"SPECIFICATIONS

Maximum Polyphony 60 voices (varies according to the sound generator load)

Parts 5 parts (Tone part: 4, Rhythm part: 1)"

60 voices across the whole box

a voice = 1 oscillator

sh-04 engine is upto 4 ocs
pcm engine is also upto 4 osc.
drum sounds are upto 2 osc each (26 sounds in a kit)

hold down a 3 note chord using sh-04 engine set to use 4 osc = 4 x 3 = 12 voices

On other zencore synths, sometimes the filter models can double the voices an osc takes.

I don't find myself running low on polyphony on an Xm, but I don't use it like a groovebox..

What's the polyphony of the wavetable engine? Since its not ZC1

SH-04D synth is not zen core compatible.
development wise it was it's an off shoot form zen but separate, a more stripped down/focussed engine that is more hands on less deep so more approachable with physical knobs according to Roland and also a NEW Filter model (ladder based) not seen on any zencore based synth.

you can't share zencore patches with the SH-04D or share sh-04 patches with any zencore synth.
there is no roland cloud version of this either.

similar but... DIFFERENT.

There’s so much variety out there now! I find it just astounding. It’s good Roland have at least brought multitimbral back on this with a lower price point. They’ve opted for USB I/O for multichannel, like they have elsewhere, to save on cost and complexity.

I wonder whether the built-in USB audio interface will serve well as a simple mixer?

Clearly, they’ve looked for a way to make this a full-focused tabletop synth , not a keyboard synth or groove box, but more than a Boutique, less specialized than a TR-6/8. It doesn’t step on Zenoligy synth toes, either. Nor is it an emulation. Just hearkens back to some retro aspects with the generators, and simplifies filter and envelope control. Not as wide-ranging in digital oscillator engines as the Minifreak or Hydrasynth, but with a definite nod in that direction, using existing tech. Clearly takes some inspiration from the Wavestate and Modwave from Korg, but not redundant to those, either. An interesting and difficult set of design and market competition challenges! Not to mention those from their own lineup.

It interests someone like me because it has lineage from the SH Roland Era, like the SH-32 and SH-201, but takes that lineage more seriously, instead of just having fun with it.

I see it as a good evolution of what Roland does; I expect it will be as successful as the Gaia and JD-Xi have been.

Also strikes me as very easy to imagine pairing it up with all manner of things, hardware and software. Limitations with Eurorack, but I can conceive easy workarounds there, like with my A01K. Or Keystep Pro.

Perfect companion either for the Boutiques or the MC-101/107.

Sure, time/analysis will tell.

The Xm is quoted as having a similar/same polyphony, but filters like the SH101 modelled one half it. So will be interesting to see if that's the case, or not, here.

"FULLY LOADED PANEL.
Craft tones and perform in the moment with 32 knobs, four sliders, and a massive array of multi-function buttons. The LCD, sliders, and buttons automatically reconfigure their functions to follow the selected mode, eliminating menu-dive roadblocks that slow your creative flow."

Knobtastic

"GRAB-AND-GO SYNTH CONTROLS.
Whether building tones or creating patterns, the Filter, Amp, and LFO sections are always ready to shape what you’re working on. The newly developed ladder Filter offers multi-mode operation with interactive Drive and Resonance, full envelope control, and an independent HPF to instantly tighten any sound. The Amp section provides ADSR and quick level adjustment, while the deep LFO section features numerous waveform types, fade, filter, pitch, and more."

Most high-end mixers does not have usb input?

Here’s an article from the webpage
https://articles.roland.com/explorin...319.1677167035

not exactly 'high end' if they don't have USB
.... when did they come out 1992?

roland TD-50 drum kit module has 32 audio channels over USB
I was setting that up for a friend on monday with his DAW - amazing.. 1 usb cable 32 channels of audio.

also until we get access to the roland manual i would guess we ALSO get the main stereo
which would bring up the audio channels to 12..
maybe you can route some tracks/ drum sounds to the master fx bus on LR too.

that's at least why I'm hoping it's something else. No pattern chaining, the same zen core aria whatever, why do we need this?

people are saying SH32 replacement yet no super saw or even 303 sounds?

It sounds good.. but I'm scratching my head a little here.

I had a SH32 years ago and sold it. It was pure pcm and the sounds had very little movement. This looks miles ahead with a nice combo of different synthesis types. Im definitely interested. How good the sequencer will be after a few updates will make my decision. I just bought a MC-707 and I wonder if i should return it? How different are the two?

I don’t know of a modern editor for the Radias. Editing using the knobs and buttons is very fast, but I see why using an editor is nice. I have the editor on an old MacBook Pro, and it is even faster to edit the Radias using a computer.

The main encoder on my unit has given me no problems. This is my 2nd Radias. The unit I had years ago also had no problems.

I think it’s a great synth and I’ll never sell it. But the SH-4d is very, very interesting to me.

i've seen super saw on one of the video i watched today..
you're right though as of yet not seen/heard a demo that sounds like a Tb-303 Bassline........

we should throw a message out to the demo guys - come on maan!
everyone needs a 303!

Has supersaw, plus the sync and ring mod oscillators will do well as replacements for the JP-8000 feedback oscillator.

Suddenly I feel no need for a JP-8000 model or Boutique!

Just watched Starkys vid with the David Attenborough theme

Won’t know until I get one, but on spec it looks to be very different. The MC -707 is a sequencer-based groovebox; this is closer to the Boutiques and TR-6/S in design.

Looks like it will be GAIA/ZenCore PCM based so not quite the same as your classic JP-8000 for supersaw

What about the VA and other engines? Not modeled? I thought the only PCM part was the JD/JV- type PCM oscillator? Not that it really matters to me. It sounds great, even just on YouTube!

Sure, give it a try. If it doesn’t live up to expectations, you can sell it. And any small loss can be thought of as a rental fee, if that makes you feel better haha.

I was ga-ga over the SH-32 when it first came out, but today that ancient Roland digital filter sounds fake. But if you don’t use it in extreme settings — and if you stick with the peaking filter more often than the LPF — and if you spruce it up with outboard effects, it will shine.

The fact that it’s a multitimbral desktop sound source with sliders and knobs is it’s biggest selling point, imo. Now that the more versatile SH-4d is here and sounding good, there is a new sheriff in town.

I didn't mean me. I really have no more space for gear I'm only 'curious' of.

More likely get this new one, if I can move something else on to make space. It could well allow me to off load some of my other low end recent Roland stuff (Boutiques etc)

I didn't see any of that in the synthtopia article and I didn't hear the guy say it in the official intro vid, however I was wearing headphones at work and skipped around, so but they seem to be focusing a lot on the SH101 more than anything. I would have put that front and center though, all the synth models / samples.

That's cool if so and now I can see why people are saying it's another SH32. The filter obviously sounds lightyears better than the SH32 one. I didn't find it very tweakable, but probably because it brought out the nasty side of the compressed samples. Reminded me of trying to tweak really hard on the Xp30.

I hope it sounds good! I never spent time with a JP8000, but I have always wanted a SH201. I enjoyed playing with the few I spent time with. Maybe this will be a nice replacement.


Why not both? (taco girl).

I mean really. Could you imagine? That would be pretty freaking cool in one groove box.

Thks , i was asking for the editor cause i saw the was a editor CD coming with it ...

what about the Korg Ms2000BR is it a Radias kust less fancy ?

Looks a lot like the first product of latest ZEN-Core engine release, which added an OSC phase parameter, that opens the possibility to mimic free-running OSC or new OSC shapes.

https://www.benis.it/cm/blog/Supersaw_ENG.htm

Backplate is not the Juno-Jupiter-X/xm one, and has some similarities with the one of the JD/JX-08 ZEN-Core Boutiques, so there could be the same guts inside. Roland ZEN-Core line is very modular, hardware or even software wise, sharing functional components to save on costs.



I totally agree.
It's more like a refined Xm going tabletop than anything else to me.
A few years back, Roland asked people what they liked and disliked in the first product line (Jupiter-X/Xm). This could be the result.

I am with you 100% on it not mattering if it can do what you want. It seems Roland have the ability to use PCM to generate VA and Supersaw. If you detune a PCM based Supersaw, depending on how far Roland have gone on this SH-4d, it will behave differently to your classic JP-8000

Peeps have proved Zencore is mostly all PCM based like the GAIA. I guess if they need to model some stuff they will, but the simpler the methods they use the more CPU cycles left to add Poly and other features...

If you have a clean and tidy JP-8000, don't sell and then regret letting it go before making sure this does everything you want sonically

This is the best review I reckon. Loads of sound, nice little demos, humour, makes a nice change!

Five pages and no one is ragging on the new D-Motion feature? Alright, I'll start us off...

It's like they wanted to make D-Beam even more inconvenient, so you have to use two hands now. Good thing I have to use two hands to pick up the synth and wave it around, because I wasn't doing anything else with my hands while performing with a musical instrument. Seriously, imagine watching someone use this live: "The show was cool, but for some reason, the guy picked up his little keyboard in the middle of the set, waved it around for 30 seconds, and then put it back down."

How sure are you that while you are ****zing out and waving your synth around, you're not going to pull out the power cable or snap off the instrument cable to your amp? Is it 100%? It's all of the finely tuned musical control the engines in the OP1 (that no one uses) but with none of the whimsy. It's like they saw the touch pad on that Korg wavetable synth and said "Whoa, slow down partner! We can have something that useable!"

That's mutually exclusive though. You can't generate PCM, it's just recorded audio in WAV format.

You could in theory just stack several wavs together and then detune them, but you'd probably have very little control over tuning, octave, spread etc as they'd literally have to have a wav for each potential setting if you're not simply pitching the wav up and down.

It's possible, but more work that I see being worth it and there's better methods out there. It's possible though and it would sound totally different than a JP8000 as you're using static wav files and not generated audio.

More than likely, if they're using PCM, you're going to get a few static oscillator models and you wouldn't have deep editability.

I'm definitely interested in the JP8k comparison. I'll do a V-Synth XT comparison on the oscillators for the Supersaw and the Alpha Juno oscillators when I get my unit.