Roland SH-2

Roland SH-2 Image

The SH-2 is one of Rolands' early synthesizers. It is very simple in design, look and function. It sounds much like the SH-101 synth, including the typical SH-style sub-oscillator. But the SH-2 employed 2 oscillators for a much fatter sound. It has the typical Roland SH sound - it's a monophonic bass synth that's flexible enough to provoke punchy analog basses, leads and squelchy sounds. The oscillators can be de-tuned as well, another feature the popular SH-101 lacks. But it isn't very pretty to look at as it shares the same design and layout as the SH09. Still it makes a simple and easily programmable mono-synth that can be used in place of the more common SH-101. However the SH-2 is harder to find and so it usually has a higher price than other SH-type synthesizers from Roland. It has been used by Duran Duran, Groove Corporation, Eat Static, OMD, Men Without Hats, and the Eurythmics.

44 Visitor comments
Jacques
July 17, 2012 @ 8:02 pm
That track below is fantastic, great work!
Syncretia
April 17, 2012 @ 6:20 pm
Track done entirely with Roland SH-2 sounds (leads, bass, drums, perc, pads) and Ableton FX:

http://soundcloud.com/syncretia/saturnalia
Syncretia
April 2, 2012 @ 8:17 pm
Just got one of these off eBay. Holy @#$#ing #$#@! Amazing! It does great 303-like acidic bass, but it does so much more! The 2 oscs and sub osc really add dimension to this thing and the CV in really makes integrating this thing a lot easier than working with a 303. I haven't even started exploring the possibilities yet, but I'm glad I got this!
kane ian
March 20, 2012 @ 3:25 pm
i own one of these, it has a really fat vintage sound. an amazing piece of gear.
Jazz Master
March 17, 2012 @ 11:28 pm
EST. VALUE: $800- 1,000 USD

NOT $500!!!
 
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  • Demos & Media
  • YouTube Thumbnail
    Video 1
    - Roland SH-2 Monophonic Synthesizer Demo

    Audio Clip 1 - Hear some demo basslines, synths sounds and other fun stuff by the SH-2.

    Audio Clip 2 - Every sound including the Drums were created on the SH-2. Some external fx processing was used to "modernize" the sound. Submitted by Michael nil-x.

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

  • Specifications
  • Polyphony - Monophonic
  • Oscillators - 2 VCO's + 1 Sub oscillator (waveforms: pulse, square, sawtooth, sine, noise)
  • Memory - None
  • Effects - LFO with sine, square and Sample & Hold; Auto-Bend
  • Filter - Resonant, self-oscillating 24dB lowpass filter, mod by EG, lfo and kybd tracking. External audio input
  • Arpeg/Seq - None
  • Keyboard - 37 keys
  • Control - CV / Gate
  • Date Produced - 1978 - 1979

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