SH-201

Sadly, many bad words on SH-201 were heard by me at the Vintage Synth forums, but mainly from people who merely had a tweak at this synth. I think it's a real breakthrough for Roland in terms of the user interface and price tag, and it CAN sound huge without any doubt.

I own it and think it's great. I was a bit skeptical from what I heard in the videos but I'm glad that I bought one now.

I'm going to go check out the hype at VintageSynth. Thanks for the info.

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Not everyone understands House Music...........

Hi,

I´m into the Jean Michel Jarre type of sounds. How does the 201 perform in that area? As of now I have an X6 and I love it but I just can't tweak up those twirrling-evolving sounds that Jarre uses. Therefore I'm looking for another sound sorce. Maby the 201 is it or the v-xt? The 201 price tag is appealing...

Regards

A Fantom X6 is more than capable for Jarre type stuff with all the synth related waveforms in there and the "Analog Feel " parameter.

As far as the SH-201 doing Jarre sounds, I don't know. I'm into House Music and Jazz. I haven't tried it for Ambient stuff yet but the dual mode should make it very capable.

You'll have to wait and see if Jarre uses it on his new album to be sure I guess.

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Not everyone understands House Music...........

MuzikB,

I know that my X6 can do a lot of stuff. Maby I just tweak things the wrong way? But considering what type of synths Jarre used in the early years I thought that some kind of VA should bring me closer. In Reason I can easily get such sounds just using a Subtractor + some delay/reverbs. In worst case I can always make a sample out of that...

Thanks.

to Krokodilen:

For "vintage" electronic sounds (Schulze, Vangelis, Kraftwerk, etc...), I think you should look somewhere else...

I have an SH-201.

It's a limited synth with a weak analog emulation engine. You can create some Jarre sounds with it, but they will sound similar to the ones you can make with an old JV/XP Roland synth. If you have a Fantom, there's absolutely no reason to get an SH-201.

The SH-201 is, in my opinion, a toy. You can have fun with it for a while... that's all...

Best,

Eric

EricNS - The SH-201 is NOT a toy! I know everyone is entitled to an opinion, but why did you buy it if it's such a toy as you claim it to be?

I bought one on Monday from Sound Control in Leeds and it's excellent. What angers me is (as Artemio said) there are a lot of people having a quick tweak with it and slagging it off as rubbish, which just isn't true. 19 years ago, I had an SH-101, which was much more limited than the new SH-201, but people loved (and to this day, still love) it. Why? Because it's simple, hands on and fun to use and sounds good, that's something Roland have kept the spirit of when it comes to the 201.

I doubt the 201 will be a massive hit for Roland, simply because of the bad press rumour mill getting to work on it (before it was even released), which is sad. People have been asking Roland for a modern SH synth for years and then when they give people what they asked for, they suddenly don't seem to want it anymore. Go figure!

In MY opinion, the SH-201 is great! I have the new MC-808, a V-Synth XT and a Korg RADIAS (keyboard version) along with a ton of plugins and an Apple Mac, so it may not seem like I really need the 201 with all that to hand, but I'm so enjoying the 201 so much, I can't really put it into words. It can have such a dirty sound, quite big and has a lot of energy to the sound too, great for sequencer lines, melodies, pads and basses. If you were ever into 80's synthpop, you'll love this thing!

I'm sure that Marcus Brown (keyboardist with Madonna) is enjoying his (custom painted) SH-201 just as much as well!

http://www.roland.co.uk/synth_roomnews.asp?ID=89

Long live simple, grerat-sounding, fun and enjoyable synths!!!

SekondThought
"Computers are cool, but hardware rules".

Eric

I think you're off base here.
The 201 is nothing like the Fantom and they DON"T sound similar.
I am a long time electronic freak for over 20 years and I know you can make Jarre and kraftwerk sounds all day long with the 201. If you have ever listened to the Oxygene album that Jarre did in 1978, he did that with synths that were far less powerful than the SH-201. I bet I'm not alone in saying that it was one of his best albums ever. The same goes for Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode and any other electronic artist form from the 1960s-to the late 1980's. The synthesizers and samplers from that time were not reliable and most of them were monophonic. I know that Schulze, Vangelis, Kraftwerk, etc... would have killed to have a synth like the 201. It's simple, sounds good,works and is 595.00. The point I'm trying to make is that the SH-201 is MORE than capable of making "vintage" electronic sounds. As far as a "toy", I remember when the TB-303 was thought of as a "toy"

Jim Stout
Roland US

Just to add a little to Jim's post: think spec-wise. Things like unison (supersaw), ring modulation, multi-mode filters were only typical to $3000+ synths back in 1970s, which was not what most artists used on their breakthrough albums. SH-201 indeed does that and much more, and I can't wait to get one to write some tutorials for it in proof.

He he

Now I just have to try one out at some store. But the 201 seemes great. First of all it's hands on and from the demos sounds good, second it doesen't kill my piggybank, third it's portable.

Regards.

The SH-201 is great. I have it grouped with an S90 ES and a Nord Rack 2X for Deep House and Contemporary Jazz. Straight "No Frills" synth. Just the way I like them.

If your a JUNO kind of person, then this is right up your alley. I have several reservations about Roland but I will give them props when I believe they've gotten something right.

Way to go guys!

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Not everyone understands House Music...........

To SekondThought :

Hi!

why did you buy it if it's such a toy as you claim it to be?

Because I'm usually satisfied by Roland products. It was a "blind" purchase, I got it through an online shop.

As an analog emulation synth the SH-201 is not very good, but it's still a decent digital synth. I also use it as an audio interface and master keyboard. So no problem here... I'll keep it.

To Jim Stout:

Hi Jim!

I don't think that I'm off base here. I've been using the SH-201 intensively for a month now, my opinion is not based on a quick shop test.

I don't believe that the synth used on Oxygene were "far less powerful than the SH-201". The old anolog synths were monophonic, not reliable, simple,... sure, but their sound was amazing, rich and very powerful. The SH-201 cannot match this.

Schulze, Vangelis, Jarre "would have killed" to have a V-Synth XT or a Fantom, not a SH-201, sorry.

I like it. It's fun. It can generate very interesting sounds (thanks to the Supersaw/Feedback oscillators, the "Ring" mix mode and the flexible LFOs).
But again, I don't think it is a very good "analog modeling" synth. The naked standard oscillators (saw, square,...) sound very thin and static compared to my other synths. And they don't cost $3000+.

Anyway, it's not the right place to say this... I should go somewhere else...

one constructive suggestion to Roland before leaving:

Don't hide the velocity sensivity parameters (amp and filter) behind mysterious button combination (CANCEL+LEVEL and CANCEL+CUTOFF). People don't
read manuals, this kind of key combination is impossible to guess... Velocity sensivity is a MAJOR feature, it shoud get dedicated controllers.


Best,

Eric

EricNS:

I meant a $3000+ synth back in 70's, not now. These days you indeed can get an analog synth with all mentioned stuff for much less.

I am not saying that SH-201 is a replacement for analog synths, be they modern or vintage. But like in the SH-101 and Juno days, it's a great synth for people to start learning on and it *can* give great results.

Okay, enough on this topic, let's tweak some sounds!

I cant say that I have ever though of the V-Synths VA, or the SH-201 as an 'analog modeling' synth - Im not even sure that it really tries to be beyond having the same kind of bits that are common to most subtractive synths.

Its a digital synth that makes no prententions of being anything else - and thats its strength. Analog style architecture has a long proven history that people seem to be able to work with easily - unlike FM for eg.

If I wanted a digital synth that could do convincing emulations of the flavour of analog synths - then maybe a nord or a fusion would be my choise - certainly not an SH-201.

I wouldnt be at all surpised if the 201 manged to kick off alot of renewed interest in Roland higher end offerings, and maybe encourage a v-synth mk2 one day.

As far as the V-Synths VA is concerned - digital it is, and lots of people aint so keen on it, for some things, there is nothing else I have found that can touch it - especially if you want sheer punchy brutality - if some of that has found its way into the 201, then I can see the 201 finding alot of interest with alot of people as a bass synth of choice, or a punchy trance lead layer of choice (layered over a virus for eg). And with the price - why the hell not buy one if you dont have a v-synth - it allmost cheap enough for many people to just order one to find out if its useful (else ditch it later for a small loss)...

I would say roland have a winner on their hands with it - I would love to see a patch conversion utility from the 201 to the V-Synth