Vintage Synth Explorer

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.

VISITOR COMMENTS (16)

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Cleber Vaz

Posted 40 days ago

It is just what a "dinosaur" should be, as simple as fantastic and unique.

Machineman

Posted 45 days ago

Well, i just bought one of these and let me tell you - it's truly wonderful! I own many old monosynths and this have somehow become my favourite. It got the most amazing raw filter, built with discrete electronics, like the rest of the synth. The VCO is huge, organic and warm sounding and the envelopes are very snappy. And believe me, it's not limited at all. Just mix the different waveforms and you'll have a large palette of sounds. After some cleaning it's like new; it's built with quality parts. It just fits perfectly in a mix, no EQ needed. If you can find one, buy it!

Jonathan

Posted 110 days ago

My first synth! I cut grass the entire summer of 1976 to afford it. I think it was $600.00 but I'm not sure. Anyway I loved it. The SH-1000 was my introduction to synthesizers. I used a phase shifter to fatten it up a bit. It allowed me to live out my Chick Corea fantasies!

john Zadro

Posted 183 days ago

I've owned or played practically every synth manufactured and have played synths for over 30 years --this synth gets a bad rap because of its appearance and preset tabs. It is quite literally one one the most expressive lead synths I've heard but you need to put it through a line 6 echo or space echo to get what i'm talking about. yes you can do that to any toy to make it sound better but other synths just don't have the edge or sonic variance. Some wonderful sounds can be had when the filter hovers on oscillation, and having tabs to instantly engage a warbling, gurgling or buzzing LFO makes this an extremely expressive lead synth. I simply cannot get these sounds out of other machines. Add a foot pedal to control cutoff and you'll find out what I'm talking about.

Sergio

Posted 194 days ago

It has was used by Jimmy Destri,of Blondie!

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