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New toy. .way underrated IMO
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So I bought a roland SH-32 the other day on ebay. . and I just had a play with it for the first time..
For such a cheap synth I'm really impressed - its not quite a jp8080/8000 but I mean for the cost, and the fact that it's 4 part multitimbral. . It's really an amazing buy. Especially love it for:
the 'chord memory' style playing . . .making rave stabs and such.
4 layered supersaw + sub osc strings/pads. . . mmmmmmmm
bass sounds pretty sweet too, sub oscillators are awesome and its surprising how many synths lack them when theyre such cool insta-bass buttons.
The interface is a bit sux0r but I can deal with that.
Synths I've owned previously. . Yamaha AN200, Novation Nova . . The AN200 is in the same price range as this and I'd say the sh32 kills it, except for the interface!
The nova is really on a whole different level since it costs 3 times as much.
Anyone else got an sh-32 that theyre lovin? | |
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09/25/07
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utofbu
i have no idea. but I enjoyed this blog.
09/25/07
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EsromCole
I plan on buying an AN200 of monkvolcano as soon as the cash is available but I been looking at demos of the SH-32 all day. I'm beginning to reconsider, the 32 sounds pretty nice and as you said it's in the same price range. Thing is I can get the AN200 for only $125 and the SH-32's I been watchin on eBay seem to be goin in the $150-200 area. Question is, is it worth the extra cash? I plan to use it to sample patterns from and maybe actually play it live (via my midi keyboard). Also, is it bigger than the AN200? I'm kinda livin outta my backpack right now so I don't want anything that's gonna be too big to carry around if I have to.
09/25/07
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Psyingo
ive owned an sh32 for about 4 years now. and i love it. use it all the time.
at first i didnt really get what people meant by 'steppy' filters and pitch and wahtnot. but i totaly see it now. thats the thing that kinda sucks, the resolution on parameters sch as fulter cut off, res and oscillator frequency is terrible. so live tweaking is a bit hindered by this. but when controlling with an lfo its fine.
i love the interface. its very easy to use... the only thing that would maybe suck is changin the effects and system parameters, because thats LED based, with a 3 digit led screen. but ive gotten so used to it that i dont even notice that. the distortions are pretty odd... total crap. and im a lover of crap distortions. these are jsut bad. but, who fucking cares?! use an external distortion.
the arp is really cool, you can make your own rhythm sequences for the arp.
as its 4 part multitimbral, there is also a rhythm section which is pretty easily editable. so you can have 3 synth parts and 1 rhythm, which is good for adding something to songs. its not SMALL, but its really not that big.. its about 11 3/4" by 8 3/4".
the preview keyboard is really handy, since you can play some simple lines or soundeffects with it if you dont want to lug around a keyboard.
2 oscillators with ALOT of waveforms is nice... cool for picking the right sound, but usualy i just pick the basic waveform, unless its the digital or noise oscs. those are vastly differnt. sub osc is a nice feature. turning on ring mod or sync thouh disables polyphony, which is kinda sucky... but, also not a big deal, livable since theres a ring mod in the effect section.
i've had it for 4 years and gigged it around alot, and only one knob has broken (i used to be really rough with my gear...) but it was a relativley easy fix. just resoldered a lug.
it has a decent metal construction, but after this time the knobs feel a bit shakey. but its not bad. i dont play it like i used to (which was tweaking every knob constantly during shows), so it gets light use.
it took me about a week to learn all of its functions, which is a decent amount of time given the amount this machine can do.
all in all, like i might have said. i love it. great little machine. its the only Virtual Analog synth i use. so that says alot.
09/26/07
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cartesia
Totally hearing the stepping right now lol . . no filter sweeps for this baby. . I can always run it through my evolver's filters though.
EsromCole. . .It's a tough choice! Since you're going to be sampling onto your sp-404 (i assume), I think perhaps go with the AN200. Sound wise I'd say both units are very close in quality - and theyre both identical in size - Since you will be sampling, it means you dont need the multitimbrality of the sh-32 - you can just sample one layer, then sample the next layer, etc. Also if you're going to be using the built in keyboards - I think the an200's wins, because it has soft rubbery pads, whereas the sh-32 has hard clicky plastic buttons.
But yeah .. then on the other hand, the sh-32 has more hands on control - you can access everything with out a computer editor and such, get more control over detuning oscillators. . .
Difficult choice I'm not sure I could help you with!
09/26/07
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EsromCole
Thanks for the reply man. I'm still undecided, but I have time. I'm mainly looking for basses and leads and from what I've heard both are good at either. The hands on control of the SH-32 is looking more attractive as I've grown weary of using the computer for anything musical anymore. On the other hand the AN200 will be a bit cheaper and I won't have to worry about shipping and such, also the pads beat the crap out of the buttons. Damn...
09/26/07
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cartesia
well, just a thought from the economic side - if you buy the AN200, thats a pretty good price for it.. and you can always sell it again for as much as you paid if you didnt like it.
09/26/07
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skab
i've had a 32 for about 2 years now. i love the damn thing too. i agree with everything psyingo said - in fact, the first time i came across one of these was in the pics of psyingo's noise nook on the old flavour em411 (before they took out the sugar and added more MSG). it can do a fairly good chiptune impersonation and the LFOs are a big plus. i really love the pitch shifter FX too.
09/26/07
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deltasleep
I am blown away at how much power this stuff has for the price. You can actually get more for your money in terms of hardware now... I just sold my AN200 for $125. It didn't really fit in with my sound at all, and I never found much use for it. The sound was not quite rough enough for me, I wanted something bitter and rough and unpredictable, like a vintage synth.
But the AN200 really impressed me with the amount of power it had for the price of a weeks groceries, damn. Can't believe Yamaha provided so little support for it- started out life selling for like $500-600 and ends up like this!
09/26/07
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EsromCole
@cartesia: Good point. Yeah I think I'ma get the AN200 and if it ain't what I want I can sell it off and get a SH-32.
09/26/07
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sink
I like my SH-32.
It doesn't really sound "fat" or "warm" at all, it is perfect for lofi stuff, nasty ring modulations, mean basslines and pads. I like its architecture too.
The only concern is that the filter's knobs are rather fragile, and so i can't really use the filter any more except with a controller, but i keep using it, because it sounds quite unique.
09/27/07
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mynameismud
psyingo lured me into his noise nook with candy and touched me
09/27/07
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khoral
I got a SH-32 and I agree that it's a very underrated synth
The filters are really good for a device in that price range, and there's arpeggiator, drums and a nice set of effects on top of it
Indeed it lacks warmth (forget about Moogish bass lines or electric pianos), and it's more suitable to angry distorted textures, harsh basses, vintagish leads and nicely modulated pads
Good for weird fx also, it's quite a versatile synth
09/27/07
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tbeals79
im with you on this... Ive been eyeing them for a while. My buddy has one and it has tons of character / enjoy it, make me jealous 
09/28/07
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flies
glad to see some offhand praise for the nova. the nova/supernova are forgotten gems. deep modulation, nice sound (aliasing in the high notes, mildly steppy filters, but not too bad)...
09/30/07
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cartesia
^ yeah the nova was excellent, it has a very smooth liquid character to it though.. I started off liking this sound, but lately ive been gravitating more and more towards lofi kind of 'raw' sounding things. .less crisp and clean. .
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