The SH-1000, introduced in 1973, was the first instrument produced by Roland, and probably one of the first compact affordable keyboard synthesizers in all of Japan. It was designed to complement a home organ. Above its keyboard is a wooden sheet music stand. Organ-style colored preset selector tabs are located below the keyboard. All the extra parameter controls are located to the left of the keyboard.

The SH-1000 is a monophonic analog synth with a single oscillator feeding a lowpass filter, an ADSR envelope, and two LFOs. It features 10 Preset sounds, but they are pretty weak. Fortunately you can create your own sounds for some really great mono-synth bass, lead, percussion and FX sounds. Basic square, ramp and pulse-width waveforms are available from the oscillator and the LFOs have sine, square and sample+hold. It has a terrific ‘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. Although there is no user memory, unique sounds can still be quickly recreated or discovered thanks to its simple interface.

It’s a dinosaur! But it’s also a classic piece of Roland history. It has been used by Vangelis, Human League, Blondie, The Band, and Jethro Tull. A little later in 1973 the SH-2000 was released with more Preset sounds (up to 30) but far less flexibility, controls and features. This may have been because the SH-1000 was a little confusing to its target demographic at the time. But today’s synthesists will love the unique sound and nostalgia of Japan’s first compact synthesizer!

Cagey-B

November 6, 2010 @ 6:56 pm

I still have one! The filter sweeps can be made very
sensitive, whether with noise added or not, so that incremental adjustments sweep through a wide range of sounds. Presets are pretty cheesy, but for making your
own sounds it's incredible; it's totally unlike other products.

Mark

September 10, 2010 @ 12:51 pm

God, this was my first synth. The year was 1976. The ARP was out and I wanted to play Winter's Frankenstein. My mom bought me the SH-1000 and a Wulitzer electric. I wish I had never gotten rid of it. So one of those SH-1000's out there was mine. Please baby it, It was odd, but it had some cool sounds and I so regret letting it go.

bladerunner

August 27, 2010 @ 6:01 pm

you MUST check the youtube links in the demos and media box... after hearing them i simply must own this synth!! beautiful sounds - distinctly different sounding filter to many other roland analogues. underrated classic imo

Jon

August 13, 2010 @ 9:06 pm

I found out after I bought this thing recently that it has an oscillator dividing system that allows you to get different waveforms from the same osc simultaneously. The same oscillations at different feet actually change in resolution (timbre).

A couple of the presets are not that bad either. Sounds great through a good delay. I'm using a Kenton Pro Solo mark II to MIDI sync LFO to the filter and thinking of adding a CV/Gate jack to control pitch???!

It's got a personality all its own - the lines are warm, wooden and round, the knobs are large and shiny. It's also heavy to carry for its size - very solid.

So far no regrets.

Cleber Vaz

June 21, 2010 @ 7:11 pm

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

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