Roland SH-5

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The SH-5 is a classic yet very advanced monophonic synthesizer rivalled mainly by its successor, the SH-7. The SH-5 has just about two of everything. There are two analog VCOs with triangle, ramp, square and pulse waveforms, two LFO's, two filters, two VCA's, white and pink noise generators, and more.

The oscillators can be modulated by the LFOs or the ADSR envelope generator. The two LFOs include controls for rate and waveshape: ramp, reverse ramp, triangle, sine, square, delay; and there is also a Sample + Hold feature. The two multi-mode filters include hi-pass, low-pass, and band-pass filtering with cutoff, resonance, keyboard tracking, envelope sensitivity (AR, ADSR or preset) and modulation (ramp, sine, square, s+h) controls plus an additional band-pass-only filter. The two VCAs offer Attack/Release and ADSR envelopes which can be triggered by the Sample + Hold, LFO #2 or an external audio trigger input.

Extra features include the standard SH-type Mixer section with 5 sliders to adjust noise, VCO1, VCO2, ring mod and an external signal levels. Each of these 5 signals can be individually sent through the VCA, the multi-mode filter, the band-pass filter or both. The SH-5 even has stereo output with panning controls in the VCA section and portamento! The Ring Modulator alone is enough to wet your appetite for this synth. A serious analog mono-synth with lots of flexibility for creating serious electronic and dance music. It has been used by Eat Static and Freddy Fresh.

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Demos & Media

ROLAND SH-5 Analog Synth 1976 | DEMO
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AnalogAudio1
ManualRoland has made manuals for most of their products available as free PDF downloads.

Specifications

Polyphony - Monophonic
Oscillators - 2 VCOs range: 32' to 2', (triangle, ramp, square, pulse)
LFO - LFO 1: Rate, ramp, reverse ramp; LFO 2: Rate, Delay, triangle, sine, square; 1 Sample+Hold: Sample time, delay time
Filter - VCF 1: hi-pass, low-pass, band-pass, cutoff, resonance, keybd, env sensitivity (AR, ADSR or preset) and modulation (ramp, sine, square, s+h); VCF 2: Band-pass with cutoff, resonance and amount
VCA - 2 VCAs: AR and ADSR, triggered by sample+hold, LFO 2 or external trigger
Memory - None
Keyboard - 44 keys
Control - CV / Gate
Date Produced - 1976 - 1981

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