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Average rating:
4.1 out of 5
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Not a bad little tool, it has its weaknesses and it has its strong points. Lets start with the weak.... Well its a bit of a let down on the receive bank commands, as it goes all daft on me and mutes itself, then theres the doubled up menus, which are not as bad as you think but can be a pain.. The filters are a bit weak, so dont expect any self occillation on them, but they dull the sound nicely if you need.
Well on the the good points now... The sounds in this thing are very varied, the pads are very nice, the basses i found are best layered with my Roland XP30 bass patches, which result in some really cool fat sounds! The synth sounds are quite good and so are the drum sounds. There are plenty of bleeps and zaps too but dont expect to find any pianos, cos there aint none!
Overall i think the sounds are good, but there again it is a Roland so they will be. The arpeggio is a cool tool too, with many variations and doubles up as a sequencer, which is well cool when you get your head round it.
In conclusion to the SH32, i think roland have made a certain comprimise on the user interface, but the sound and tonal quality will soon put that small glitche to one side.
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i think the pads this thing can make are awesome, but the leads and basses just don't do it for me. add this to the fact that no matter what i do i can't make it accept bank/program change messages and it starts to become much less useful. price tag is quite nice but overall it's a bit of a let down.
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I bought my sh-32 half a year ago, new and with the latest OS.The stepped filter problem people are referring to seems to be absent from mine. Am I going deaf? Don't know but I love this machine. I bought it for 259 euro but I got an extra year warranty for that. It sounds fat and it has that distinctive Roland transparancy in its sounds. I use a headphone when programming it and noticed that it has little to no noise at all in the sounds. Very clear indeed! The versatility lies in how all the parts of this machine can interact with each other and the sounds that derive from that.It is very well thought out but it takes time to find that out. I also have a Roland D-2 and can't wait to hook them up together and control the SH-32 with the D-field controller. Even though it is nearly three years on the market, for the current price it is a bargain and a must have. It delivers all the bread and butter sounds and much more. The ringmodulator in the fx-section combined with the noise section in the oscillator section can create very spooky sounds. Made some doctor Who and Tardis sounds, great stuff! Great vocal sounds too! Great guitar sounds too, especially with the arpeggiator. Together with a new D-2 I spent 458 euro for the two. Makes me wonder why an acces virus is so expensive. Just need an yamaha DX-200 and I'm happy.
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after much consideration, i feel that many here just never understood the sh32. it is(was) marketed towards djs. this was a huge mistake by roland, and the result is the dumping of them on the current market dirt cheap. for any synth under $200 (i just got one at zzounds for $169, my second) it has no peers. the only price comparable synth is the darkstar, and the sh32 can run circles around redsounds little moogish box. this is a synth designed by synth players for synth players. and by synth, i don't mean workstation d50, m1, dx7, fantom or any of that crap. i mean a real synth, like a minimoog or an arp odyssey. you have to have grown up on actual analog synths to fully appreciate both the design and the value of this beast. the closest comparison i can make in both layout and sound is the arp odyssey. it has that trebly and brittle character of an arp, but the features make this an extremely valuable tool. i play 12-15 synths at once, and this beast has actually taken over my rig, much to the dismay of my waldorf and doepfer stuff. some caveats: 1) a manual is an absolute must. it has features buried so deep no one would ever guess. i've been playing for 20 years and i never suspected it did some things until i finally procured a manual (hence my 2nd unit purchase) 2)for roland to assume a non key playing dj could ever figure this thing out is the biggest mistake. but a mistake by roland is a boon to all of us. this synth is deep and complicated, but simultaneously very hands on. sound creation and warping is a cinch. oh, and despite what you have read (including rolands own site) it DOES have a sequencer. but think sh 101 sequencer, not an M1 style sequencer. overall, this is the coolest synth of the last five years. you'd be foolish to pass one up if you have the chance. remember when sh101's were around 90 bucks, then 600 bucks ten years later? i predict similar demand for the best invention from roland since the plasticy sh101 rolled off the production line.
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Yeah, I'll throw my (2) cents in:
If you have an extra 200 bucks, and are a keyboard player, the SH-32 is a no-brainer.
Yes: It has limitations. It can be a little slow under stress. It sounds different then either a VA or the real deal. Kind of has a: "Sound Blaster" quality to its deliverance.
Having said that: It also, at 200 bucks, is an undisputable bargain. 200 bucks, people. Are you paying any attention? 200 bucks....
I'm running it in a keyboard subsystem with a Triton, and a Technics SX-WSA1R; it definitely adds something extra and special to the mix. Yes, I program my own patches. Of course! Duhhhhhh!!!!
I'm going to give it it's own FX box, and REALLY beef up the sound. Sometimes, that's all it takes, as in this case.
Do I know what I'm talking about? Been playing synth since the days when Guitar Center sold the Arp Axxe and the Yamaha CS-80 as current state-of-the-art equipment. I've had hands-on moments with virtually everything made of popular vintage, from mid-1970 until about 5 years ago. We've come a long ways, baby....
Current "Negative" Owners, Please: Stop bitching. Stop whining. Just sell it, or learn how to REALLY use it. But it'll take a real commitment if you decide to keep it; deep-programming synths to an intrinsic knowledge state (yes, even with the lowly SH-32) can be hard.
Actual Keyboard Players who also program: Spend the 200 bucks; if you don't like it, you'll probably get most of your money back when you sell it on ebay, where others (maybe me....I just might buy another one) will buy it, and appreciate the hell out of it.
BTW: This unit has a one-off type of synth engine, which means that it is capable of producing sounds that NO OTHER MACHINE CAN PRODUCE, if you are willing to dig. Dig?
Bottom Line: Future collectors' item. End of story.
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