SH-5
SH-5 tech specs
Roland SH-5
The SH-5 was a monophonic synthesiser released by Roland in 1976.
It has generous provisions: two LFOs, two VCOs, a white and pink noise generator, a multimode VCF (low, high, and bandpass) as well as a manual bandpass filter, and two envelope generators.
One of the LFOs is sawtooth only, capable of generating either rising or falling sawtooth waveforms; the other produces triangle, sine, and pulse waves. Sine in particular allows a delay first, useful for vibrato.
The CV routing's flexible: the VCOs, VCF, and VCA can each choose which waveform shape (and, by extension, which LFO) to use for modulation.
The audio routing's flexible too: after changing the volume of each component of the sound (VCO 1, VCO 2, noise, ring mod, and external audio in), you can independently route each of them to the multimode VCF, the separate resonant bandpass filter, both, or neither, bypassing them entirely to go straight to the VCA. In other words, the two filters run in parallel, not serial.
Combine that with the oscillator sync, ring mod, and sample & hold, and this is probably as versatile as any hardwired synthesiser I've seen. You'd be hard pressed to get a greater variety of sounds without going at least semi-modular — and even then, the System-100 needs the Model-102 expander in addition to the main Model-101 keyboard to even come close.
As if all that wasn't enough, it even introduced the primitive first version of the almighty Roland bender. Impressive stuff for such an early offering from a fledgling company.
Quotes
We always turn to that — even if we don't use it in a track CVed or sampled, it would be acting as an audio processor using its audio input. The bandpass filter on it is like a mad filter and EQ going at the same time. We use it for gating a lot, rather like a noise gate shutting on and off with a rounded filter effect thrown in.
— Merv Pepler, Eat Static, 1997[2]
Notable users
References
- The A-Z of Analogue Synthesisers, Part Two: N-Z Peter Forrest, 2003, ISBN 0-952437-73-2, pp. 127—128
- "Eat Static: Chart Success" Jonathan Miller, Sound On Sound, Jan 1997
- "In the Studio With Biosphere" Headphone Commute, Jan 2021
- "Rack & Roll" Phil Ward, Music Technology, Dec 1993, pp. 20—22
Further reading
Encyclopedias
- The A-Z of Analogue Synthesisers, Part Two: N-Z Peter Forrest, 2003, ISBN 0-952437-73-2, pp. 127—128
Downloads
Documentation
- "SH-5 manual" Roland, Jan 1976
- "SH-5 service notes" Roland, Oct 1976
Hardwired synthesisers: CZ-101 | Juno-6 | Juno-60 | Juno-106 | MC-202 | MS-1 | MS-5 | Minimoog | Model D | Polivoks | RS-101 | RS-202 | SH-5 | SH-101 | Solina String Ensemble | String Ensemble | TB-303 | VC340 | VP-330
Monophonic synthesisers: MC-202 | MS-1 | MS-5 | Minimoog | Model D | SH-5 | SH-101 | TB-303
Roland: Boss | DCB | Edirol | JV-1080 | Juno-6 | Juno-60 | Juno-106 | MC-4 | MC-8 | MC-202 | MPU-101 | R-8 | RS-101 | RS-202 | SH-5 | SH-101 | SN-R8 series | SN-U110 series | SO-PCM1 series | SR-JV80 series | System-100 | System-100M | TB-303 | TR-606 | TR-808 | TR-909 | U-110 | VP-330 | W-30
