasys is a rehash of something they designed 10 years ago. geniunely _different_ products are harder to sell because you have to prove the concept, often at the hands of the revolving door minimum wage staff at guitar center. i'd hate to be any of the music manufacturers when your largest distributor doesn't put enough pride in what they do to train their staff in your products.

ok 32 patches at once sounds dumb.
and a limit of 10 voices is a little weak, depending upon the voice structure; with roland's romplers, a layered sound with 2 uppers and 2 partials can eat the polyphony away. but if the competition are synths like the 4 voice korg MS2000 or the 8 voice ion, then it's not too shabby.

onboard effects are pretty important. for one, they can add needed gloss to lame patches. secondly, all the competition in the VA market has effect -- clavia nord, access virus, novation KS, alesis ion -- they're all loaded to the gills with efx. and why offer an audio input if all you have access to is the filter? it would be so much nicer to have a vocoder, eq, and delay effects available as well.

if the SH201 can be used as a VSTi and as a USB MIDI controller, that pulls it our of rehash territory to compete with the more expensive virus TI and novation xstation.

why no screen? saves money. but if the controls feel good, and they're laid out practically, this should be an easy synth to program and have some fun with. if you can set the OSC1 to a WAV that you've loaded on a memory card, that will skyrocket the sonic potential of this synth, since I can't name any other VAs that let you replace their internal ROMs with your own samples -- and I own several (the KS4, the Virus Classic, the Nord Rack 2, the Red Star Dark Star XP2 and the Korg MS2000R).

Can different products succeed in the marketplace? sure. the DX7, the D-50, the nord lead -- all became classics but got their start by pushing the envelope on technologies that had not been done before. but it's true that cutting edge products may not succeed in the marketplace -- like the Kawai K5 or the yamaha EX5.

oh yeah, one more thing. i do NOT miss the pitch drift of old analog synths. and if the filter is Phat, then who cares how much is analog and how much is digital? as long as this synth has some real character to its patches so you can pick it out in a mix, roland could have a hit on their hands. depends on the street pricing though. once 8080's hit $150, I'm getting one regardless.

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Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Check out my site: www.lo-res.com
vintage synth rescue kits, logic screen shots, and more!

2TIM316 :

http://www.roland.com/products/en/SH-201/index.html

http://www.roland.com/products/en/SH-201/specs.html

And you can have access to the owner manual online.

I am the first who was expecting with $$ ready in hand a full feature VA from Roland in the line of a Novation KS or Alesis ION. But no such luck.

The SH-201 has a 10 voices poly engine and that s a fact from the specification p74 owner manual, same thing for the 32 user patch limit and the one midi part (one upper tone on lower tone or dual a la D-50)
NO multitimbrality here... it s 2006

About the effects section, from the manual it appear that there is much more parameters then what I initially said, my mistake on that point. And the delay is modulable, so it can probably act as a chorus or flanger.
However the delay is not syncable

Shure repackaging is not new and sometime is welcome.
But to use old tech with less feature and slap a vintage name with a nice outfit on the lame result is unexcusable.

Thanks, bro. I'll check it out now.

By the way TIM you should also check this new synth :
Korg Radias, a new VA

http://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?a_prod_no=RDKB&category_id=1

This is looking like the VA I was waiting for, if only it was looking good like the new SH. I guess you can t have everything.
Now the big question about the Korg Radias is HOW MUCH !!

Way more than the SH-201, that's for sure!

I don't consider ten voice polyphony as a problem because its not multi-timbral. I've got the Novation X-station which got only eight voice polyphony and it works perfect for me (and I am a mad tweaker).

I really like the SH-201 - its simple, straight forward and no complicated menus and routings. Just get it out of the box, throw the manual in the garbage bin and tweak it crazy. Its perfect.

The Korg Radius looks weird, looks like it has got a cheap keyboard.
The SH-201 looks sexy. A great companion to the Fantom.

http://www.jostsauer.com
"When one is not expressing himself, he is not free." - Bruce Lee

"Roland are loosing it big time
your fools to support this old stuff "


sorry Quinnx
but this "fool" here keeps loving Roland although you "fool" keep trying to make me change my mind


o - ...just could not afford the 8
(
\_/
hear what I've done with the 7

Any news on when the SH-201 is going to be hitting the shops? Ever since I saw the picture I can't get it out of my head... I MUST HEAR IT! Gotta put all this speculation to rest...

__________________________________________
"Real musicans don't need expensive equipment to create... a true artist will make music with anything that is around them." ~ Mom

Pearls of wisdom, no mistake, but I bought a Fantom-Xa anyways

And the radius looks sweet, but it also looks more expensive...

__________________________________________
"Real musicans don't need expensive equipment to create... a true artist will make music with anything that is around them." ~ Mom

Pearls of wisdom, no mistake, but I bought a Fantom-Xa anyways