Electronic Music Needs

The Sh-201 is another one of Roland’s budget priced synthesizers and corners have been cut as they always are to get a product to a particular price point. The overall feel of the whole unit is like the XP-10 which came out about 1995. It like the SH-201 is all plastic and it feels like it. On the plus side this kind of build makes the unit much lighter than any vintage Roland synthesizer. (The SH-201 weighs in at 11 lbs 8 oz.) Quality control could be another issue on these units coming out. On the plus side the keyboard keys are not as cheap as others that I have seen at this price point in the past. They are consistent and not loud and clicky. The unit does have an external power supply but thankfully it is not a wall wart. The power supply itself is in the middle of the cord making it convenient to plug into your rack power distributor without taking up too much space. The editing on the SH-201 is simple enough if you are using the parameters on the panel. It is a bit disappointing to find some parameters not listed on the panel. Such parameters/features omitted must be accessed by a series of holding and pushing buttons then going through a short sequence of button pushes to change those settings. Portamento time, accessing effects and arpeggiator templates, bender range and more parameters are done in this fashion. There is no stenciling on the unit about this so do not lose your manual you will be referring to it. I've been waiting for Roland to release another dedicated analog modeling synth since the JP8000 and here it is. It features 32 user memory patches, there is not external storage such as memory cards but does include a USB connector. The bundled software editor allows quick access to parameters but some were still not seen in the editor like bender range and portamento time for example. Overall for just under $600 US what can you expect? Check it out for yourself if you have not already.

Comments About the Sounds:
The sounds are good. Some can sound close to real analogue like the brass patch for example. The effects can be a bit weak, it would have been nice to see pitch effects included like phaser or flange.