http://www.dv247.com/assets/products/31492_l.jpg
I'm really tempted to buy one of these... I would like to hear from people who have brought one and use it in their music... Does it sound good? Can you make good sounds with it?
I'm using Live and the soft synths V-Station and Predator right now, and I love the kind of bass and pads I can get out of these... I have Kontakt and Battery for sampling and drums... I would like to have some sort of hardware keyboard, so I can really get into and mess about and learn synthesis. Though I love soft synths, I've always fancied a nice solid hardware one and this Roland SH-201 looks pretty good.
I'm making drum n bass, breaks, ambient, hip hop... All very much digital sounding music, with phat basslines and lush pads and EFX...
Would you recommend this as a good synth? Also, I read it comes with a little VSTi editor to run on the computer... Anyone know if this works for Mac?
Many thanks...
The Roland SH-201...
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- KVRist
- 276 posts since 30 Aug, 2007 from Berlin, Germany
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- KVRist
- 37 posts since 18 Feb, 2006
Take a look at korg r3 !
a bit more expensive and the editor is no vst , but imho its a much better synth
with a great FX section (the sh-201 fx are shit...) i also love the knob-leds
a bit more expensive and the editor is no vst , but imho its a much better synth
with a great FX section (the sh-201 fx are shit...) i also love the knob-leds
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- KVRer
- 2 posts since 7 Feb, 2007
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littlejim84 wrote:http://www.dv247.com/assets/products/31492_l.jpg (http://www.dv247.com/assets/products/31492_l.jpg)
I'm really tempted to buy one of these... I would like to hear from people who have brought one and use it in their music... Does it sound good? Can you make good sounds with it?
I'm using Live and the soft synths V-Station and Predator right now, and I love the kind of bass and pads I can get out of these... I have Kontakt and Battery for sampling and drums... I would like to have some sort of hardware keyboard, so I can really get into and mess about and learn synthesis. Though I love soft synths, I've always fancied a nice solid hardware one and this Roland SH-201 looks pretty good.
I'm making drum n bass, breaks, ambient, hip hop... All very much digital sounding music, with phat basslines and lush pads and EFX...
Would you recommend this as a good synth? Also, I read it comes with a little VSTi editor to run on the computer... Anyone know if this works for Mac?
Many thanks...
Hey Guy,
My personnel thinking is that SH201 is a unsuccessful product from ROLAND. Like a synth toy for a beginner. I suggest you to look at Korg R3, or the upcoming great module Blofeld(I think that is just the module called ultimate sustractive / watable synth)
Experimental electro and electro-acoustic________
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- KVRist
- 493 posts since 20 Mar, 2006
The Sh-201 is a good starter synth. Whether it's commercially successful for Roland or not, I couldn't care less (although judging by the youtube videos, I'd say it's a hit). Kudos for Roland as a company that still put out hardware synthesizers at this price point.
SH-201 has many features in common with the JP80x0 series, and it has the identical VA engine of the V-synth. It has the feedback oscillator, and the supersaw wave making it ideal for certain musical styles (e.g. dance,trance etc.). It has an ok (i.e passable) filter and it can process external line-in feed as an osc. Effects are minimal but usable. All in all I'd say the biggest and most important aspect of the SH-201 is the hands on approach. No menus, everything is laid out, and every function has a knob. It's ideal for live use, controlling VSTs, and as a 1st synth.
I'd say go and test drive it before you decide. For me, I thought the sound quality, e.g antialiasing algorithms are nonexistant on the SH-201 so it sounds harsh but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Also put in mind that the abilities of the current crop of VSTs (even some free ones e.g. Zebra CM, Oatmeal) far surpasses what 90% of the hardware market has to offer. You have to really spend some serious cash to get something like a Virus TI or something that can compete with softsynths. But your reasons and uses for a hardware synth may differ, so you have to try it in person and decide for yourself.
As for the R3, it's a nice little synth (I put it in the same category as the Alesis Micron). But it's not as immediate as the SH-201. Everything is hidden in menus, albeit Korg put some ingenious menu navigation system. The sound is completely different than the SH-201. Listen to demos of the R3/Radias. Both has this smooth shiny sound. The R3 is much less than 1/2 the Radias, so if you like the sound, I suggest you save more and get the Radias instead which has recently got a firmware update that added more features.
Good luck.
SH-201 has many features in common with the JP80x0 series, and it has the identical VA engine of the V-synth. It has the feedback oscillator, and the supersaw wave making it ideal for certain musical styles (e.g. dance,trance etc.). It has an ok (i.e passable) filter and it can process external line-in feed as an osc. Effects are minimal but usable. All in all I'd say the biggest and most important aspect of the SH-201 is the hands on approach. No menus, everything is laid out, and every function has a knob. It's ideal for live use, controlling VSTs, and as a 1st synth.
I'd say go and test drive it before you decide. For me, I thought the sound quality, e.g antialiasing algorithms are nonexistant on the SH-201 so it sounds harsh but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Also put in mind that the abilities of the current crop of VSTs (even some free ones e.g. Zebra CM, Oatmeal) far surpasses what 90% of the hardware market has to offer. You have to really spend some serious cash to get something like a Virus TI or something that can compete with softsynths. But your reasons and uses for a hardware synth may differ, so you have to try it in person and decide for yourself.
As for the R3, it's a nice little synth (I put it in the same category as the Alesis Micron). But it's not as immediate as the SH-201. Everything is hidden in menus, albeit Korg put some ingenious menu navigation system. The sound is completely different than the SH-201. Listen to demos of the R3/Radias. Both has this smooth shiny sound. The R3 is much less than 1/2 the Radias, so if you like the sound, I suggest you save more and get the Radias instead which has recently got a firmware update that added more features.
Good luck.