| StoreTags: va, sh32, synth, roland
Author: dpmtl on September 27 2008 Viewed 1269 times. 9 people liked this blog. You can rate it below if you haven't already.
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I was looking for a new synth that was compact and portable but with a good sound and set of features on a limted budget. I'd come across the sh32 before but hadn't really checked it out. I can't remember what it was that made me look at it again but once i checked out the specs it seemed to have everything i was looking for so i decided to check it out again. After reading some really positive reviews i decided to get one. I also read some bad reviews so it was a bit of a gamble. But now i don't know what those people are talking about. :/
It's much smaller than i thought so it's perfect for sitting on your lap and creating patches and boy is it good to have a dedicated interface! It's also extremely light so ideal for gigging, build quality is good as well. I expected a half decent va synth from the reviews i read, though the videos and demos i heard didn't exactly blow me away so i was a bit uncertain what to expect.
So what about the sound? Don't let the retro interface fool you, there is a really powerful, great sounding synth engine underneath it. I know the word fat gets thrown around a lot but the sh32 is definitely that. Of course the sub oscillator helps! But it's got a big sound that belies it's small interface and i'm not even talking about stacking the voices. I haven't noticed any stepping in the filter but if there was i could live that given how good the sh32 sounds.
There's a 4 part performance mode that can be stacked and it changes the way the arp works so in preview mode each note plays a different drum hit instead of the drum pattern that was assigned to the rhythm part. So each note triggered plays a bass drum, hihat or percussive sound in sync with the synth parts arpeggio. You can choose the voices you stack as well so you could just stack the first three parts and keep the drums seperate.
Then there is manual mode where the parameters are automatically set to the fader positions so it's like a selective randomizer, great for creating new patches; select a patch hit manual and you have a starting point for new sounds.
If your looking for roland sounds (also has drums from the tr808/909 and cr78), or a decent va for little outlay get one of these, it's an absolute steal for £200. If this is a taste of the roland sound then i'll be back for more. ;)
Did i mention the arpeggio? You can create your own and when you combine it with the chord (also programmable) you can create the most amazing riffs and basslines.
The positive reviews i've read about this regarding the sound are absolutely spot on, it does sound very analog. Well the oscillators are sampled waveforms and there are 67 to choose from. ;) | |
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09/27/08
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bla
my first roland was a pm16 pad-midi interface
one of the best things i own
09/27/08
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Psyingo
200 pounds?! YIKES. I got mine for $199 usd NEW. but it is a good synth. there is definatley stepping in the filter and some of the other parameters, which is a little unfortunate. compare it to a real analog and you should be able to tell the difference. but besides that, it is a really good synth. great sounds can be made with it, alot of weird organic sounds. I've used it alot on most of my albums.
09/27/08
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monkvolcano
it sounded pretty cool until i found out psyingo uses it.
09/27/08
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astroid
psyingo only uses it because tokio hotel does
09/27/08
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dpmtl
bla said: "my first roland was a pm16 pad-midi interface
one of the best things i own"
Do you use for drums or does it serve as a midi controller as well?
09/27/08
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dpmtl
Psyingo said: "200 pounds?! YIKES. I got mine for $199 usd NEW. but it is a good synth. there is definatley stepping in the filter and some of the other parameters, which is a little unfortunate. compare it to a real analog and you should be able to tell the difference. but besides that, it is a really good synth. great sounds can be made with it, alot of weird organic sounds. I've used it alot on most of my albums."
Well they were £480 new! I read that they dropped the price when roland discontinued and they were selling them dirt cheap. i don't feel paid too much for it, it's pretty much exactly what i was looking for and it's in mint condition. Anyway the way i look at it is it's the price of a decent softsynth with it's own interface and it doesn't require the use of a computer to work! Yeah very organic sound, lovely basslines and the pads are very nice. I can tell there's a lot of depth to it even though i don't know how it all works yet. I read that the stepping is due to the lo res filter cutoff so no biggie ( if that's the case!^_^)
09/27/08
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dkarma
I''ve been thinking about one of these too, although with my other Roland experiences, I'd rather get a mc-303 for around 100$-150.
It looks to have a great interface. Maybe I'll check it out in the future.
09/27/08
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dpmtl
dkarma said: "I''ve been thinking about one of these too, although with my other Roland experiences, I'd rather get a mc-303 for around 100$-150.
It looks to have a great interface. Maybe I'll check it out in the future."
Once i figure a few things out i'll post some smaples. I've read so many bad things about rolands other gear being plagued with bugs and such that i was put off from ever taking the plunge. I was asking about the mc808 for those reasons but felt it was too much money to spend on something i hadn't tried, i really needed to hear it and see what the workflow was like for myself...
The sh32 is kinda similar so i thought it would be a good way to test the water. I wanted a synth to design my own sounds as well with it's own interface! A lot of the other options didn't have many controls and required the use of an editor or lots button pressing to program. I already have enough of that with my R3! On that note i think it will make a good controller for the R3 as well. ;)
09/27/08
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skab
i love my sh32. even though psyingo uses one.
09/27/08
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Psyingo
hhaha. its a great synth, i just notice alot of things with it, working so intimatley with it for about 6 years now. the distortion is complete shit. i hate having to use it. its not gritty enough for me. the filter is alright besides the stepping, its alright when you're using it on the env or a faster lfo, but if you sweep the nob with some higher res values you can definatley here the stepping in there. but i like that its multitimbral, 4 voices, which is enough for me.
also the selection of waveforms is great. one of the WTFS?! is when you turn on oscillator sync or oscillator ring mod, you can't use the filter! the random lfo patterns are good, smooth and stepped. great since it can be synched. and also being able to use the apregiator as a modulation source for the filter is great too, so you can get looping filter sequences going. if i EVER need a pad, the sh32 is what i turn too. also its got some nice basses, make sure to turn off the low end boost tho, you have to do some weird starup thing to remove it i think, but its totaly retarded. i prefer to have my synths normal, not rediculously eq'd.
hmm what else is good about it? some of the effects are kinda useful although most of them sound like cheap junk. the reverb/delay section is useful too... i dunno thats all i can think of. but yeah, i suppose it is a good synth, worth the money.
09/28/08
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bla
dpmtl said: " bla said: "my first roland was a pm16 pad-midi interface
one of the best things i own"
Do you use for drums or does it serve as a midi controller as well?"
i dont have any pads for it so i dont use it for playing drums (although i could use contact mics on my brothers drum kit but ive never got round to trying that)
i only use it for weirdo experiments- its got 16 jack inputs and each one is set to a single midi note which it triggers off incoming audio so you can do audio/midi feedback with it which is like: press a key on synth, synth makes sound, sound goes through mixer into pm16, pm16 triggers midi note, note goes to synth, triggers new sound, sound goes through mixer into pm16...... etc in a loop making up its own rhythms which can be influenced a bit by send levels on the mixer but certainly cant be properly controlled
although that might not sound like a good use for that machine you can actually get some really interesting stuff this way
09/28/08
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kidgamma
lucky, i wanted this or a the jp8080, but then realized i'm poor
09/28/08
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dpmtl
Psyingo said: "hhaha. its a great synth, i just notice alot of things with it, working so intimatley with it for about 6 years now. the distortion is complete shit. i hate having to use it. its not gritty enough for me. the filter is alright besides the stepping, its alright when you're using it on the env or a faster lfo, but if you sweep the nob with some higher res values you can definatley here the stepping in there. but i like that its multitimbral, 4 voices, which is enough for me.
also the selection of waveforms is great. one of the WTFS?! is when you turn on oscillator sync or oscillator ring mod, you can't use the filter! the random lfo patterns are good, smooth and stepped. great since it can be synched. and also being able to use the apregiator as a modulation source for the filter is great too, so you can get looping filter sequences going. if i EVER need a pad, the sh32 is what i turn too. also its got some nice basses, make sure to turn off the low end boost tho, you have to do some weird starup thing to remove it i think, but its totaly retarded. i prefer to have my synths normal, not rediculously eq'd.
hmm what else is good about it? some of the effects are kinda useful although most of them sound like cheap junk. the reverb/delay section is useful too... i dunno thats all i can think of. but yeah, i suppose it is a good synth, worth the money."
Yeah i found that low boost thing yesterday so turned it off. I like the reverb and the delay but haven't really tried the other fx yet apart from the flanger which sounds ok in small amounts. I'll be running it through the R3 anyway so i can use those fx. I like the filter too, the resonance has a nice squeal to it without being too harsh. The pcf is one of the reasons i bought it, haven't used it yet but i'm gonna spend some time figuring out how to program the arp and sequencing stuff tomorrow. Oh yeah the ring mod/sync disabling the filter, wtf is that about?!!
09/28/08
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drewzle
great review
i've been interested in one of these since seeing it in-store. i really like the dedicated interface, i'd love to sit on it for hours changing parameters and smoking.
09/28/08
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dpmtl
skab said: "i love my sh32. even though psyingo uses one."
Cool. I'll bet Psyingo feels the same way!
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