Roland SH 101

very easy - very very easy !just throws out classic acid a trance sounds effortlessly.

lfo with tri , sine square and random . . .1 main osc + sub ........you know - 8 as it would be better with some mods and maybe extra osc and lfo . . . and Sample and hold !!!

you have to love it.Ignore the plonker who said - you can do this sound with a free vsti......and its thin . . the guy is tone deaf.I have been professionally making a living from trance and dance music for 20 years and i have owned 3 101's in that time.Nothing touches it
on some sounds and its a perfect synth for those sounds that hit you in the gut........it can go sub deep but has a bass mid punch you cant replicate on many machines.Forget jp8000 , virus , supernova ,nord , andromeda , mks 80 even........i owned these and they cant do the 101 sound. . . . its rubbery and punchy and 'mean ' .
Mod it with a nova mod and you havea freaks machine......cross mod bells and all sorts.Sorry it has to be a 10 . . .simplcity yet genius.You will NEVER in 1 million years replicate the balls and quality and 'body ' of this synth with software - i tried for last 5 years - it cant be done !thats why there ??300 still !

solid . . .i had one that seemed to go out of tune from session to session .......

roland - no comment !a 4 as they do answer the phone.

i would say 10 as a device - classic........but i guess its 8 as it could have more mod options and also is kind of limited on some levels yet not ????weird machine.....i love them.

Could not be simpler, If you know anything about synthesis youll get it in one minute, if you dont know about it, it will be one of the best educational synths around.

This is a monophonic synth and if you buy one you have to know that. I use mine with a pro solo and it works beautifully I never use the keyboard although I have to admite that I even preffer the keyboard on my remote 25.
It does what it is suposed to do, no poliphony, not many options, but trully inspiring.

This is an analogue synth, so noone should buy one for realistic sounds. Insane fx, cutting acid and guitar like leads, great percussive sounds (It use it a lot for toms - great). It only has one oscillator so sometimes is considered a bit thin. Well I found that it sits very well in a mix, and its not that thin, I've managed to get some heavy warm basses for micro techno music. I love it you want a sound you do it, no screen staring, oh and no presets - I consider it as a creative exercise to not have presets in this synth, since all my other ones have.

Never gigged with it, but with some normal care I would without a backup

no contact at all. (Its a 23 years old synth!!!)

If lost I would definatly buy another one, for me this eas the discovery of analog synthesis, buying a synth of my age. Try ti get this sounds with a one oscillator soft synth or va, forget it.
Plug this into a distortion pedal and goooooo!!!!!!

Pretty easy to get to grips with and thats part of the appeal. If you have a grasp of synthesis already then it's a breeze; if you don't then it's a great place to learn the basics! The maunal is useful if you want to use the sequencer to its fullest, but in all honesty you can work most things out by trial and error. There's nothing you can do that can't be undone.

Nice keyboard action considering most units are 20+ years old now. Got mine sceond hand and apart from a loose pitch bend it's in great shape. Mono, no fx and not much room for expressive playing unless you have the mod grip but then that's not what this synth is about.
Immense fun can be had from the onboard sequencer. Knock up a 16 step riff, run through an external FX unit, fiddle with the filter and you'll be in acid heaven in seconds - brilliant. It really doesn't get any purer and more fun.

You can store sequences if you just pop three batteries in.

Sounds like nothing else. A truly amazing sound that will put a huge smile on your face the first time you hear it. Can produce cutting leads, acid squelch and siesmic bass without breaking into a sweat. I promise you you won't regret buying one.

As I said earlier as all of these are now over 20 years old you may come across a duffer but I would expect that most owners treasure them and therefore treat them kindly (apart from Thomas Dolby who used to smash them up on stage apparently!). Mine is fine and being analogue I would have no hesitation in using it live - it's not as if the thing can crash!

I've contacted Roland UK several times regarding issues with my other Roland gear and they've been nothing short of brilliant. Apparently spares for these are getting rare but while there'a a heathly amount of donor units around it's not too much of a problem to repair them.

I would rather sell my Juno 1, JD800, A Station, BassStation and JP8000 before I got rid of this - I love it. Luckily I maganaged to get a secondhand mod grip for it as well for true poserability! These are as rare as f**k on their own and Roland ran out years ago. The grey models are more common than the blue, red and even white models but essentially they all sound the same.

The hands-on controls and simple structure lend themselves perfectly to spontaneous playing and inspiration. It is worth its weight in gold. I cannot stress enough that you must get one!

The serial # is 295332. Plugged it in and away and wa in my first tune with it within minutes by recording the audio into a PC. I've played with the software version in Reaktor before so have some idea of how it works, but for anyone with a basic knowledge of aynths I'd say it's easy to use - if a little unruly, but then the noisy accidents are sometimes the best if you record them all...

Does what it says on the tin... for an aging monosynth it's feature packed and has a lovelly dirty sound!!!

Great. Use it a lot for the sample and hold LFO sounds and the sliders seem really amenable to playing the filter live. It's not the tamest of beasts and sometimes makes wierd noises but often that's just what I want. I put it through a basic Boss guitar peadal and it's acid heaven!! (when I say 10 it's certainly not pristine sound qulaity, but I want it to sound terrible - if you see what I mean?!!)

...as I'll explain below mine's possibly not in the best of shape but seems to work fine through a certain amount of neglegt. I've not used it in a gig yet but will be doing so, just to play about with for drones and little loops recorded live on it's baby sequencer and mashed about with. Certainly it seems to have no objection to repeated slider abuse...

Not tried so can't comment!

Here's the story..

I'm walking home from work and there's this house in Leeds (UK) with this old dude chucking out a pile of stuff into the garden and on top of the heap theres a spirit 12:2 mixer and an SH-101 sat there...
I ask him "is that junk?" and he says "Yeah, I tried to sell it but I don't know if it works and no one was interested, If it's worth something to you then it's your lucky day!!!!"

Aside from my exitement my main reason to put this here is that this old synth has been sat in some dudes attic for years and then out in the rain half a day and works fine - looks battered to hell and needs the sliders cleaning but is my baby!!! Secrestly wanted one for years but never had the money at the right time and bought stuff that would integrate with my rig better, but am over the moon!!!

I owned one of these units from 1985 - 1990.
There are no presets or memory of any type. It's mostly knobs and sliders. Very easy to program.

The thing I liked about this unit was the ability to strap it on like a guitar (boring looking beige Roland strap - you can always use a fancier guitar strap). It has a pistol grip for controlling mod and pitch bend. At first I thought it was pretty heavy with batteries - then I picked up our lead guitarist's Strat...okay it's not that bad. There were 3 or 4 colors...red, blue, grey... Now there are polyphonic controllers, so it's not that cool to have one of these units, but it really freaked people out when I put a wireless audio transmitter on it and ran off stage into the crowd.

Good old analog sounds played monophonically. I used it on stage back in the mid eighties for leads. I ran it through a Rockman guitar distortion unit and got some pseudo guitar-like sounds. A lot of players would come up and ask me what I was using to get the sound.
Other than this you get a pretty thin analog sound.

Never had a problem while I had it. I sold it for an unforgiveable $50.00 in 1990.

Once you get them they're good - once you get them...

This wasn't a bad unit and perhaps it has historic and novelty charm, but I'll never buy another - I certainly don't miss it. Frankly I can't see what use anyone would really have for it. It has CV but not MIDI, it's thin sounding monophonic. A shareware plug in would probably be just as good, if not better. It's amazing to me how expensive they are these days.

This baby is simple, and you get great results every time
I had one 15 years ago,and sold it to go midi !!
Just got another one of eBay.....

Great little key board, one note no problem.
Just program a small seq, trigger it from the L.F.O clock.
whack the L.F.O to random,flick the mod on the vcf to max.
Start Seq for Drum machine, and play with the Res and Feq, Heaven

Bit of delay, and rev .
Mind blowing you have to remmeber this synth is 20+ years old

Never missed a beat

Got a Grip Off eBay, brand new, 20 years after they stopped making the

I have several Mono synth's but i will never get rid of this little honey, Once i switch it on i never wrigth any music, i just get lossed in it's sound

Except for the fact that the tuning drifts a bit, the synth is very easy to use. Programming the small sequencer was an unknown land until I found the manual on the net. That's about the only time I used the manual (a typical Roland one).

No polyphony. The sequencer is very old style and difficult, but does the job for small things (quite tedious to program). I love the appergio (down to up, up to down, up and down) - it is very speedy.

No velocity or aftertouch, but the device is reacting quickly and is THERE when you need it. I like its really electronic sound and would think it fitting for electronica or DJ live effect as the controls are fast and easy to operate.

The device needs some time to warm up, and the tuning is unstable until then. It has never broken down on me, so I would not hesitate to work without a backup.

If it was stolen I wouldn't cry for days - I'll go out and find another monophonic synth. I like the thing, but in retrospective I would miss my Yamaha CS-5 more if that was stolen. I chose it because I found it stoved away in an ordinary hardware store and I have used it a lot.

Easy analog. Probably one of the easiest ever.

Programming a sequence will take some getting used to, but
still very intuitive for clocked step sequencing.
Using external clocks for the arpeggiator/LFO/sequencer,
plus having both CV/gate ins and outs makes it a friendly
controller for modulars and old analogs and compatible with
today's MIDI setups, given a good MIDI to CV/gate converter, like Kenton,
syntecno teebee or basstation rack.

Mixing and routing is very intuitive and versatile for what it has.
The Roland type joystick is very handy for quick changes.

It's true the SH101 can bark and sqwuak at you, but it's easy to
get good sounds with little or no knowledge of what you are doing.

The sliders are smooth and the keyboard action is pretty good.

The single envelope makes for less hassle in setting up sounds.

one oscillator. one LFO. one WICKED filter. there's no other like it.

It squaks and squelches alot, but sub-bass is its forte'.
The filter is very stable, enough so that it can be used like an
additional oscillator and stays in tune with the VCO.

Having both random and noise options for the LFO is a unique plus.

There is one shared envelope for amp and filter, but it's extremely
punchy, which is why many people use it for drum sounds.

Tuning is rock solid. The circuit board is well designed.

As far as monophonic analogs go, this is a somewhat lacking beast. It's missing a second oscillator for detuning and hard sync, the second envelope for filter,
no ring modulation or FM, and no filter input and overdrivable mixer.
However, it gets its character from its squelchy/bassy filter and
extremely easy to use interface. Despite its limitations, its very
versatile, and many modulation combinations are possible.

Also of note is its extremely lightweight and sturdy frame. It can
run on batteries or wall wart, so portability is excellent.

I hear they were designed for people on roller skates.

It has a nice warm tone, especially with resonance all the way down.
High filter settings tend to slice through a mix.

You can get a very large variety of analog-type sounds with it,
despite the lack of a second oscillator.
The self-oscillating filter covers the entire audio spectrum beautifully
with emphasis, of course, on the low end.

You can get techno blurbs, acid bass lines, weird pitch modulations,
and probably the best sub-bass anywhere. I've even managed to
get nice lead and pad sounds with a little help from effects.
It sounds great through a fuzz box with the resonance up.
Just listen to the band "boards of canada" to see what it can do.

It can be a little thin without effects, but its so punchy and
razory, it certainly doesn't lack character.
Using Pulse Width Modulation thickens it up a bit.

It's easy to be expressive with the expression section typical of
early Roland synths.
Since it's pre-midi, getting velocity or aftertouch like effects
would require tricky tweaking. The immediate nature of having all
the sliders in front of you more than makes up for it.

It seems sturdy enough for a plastic case with plastic sliders.
I occasionally have to clean the CV/Gate inputs of corrosion.
Many people have had batteries leak inside them and that could
potentially ruin it.

There were about 50,000 of them made in the early 80's, so it wouldn't
be too hard to get a replacement if it breaks, but I don't hear about
too many that do. It seems to be well designed internally even though
it looks cheap.

Some people complain about using wall-warts that generate hum in the
outputs. Just go to guitar center and get a Boss PSA-120 for 20 bucks.

Manuals can be found on-line. I don't know if Roland corp. still
supports parts.

Overall, a nice analog monosynth.
Great sound quality. Really great sub-bass. No tuning problems.
Very reliable and I hear it's easy to mod in a capable
technician's hands.
Every techno enthusiast should have one. There's plenty to go around,
if you start looking. As of Spring 2001, they typically go for
around $400 in the used market.

Tres facile d'utilisation car peu de parametres

Pauvre!
Un osc+sub+vcf+env+lfo...
Un petit plus avec l'arpegiateur et le mini sequenceur

Pour sonner des basses electroniques, il sait les faire et dire merci au vcf. Avec un filtre pareil, il est dommage qu'il n'y ait pas un autre oscillateur, ca aurait parmi a explorer un peu plus l'appareil

RAS

RAS

Achete pour etre rapidement revendu!
pour faire un ou deux son de basse ou alors pour repiquer son filtre
Meme remarque pour le Juno 106.
Cote vraiment elevee et pas du tout justifiee a mon avis

A very easy synth to get into. This was my first synth and perhaps a good introduction to subtractive synthesis. The manual is good although its bilingual with Japanese and the English translations are wonky and sometimes unintentionally quite funny. The are no presets or patch memory.

Its monophonic, which can become very limiting after a while. You can do some clever things if you own other voltage controlled kit or a MIDI-CV converter, but they're more curiuous than useful for playing.
The one step sequencer is genuinely curious, and gives a metronomically regular sequence that is rather eighties synth-pop.

I found this a very emjoyable instrument until i tried partnering it with other synth kit. The SH101's characteristic sound can be extremely whiney, and I could never get it to sound congruent with my Prophet 600, which has more of a fizz to the sound. There is about an octave of base where it sounds good, although it still has quite an obvious sound. I tried putting it through a phaser pedal but could never get the kind of sound that I'd feel happy recording with.

WHen I've seen bands use this they seem to favour playing the patch and / or using it for effects and percussive sounds - I've never seen anyone play one chromatically. A lot of people rave about the overall sound of this instrument. I personally regard it as overrated.

No problems in the two years during which I had mine. The keyboard contacts needed servicing when I got it, after that it was fine.

I haven't dealt with Roland. I did deal with another company in the UK who sold me a MIDI-CV converter and was less than happy with them. They rather misinformed me about the capabilities of their device, which for the application I intended to use it for, was more or less useless.

Would suit some people but overall not to my taste. A nice introduction to synthersizers but quickly becomes limiting. I sold it recently for slightly less than I bought it for.

Prices in the UK seem to vary widely for this. I had trouble getting #220 for it, and have seen people selling them for as low as #170. Some dealers are trying to put them out as high as #350. It's a very bizarre situation.

The SH-101 is an excellent first synth for anybody who is interested
in learning how to program analog patches. The front panel is great,
and the lack of program memory means you won't be able to rely on
cheesy presets. It's all do-it-yourself.

The manual is a spotty translation, but still useful. There are quite
a few example patches in the back for those who choose to cop out and
not experiment, but knob twisting is really what this synth is great
for.

The SH-101 is monophonic, has a 2 1/2 octave keyboard with no velocity
or aftertouch. Remember, these date from the early 1980s when velocity
and aftertouch and built-in effects weren't available on keyboards.
The 101 is not expandable, but a modulation grip was available that
allows you to strap the 101 on like a guitar. Very cool.

No MIDI, but supports CV-Gate, if you have a MIDI converter or other
vintage CV-Gate synths.

The SH-101 has a single LFO, a single oscillator (pulse, saw, noise,
and sub osc) with a source mixer, a very nice filter, and a single
ADSR envelope. Great stock voice to learn on, and graduate to the
more complicated voice on a Jupiter, Oberheim, or Prophet, etc...

Remember, the SH-101 is all voltage controlled. Unlike digitally
controlled synths that were introduced later, the tuning of the 101
will drift a little, especially when you first turn it on. All
vintage stuff has this sort of trouble, and it's really not that big
a deal.

The SH-101 does feature a digital 100-step sequencer, and a simple
up/down/up-down arpeggiator. Pretty intuitive to use, and you can use
the "external clock in" jack in conjunction with the trigger out on
a drum machine to sync the sequencer or arpeggiator to the drum machine.
I've done this for years, and found it a cheap way to sync the 101
up with MIDI.

Vintage analog synths don't do a very good job imitating acoustic
instruments, but that's not what they're for. The 101 has a great
analog sound, especially for basslines. Because it doesn't have
a second oscillator to detune, it can't sound as fat as synths that
do (MiniMoog, etc...), but the source mixer gives you a lot of power
over the oscillator that you have.
I've had my SH-101 for over 15 years, and use it primarily for
basslines in classic rock type stuff, but they are also very popular
with the techno/house dance crowd. I've also done some experimental
multitrack work with it. It sounds great if you run it through the
right external effects (I recommend an analog delay).
Once again, there are no velocity, aftertouch, or effects built in.

I've had to open the thing and work on it once or twice in all the
time I've owned it. I had to repair one key that stopped working, and
I had to clean the bender when it got a little sticky. Otherwise,
it's been a very reliable piece. It's been dropped (eek) more than
once and still works fine (don't try this at home).

Never had to contact Roland about it.

I bought mine in 1984 from a bandmate (when we were still in high
school). He's told me on numerous occasions that he regrets ever
selling it to me, but I don't ever plan to part with it.

I used this synth as a way to really learn about programming, all the sliders are on the front panel. Small movements can make a big difference in some of the parameters. You can't store any of the sounds you make, but in the manual there are some templates of the keyboard. I made a bunch of copies and tape my sounds all over the place when I perform with this. That's just the way synthesizers are, like the mini-moog. Good manual, some funny typos in the translation, but a great resource. You need it to understand how to use the sequencer....at least I did....you gotta know your stuff when you're programming this board, when you buy it you know it's going to be a little heck, but you a bunch of cool sounds....

monophonic, keyboard action is springy, real nice. Not really any effects built in outside of all the parameters you can program, it does have a cv port, it might be fun to hook up a bunch of these, you could probably do some damage if you weren't careful...no midi, no pressure sensitive keys, but if you play with the adsr sliders you can kind of fake it...It does have a seqencer, but just like you can't store sounds you can't store sequences either. It's a weird sequencer, not intuitive at first. I don't like to use it just because you could put a lot of notes in it and as soon as you turn it off, it's gone. you have you program everything in 8th notes, and if you want long notes you have to tie them together. It plays back monophonically and you can't play over the sequences you create. Big deal, it's still a great keyboard....

It compares in my mind to the new boards that Yamaha and Roland are putting out that have real sliders for parameters. It sounds really sweet thru effects units, get creative there...no aftertouch, no touch sensitive, it does exactly what you program it to...would be cool for avant garde and rock which I've used it for. Classical?? Jazz?? Well, maybe for Wendy Carlos.... The sounds are great....through a big pa you can really make some noise, I set up a jet airplane that nearly knocked down the rehearsal space I was using. The manual gives you some ideas. Don't try to emulate instruments on this, try to get creative and use it for effects, that's my advice...I keyboard "Jimmy Hendrix" would be possible....

It's great. I have never used a back up (never thought about it actually!). I bought mine in new condition about 3 years ago and it's just real nice. Don't pass out when you read what I paid for it....The headphone jack is going out-Roland put it on the top, which seems like a bad idea, puts a lot of pressure on the jack...

I don't know, never had to do that....

For 25 dollars, it came in the original box, in the shipping bag with the manual and that current year's catalog!!! And let me not forget the optional grip that was also included! I haven't used it much recently, but I would be upset if it were gone. I have seen other 101s in worse condition for significantly more. I don't know if I'd replace it. I also have a jx 8p that I got a killer deal on, a Kurzweil 2000rs, a Korg 707, and a Roland HP 1500 digital piano. I guess it rounds out my collection real nice. I like it's compactness and it's power. I only bought it because it was a STEAL... You really need to know what you're going for before you use it, the band I used it in already had their songs down and so I came in and laid down background noise with it. I was really taken by how much they liked it. I wouldn't try to write a song with it...It would be really cool to do some multi-tracking with it though....come up with a really abstract kind of thing.
I use a suitcase and a big blanket to move it around....

It's analogue, and has a row of sliders and switches across the top, so any sound you want, you just push the sliders around until you get it.

It's monophonic, but can 'do' portamento which can add to its appeal. The thing predates MIDI by a good few years, but once you've hooked it up to a suitable MIDI->CV converter, it can be used alongside any other MIDI gear, no probs. You can drill holes in it and solder bits onto it if you wanted additional CV sockets, there are people who've done this, but I'm scared to until I get another one. The onboard sequencer is kind of fun, and can be synced to the Gate(?) input which would make it kinda useful if you didn't have any MIDI->CV stuff around.

Sounds like a SH-101, basically. It is IDEAL for basslines, and will quite happily melt both your amp and speakers. Goes from a 'hollow' kinda squelchy sound, to more full bodied dry synth sounds. In the oscillator, you get to choose between Saw, PWM and a Square suboscillator 1 or 2 octaves down. This feeds into a filter which gives the sound a damn good seeing to, and lo and behold, the thing goes "bleep", or "squelch", or your speaker cones start moving slowly in and out (I have seen this happen with my own eyes, honest). No onboard effects at all (unless you count PWM as chorus) , but sounds great through distortion or delay.

I've had it about 3 years, and 2 of the sliders have given up. Having said that, I guess the 15 years before that it worked perfectly.

I like it a lot - it's a lot of fun to play with, and is good for dub/techno bass stuff, can also do midrange arppegios without much bother. Not good for pads, acoustic modelling, won't do the ironing etc etc, but solid on the bass/bleeps/squelchy front. It's a synth, and it sounds like a synth. Oh yeah, the filter's wicked as well, but don't forget that a MIDI->CV converter could add about 100 to your outlay if you want to MIDI the thing up.

It's a classic 'lots of sliders' analogue monosynth, so you can just reach out and tweak the sounds in real-time. The small size means that some of the sliders can be very sensitive, which adds to the allure.

It's monophonic and monotimbral, and you can't make it sound like an acoustic instrument no matter what you do. No effects at all, no expansion capabilities (unless you modify it yourself with a soldering iron), no MIDI. It has CV/Gate inputs and outputs, an external clock in, audio and headphones out, and a Mod grip that (along with a strap kit) lets you wear it like a guitar. It has a one hundred step sequencer, an arpeggiator, a clock, lots of modulation possibilities, and in general it is a very capable beast. The small size and tiny keyboard (two and a bit octaves) make it quite handy, and you can run it with batteries. Available in a variety of colours, some rarer than others (mine is red).

With one oscillator it can't really do warm pads and lead lines (although you can fiddle with the pulse width modulation to simulate 'beating'), but it's not meant to do that anyway. It excels at bass noises, and, as the filter can self-oscillate, it can do massive kick drums. If you play around with the noise generator and the filter modulation (especially the random setting) you can make some off-the-wall warbles and pings.

Mine is second-hand and fifteen years old, and it still seems to be in good shape. Despite the plasticy case it seems to keep in one piece provided that you don't throw it about. The tuning, with the DCO, is stable, and it doesn't drift over time.

Apparently Roland are quite good when it comes to old manuals/add-ons and so on. I don't know this for myself so N/A.

It was worth the money, although I wouldn't pay anything more than about 200UKP (that's about 250 dollars) for it. The more common grey models (the only difference being the case colour) are worth about thirty pounds less, so buy one of those. In general then, it's great for basses and analogue sounds, you plug almost anything into the Cv input to make it squeal, and it makes a good introduction to analogue synthesis (and you can wear it). It's utterly rubbish at 'warm-sounding' analogue noises - it tends to be harsh and gritty, and it has a very identifiable sound. The Roland MC202 is essentially an SH101 without a keyboard, with a better sequencer.