Programming the Roland SH-01A
After programming 64 new sounds for my Roland SH-01A sound expander, Energetic Heat, I had so much fun that I felt compelled to write a review of this 10th entry in Roland’s Boutique range. Let’s find out why.
Back in the day
Roland released the SH-101 in 1982 and continued production until 1986. Initially, it wasn’t a major success, but – like other Roland instruments such as the TR-808 and TR-909 – it gained significant popularity in the late 1980s and 1990s with the rise of electronic music genres like house, IDM and techno.
The original was based on a Curtis CEM3340 oscillator, which ran through a four-stage OTA 24 dB filter chip designed for Roland by International Rectifier: the IR3109. This filter is considered a true classic and was also featured in instruments like the MC-202, Juno-6 and Juno-60, JX-3P, Jupiter-4 (from serial number 800801 onward), Jupiter-6, and Jupiter-8. Many people still love the sound and most of these instruments are still in use today – despite being around 40 to 45 years old. It’s almost unbelievable when you think about it.
If you think this is utter nonsense, let me clarify: these machines are cloned in both hardware and software so many times for a reason – not because they’re lacking, but because they’re that good and not everyone can afford a OG Jupiter-8 these days.
Now fastforwarding to 2025, in 2017 Roland decided to again create and introduce a third iteration of their boutiques, the first range – JX-03, JU-06, JP-08 – were introduced in 2015. The second being the A-01, TB-03, TR-08 and VP-03 in 2016. One of them was the SE-02, which I reviewed here. The others were the D-05, TR-09, and this new SH-01A.
Some years passed by but eventually I decided to purchase one early this year, since the 2nd hand prices for the originals are a bit too much for me. Also the maintenance costs are a thing to think of. Don’t get me wrong here, I would love to score an original one day, but for now I decided that a more compact SH-101 would be great.
Honey, they shrunk the mono!
Yes, this SH-01A synthesizer is really small compared to its ancestor, measuring just 300 mm wide, 128 mm deep, and 46 mm high, it is about half the size of the original SH-101. Despite the use of metal on the front panel, it weighs less than a kilogram – 965 grams including batteries.
You can play the SH-01A into an optional K-25m keyboard assembly, or connect it to other gear via the MIDI I/O on DIN and USB ports. Phones and audio output are available at the back via 3.5mm stereo mini-jack (or the built-in mini speaker) and can be controlled with a small volume knob.
It also features a mix input on a 3.5mm stereo mini-jack, a kensington lock and CV/Gate connections on the front panel. It has an on/off switch and is powered by USB or four AA batteries. Fully charged batteries provide approximately six hours of operation. The USB port also carries audio and MIDI data and can be used to back up your 64 patches and 64 sequences.
Some of the new features include the modulation strips – which replace the original pitch bender (more on that later) and the keytar modulation grip – as well as a four-digit display, a menu button and two additional LFO waveforms that stand out immediately. But beyond these, there’s still much more to say about this modern incarnation of the SH-101.
Assign modes
To start off, the SH-01A not only offers the classic monophonic mode of the SH-101 – it also includes three additional voice modes: Unison (2), Polyphonic (3), and Chord (4). It supports velocity sensitivity for the amplitude if desired. Unison mode stacks all four voices for a thicker sound, though unfortunately, there’s no control over detuning, panning, or phase between the stacked voices.
Despite the limitations, it delivers a punchy, full-bodied sound by one press of a note. Poly mode provides true four-voice polyphony, while Chord mode adds intervals from -12 to +12 semitones relative to the root note, configured via buttons 6, 7, and 8.
LFO: FM Mayhem
On the right of the modulation control strips you’ll find the LFO with a rate slider and a knob to choose between 6 waveforms:
- Sawtooth – new
- Reverse Sawtooth – new
- Triangle
- Square
- Random
- Noise
These new waveforms are really welcome since you can create different filter and pitch modulation signals for example. Think of adding more snap to the envelope for example.
In the advanced section, accessible via menu 4.1, you can select normal and advanced modes. The latter takes you into FM territory. This feature alone, in my opinion, makes the SH-01A worth considering. It’s fantastic for FM-like percussion, or for creating very satisfying polyphonic sounds.
VCO: One flexible oscillator
The oscillator section is simple, but oh so effective. First of all you can select the octave, which now has 6 octaves to choose from – 2 lower, extra ones, than the original. And ranges from a sub sonic 64’ till 2’. Apart from that you can adjust the modulation depth – controlled by the LFO and control the pulsewidth of square wave in three ways; via the LFO, the envelope or manual. The Juno-6 and 60 also had this very useful way of tweaking the sound.
Next to the VCO-section we find the mixer where you can prepare your mixed drink.
Source Mixer: Stir everything together
You have three waveforms available that you can mix with white noise. You can choose (menu 4.2) between the modeled original, less bright, and a more modern, white noise shape. With 4 faders you can balance your sound and for the sub octave you have three options: 1 octave and 2 octave pulse and a 2 octave pulse wave.
Personally, I think this design is brilliant. Of course, it isn’t a dual VCO, but it still offers an impressive range of sound design possibilities – the creative potential is remarkable. Also for live it is great to have dedicated controls to create a certain texture.
VCF: Juice
Next, you have the ACB model filter, which sounds very good to my ears. Of course, there’s some stepping – especially at high resonances – but only when you use the cutoff filter manually. This isn’t the case when you modulate it via the ADSR or LFO. And because the filter tracks so well – it’s a digital reconstruction, after all – you don’t have to worry about it going out of tune over time due to heat, for example.
You can shape the filter using cutoff, resonance, the envelope (ENV), the LFO (MOD), and you can track it from 0 to 100% via the keyboard (KYBD). I have to admit, the faders aren’t as precise as the original, and that goes for all the other faders on the device as well, but I don’t think that will be a real problem for most people.
What I found particulary satisfying – and which I also used in some of my sounds for the TAL-bassline expander – is that you can modulate the self oscillating filter – which is basically a sine wave – with audio-rate speeds of the LFO – when in advanced mode. Which results in Filter FM – sigh, that’s so rewarding! In the higher ranges from around C6 and higher you can hear a bit of aliasing though.
It’s a bit inconvenient that filter modulation via velocity isn’t supported, though you can work around it with MIDI CC.
VCA: Pump it up
Via the VCA section you can control how the sound is shaped. There is also a trick you can use to have an even sound in terms of volume but still can an effect on the shape of the filter. For this you flip the ENV/GATE switch to GATE.
ENV/GATE Switch
- ENV – The note is sounded according to the envelope specified by the ADSR settings.
- GATE – The note sounds at a fixed volume only while the key is held down, the filter will be shaped though.
ENV: Shape it
Here you can shape your VCA and filter, or just the filter via Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release.
GATE/TRIG Switch
- GATE+TRIG – The envelope triggers every time a key is pressed,
- GATE – The envelope triggers only when a key is pressed from a state of no keys held, and not during legato playing.
- LFO – When a key is held, the envelope retriggers on every LFO cycle.
In control in effect!
As mentioned at the beginning of this review, the SH-01A features two touch-type ribbon controllers. The left one (Control 1) is a pitch bend and the right one is modulation (Control 2). You can select either one octave or two octaves as the octave range of the arpeggiator. While you hold down the [DOWN] [U&D] [UP] buttons, the LED indication of C1 changes.
- Control 1 – Sets VCO and VCF LFO modulation amount.
- Control 2 – Controls the amount of LFO modulation being applied.
- VCO Fader – Adjusts VCO modulation amount via Ribbon Control 1.
- VCF Fader – Controls VCF frequency amount via Ribbon Control 1.
- MOD Fader – Adjusts LFO (sine!) modulation amount via Ribbon Control 2.
Control 1 can also be scaled, a feature Roland refers to as the Ribbon Controller Note Scale. It determines the note scale type for the ribbon controller – defaulting to Chromatic, but offering options like Dorian, Persian and many more.
Control 2 has two modes: one where it returns to zero when released (classic mode), and another where it holds its position after adjustment (modulation hold). Pretty neat!
Sequencer/Arpeggiator
The SH-101 was not only popular because of its sound. It also includes a straightforward but effective monophonic sequencer and a basic arpeggiator. As with the original, the sequencer is programmed by pressing the Load button and entering a series of notes. The Legato and Rest buttons allow for rhythm variation and the creation of longer or more widely spaced notes.
Playback is initiated by pressing the Play button, causing the sequence to repeat continuously. Using Key Transpose and pressing any key (except middle C) adjusts the sequence’s pitch in real time. The engineers at Roland also added the ability to play four notes per step, which is like some aforementioned improvements, a huge added bonus if you ask me.
The SH-01A also includes a simple arpeggiator with three modes: Down, Up & Down and Up, along with a Hold button – useful for sustaining arps or drones when not using the arpeggiator. It can operate across a range of one or two octaves.
In use
The SH-01A works very well for most things. From snappy to warm and dirty-sounding basses, old-school chords to sub-basses, dirty leads to weird effects, drums, and even convincing poly sounds – they’re all so easy to set up. Also, the additions are super usable and great-sounding, if you ask me.
Super powerful as well I believe. Since I tried several audiorate LFO’s from Bitwig Studio to modulate CC-parameters like overal tune (76), filter cutoff (74), resonance (71) osc levels (19, 20, 21), LFO wave (12) and so on and it didn’t give one hint of being overasked.
Saving a preset is done by pressing and holding the slot number until it blinks – easy as that. The sequencer is also very easy once you give it some time, and I love that you can use glide for poly sounds as well.
For programming, I found the faders sometimes have some dead zones on my unit, especially at first mm’s. So it can be difficult to dial in fine control. Something similar also applies to the bender and the mod section, it is really tiny. For example, I found it a bit cumbersome to set up vibrato. It’s easy to end up with way too much vibrato for example.
Another downside is that power over USB via PC can result in a higher noise floor – or extra noise, so to speak. The inclusion of a USB ground isolator would have been nice. On my RME UFX+, I’ve measured a difference in noise floor of about 25 to 30 dB in favor of being powered by batteries.
So that’s what I’ve used for my demos, since I couldn’t fix it otherwise. That being said, the original unit probably had more noise, so this is nitpicking on my part. Another workaround is to power it via a USB power bank.
But the positives far outweigh the negatives. Since it’s so simple and easy to patch on this thing, once you’re going, you get lots of drive to compose tracks. Make a sound, save it, record a sequence (on the SH-01A or within your sequencer of choice), and record it. Then repeat. It is – for sure – a very joyful experience.
Conclusion
While the SH-01A may not satisfy analog purists, it convincingly captures the essence of the original SH-101: Compact, affordable, good sounding and fun! Roland has integrated a range of modern improvements that make the device more versatile. Features like patch memory, chord mode and 4 voice polyphony bring greater flexibility, while MIDI and USB integration – including audio and MIDI over USB – make it well-suited for modern setups.
Speaking of audio, the SH-01A can also serve as an audio interface. While the internal speaker isn’t exactly high quality and sounds pretty awful, you could still use it as a “grot-box” as a mix reference. You can also record the audio input labelled ‘MIX IN’ into your DAW via the ASIO driver.
The inclusion of an audio-rate LFO allows for FM-style modulation, expanding its sonic palette beyond the original’s capabilities. While the manual offers limited guidance on some functions and certain controls – such as detuning in unison mode – are fixed, these are minor limitations in an otherwise well-executed design. The SH-01A delivers the spirit of the SH-101 with added goodies and creative potential, offering excellent value compared to vintage hardware. Well done Roland!
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Can convert MIDI to CV
- Assign Modes (Mono/Unison/Poly/Chord)
- Audio-rate LFO
- Compact size
- Patch/Sequence saving and recall
- Full MIDI control, including velocity (variable, fixed at 64 or 127)
- Good build quality
- Visually appealing with classic Roland branding
Cons:
- Touch strips can be a bit cumbersome for real-time performance
- Sliders and knobs may be too small for some users
- Fader resolution is relatively low by modern standards
- No FX are available
Sound Examples
More Information
For more information about the SH-01A, please visit the product page on the Roland website:
https://www.roland.com/global/products/sh-01a/
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