Bad Gear - Roland GAIA SH-01 

the dnb supersaw jam is a belter!

Jackson Pollocks -- is that Cockney Rhyming Slang?!

I know one thing for sure! If nothing else it's a fantastic training and learning tool! Learning simple subtractive synthesis!;) can't beat it for it's price and availability

Thank you for the clarification!!! Great to have you around!

Former Roland PR Manager here -- BRO!!! Seriously??!! 🤦‍♀️ 🤦‍♀️ 🤦‍♀️

@@dancingmandy4208 maybe we should all get a drink together;)

hey, mynoise! crazy to see you here. Longtime subscriber to your website. You help me sleep every night.

@@AudioPilz 😂 lol well I definitely need a drink that’s for sure.

I'd buy that in a heartbeat!!!

I was just wondering this too, why is this so hard to do? A smaller Juno/Jupiter replica that isn't 2k... There's a huge market there they're just ignoring

...for aeons to come;)

domination huh

Or Shhhh. It's a secret

I sniggered a bit hard at this. I hope my nose doesn't bleed as it's been a sonovabitch lately. 😂

SH = hidden IT

Great UI indeed!

Same! (though I sold mine :D)

Same!

Thank you so much!

welp I thought the same and then I bought the MPC 500 and now I can't get rid of it 😂

no the instrument still sucks lol

I have one, I rather like it. It can be made to sound great, but it took some fiddling around before I got out something that didn't sound in some way wrong. I use the input on it to link in 3 chained pocket operators. I got my Gaia used, I wouldn't pay 600+ for it, but 400 will get you a totally pristine one, less if you are lucky.

I like all the synths that are on this show, especially the ones that I have.

Frying bacon-powered sound engine??? I'm in!!!

@@AudioPilz I expect to see it on next week's show :)

I got one years ago as the keys player in a band for the same reasons. It seems versatile (piano, organ, strings, etc.) and has full-sized keys, so it already ticks a lot boxes there. I eventually had to get rid of it because of its atrocious sound though. It is one of the worst sounding synths I've ever heard. It sounds like all of the sounds go through a "fake" filter before the main output. I thought I would end up liking that unique aspect of it, but I just couldn't take it anymore.

Frying bacon does sound warm and greasy though. …I’ll get me coat…

Saw your video today about the top 10 synths for beginners. I'm pretty high on the gaia also. Is it the greatest sounding synth on the planet? No. But it is far from as bad as others make it seem. I think it sounds good enough, the interface great with no menu diving, and the 3 independent synth engines very useful. If it's any area the gaia shines imo it's in creating very lush and epic pad sounds.

Certainly helpful in a live performance

You have bad taste, the thing is thin sounding garbage.

Thanks! Especially liked that one!

thank you for your service fren

Is this a "community"?

Not a bad synth at all. When I see a video clip of a Jeff Lorber tutorial and he has it sitting on top of a Yamaha Montage, and he is a Grammy winning old school jazz, funk artist that is known world wide for years, I’m sold on the fact that this little synth is a beast for its price.

Thank you for your patience!

Would you still recommend it as a starting synth? I’m torn between something like this and a microfreak

@@ChasedRabbit I would say so. It will help you to understand Oscillators, filtering, LFO’s, ADSR envelopes, layering, and still enjoy massive polyphony. A good beginner synth to see if you’re ready for this journey! (and not just for beginners either. Plenty of fun and usability for more experienced owners, too).

@@ChasedRabbit Its almost the perfect synth for a beginner.

I bought mine about two years ago, as a learning tool. I'm still learning. I'm considering a microfreak, but in that, a _lot_ of complexity is hidden away. With a Gaia, just about everything important is out in the open (or one "SHIFT" level down). With 3 oscillators per tone, with independent filters and envelopes, you can do some interesting stuff.

Thank you so much! Full tracks are available as hi res wavs on my Patreon.

.... I want a cassette of all these jams....

Spoiler: The musician matters more than the gear. Having good gear doesn't usually produce a dramatic increase in musical quality. For someone like Florian who makes bangers on almost anything, good gear makes it bang harder, but only a little. And, probably more to the point of the show, when someone hasn't developed their skills, buying expensive gear won't really help all that much.

0:13 I'm only up to here and yet I subscribed because of this comment. Let's hear those bangers lol

@@AudioPilz The videos at the end are amazing too! If you're doing all of that yourself you are amazingly talented and also clearly an insomniac. (that's sooooooo much work!!)

I think they still have warehouses full of GAIAs;)

Nope. Roland showed it first at Musikmesse (Frankfurt), March 2010.

@@AudioPilz Roland can always rebrand it as ‘AI’ to cash in the latest ‘ artificial intelligence’tech hype marketing that will ?? replace Doctors, financial analysts, Teachers yet not politicians and Amazon delivery workers. Would the Roland AI replace electronic musicians?

That's a great price! Thanks! We live for Bad Gear!!!

I don't think anyone would disagree that it (or anything else) was a bargain at 1/7th the retail price.

For under 150 secondhand, I think that's a good price for this. You even get a D-Beam!

Same here, womens cost more money than this thing, absolutely good sounding synth and always can use it in compositions, to what role? you name it!

@ghost mall Just to make things to perspective xD

Thank you!!!

Thanks!!!

Pleasure!

@ghost mall they always try, but they will never build a trance-Synth like the JP-8000.

Thank you so much!!!

Thank you so much!!!

Thanks! No worries;)

Thanks! Given my tiny hands I would have opted for the Microkorg;)

Yeah, excellent point from a real live musician:you don't wanna use your best expensive gear in a beer filled environment...

mininova is CHEAPER as you know and a fantastic little synth but shorter and smaller keyboard.

Thanks!!! Daniel Fisher is a legend! Big fan. All the best!!!

The GAIA sounds good in the right hands. Daniel Fisher's demo video is a great example. It was him that me grab one of these off the used market. So simple to dial in sounds. The low end is weak though.

Thank you so much!!!

Thank you!!!

It's practically 2010 in a box!

true, perfect for Psytrance, so called «Gaia Goa» Trance ;-)

True. I think there's something to be said for stable live gear. Might sound like absolute crap on a record, but if it takes a beating on the road and is easy to find replacements, it may be awesome in its own right.

@@atomicafro Easy to find a replacement, sure. But have you ever held one? It's the reason I couldn't complain about the Wavestate's build quality. It's no Nord, but if the other options are the Mininova or Microkorg, I'd just as soon get a JD-Xi or reface. But you can gig with one, sure. People gig with a mellotron, so as long as you take care of your stuff, sure. If you have back problems and are hard of hearing, it's about the perfect synth.

Fully agree ! Been playing live with it for about ten years. Great addition as an upper keyboard for soloing or bassing with properly sized keys. After a failed attempt to go back into music in the early 2000 with a menu-diving Korg Workstation (n364 kinda beefed-up M1), it showed me I could actually understand substractive synthesis. PLUS, with its dedicated hardened carry bag, it is quite lightweight and didn’t break my back. The fact that there is no screen makes it a breeze under dimmed or too bright lightings, although LEDs are a bit too flashy. Cool to tweak llive, although faders and knobs obviously do not reflect the actual layer of any given sound at any moment (no motorized faders and/ or infinite-course knobs). Way too pricey today, and useless as an audio interface, for its usb is too noisy and leaks into the DAC. If you’re in the market for live gigging and cash-strapped or not wanting to risk your wayyy pricier UDO Super-SIX, Prophet or whatever, for less than $/€ 300, I think it’s still a good value. Or if you want to learn sound design/synthesis with hands on...

Really easy to use!!!

Thanks for the patience!

That sums it up nicely

How is the latency/timing over usb Though?

@@neonblack211 I only used it one time. But I do not recall any latency issues. I recorded four tracks onto Cubase and it worked OK.

Thank you so much!!!

Wow, the VR-09 or a VR/VC-730 thing blows my mind!!!

@@AudioPilz Dude, the vr-09 is SICK, its got some sample based pads and sounds from the juno lineup stacked inside there and they really hold up under live performance, the drums inside it are great too, but the immersive organ simulation is alot of fun too. Electric pianos and really any sounds you want are kind of packed into the vr09, i had the chance to get one, but it just didn't work out, and i wish it had.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I own both a GAIA and a VR-09!

@@ageshero I had one for some time, and generally, I agree. But there are a couple areas where it falls down, at least in my opinion: horns in general, no aftertouch which is crucial for sounds like harmonica, and the distortion effect.

@@ModestEgg I would never kid about something like that!

Thanks!

Thanks! Yeah, it's a great educational tool

Really liked the filter too, especially compared to older Roland models

Thanks! Yeah, it stays polite most of the time

👍👍👍

Thanks! Questions end high tho;)

@@AudioPilz really one of my favourite channels on RU-vid. Thank you 🙏

I really like Romplers but I also like manufacturers to be transparent about it;)

Thank you!!!

Thanks! Happy to hear that!

Thank you so much!!!

Agreed!

Thank you so much

Thanks!!! I'll try to squeeze that in

Thank you for the patience!

The SoundCanvas is strong in this one;)

Even the JD800 is a rompler with knobs. I wouldn’t complain even if all romplers were this user friendly.

@@matszh The JD-800 was never intended to be a VA synth. That was a prototype for the later JV-80 synth. The SH-01 claims to be a VA synth, but a real VA generates the waveforms, instead of using samples.

@@doordedeur Virtual means ”not really”. If ”not really” uses digital oscillators, samples or wavetables doesn’t really matter to me, if it’s editable and the sound is good. But of course you don’t wanna hear loop-points and similar.

@@matszh Virtual means trying to recreate analog behaviour. That doesn't work with samples. The SH-01 is a great synth, but not comparable to for instance a Yamaha AN-1X.

Thank you so much! Some tools make it easier than others tho;)

@ghost mall fair.

@ghost mall Yeah but he used the drumbrute impact, for example. Imagine if he had been forced to use a DFAM instead ;)

Thanks! That sums it up nicely

Thanks!

True! Nice price!

The SR16 is around almost 20 years longer than the GAIA;) Thanks!

Thank you!!!

Thank you!

Great educational tool!

Very reliable indeed

Thank you!

Agreed!

Thanks! I like Novas!

It's a mixed bag...

Thank you so much!!!

Nice collection you had there;)

Wow, nice find!

somebody really didn't like this thing huh

Great to hear that it works for you!

Thanks! Wow, that's a great price!

Thank you so much!!!

Didn't really like the distortion either...

Thanks!

Thank you for the patience!!!

Have you considered getting a Microkorg?

Great UI!!!

My deepest condolences.

Roland comes to the rescue;)

I would have preferred Roland to be a little more honest about its true nature

Yeah, some gear just doesn't click

Thanks! The Venom has a little more character I would say

I'll have a double espresso then;)

Hey, thanks for your patience!!!

Nice technique!!!

Thanks for the heads up!!!

I'd still prefer the little Korg

@@AudioPilz I have both.

Or even the ms2000.. it had a dirty VA sound, and gaia sounded too clean

Yes, the controls were enticing, until I pressed a key and heard the sound coming out of it. It didn't take me more than 5 minutes to move on to another synth. All this time, Roland has been advertising it as a virtual analog synth when it's not. That's probably why so many actual VA synths sound so much better than the GAIA. Edit: I never bought a GAIA, I've only tried playing them on display several times. It's a synth that I keep coming back to purely because, somehow, it's still available new for sale. So every once in a while, I think about it and ask myself "Is it really as bad as I thought it was?" Then I try it again and am instantly reminded "Yes! Yes it is!"

Super straight forward UI

Thanks! The one I had on the show was one of these unsold floor models😂

Thanks for watching!!!

Thanks for the heads up!

It's older sibling the SH201 maybe?

Thanks! It's the general's theme song;)

Thanks!

Sounds like an interesting combination

@@AudioPilz try it out 😉

I don't mind that so much but a little transparency goes a long way;)

Your gripe with a rompler box is that its supersaws, like every other rompler box, is sampled just like absolutely all of its other sounds? Hmmm, why did you pick up a rompler box if you wanted a VA? Well, you can always send that Integra-7 to me, I'll make sure it gets used and loved ;)

True that!!!

Have you tried the JDXi?

@@AudioPilz yes I have but I prefered the workflow and sounds of the gaia. Those kitchy rave arps and sick bass leads just worked for me :-) I used it mostly in combination with the TR8 , a sub phatty and a monologue and at the time I was doing a lot of dawless jamming with an rc505 as a live looping tool and using auxes on a soundcraft for live fx on all hardware. So i could choose to do fingerplay or looping and controle the dry and wet signals. Had a lot of fun like that. For simple 4 bar melodies and arps the gaia was perfect. I did eventually sell it to buy a virtus ti :-)

So true! Would be OK for 199

Agreed!

I just wands buy it and use as a midi, for studio production, is that a good idea

@@mrloverman2361 it has full-size keys. They aren't bad, tho no where near what a good dedicated midi keyboard could offer you. It does have velocity sensitivity (if you enable it) but no such thing as aftertouch if you need that

Thanks! Happy to hear that!

❤️❤️❤️

Agreed!

It is simple. They sell them by the hundreds to high schools where subtractive synthesis is part of the curriculum in music classes. Its reliable and mostly one knob per function. No menu diving. It doesnt even have a display. Btw I own one and wouldnt part with it. It ha spectacularly long envelope release times, so fantastic for creating ambient patches.

@@Fractalite what you said actually makes a lot of sense. I can see it as a great teaching tool. I took a music production class in high school and would have learned more from the Gaia instead of the Roland xp-10.

@@Fractalite what’s the max? I love 10s max envelopes, for those 3-8 second swells

Thank you!!! Agreed!

Not so easy to mix tho... Thanks!

¡¡¡Muchisimas gracias!!!