GAIA SH-01 - Roland UK

Roland
GAIA SH-01
Roland’s latest synth aims to combine portability with playability plus all manner of
hands-on sound-shaping potential. Hollin Jones finds out if it can deliver.
Key Features
■ 3 sound
generators
■ 64 preset, 64
user and 64
USB patches
■ Multiple synth
control sections
■ Multiple
onboard effects
plus controls
■ Stereo mini-jack
in with centre
cancel effect
■ USB audio
and MIDI
■ USB data for
patch storage
■ Arpeggiator
and phrase
sequencer
■ Assignable
D-Beam
controller
GAIA SH-01
Manufacturer Roland
Price £579
Contact Roland 01792 702701
Web www.roland.co.uk
When we reviewed
Roland’s SH-201
back in September
2006, we were really
quite impressed by
its balance of powerful synthesis and
great sounds with ease of use and
portability. It was with some
excitement, then, that we got stuck into
an exclusive, hands-on test of its
successor, the SH-01.
The synth now goes by the rather
catchier name of Gaia, but still offers
the same easy access to synthesis
parameters while retaining the
playability of a live instrument that’s as
at home onstage as it is in the studio.
Look and feel
The SH-01 comes in a largely white
body – generally, anything other than
the standard black of synths is a
welcome distraction. Physically it’s
lightweight and portable, but has 37
full-size keys and a host of real-time
controls. It comes with a power supply,
of course, but you can also use
batteries on those occasions where you
feel the need to busk and no mains
electricity is available.
Around the back you’ll find a fairly
standard array of ports, including stereo
jack outputs and phones, a pedal input,
MIDI in/out, a security lock port and
two USB sockets – one to send audio
and MIDI to your PC or Mac, the other
to house a memory stick for storing or
backing up patches. We installed the
drivers on a MacBook running the latest
version of OSX and the synth appeared
without any problems as an audio and
MIDI source and destination. We were
able to record the synth straight into
Cubase via USB with no hassles at all.
On the front panel is an audio input
for playing external sound sources
through the synth to mix with your
playing, with an intriguing ‘Centre
Cancel’ control to try to eliminate
vocals from the signal. It’s only a stereo
mini-jack and while this is fine for iPods
and other portable players, there are no
longer phono inputs as were found on
the SH-201, so to connect other
sources you’ll need an adaptor.
Granted, these are inexpensive, but it’s
a shame nonetheless because a pair of
stereo jack inputs could have turned
the SH-01 into a basic audio interface,
given its USB audio capabilities.
Sound generation
The synth consists of three separate
‘tones’; in effect, three different sound
generator sections. These can be
switched on or off in the Tone section
and selecting one will link the soundshaping
sections further along the front
panel to that tone.
There isn’t a screen – not even a
three-digit LED – but thanks to some
clever layout and colour-coded
buttons, this isn’t a real drawback. A
quick scan of the manual will explain
the basic functions of the keyboard and
after that it’s remarkably quick to get
up and running.
There are 64 non-rewritable preset
patches, accessed by selecting one of
eight banks each of eight slots. There
are a further 64 user patch slots in
which you can create your own sounds
from scratch or modify and save
existing presets, plus another 64 slots
are available if you plug in a USB Flash
drive (though none is supplied).
80 May 2010 MusicTech magazine www.musictechmag.co.uk

The preset sounds are for the most
part very good indeed, and even if they
are geared largely towards dance and
electronica, there are so many guitar
bands incorporating synths into their
music these days that the appeal of the
SH-01 will stretch far beyond the dance
crowd. There are some fearsome
noises on offer: massive, bowelshaking
basses, acid leads and hard
techno sequences. In addition you’ll
find some more restrained pads, bleeps
and squelches for quieter moments.
To stop at the presets, though,
would be to miss out on the SH-01’s
best feature – the way in which you can
modify and tweak the sounds. Each
tone passes through various synthesis
sections which are explained in the
manual in some detail, though a deep
understanding of synthesis isn’t
required to have some fun with
sound-shaping. There’s an LFO section
with a selection of waveshapes and
tempo sync, an OSC section that can
be detuned with a modulator control, a
filter with slope, mode and cutoff
amongst others and, finally, an amp
section with level and ADSR sliders. In
fact, each of these sections has
multiple sliders, knobs and buttons,
making sound morphing a breeze
There’s also a Mono button so you
can toggle sounds between mono and
polyphonic, which is useful, especially
for leads and electronic bass lines.
Taking effect
To the right is an effects section
containing five different effects –
distortion, flanger, delay and reverb,
plus modified versions of each
including fuzz, bitcrusher, pitch shifter,
phasing, panning delay, reverb and low
boost. These can be selected using a
grid of buttons (which is very easy to
understand at a glance) and there are
two knobs for level and parameter
control of each selected effect, with a
secondary function accessed by
holding the Shift button. The effects are
great and really add depth, punch and
space to any sound you put through
them. Some fuzz and stereo delay can
instantly dirty up any sound, while the
echo can be sync’ed to tempo with a
simple button press.
If modifying sounds and effects in
real time is tremendous fun, it’s even
better when combined with the
arpeggiator and phrase recorder
the GAIA sh-01 combines ease of
use with great sounds and
intuitive sound-shaping.
functions. The arpeggiator has 64
presets, accessed again by using the
bank and slot buttons, and there’s a
Key Hold button to ensure the
sequences keep playing after you
release the notes, freeing you up to
morph the sound using other controls.
The phrase recorder is a handy
addition as well, able to store up to
eight phrases, each of eight measures.
It provides you with a click that mirrors
the tempo you can set manually using
the Tap Tempo button, and you’re free
to record short MIDI sequences which
can be saved and recalled later.
Best of all, you can play over the top
of them, so it’s easy to build up a
complex sequence in a live
environment. What’s more, you get a
host of performance controls such as
octave buttons, portamento and
There’s no screen of any kind on the Gaia SH-01, but thanks to the use of a very hands-on control
system, this isn’t too much of a problem. Both performance and sound-shaping are still very intuitive.
Measuring Up
The SH-01 exists somewhere between the various micro synths and the larger
workstations on the market. Roland’s own Juno DI and Juno G are larger and
somewhat more complex, though still lightweight and portable. They have more
patches and the DI has a mic input, although no USB audio. Yamaha’s MM6 uses
sounds from the Motif series and is physically larger, with a more generic sound
set than the SH-01. Korg’s X50 is ultra-light (it even has handles), features USB
MIDI but not audio and, like the Yamaha, features a more wide-ranging soundset,
though it does have fewer hands-on sound-shaping controls.
transpose, plus Roland’s trademark
assignable D-Beam controller for
hands-free sound-shaping.
SH-out it out
The SH-01 seems designed to appeal
equally to those who want some cool
sounds to play onstage with their band
and those who want to start getting to
grips with synthesis. In fact, it’s not
hard to imagine that there is a lot of
crossover between these two types of
musician, and truthfully, this synth is
ideal for both.
It’s easy to learn and use, and with
backlit buttons and so many hands-on
controls is great for live performance,
more than likely sync’ed to a MIDI clock
of some kind to keep all the delays,
LFOs and arpeggiated sequences in
time with the drummer’s click. Back in
the studio, it is an excellent sounddesign
tool, albeit one with an
emphasis on heavy dance sounds.
Setting up with your Mac or PC for
recording is simple, although a pair of
stereo inputs would have added further
to its flexibility as a more generalpurpose
recording interface. At the time
of writing there was no software editor
available, which is another slight
disappointment, but ultimately that
shouldn’t prevent you having lots of fun
with this powerful synth. MTM
SUMMARY
WHY BUY
■ Excellent electronic sounds
■ Gentle learning curve
■ Very playable
■ Good computer integration
■ Powerful synthesis controls
■ Excellent effects section
■ Battery power option
WALK ON BY
■ No full-size stereo audio jack inputs
■ No software sound editor at present
VERDICT
Excellent for both players and
programmers, combining ease of use with
great sounds and intuitive sound-shaping.
★★★★★★★★★★
METHOD SPOT
There is an increasing
number of bands mixing
electronic sequences
into their live
performances, and
thanks to instruments
like the SH-01,
achieving this requires
less equipment than
ever. With a single USB
cable handling MIDI and
audio for recording in
the studio, a laptop can
serve as the timing hub
for a band, sending a
click to the drummer
but keeping the SH-01’s
tempo-sync’ed delays,
LFOs and arpeggiated
sequences perfectly in
time. This enables the
keyboardist to play and
tweak sounds, safe in
the knowledge that
they’re not going to slip
out of time in front of an
audience. You can sync
the synth to a number
of MIDI timing sources
including USB, the MIDI
ports, a patch or the
global tempo.
www.musictechmag.co.uk
MusicTech magazine May 2010 81