Roland SH-1000
Did Ikutaro Kakehashi ever imagine that their first-ever keyboard, this Roland SH-1000, would one day turn his company into one of the most famous synthesizer manufacturers?
“I would’ve loved to ask him that, but somehow the opportunity passed me by,” says Gert Prix from the EBOARDMUSEUM.
Roland SH-1000 - Demo (ab 1973) by SynthmaniaEBOARDMUSEUM
Roland SH-1000
Demo by SynthMania
Yet this SH-1000 wasn’t even their grand slam. This honor was reserved for its successor a few months later, the SH-2000, which we’d like to focus on now.
Roland SH-2000
It might be a tiny bit more suited to the living room than its predecessor in terms of looks, but this SH-2000 is the first sign of Roland’s aspirations to become the champion of logical, user-focused design. And on this point we can even throw in the Roland VP-330, VT-1, and JV-1080.
Without a doubt, the target audience of this SH-2000 was pop musicians who were looking for a new sound but thought that abbreviations like VCO, VCF, ADSR, LFO, and VCA (HIV wasn’t around yet) sounded pretty confusing and off-putting.
Pre-Made Sounds
In response, this SH-2000 preset synthesizer was also designed with some highly respectable preset sounds which can be intuitively edited with just a few easy-to-understand button presses.
We have some of these SH-2000s on display in the EBOARDMUSEUM. What makes us even more proud, however, is the fact there’s even quite a few among them with the front rocker switch still fully intact. These are very practically attached, but you'd better check again after they’ve been transported. :-)
Roland SH-2000 - Demo (ab 1974) by AnalogAudio1EBOARDMUSEUM
Roland SH-2000
Demo by AnalogAudio1
