Roland • SH-1000
The SH-1000 was Roland's first instrument, and probably one of the first Japanese compact affordable keyboard synthesizers. There are big ugly buttons typical of organ synths at the time. However this synth is more capable of monophonic bass like and lead sounds. Basic square, ramp and PWM waveforms are available. There are 10 preset sounds which are pretty unusable, and although there is no user memory, unique sounds can still be quickly recreated or discovered. It has a 'growl' and 'wow' effect for a pretty scary analog sound. It also features white noise, pink noise, portamento, octave transposition and a random note generator.
In retrospect, the SH-1000 is ugly, its capabilities are limited, it's un-intuitive to program, it's a dinosaur! But it's also a classic piece of Roland's history. It has been used by Vangelis, Human League and Jethro Tull.
(just dont use the presets... although they are useable with filtering
limited but brilliant)
Thanks
Very limited synthesis and range of sounds. 1vco, no PWM.
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nice basic VCO sound
Surprisingly nice filter! I've owned most of the SH series, and this is probably the best sounding SH filter I've heard. quite Moogish, maybe they used their SH3 Moog clone in this one as well?
Very snappy ADSR, though on mine it only works on the filter if it's also routed to the VCA. Probably by design?
Two separate LFOs, though very limited speed range and waveform selection.
The presets are few nd crappy, there are few possibilities to modify them, so in praxis I'd consider this more of a variable synth than a preset synth. As a variable synth it is limited, but Im impressed by the bass sounds it pumps out. If you can get one cheap Id say it's worth upgrading it with cv/gate/filter cv jacks, as this will make it a very nice machine for sequenced basslines.
it was my 1st experience of analogue synths and i loved it..
i still have a recording i made with the SH-1000 in random note mode and my (digital) piano...
i wish i had one now x