Roland SH-09
By the end of the 70s, Roland had established themselves as purveyors of well-built, dependable instruments and effects. Their Jupiter-4 synth had caused something of a stir, as had their CR-78 CompuRhythm drum machine. Lesser-known instruments like the SH-5 and SH-7 offered big sounds and loads of hands-on control, but failed to make much of a splash, possibly due to prices that put them in direct competition with established alternatives of the day.
As the decade drew to a close, Roland had scaled down their SH series offering a smattering of more affordable monosynths such as the SH-1, SH-3 and the SH-09. These nifty noisemakers may have been more limited than their costlier companions, but their lower prices put them in easier reach of the era’s emerging breed of post-punk players. More importantly, those very limitations ensured an immediacy that was in keeping with the ‘just get on with it’ attitude that permeated the New Wave.
The SH-09 in particular was quite popular on its home turf in Japan, and it’s easy to see why. Its bargain-basement price was reason enough. It also happened to be packed with enough functionality to create a wide variety of useful sounds – but not so many that it boggled the brain. More than that, the patches that could be created with an SH-09 sounded very good indeed. This was an encouraging and inspiring instrument for the newcomer, and an excellent tool with which to learn the rudiments of subtractive synthesis.
A horizontally-positioned pitch/mod-wheel is situated to the left of 32 chunkyn on-velocitysensitive keys. There’ s a slider for adding glide/ portamento. The main panel provides a single LFO with sine, square, and random waveforms, plus a rate control. The instrument’s single oscillator brings noise, ramp, square and pulse waveforms. Pulse width may be adjusted manually, or modulated by the LFO or the sole envelope generator. A sub-oscillator adds heft.
A self-oscillating resonant, low-pass filter does subtractive duties. Cutoff may be modulated by the LFO or the envelope generator (normal or inverted). The filter is typical Roland of the era – squelchy, sharp, and lovely to the ears.
The lone envelope generator is a standard four-stage job. The fact that it must be shared by both amplifier and filter is the synth’s main limitation, though the VCA can be switched to a ‘Gate’ mode (an organ-like on/sustain/off shape) to distinguish between VCF and VFA shaping. The VCA may also be set to a constant drone.
Savvy readers may have noticed the striking similarity between the SH-09’s panels and that of the SH-101, released three years later. The two can sound similar, though the older machine is a bit ‘woolier’ than its brightly-coloured follow-up. It also lacks the SH-101’s all-important sequencer. However, with CV and Gate inputs around back, it’s easy to connect one to the ‘09.
Only now getting some recognition, an SH-09 can still be had for a bargain price. A wellconstructed and very stable machine, it’s well worth a look, and is a less risky purchase than many more famous vintage synths.