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
Ernest
March 14, 2013 @ 11:26 pm
Do you where can i buy roland sh2?
Defective Nation
February 7, 2013 @ 3:27 am
The only synth that the SH-2 should be compared to is the less powerful SH-09, it is NOTHING like the SH-101 except that it can play a few similar sounds then the 2 depart down different paths. It's the same when comparing it to the TB-303. Roland released synths that sounded sufficiently different to their others that both could coexist and compliment the other.

I've had my SH-09 since 1981 and much that I love it BUT the SH-2 is so much more diverse. The extra oscillator makes an immense difference. When new the SH-2 was almost twice the price of the 09 for good reason!
Glenn
January 16, 2013 @ 2:24 pm
I miss this synth :( One of the greats without a doubt!
Nigel
November 11, 2012 @ 7:59 am
My personal favourite mono synth, huge bass, lovely leads and zany efx. God i miss the roland team of the 70/80's :/
I will never part with this synth!
Dave
October 23, 2012 @ 7:18 am
Giant of a synth! Just don't make em like this anymore, sonic greatness!
 
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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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