Roland SH-1

Roland SH-1 Image

Among the first of Roland's revolutionary SH line of synthesizers that spawned such classics as the SH-101, SH-09 and SH-7! The SH-1 analog monophonic synthesizer is by no means any less powerful or sophisticated. Its overall look, design and architecture is very similar to the SH-101. One VCO plus one sub-oscillator provide you with simple but great analog basses, leads and effects - Roland SH style! The VCO can be tuned over a 5 octave range (2', 4', 8', 16', 32') with saw, square and pulse waveforms.

A squelchy VCF (filter) section, plenty of LFO modulation capabilities and an Auto-bend portamento type effect are also at your fingertips. The VCF, VCA and LFO sections have adequate and flexible controls and can modulate or affect each other in some way just as on the other similar SH-type synths. However the SH-1 does not feature an on-board sequencer or arpeggiator. The SH-1 sounds pretty good and makes a nice alternative to the more popular and plastic SH-101. It has been used by Depeche Mode and Vince Clarke.

8 Visitor comments
[debut]
April 12, 2009 @ 1:13 am
used by OMD on the architecture and morality tour - in fact 2 were used by martin cooper
p23
November 10, 2008 @ 1:59 pm
Listen to it here,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks7binY4WVo
p23
November 10, 2008 @ 1:46 pm
I own one of these and it sounds excellent! It makes some robust bass. You can also do very nice lead's with it too. You can get clean sounds from it or if you want it does very nice grungy sounds too with its sub-oscillator. It also has an envelop follower, and it works very well. If you want that all time classic warm analog sound, this is it.
 
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  • Demos & Media
  • YouTube Thumbnail
    Video 1
    - ROLAND SH-1 1978 VINTAGE ANALOG MONO SYNTH

    Audio Clip 1 - A few sample bass and lead tones from the classic SH-1.

    Manual - Roland has made manuals for most of their products available as free PDF downloads.

  • Specifications
  • Polyphony - Monophonic
  • Oscillators - 1 VCO (saw, sqr, pulse) + sub-oscillator
  • LFO - 1 Modulator (sine, square, random) with rate and delay controls; Can modulate VCO, Envelope 1, Envelope 2, VCF
  • Filter - Hi-pass filter and a Low-pass with resonance, cutoff; modulated by Envelope 1, LFO, KYBD, envelope follower
  • VCA - Envelope 1: ADSR, Envelope 2: AR
  • Memory - None
  • Keyboard - 32 notes
  • Control - CV / Gate, Trigger output
  • Date Produced - 1978
  • Resources & Credits
  • Images from Synth Forum member: johnathan1

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