Roland System 500 versus vintage System 100m and SH-5 Synthesizers 

Little update - Roland have let me keep the top case (i.e. "The Complete Set"). Enormous thanks to them! I shall joke about not returning demo units again in the future ;)

I'm lucky enough to own an SH-5 - look up Bang the floor by 'Mr Scruff' That track is more or less entirely made of sounds we derived from that synth.. Nice Vid

Nicely done Alex. Enjoyed the sound of these synths very much and a rare example of someone making actual music with modular equipment on RU-vid! Hopefully it catches on. Giving you the System 500 to keep is the least Roland should do after your documentary...

It was a delight to hear you say you were doing a musical comparison! Excellent demo music!

Really enjoyed this video Alex - great presentation, track, and very informative.

Your music is always inspiring. Thank you.

ermagrrrrrrd Alex Ball I think you have a charmed life. thanks for sharing all the goodness!

Excellent, really interesting and fun way to compare the synths and a cool track as well!

Brilliant as always! Man I love 70s Roland.

October this year (2021), I've had my SH-5 for 25 years! It's a nice living thing always making noises.

Nice trio of Rolands there Alex and great music as always :-)

Awesome, thanks for putting this together! I recall you were considering doing this comparison recently, so glad to see it happened! They all sound great in their own way. :)

All of the instruments sound great! And the reason is because you are very talented and creative! Keep up the great work, Alex!

Alex, excellent videos! I need more Roland sounds in my life!! The 100m and the 700 are like to die for! I’d take them over moog modular sounds, but there aren’t enough vids on RU-vid of people playing these amazing synths! I almost collapsed whe I heard the system 700 in the Roland history vid that you did. Please do more like that! System 500 sounds beautiful as well! Keep it up!!!

I’m always intrigued by modular setups, but have never taken dive. Loving this....and yet again the tune is stuck in my head.

This was a very good demo - looked like a lot of work went into it - thanks

the ocv blipp is also on mine. and all friends who have it too, they also have the blip. great video thanks

So much retro roland in one video. That SH-5 has loads of great character! Sweet arrangement, would love to get my hands on any of those some day 👌🤘

The octave change “blip” is on my 500 as well (purchased 18 mos ago, so must be common). Great demonstration (and fun tune!), agree with your assessment

I wouldn't expect waveforms into scopes, glad you're doing your own thing. Great video! :)

Good job! Thanks for all the effort.

Gosh, this belongs on a Short Circuit movie score!

What a fantastic demo, thank you, so many kit demos are uninspiring

very cool review/comparison, cheers!

I think all of these synths are cool in its way! And me really like the SH-5 design and UI. Thanks for the video, Alex! Keep it up! Your videos are one of the best on YT synth topic!

WOW ! The music is always so good with this guy . And the sounds!!!!

Been looking forward to this one and you didn't disappoint mate. I hope you can do some more with the SH5 before you give it back. I would love to see more of you with this. excellent as always thank you !

Roland did such a good job on the control surface for the SH-5. It's so tidy. It holds up even by today's standards.

Owning a 100m I thought that it came through the least on your demo. The 500 sounded great but, that SH-5!!! Man!!! That is a beast!!! Great video Alex. Roland should definitely let you keep the demo model 500.

BANGER as always alex

Great demo, thanx👍Sweet sounds! I still love the 101 most, but thats just me 😂 Best regards

You need 500k more subscribers. Love your content and work!

Very nice, great upload as always. :-)

Great comparison! Can't believe what you are getting out of the 500👍a seperate vid about some patch examples and how get all out of the 500 would be also cool.

Alex is one of the few who shut their mouths and let the instrument speak for its self! Thanks Alex for giving me what I want!

It's always refreshing when someone works with the gear and does something solid with it, before commenting on the pros & cons of it. You got it spot on, and whilst I've not yet owned any system 500, I've owned and used a multiple cabinet system 100m set up in the past, and can always remember thinking it sounded slightly thin, compared to an sh5 and even the brilliantly chunky (and beefy sounding) roland system 100, which i still have as a complete set. The eurorack format is fantastic for versatility , fun and powerful sound shaping, but if you've had the joy of using ye olde large format (e.g. moog modular, the system 700 et al) or even the mid size format such as the system 100m , then it can be a little bit finicky at times; especially if you have larger hands. Thank you for uploading this, it was great fun 👍

Having owned a system 100 in the late 70s and still owning an SH-2 and SH-5, I have to admit that their 'children' I bought much later (Gaia and System 500 plus a System 1m you totally could have added to the mix) are amazingly similar in character and ergonomy to their ancestors: the Roland sound is there, as the so typical very 'snappy' EG and BP filter . Plus one of Roland all-time high ground: a very clever and rich way of mixing and routing the signal path. Like you, I love those beasts!

Very interesting comparison. Thanks for your time and effort. :-)

Damn! Those three play so well together! I sort of wish that instead of going Eurorack with only but a few of their newer products, that they maybe could have done something like their system 100m, and just came either back with that format, or something similar, just newer and with something like class compliant USB and Ableton connectivity (like they did with the TR8 and MX1). If they only released their whole boutique range as semi-modular with patch points and CVs?! I wouldn’t own any Eurorack stuff, and I would own a whole mess of boutiques! Thanks for sharing, you are pretty creative and talented!

Woooooow !!!!!, alll instrumemts are great and compliment each other very well. Fantastic stuff Alex, badboy audio tools in badboy hands 👋👋🎵🎼🎶

That was really cool. Great way to test the sound on a new (analogue) synth, compose with it and see how it fits in with other vintage synths. Sounds like it fits in to me (admittedly no expert but hey).

Amazing sounds! This could have easily sounded too muddy. Not surprised Roland let you keep the gear. This is a great sales pitch for them! 👍🏻

I immediately heard that the 100M was superior sounding. Thanks for the nice musical demo and for sharing it.

i didn't know about the 505 modulate..that's great.. i love the SH-5

I think Roland did a excellent job with the 500, but man, that old SH-5 just sounds fantastic...

Thank You Alex!!

Thanks for not running each waveform through an oscilloscope - that’s fine if you want to use your synth as a calibration device but not really relevant if you happen to want a synth for making music!! Saved me from having to skip forward. Great demo tune too!

The system 500 sounds really good. I actually enjoyed it the most.

Just the way I want to watch synth comparison Alex, thanks! As much as I enjoy what you cooked up it also reminds me why synths like these aren't for me and it's good to be reminded of just that once in a while. Cracking tune though! :)

I haven't scrolled all the comments, but I got my System 500 (original complete and 531 mixer) a few weeks ago and definitely get the blood when switching octaves. I love the system so far, though a few knob/jack locations drive me a little crazy. Sound is amazing. I love the 531 mixer in general. I would use it in more cases with other modules.

That SH-5 sounds exactly how it looks... BEAST! Anyways im impressed how well System 500 sounds, pretty fine job by Roland.

Very great demo, actually I'm surprised I find it more useful than a side by side demo of the waveform with oscilloscope and stuff ; somehow the differences in sounds are much more obvious like that ; and yes the 500 sounds awesome !

Dope song. Love the documentary of my favorite brand ever roland

Dang the SH 5 really sounds good. Great comparison.

Absolutely excellent as usual.. Its funny though, there definitely is a Roland "scheen" thats even apparent on their vintage gear. It all sounds great, then again a lot has to do with the one doing the programming. ;)

I'm such a noob with synths, but I sure do enjoy your music in your videos

I have the 512 dual vco and to anyone still interested, the audible "blip" between octaves is present in the final product. .

The funniest thing i have on my head when im earing that demo it's the people saying software sounds close to hardware ^^

Watching the clip and listening to these beauties...I suddenly forgot to care about the "versus" thing...it's one happy family to me :-)

SH-5 needs a remake/reissue. I got to play around with one at the vintage synth museum and loved the way they set up the signal path, but my goodness if they aren't scarcer than hen's teeth.

Interesting comparison, I'm always tempted to buy another SH-101.. :D

sweet bass line!

very cool!

Awesome 👍

The "blip" happens on the 500 series VCO. It's not related to being a demo unit. It is due to the mechanical structure of the switch used.

Ok that is easy.... SH-5 :D Nice video Alex.

SPIFFY AND WELL DONE

You may be spoiled with old modular synths, but we're all spoiled with the Alex Ball youtube channel.

Synths aside I really enjoy your music!

this oct switch "blip" is typical - when I checked it out (I had to return it - and I am a Roland "fan" as well - compared it to the 100m as well and the SH5 as well (plus System 1m etc) - so I can just confirm it - it was a bit harder to really set the same settings but when I stopped "cloning" sounds it works fine - so the normal use case does work. I just need to talk to Roland - seems like others get more than I do (videos etc) -

I liked al three. They did sound quite different from each other. I think the 500 sounds great for bass oriented sounds from what I heard here. The System 100m sounds really good for al sorts of percussive sounds. And yeah, the SH-5 has that 70s Roland vibe to it's sound, that's always nice to have!

That 100m sounds amazing.

Ahhh.. The 100m! Yes!

Approve! 👍

How do you call (or create) the kick sound starting at 1:14? Looking for it for awhile now

I love Roland synths.

I really liked the sh5 ...

Hi Alex it would be interesting to hear how the new Behringer 100M system compares with these, especially if you get to try it hands on...

Now make a jam with this stuff!

I think Alex is dissapointed about views on his music videos and gear videos and just looking straight forward in formats like this :)

Wow, the 100m is fantastic!

Cheers Alex, great video. Roland should absolutely leave the system 500 with you. :) Agree about the size/throw comment, put me off the boutique SE-02, though the price has come down......hmmm. Have you tried one? The presets, sequencer and portability give it a utility which is quite appealing out of the studio. #tempted #abitbroke

All good

mmmmmmmm that sh-5 is heavenly

Awesome. I iike the System 100m most. Its the most Vince Clarke`ish sounding ;). Great comparison.

how are you so good with only 31k subs? I save your videos to use for inspiration. I like your playing. I wish you would create an actual track out of some of the stuff you were playing around with here. Also.. did you have anything detuned? The tones you are making are in between the tones on my set up...like, if you play what looks like a c... and then I play a c, my c is flatter , but my c sharp is too sharp...hmm

Wow, Music on modulars. A rare sonic sight to behold among all the hipster noise makers. Bravo!

Awesome! Very impressed by the SH-5! I personally find the System-500 controls a bit flimsy.

100M sounded best. What an instrument that was!

Getting a Multiple module in eurorack is about as easy as it gets. It’s an easy addition whether or not Roland makes one.

Hi Alex , I had a SH5 in the 90s but sold it..I currently have a Roland System 1 and want to get the Sysyem 100 plug out...in this video is your SYSTEM 1000m just the modular version of the System 100 synth with keyboard ? Cheers.. 😊

Here before Andrew Haung!

Oowww owwww this is The Future the Human League , Chris Carter sound colour

alex, did you find that the scaling when you switched between octaves is off? i've noticed that on my (much loved) sys 500, and i've read on the MW forum that others have as well. i've read that roland will readily calibrate the oscillators if you send them the module--as i gather it's not obvious how to do it on one's own--but that's a bit of a pain and it's not like i'm constantly switching between octaves on the fly. so i can get by.

100 used by the radiophonic workshop

Wow ;)

How do I make my JV1080 do that? derp

Hi Alex, what Mic are you using ?

Next Din Sync Models ;)

I'd love to get a comparison between the Roland/Malekko modules and the cheaper Behringer clones. I'm very fond of that old Roland gear as an SH3a was my first synth and lasted a good 40 years, alas non-operable now (anyone in Aus who can fix these things please put yer hand up)