Sonic LAB Roland System-8 Poly Synth 

Years later, I think this still looks and sounds like a nice synth.

for god's sake Nick make an ambient album!! Love that intro jam, great work

This video cost me $1600. I've had a System-8 for a year and it's still my favorite piece of gear in the studio.

23:17 - this was fixed in version 1.20 for anyone reading this now The lack of aftertouch was a huge miss to be honest, especially since there’s an unpopulated aftertouch ribbon controller port inside it - but it’s still an excellent synth.

The great unsung synth of the past 10 years. Sonically beautiful, still being updated. If they would only put that ACB engine into a JP-X build quality case, with Zencore as well, they'd have the greatest synth on the market right now

I came back to this review because since the release of the Sys8 I have NEVER heard a bad sound come out of this keyboard on RU-vid. Different designers, genre's, recording skills, all seem to get great sounds!

That you can so thoroughly learn these machines and spit out quality vids like this is simply astounding! Kudos on another great job!

I think Roland did a good job on it and just followed their own strategy. I had the chance to test it in a store for an hour or so and found it quite intuitive and fun to play. Lots of options. It's finally a worthy successor of the JP-8000 with a higher digital resolution.

Many of the sounds I've heard coming out of this synth have a unique and interesting character. My ears are a fan of this synth. Ultimately the sound is what matters most to me, and I think designing sounds with this will be a great experience.

I am not disappointed with the system 8. It is an unusual machine and I love it. I get all the best Roland Machines in one unit. Very Happy with what Roland gave me. Love your reviews. It shows me much more of what I have in my system. I have a classic synth to take with me in my journey.

cowbell is nice, never have enough of it. Every synth should have one!

sounds fucking beautiful IMO

Thanks for another honest and balanced review. For my money, your reviews are the best around today. keep the good work up!

Now THIS is what I call a gear review. Not like some other rather popular channel where every "review" is just a string of distracting animations before finishing a sentence. And at the end you're none the wiser. So yeah, subscribed 😄

Nick, great review once again - top job! As you know I've recently got one too. The reason for the comment tho, is to point the finger at the people here who think this synth sounds "digital", "thin" or "like a VST". I'm not sure what rock they crawled out of - but this synth doesn't even come close to sounding like that, and I guess everyone is entitled to their own opinion. There are plenty of us who will quite vocally beg to differ! However, if you're basing your opinion on watching a few videos (or even just this one) - this is going to be trouble for you. Even playing one in a store for 5 mins wont do it. I did that a few months ago - and wasn't amazed either. The presets are poor. What you need to do is grab a loan machine and take it away for a weekend - noodle your way into the depths of this. It is really deep and surprising. I agree with Nick, the plug-outs aren't needed to give this synth it's own character. But they certainly are a bonus.

sonicstate is closing in on 100k hard earned subs! Can't wait to see the Arturia MatrixBrute review. Love this channel.

The intro you played was supper cool. This is why I’m buying this unit.

Great review Nick. I am absolutely loving my System 8. Agree with the point about decoupling the sequencer from an individual patch.

I think it’s a perfect compliment to an actual analog synth like an OB6. I think the FM update and the purely digital sounds really give the System 8 its own voice. It certainly is high on my list as far as my “next buy” list.

Nick, you are the best! I really like that little bit you did at the start of this video. Your reviews via Sonic State are #1 for me. Thank You!

beautiful review, sounds amazing

Only just venturing into the world of outboard synth gear and I could honestly watch your demos for hours and hours!!! Even gear that I have no intention of ever buying or that is miles out of my price range. I just love how knowledgeable you are and in depth and thorough your videos and the sounds you get are insane! Subbed :)

Nick is so good at these. I'm looking at a used one and this is a thorough heads-up to the possibilities.

I love this synth!! The sound is amazing and a very big plus - it includes the Jupiter-8, Juno-106 and JX-3P! What more could a Roland synth enthusiast want? Oh yeah, you can download even more Roland vintage synths too 🎹🎹🎹

Its a hard synth to appreciate without studio integration and your introductory points of it feeling like a coherent instrument do hold true. It has that lovely "Roland Sound" in spades and quite a few tricks up its sleeve. Never thought it would be my go too synth with some nice semi-modular analog, analog (both vco & dco) and Elektron kit in the studio but it is a lot of fun to use. So very odd assumptions and suppositions in many of the comments below but thanks for a well balanced review Nick.

That sequencer + Nord style knobs would look absolutely amazing with all the lights moving around and all the numbers changing. Impressive board all together. Shame of the no after touch but aside from that this is an incredibly versatile instrument.

The Fantom does something similar when you save scenes. When you edit any of the voices in a scene, it won't save your changes to them as part of the scene--you have to save the voices individually and then make sure that the scene uses the newly saved versions. It's a bit annoying in a synth this sophisticated. Incidentally, the Fantom also supports plug-outs, although it calls them "Model extensions". Currently, the Jupiter 8, JX8P, Juno 106 and SH101 are supported. Unlike the System 8, all are fully polyphonic (up to the Fantom's limits.) including the SH101. But you can run up to 16 of them (in any combination) in a single scene, split and/or layered (or layer them with any other Fantom voices from any other engine).

Haha am I the only one who likes the System 8??? :-D Seriously there is something about the ACB-Technology that I really like. Its hard to describe but the System 8 has a very pristine, clear sound quality. It is not for everything and certainly not for everyone but I got instantly excited when I heard the pads and bass patches. Looks and price are completely different subject but I'm sure Roland will have to drop the prices drastically for this, in order to be competitive on the market. The only VA that can afford to be more expensive is e.g. the Nord Lead 4 which has 20-Voices and far more capabilities.

Plastic does not mean less solid. There are plastics stronger but lighter than steel.

What a beautiful sounding synth!!

"I chose the Erebus because the colours match" I like the way you think.

Under rated synth. It's a great instrument, as Nick says. I've a Rev 2 and a Virus and the System 8 stands its ground in my studio. It sounds fresh and has it's own identity.

Can't save your edited patches? That's a deal breaker for me. That aside, Sonic State has become the go to channel for reviews. Well done Nick, love your show!

You forgot to mention one thing on the back on the synth: the power cord anchor, the horizontal thingy next to the DC-IN. You loop the power cord through it so the cord doesn't get yanked out and damaged.

Sync of Delay - just hit the on panel tempo sync button - zero sub menu activity there Nick. This gives you the option of using synced or non synced LFO's and Delays with a tempo locked sequence.

15:50 Sounds so much like the Final Fantasy 7 soundtrack, it's amazing. The song from FF7 is 'Mako Reactor'

this had me going over to nick batts bandcamp and damn that klang track give's me chill's

I think this was meant to be a live performance synth, which is why its made of plastic and slighty smaller and lighter than your average synth. Still built super solid though. Also, can you name any other poly synth with such a fast fully featured built in sequencer? That also offers real time recording and editing? The only other one I can think of is the minilogue. and this definetely is worth 3 times that and sounds much better. Plus performance mode, plugouts, this is a dope ass synth. That's where this synth shines, It's one of the greatest live performance synths ever

I always watch your videos when I should be making music....oh well.

Sounds GREAT Nick! Thanks for the in-depth look at the System-8!!!!

Nick, you should get your commission because I think you just sold one of these too me. Excellent demo and I loved your honesty. When your biggest complaint is being a few hundred over priced you know it's good!

Yeessss please make an album!! ur always tossing in these sweet intro's, n we want more[=

Aarrghhh, finally this review showed me how to transpose a sequence with the unit as this info was missing in the printed manual. Nearly drove me crazy as i was all the time trying to find some button combination with help of the 'transpose'-button, thanks Nick! As I got the System-8 as a replacement for my loved but recently broken JP8000 I felt home right away at first sight, including the mess with saving performances/patches. Anyways, other vendors face this kind of issues as well, hello Elektron? Price is ambitous indeed, but the sound quality is out of question and it's really fun and straight forward to shape rich sound scapes with it.

The System 8 sounds mint, easy to use, feels good and evidently can make FF7 sounds

I'm amused by some of the comments. Others are annoying. I assume MOST of the badmouthing is from people who don't even own this instrument and are basing their opinions on what they hear on RU-vid's digitized and compressed audio. It's not a very good way to audition this synth. Hands on in person will give you a MUCH different experience. I own one and use it in performance in my classic rock band covering tons of tunes from the 70's and 80's. In person and through the band mix in the PA system this thing ROCKS. I don't really care if it's in a plastic case. My FA-06 and FA-08 are the same way. It's not cheesy. Easy to use and it sounds FAT in person. I would have liked twice the polyphony and after touch as well as maybe a second LFO. I also have a Ghia SH01 and this is like the Ghia on steroids. Oh..............and 61 keys would be real nice, too! Other than that, I'm WAY happier with this over the Behringer Deepmind 12 which I was going to buy until I played it in person. Since 1972, I've owned and played a LOT of different gear. Analog, Digital, and Virtual. If you play in a band and want to cover the 80's, the System 8 won't disappoint.

Nice to hear you mention The Blue Nile in the review, Nick :) great review too.

i like the green lights. i like the non-imposing menu, i like the sounds..did i mention the green lights?

Another brilliant review Nick, thank you kindly. This is certainly a capable and malleable sounding synth workstation and deserves to sell. Though lack of aftertouch and being slightly overpriced is typical Roland, really.However, the moment Nick had the Erebus playing, I couldn't help but feel "nope, that sounds far superior". Anyone else Have a similar reaction?

Unrelated, but I'd kill to have a SAW2 style album from Nick.

Thank you nick for your honest review. You're the best!

OK, now that you've done the System-8 review, let's get to the most eagerly awaited Sonicstate review: the MatrixBrute !! ;-)

It does sound pretty good. The color and variation knobs on the osc are pretty cool. Unfortunate that there is only one lfo, and the condition parameter didn't do anything for me. The effects sound pretty average, but definitely increase the stereo image. The sequencer seems very capable, especially if they could implement an option to separate it from the keyboard. The patch system seems terrible. I think the high price is because of the vintage plug outs. The Aira range has something strange about the sound though, which is most noticeable on the TR-8. Almost as if they have already been put through a compressor. I definitely think a lower price would make this more appealing, but pretty good if you want a bunch of Roland sounds in one box.

Nick, It does work with the MX-1. Just need to ensure you have the latest MX-1 update. Ver. 1.05 I believe.

Definitely adding to our rig. It's complete.

the erebus as master filter is actually the smart addition, considering the digital filter, this is just what makes it sing smoothly. and i´d still use a waldorf microwave over most of todays analog synths when it comes to certain sounds.

Been procrastinating about this synth since it came out. Kept thinking "wait for Nic's review". Watched the review this morning, bought a System 8 this afternoon. Thanks Nic! :-)

I've rented this unit, and it sounds fantastic. HOWEVER, it does feel like an expensive, plastic toy. It's very expensive, yet it uses cheap materials. The best thing to do is go with Roland Cloud, you can try the plug-in versions.. they sound exactly the same.

While I wouldn't buy this for its price, it was the synth I spent the most time on during a visit to the music shop.

beautiful sounding synth, oh baby

I have been testing every single flagship synth released these last years (up to the Quantum and the Prophet X). And I have to say that the system 8 is probably one of the best sounding, if not THE best sounding of the lot. It looks cheap and ugly... but the sound is breathtaking. Really good.

Love the little jam at the start

Nice shout out to The Blue Nile! My favorite band, along with Prefab Sprout.

14:00 I had no idea there was that much difference in the shape of waveforms on vintage synths!

Great review as always thanks Nick.

Great points on performance mode and I totally agree.

Yea, I got it for $999 on reverb. Love it at that price. It's fairly niche.

The idea of removing the notes from a sequence to leave the automation animating away is a touch of genius! :) To sync delays... did you try the tempo sync button next to the tempo knob ???

I gotta say; i've been searching for the right poly.synth for me, for a while now, and i've been pretty sure about getting both the Prophet 6, the Rev 2 the Prologue etc., at different times - all these analog synthesizers that are all really nice, very cool, and get great reviews. But theres something about the sound of this, that just speaks to me. It might just be a matter of the presets being to my liking, but it seems to have this "simple-but--effective" quality, that i really really dig. The patches aren't overly complicated sounding, yet they sound huge. It would have been REALLY nice to have an extra LFO and Aftertouch! However, despite it's shortcomings, it also seems practical for live use, with multiple "engines", and the split functionality. I never thought that I would go for an all digital synth that looks as horrible as this does. I was really put of by the looks of it, initially - but it just seems to do simplicity much better than a lot of modern analog poly-synths IMO. Also, i've always wanted a Juno-106, and i think this sounds very close and convincing, and without the risks of using it live. Would have been cool to have all the original Juno and Jupiter patches though! In any case, the preset-people knew what they were doing with the new patches. I Think it sounds great!

This the first I've heard its without aftertouch. Really it should be around $699 max and they would still make a very healthy profit.

Such beautiful sounds.

Nicely played Nick!

I like honest reviews. Thanks.

Sounds as pretty as it looks....love Roland stuff

sounding great

17:00 gosh this sounds so good

Beautiful intro piece. Could be one of those interludes on an early Depeche Mode album.

Sounds superb, the bottom end is rich and fat and it doesn't sound digital in anyway ( I have a Novation KS4 ) I'm not sold on the looks or the build, metal would just feel nicer than plastics. The lack of after touch is pretty short sighted. Roland are still missing the analogue movement and could be re-issuing some of the older synths with a modern day twist. ( ie. MIDI) Thanks for a great and informative video Nick.

Great demo work mate !

Nick, Roland should hire you to do some interface design as you hit it on the head on all your videos

phenomenal review

I don't have a problem with digital ACB, but 8-voice, 4-octave with no aftertouch is a problem for the price. And the design doesn't do anything for me. Really wish Roland had gone 'pro boutique' rather than 'aira' in the design. Might look at the rack version, but I'd expect 16-voice for the price. Stick some more DSP chips in there please Roland.

Blue Nile reference at 9:00. Awesome.

Everyone wants aftertouch and no one uses it.

sorry Nick, That confusing patch/performance save issue is "Classic Roland." Have I introduced you to my MKS-50? :D

This synth is what a Vogon would buy. To sit on.

Bit expensive at the current price, but I think they'll be sub €1k within a year or so. I think this format works better as a System 8 than it did with the System 1 (which I never really got on with). I was considering a second JU06, but this would be a better solution for that I think.

Nick, the very last bit of this video is very twin peaks-ish. hahha

[sits down with a cuppa] The intro sounds great.

oh no! not the patch in a preformance thingy again! .. the JP-8000 had it and the V-Synth GT had it and i hated it both times. And it might seem like a small thing, but in effect it just ment i never used dual layerd sounds as the hastle of trying to remember what patch goes into what preformance and if im not overwriting something that is used somewhere else and so on.. But it sounds really nice... but seems very expensive. It seems like a modern day JP-8000.. but the price is just a lot higher.

They aught to have at least included after touch as a modulation source for people that had other midi keyboards or want to control it with things like push.

Three Erebus (which I like) are the same price as one System-8. I think the S8 is pretty good value for it's price, if you take 4 engines and a sophisticated sequencer into account. I think they should have added aftertouch and four more voices, but it seems one card can produce 4 voices per engine, so maybe they would have had to add 8 more voices without changeing the architecture. It would then have reached the 1800,- mark and nobody would buy it then. I will definitely buy a used one on Ebay.

Ok so I have to buy this machine now, great!

The long, unskippable ads that interrupt videos have gotten a bit out of hand. It's gotten to the point where it adversely affects the quality of the experience of excellent videos like this, which is a real shame. Nick: it might be worth complaining to RU-vid about how the ads are implemented. I'm sure that professional content creators can work with RU-vid to improve the delivery of ads in long videos.

I won't criticize its sound as it sounds great, really. But those green lights would surely mess up one's synesthesia :) A NOTE TO ROLAND'S DESIGNER: Green light rings are not cool. So are not red. In fact, I doubt any color other than simply white would be pleasant to look at for a longer period of time. Be easy on our eyes ;) Thank you. I am sure, though, that the CPU is capable of running more than one LFO ;)

I know it's fairly old now but I would have loved to have seen a review on the Roland sh-201 or didn't you take it seriously enough? There are quite a few user reviews already which are pretty good actually but I would like it given the Nick treatment

Thanks Nick for saving my wallet. You killed my GAS which in this case is a good thing :)

Great demo as always! Sounds really ok for being digital :) However, the mystery of modern japanese synth design continues ...

beautiful intro!

It's a shame about the price and the oversights, because this is a really good idea. It sounds decent, and does provide loads of Kakehashi-Roland nostalgia, but I feel they had to nail to whole package to ask for that amount of money. If this backfires, it could be seen to be another moment where Roland have failed to capitalise on the analog market, which is probably a bit harsh. If there is a positive to be taken, I hope other VST makers see this as a market and start releasing their own boxes (at a more realistic price). I would probably make an exception and pay this kind of money for a U-HE plug-out box with an intuitive interface, but that's about it.

Bah, that price. It's great sounding but it really does look and feel a lot cheaper than £1300. £899, £999 tops would be fair I think. Ok, you get a few plugouts as part of the deal. But roughly double the price of the System-1, not treble, would make more sense. There's too much competition at that price and too many people who are convinced (for whatever reason) that analogue is superior.