Roland’s synth lineup appears a bit odd at instances. It doesn’t actually provide a lot within the midrange. Its solely two pure synthesizers within the $500 to $800 house are the 13-year-old Gaia SH-01 and the eight-year-old (and objectively hideous) JD-Xi. The corporate has principally been targeted on its miniaturized classics within the Boutique vary and constructing out its groovebox lineup for the previous few years.
The corporate’s SH-4d doesn’t completely fill this hole within the lineup, however it’s an enormous step in the fitting route. It’s a synth-focused desktop groovebox with numerous hands-on controls, a wealthy sound engine, and a greater than cheap worth of $650. The query is: In an more and more crowded subject of experimental digital synths and well-established analogs, has Roland finished sufficient with the 4d to carve out a distinct segment for itself?
Picture by Terrence O’Brien / Engadget
The guts of the SH-4d is constructed round Roland’s Zen-Core engine, however it’s not really Zen-Core appropriate. As an alternative, the corporate took the constructing blocks and organized them into simplified oscillators. That is nice information as a result of, at the very least in {hardware} kind, Zen-Core has primarily proven up both as overly sophisticated and menu-divey, or as a glorified preset browser. Right here there are 11 completely different oscillators that vary from emulations of traditional Roland machines just like the Juno-106 and SH-101, to metallic FM tones, PCM samples and 31 completely different wavetables. And there are sufficient hands-on controls you can really do some critical sound design with out having to dig seven layers deep in an incomprehensible menu system. That is the closest Roland has come to knob-per-function in a very long time, and the corporate deserves credit score for that.
Fortunately, Roland additionally blessed the SH-4d with the bigger, higher-res display screen we’ve seen on machines just like the Jupiter-XM and MC-707, somewhat than the painful two-line shows on the TR collection and the VerseLab, so navigating the menu is much less aggravating. Usually, the menu system additionally feels extra streamlined than on quite a lot of different Roland gadgets. I’d cease simply wanting saying it’s intuitive, however it additionally didn’t ship me right into a rage spiral.
There’s solely a handful of issues that felt like they required an pointless quantity of menu diving: the results, the matrix and the mixer, most notably. There’s clearly a restrict to what number of buttons and knobs Roland might match on the face of the already fairly crowded SH-4d, however I’ve seen mod matrix patching dealt with extra elegantly by each Arturia and ASM. The 4 faders can be utilized in a mixer mode, which is nice however you need to swap to sample mode, then hit the sound button to entry it, when it ought to actually be a single button press away. And the results part solely exposes two parameters immediately, every part else requires going right into a menu.

Picture by Terrence O’Brien / Engadget
The consequences typically are fairly nice, at the very least. The delay and the refrain are glorious. The reverbs are a bit lackluster, however there’s a complete suite of different results (95 in complete) starting from a fully unimaginable bit crusher, to lo-fi vinyl warbles, to the DJ looper from the SP-404. And the fattener is so good I sort of want it had its personal devoted slot just like the reverb, delay and refrain do.
Transient apart: Why is there so a lot noise within the Juno refrain emulation, Roland? It’s mainly unusable till you go into the menu and switch it down (or off), at which level it’s glorious. What’s really wild is that it’s set to 30 by default and goes all the way in which as much as 127! At full tilt it’s only a white noise machine. Nice for the synth nerd who has bother sleeping, I suppose.
That one gripe apart, the SH-4d sounds unimaginable. Actually. I’m not all the time the largest fan of the Roland sound. I feel its fashionable synths tend to be a tad chilly and scientific. However the 4d principally avoids this (until that’s the acknowledged purpose, equivalent to within the Wavetable or PCM oscillator). The presets do a wonderful job of exhibiting off the distinctive traits of every mannequin and even take a few of them in locations you may not instantly consider. Certain, the SH-101 is nice at bass and leads, everyone knows that. However do you know it will possibly additionally shine whereas enjoying mellow pads? Nicely, because of fashionable expertise blessing us with a polyphonic emulation of 1 it will possibly.

Picture by Terrence O’Brien / Engadget
Roland consists of good touches right here, like graphically representing the structure of the Juno-106 and SH-101, or exhibiting a hoop modulator diagram on the display screen. Usually, the oscillators themselves really feel rigorously polished. The 2 knobs immediately under the display screen, the 4 faders and the 4 buttons under these have quick and apparent makes use of often which might be mirrored ultimately on the show.
The center two buttons below the faders are the way you activate and off the noticed and sq. wave within the Juno mannequin, as an example. And within the Cross-FM engine you may draw an envelope utilizing the faders. Oh, and talking of drawing, there’s a drawing oscillator. Right here you may create a very customized waveform by utilizing the 4 faders, by recording as you progress a knob in actual time, or step-by-step with unimaginable granularity. It’s a great deal of enjoyable and a fast strategy to get one thing that’s utterly your personal. One other twist of the knob and you may sq. off the sides to get one thing that sounds prefer it’s straight from an Atari 2600. Then feed that by means of a bit crusher and *chef’s kiss*.
From right here the sign goes by means of a easy excessive move filter and a resonant multimode filter. The multimode filter is respectable sufficient. It doesn’t self-oscillate, however it’s nonetheless pleasantly aggressive. I do want the filter drive a bit stronger, although. It provides a bit further oomph, however doesn’t attain the giddy damaging highs of what Roland has within the SP-404.

Picture by Terrence O’Brien / Engadget
All of this leads us to the sequencer, which is what makes the SH-4d extra of a groovebox than a real synthesizer. There are 4 polyphonic synth tracks and one rhythm monitor that you should use to create loops as much as 64 steps lengthy. The sequencer in all fairness characteristic packed and principally simple to make use of. Every half can have its personal size, playback mode (ahead, reverse, ahead and reverse, inverted or random), shuffle fee and extra. There’s additionally chance and substep choices, although you do should perform a little menu diving to get there. And, whereas the keyboard on the SH-4d will not be velocity delicate, you may join an exterior controller or dial in velocity manually on a per step foundation. The one main limitation is the dearth of sample chaining or a music mode.
There’s a handful of performance-friendly options as effectively, like a grasp impact channel for buildups and breakdowns. Plus, you may mute elements and even particular person drum sounds on the devoted rhythm monitor. One factor lacking is the Step Loop perform discovered on even its cheaper devices, just like the current Aira Compact S-1.
I’ve acquired to say the rhythm part is nice, too. I used to be initially sort of skeptical of it. I actually wished Roland to simply give attention to making an approachable and inexpensive synthesizer, somewhat than proceed its “every part and the kitchen sink” method. However, it actually is superb and never an afterthought in any respect. There are 26 devices in every equipment, which may mix two completely different waveforms, with their very own pitch envelopes and EQ settings. Roland most likely might have gotten away with simply tossing some 808 and 909 samples in right here and calling it a day. However the rhythm part has its personal wealthy and highly effective sound design instruments.

Picture by Terrence O’Brien / Engadget
Sadly, Roland didn’t cease at a 5 monitor sequencer with a surprisingly wealthy drum machine. There are a couple of options right here which might be a little bit of a head scratcher. The largest one being D-Movement the place you may assign parameters to an X and Y axis, then tilt the instrument to vary them. It’s gimmicky and fairly unnatural on one thing that’s over 14 inches vast and weighs simply shy of 4 kilos.
The visible arpeggiator is in an analogous boat. It has a handful of modes that can help you management playback by bouncing notes, enjoying pong or drawing in a sequence Etch-a-Sketch model. I wished to love them. However the actuality was they weren’t significantly helpful, not even for thought era, and I grew tired of them after a couple of minutes. I’d have somewhat Roland used that D-Movement button on the entrance for one thing extra instantly helpful like fast entry to a mixer mode, or Step Loop for creating fast fills.

Picture by Terrence O’Brien / Engadget
On the entire, although, I feel Roland has a winner on its arms. I’d like to see a model sooner or later with a correct keyboard – maybe one with aftertouch. And I nonetheless have my struggles with the Roland workflow. However that is my favourite instrument from the corporate exterior of the SP-404MKII, which is a wholly completely different beast.
The SH-4d has loads of hands-on controls, a wealthy palette of synth engines and it sounds nice. Add to {that a} strong construct, the flexibility to be powered by a handful of AAs, and a a lot cleaner interface than many different Roland devices. The highest notch drum machine and multi-track polyphonic sequencer are simply icing on the cake. That is simply my favourite Roland synth in a very long time. And the truth that it solely prices $650 solely makes it that rather more interesting.
All merchandise really useful by Engadget are chosen by our editorial staff, unbiased of our father or mother firm. A few of our tales embrace affiliate hyperlinks. For those who purchase one thing by means of one among these hyperlinks, we could earn an affiliate fee. All costs are appropriate on the time of publishing.