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SH-2 - Image 1

SH-2

KeyboardAnalogMonophonic

Back in 1979, when Roland dropped this beast alongside the flashy Jupiter-4, the SH-2 quietly became the go-to for earth-shaking bass that could rattle a sports arena—its dual oscillators plus sub-oscillator setup delivering a fat, three-oscillator punch in a monophonic package.

At its core, you've got two analog VCOs with waveforms like sawtooth, square, pulse-width, sine, and noise, detunable for thick layering, feeding into a resonant low-pass filter that self-oscillates into a sine wave at extreme settings for wild experimental tones. Controls are all slider-based for precise tweaks—mixer for osc balance, ADSR envelope, LFO with sine/square/sample & hold for modulation on pitch, filter, or amp, plus auto-bend for soaring leads. It's built tough with aluminum side panels, a 37-key keyboard, and a single mono out, weighing in sturdy at around 10kg for that classic Roland road-ready feel.

Synth heads still swear by its warm, aggressive tone that cuts through any mix, from brutal basslines to chaotic effects via S/H filter tricks—though some note the lack of polyphony or sequencing keeps it firmly in the raw monosynth camp. If you're chasing vintage analog grit without fuss, this one's a timeless workhorse.

Released

1978

Status

Discontinued

Synthesizer
Format
Keyboard
Type
Subtractive
Internal Battery
No
Voice
A/D
Analog
Polyphony
Monophonic
Oscillators
2
Oscillator Type
VCO (Voltage Controlled)
Voices
1
Filter
Lowpass, Highpass
Envelopes
1
LFO
1
Effects
LFO with sine, square and Sample & Hold; Auto-Bend
Expression
Aftertouch
No
Velocity
No
MPE
No
Additional
-
Software
-
I/O
Audio In
yes
Audio Out
1 mono
Headphone
yes
MIDI
-
MIDI Type
-
Ports
CV/Gate
Wi-Fi
No
Workflow
Arpeggiator
No
Sequencer
No
Mod Matrix
No
Memory
None
Measurements
Dimensions
670 x 305 x 100 mm
Weight
6.9 kg
Last updated Mar 21, 2026