The Rare Roland SH-7 (1978) 

Nice video! To share some info related to the autobend sync thing, the SH-7's oscillators are split into two parts: the octave processor and the waveform processor. They both use the same design, but the output of the former is fed into a T-flip-flop network that divides the generated pulse (also fed through a T-latch of its own) down to the required octave divisions, which is beneficial since the octave tracking done this way results in better temperature stability. The sync pulse from oscillator one comes from the raw output of the octave pulse generator, before the flip flops, and is fed into oscillator 2's octave pulse circuitry. Now because its fed into only that half of the circuit, and not the whole thing, my guess is you're hearing the the T-flip-flop stage clamp the frequency at those points, since the flip-flop is edge triggered, and will have more or less the same frequency until it receives the next trig pulse. This is also likely why the effect is more pronounced at higher ranges. Hope this helps!

Holy SH-7 !

This is THE most synthesizer sounding synthesizer I have ever heard. How was I not aware of this thing? ⚡️⚡️⚡️

I sincerely hope people in the far future appreciate the way Alex is documenting all of these incredible machines, even if none of them exist anymore

I love how Alex just casually jumps into various old school synth jams.

I keep forgetting you have a complete System 100. I only have the 101 & 102. Jealous!! 🤣 SH-7 is the only SH I haven’t played, or frankly, heard a decent demo of. Until today. Thank you, as always for showing off the musical capabilities of your gear.

100% agree with you about this synth. It looks like SO much fun! What a shame it came out at a bad time. I'd love to have one. By the way great music too. What I like about your music is that it knows exactly what it wants to be and is unapologetic. That final track made me smile so much, remembering the glory days of synthesizers. I love this channel. 🙂

That Demo 2 - Remix machine was very lit! Sweet stuff! :D

This machine and it's other members of this Roland family are the most perfect looking and sounding synth's ever made. The way they look has not lost any single amount of attraction and they will be the best looking synth's till the end of time. I do not understand why Roland is not using this unbelievable pool of possibilities for their new products? There are companies who would spend millions to be able to have something like this in their line.

Now that's what I call an intro, honestly your one of the best synthesizer bassed music production around.

Gotta love that Rare roland gear! Always premium videos come from big dawg Alex ball! I need one of these.

You forgot to mention how bloody beautiful it looks as well! Truly a great mono synth. Loved the intro tune. Sweet, happy, synth vibes. :)

Not only informative but some great tunes as well. Alex is one of the few RU-vidrs that can actually produce great music.

That first jam was awesome, the sample and hold bleeps morphing into a synthwave tune. If Alex Ball only did tunes he'd be a legend, the fact he talks about the synths and does humour and is so British that once he cut himself and bled tea is just the icing on the cake.

Happened to have my headphones beside me so got the intro jam full blast. Awesome mate. What a cool synth! Love the sound. Congratulations swooping badger on your wonderful purchase!

Not only do I now want an SH-7, more importantly (and attainably) I want to play synthesizers in general. I find your videos pretty inspiring generally Alex, but this one especially so. Thank you so much for bringing joy and enthusiasm to the internet in a way which I'm sure I'm not the only one to find so uplifting.

Instant like button smash. I had the System 100m in the 80s but never knew this one existed. No internet back then lol

Your videos are world class!

I know that this is not what I should be mentioning first, but I just adore the design of the SH-7. That whoe green and black scheme, nice big knobs and sliders and such. But the great thing about a Ball video is that we also get intimate with the musical side of stuff through the delicate manipulations and wonderful musicality of mr. Ball himself. So thanks again for the sound demos, they sound great. I guess synths will not be produced with the same design style as this synth, but at least we can hope that our analog lord and saviour, Ulli, will consider cloning this synth...

I had an SH5 many years ago. It was an incredible synth but I sold it to fund a Juno 60 in 1982, which I was somewhat disappointed with. Oh well. Happy times with the SH5 though.

Never ceased to be awed and utterly engaged by the music you make!

Those warm synth stabs at 7:03. 🔥

You can tell by these jams how this synth inspires you - I mean your demos are always great but these ones melted my face 🔥 clean off, no face only bones. I'm glad its yours forever.

Never knew the SH7 even existed, great skills, musicality and knowledge sharing as always Alex 😎👌

The most synthesizer sounding synthesizer on the vintage synthesizer market ever since the creation of synthesizers

The opening musical bit made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Wow! The world needs a full version (about 7 to 10 minutes will be ideal). Please!

I just LOVE these lesser known Roland beasts! ❤

This sounds super phat, brilliant piece of kit. Thx

Great sounding synth! Reminds me of an even dirtier sounding SH-101 which is one of my all time favorite synths.

Superb. Thanks for the show and tell.

This synth is one of the best sounding ever made. Your jams on it make me realize how much impact it had on modern music.

'... both use a 24 db or 4 pole resonant low-pass filter that uses ca3080 otas with with fat transistors as buffers. i don't know what i just said but for a second there you thought that he knows what he's talking about. i don't, i can just read'. :-))). brilliant, the funniest thing someone said on the internet for a really long time. great content, thanks a lot.

Nasty green bugger. It looks like a tank's dashboard 😜

Killer demo as always. "Stop Continu" is brillant !

It does sound amazing, but tbh Alex you make everything sound pretty bloody amazing.

Terrific segment as usual Alex thank you. Those early Rolands yeah. I never knew that the SH-1 and SH-7 shared a similar filter design to the System 700. This explains much about their popularity.

Oh wow, I love the sound of this thing! I'm a chiptune guy first, and the demo tracks you've made here (especially the first two!) sound fantastic and *very* demoscene. The outro track sounds straight out of an Amiga game! So dang cool! Thank you for sharing this obscure piece of kit!

kind of a dream synth for me here

wow i so admire you;-)

Love the way those sounds glitch and bubble in and out of existence. Yum ; )

Alex your videos and demo songlets are consistently awesome!

The final little demo is such a damn joy. Exemplifies what you said about making sporingy boingy music!

Wow, it sounds amazing.

Loved the video! beautiful creature sh7.

I thought you'd already covered every Roland SH synth in the observable universe... But here you are, yet again with another one! And, like all of them, it's another great and unique sounding synth! Roland was on fire back then.

It's a thing of beauty and probably the pinnacle of monophonic synths, but as Alex says, timing was all wrong. Sad really, as it sounds incredible. So happy it founf a home with you, Alex

Hey Behringer! Are you watching this? LOL! Great demo, thanks!

I start my youtube days with Jawoodle and end my youtube week with Alex Ball. Thumbs all the way up!

6:23 Demo 2: Remix Machine So Amazing!

Another fabulous demonstration of a wonderful synth. Great stuff, Alex! Thanks!

Gorgeous.

Nice what a dirty beast that is ..add n to x would approve

Mmm, looks good, sounds good, probably smells good too. Cheers Alex, fab tunes and tones.

in the beginning of the video by INXS "don't change" Andrew Farriss is proudly, sporting a nice SH-7

he delivers again

I love these.

I really hope Behringer follow this channel... What a vibe this thing conjures

love that final track - with a bit of thinning out of a few elements and some fx tweaking here and there it woudl fill a stadium my friend!

living the dream alex..... living the dream. =)

The stop motion slider clip at the start though.... So sick! Lovely sounds coming out of this synth Alex!

Very unique sounding synth. Great video as always 👍

SH-7, Ball, Alex Ball...

Sounds outstanding, thanks Alex!

Demo 2 gave me flash backs to a Pentatonik ( Simeon Bowring) vibe!. Superb ! Excellent video as always!

Whoa , never knew it existed 😮❤

What a great sounding unit! Loved all the jams.

Reminds me of listening to my tape player loading into my computer, i knew it was loading by the melody it played.

Such a nice synth, cool you got yourself one. Cheers for the video.

Thanks as usual Alex :) The SH-7 sounds so good!

That thing is absolutely ridiculous, what a synth

Thank you so much for this video! Great patches too. I love the song at the end especially.

So glad, i bought one last year ! Thanks Alex for keeping this awesome Synth alive !

Another great sounding synth. Got to say well done with your video production. I know its an audio presentation but I have watched many of your vids and they are always shot and edited great. Nice.

WOW! Such a unique sound. Great video.

Great synth! Thanks for sharing. There seem to be people who prefer the SH-5 over the SH-7, which I quite never really understood. To me too, this is a really unique beast…

I'm ready for some Rare Roland Rave Revalation.

Came back for a re-watch because I loved this video so much the first time round... and I realised something. Having a set of square waves at various octaves (if they really all are exact numbers of octaves apart?) means that there are no overtones repeated anywhere (because odd harmonics multiplied by powers of two have to be unique to that particular slider, because... well, maths (waves hands vaguely)). This means there's probably a very nice balance between the sounds. I really wish someone like Cherry Audio or GForce would make a soft version of this!

Wow, I was unaware of this! It looks like a blast, even when you put it next to modern monosynths. Lots of weird features! Great demo jams as always too

dude, you make the sickest demos

Sincere congrats on getting this beauty. Looks in really good nick too! I shudder to think how much it cost. :)

Awesome. As always

Uli, are you watching? One of these please? This is so cool. I remember hanging out in the music store, and playing all the new Roland synths, in the 70s. Man, those were exciting times, thanks for bringing back wonderful memories. Sweet music, and great video production. Best wishes for your continued success 🎶🌎☮

7:20 getting some major Aphex Twin vibes with this demo, especially on that muted bass part at the beginning!

That opening tune!! Congrats on getting an absolute legend! 🤩

What a sound! Fantastic synth and wonderful music!! Thanks Alex.

Your video is so good, thanks!

Discovered the SH-7 after buying my SH-5 some years ago. Liked it then and now even more!! Like the video’s you make, keep up the good work!!

The SH7 was my favorite Roland SH synth when i bought the "A-Z" books in the beginning of the 1990. :D Everyone warned me that the filter sounded cold. Finally in 2014 I bought one... the filter sounds crap. :D But I like her, and she looks so hot :D

nice get Alex. great video.

Just found your channel, and holy shit I haven't subbed so fast to a random in recent memory. You're so good at what you do, and very thorough in your examination and history of these underappreciated devices!

I love it when you get new kit 'cause firstly we get to see it played how it was meant to be, and secondly I know it's in good hands where it will be taken care of and played with, rather than sitting in a museum.

You make the most lovely noises, they please me to no end.

I wouldn’t even know how to classify your music but its always super creative i love it

Indeed rare. You are lucky, and so are we to see you with this in the studio now. I swear you are the only musician to keep the attention and mesmerize a goldfish. Great video and content about a great synth.

great video, really enjoyed it. And not only the gear demonstration: I geniuinely think it's teh first time I watch a video from someone doing gear (or software or whatever) demos that actually has talent as a musician, the music you created with this is amazing!

Congratulations on getting hold of this. It truly sounds amazing! You bring the best out of it!

Great vid as ever 2nd demo is cool

Beauty AND a beast! 💚

G-- D--- It now I want one! What a great sounding synth. I really love the tunes you created with this synth - that Remix one was super! So was the Outro! I felt like I was in a land created by Vince Clarke (which is always a good thing...)

Who used it: I have used it as well 😇🤣 Great review as always!