I bought the sh4d after the watching all the videos. It sat on my shelf for almost a year then I discovered it. It really is worth every penny when you want something portable and a pair of headphones.
Finally someone releasing a multitimbral desktop polysynth. Since Digitone came out no big player came out with one. More machines of this kind please!
I'm not an Elektron's fan and their "tone" to own users pisses me off actually. But their analog machines are much more superior to this "another gear" from Roland. OMG... in the past the same company did released the holy Jupiter 6 and 8! Where are their resources now?
Honestly, this may be one of the best things I have seen Roland drop in a dogs age. Enough of a nod to legacy tones, but really forward thinking and hands on. This is a pretty tempting desktop box...
@@kellymerrill5294 I’m not an electrical engineer, but I think in order to have a analog filters on a machine like this: a) the polyphony would have to be reduced dramatically, or b) the cost would be in the thousands of dollars and the desktop case would be considerably larger.
@@kellymerrill5294 I guess but that doesn't apply to guys like me who have an Electrix Filter Factory and a Xone:23 mixer. Not to mention the digitals like my Line 6 FM4 rackmount and pedal or my first gen Kaoss Pad...
They say its not a groovebox but 64 steps per part and you can have 4 parts separately recorded and an awesome rhythm section with lots customizeable options is just sick. I dunno its like a desktop minilogue competitor/groovebox all in one. And the sounds are just awesome and sit in the mix absolutely exquisitely. What an awesome bit of kit.
Feels like a different approach for Roland with a real emphasis on accessibility, playability and fun at a really good price. Great presentation as well.
This has far more hands on control than the 707 so it could be argued that the 707 is watered down in some ways compared to this. If you can get past the fact they’re both multi timbal Roland desktop units they appear to aimed at very different audiences. Maybe that is why some 101 and 707 owners aren’t interested. It’s for the rest of us.
Roland still lives in the past… But without the goodness of the past (analog tech) although they keep using references to that times after times (in this case, SH-4 with the same lettering style as the SH- 1, 2, 3 , 5, 7 and 9). At least this one has hands-on controls.
Andy is one of my heroes, and the SH-4D goes on the wishlist as it could give me some much wanted Roland sounds without the overhead of their large synths.
I feel like an instrument like this should have been made a long time ago, since its so well designed and condenses so much into such a simple and intuitive layout. It seems so obvious now, and yet it has never been built. Definitely adding this to my wish list.
I have one of these and use it everyday on every track I make along with a Keystep 37. Such an awesome combo. Jorb’s video on patch design sold me. Best $ spent on the studio since my Microfreak.
Andy really selling this with some fantastic sounding demos. Appreciate some folks will be down on the lack of zencore and digital nature of this but it sounds amazing
Yeah, it sounds so Zenologyes) I worked much time with Zen Core synthesis and they all sound the same) So I found that new Roland sh-4d sounds also same just after the first notes :) I don't know it's good or bad, but I'm personally want to hear something analog from Roland.
I hear nothing to get down on this over. The filter sounds great. It all sounds great. The price is very good. It would be cool if it did splits natively though. That's an obvious feature to add with a firmware update.
@@inthefade it's a matter of taste. for me, such a sound is already boring, and it beats too much on the ears. I'm more inclined towards a softer sound.
This handsome young lad is a fantastic synth explainer. Not that common to see actually. Excellent video. I'm very interested in this product. Seems really cool.
Ok! I'm gonna temporarily put down my Roland pitchfork and say this synth looks solid. Even this presenter seems really excited to demo this thing as opposed to other Roland products. If I had one critique I'd say the complete lack of color in the UI is a little underwhelming - HOWEVER, I have to give them props for not making it an ugly green abomination. This synth looks practical and fun to use. Good job Roland!
I got this to pair with my digitakt for creating a live show. The 4 synths being able to save all of the sounds is nice when you turn everything off. Definitely some freshish sounds in there too. Now I just need a fader fox that’s $700 to complete the live compact dream I have!
The set of features is plentiful with some new approaches to it, the wf seems smooth and the visual representation on the display has a simple and appealing look. Looks like really good product with a small footprint.
Great presentation! Always nice to see and hear new Roland products. But at least one pair of cv and gate outputs should have been there too in my opinion. Whatever Roland hardware has never let me down, only the missing drivers for "older" products and "newer" operating systems.
@@ilutolextron3632 Perhaps he has been spoilt for choice. The amount of gear he has reviewed, it would be hardly surprising. Under the hood, this does seem to be a very capable device, especially at the price.
@@SingularityMedia nah I don't think that's the saying that applies here. Roland has actually made some great products over the last few years, and their support for those products has mostly been really good as well
Looks like a lot of fun. When I started out with an MC-202 and Sh-101 we utilised CV. I modded a Dr. Rhythm to sync to the sequencer, experimenting with the tempo potentiometer!
Now with only 60 voices. Where each oscillator is a voice. I assume that each drum sample takes up a voice too, so if you reserve 16 for drums and have four examples of the four oscillator synths you have 2.75 note polyphony for each synth part. Jesus Christ I defended the JD-XI but even I think that's crap. They aren't even up front about it, it took Nick to push him to half admit that the stated polyphony count is a straight up lie.
@@Patriotic_Eagle1995 four, for oscillator synths would be an absolute mess though. Half the oscillator section and double the polyphony for each layer. I'd have maybe 2 dual oscillator mono layers and a chord seq and play over it with some spare room. Whether that kind of allocation is possible though I'm not sure. I'd like a 4 layer stack though, that'd be nice!
Since when is sampling a prerequisite for the title ’groovebox’? The original groovebox - MC-303 did not sample. This is by all definitions a groovebox. Drum, melody, fix, and sequencing all there. This groovebox is dope. Especially at this price point. Instantly shop high on my list
There will be custom Skins made soon, for sure, I need it haha. Like, we could ask Style Flip, or those who made Behringer synth skins, the Neutron skin overlays are the schillibop. The SH-4D buttons need accents around them, navigation and keyboard. The rest will stand out in dim light with the original white calibrations, but I could jive with radioactive neon-glow colors. Maybe a USB powered overlay pulsing with the tempo, sweet.
@@milk_bath Yeah it's a different breed than the MC-series. To call it a groovebox is a bit misnomer: no sampling, basic sequencing., etc. It's a Zen-Core based desktop synth, plain and simple. Pretty good deal for the price IMO.
SH-32 happy days... Very advanced bit of kit for the time and at this price ! Still have mine 🙂and once and again, squezze somme of it's sound on a new track. Desapointed so far, with Roland mid-range kit, this one migth change my mind... By the way, thanks Sonic Lab for your reviews.
A Kaoss-touchpad to the left (instead of those 4 buttons would have been great for modulations and motion sequencing. Throw in a few more tracks and a bigger display (from Fantom 6) and you got it, lol.
Great product, excellent demo from someone (Andy) who knows his product and incisive questions from Nick Batt. Best new roland product for some years and at an exceplent price.
Now I want it! But it’s not yet in stock anywhere. This is everything I wanted in a groove box. Hands on sound design, good classic synth sounds nice interface. 5 parts is great to start a catching ideas on the go.
It reminds me a bit of the 2003 Electribe EMX workflow. I really wish they would bring back a machine with the hands on workflow and capabilities that box had, the next-gen Electribes really didn't fill that space in my opinion.
Yeah and that strikes me as just one of the many features that they chose not to implement. Seems like classic Roland m.o. leaving out a bunch of functionality that they already have the tech for. I dont get excited about sounds anymore. Everyone/everything can make good sounds these days. It's functionality and interoperability that I look for these days. And this unit looks like another Roland dead end street.
@@louisik1 It IS pretty sweet that you can take this into the middle of the woods or on a beach and jam. Def a good tool for fun, inspiration, and sketching, at the very least. But that’s just my biased opinion… 😊
After owning a JD-Xi, the toyish synth ever made I promissed myself to never get a modern Roland product again... but this, well, It got me thinking. Maybe it is a replace to my current live setup?
