Love the sound of Vintage (analog) Roland gear.
I’ve owned and restored a vintage sailboat, and that’s enough vintage for me. I don’t love the Jupiter Xm’s UI, but between the Xm, TR-8s and Roland Cloud, I get all the Roland sound I need.
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tr8 is banging
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I really enjoy my Alpha Juno (e.g. MKS-50 with PG-300 programmer) even though I don’t have an analog poly in any of my setups. Its immediate, sounds massive, and has some fun-weird oscillators. Not that expensive either.
I don’t have urge to buy any other vintage roland gear though. I’ve pondered a few times getting an MKS-7 to do multitimbral juno 106 wackiness, but my pre-order of a Caladan killed any chance of that happening now. Most vintage roland gear seems wildly inflated as an actual creation device (instead of a collectors item) at this point.
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Sold my Alpha Juno this year. I never really got along with the sound. For some reason it’s the only Roland that didn’t work for me.
I did like making basses with it
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SH-1000. Folks (who got too many expensive later rolands) say its limited and that the presets suck. I love it and some of the presets. If any analogue synth that I used deserves to be called organic its th 1k. It just sounds like early 70s to me. Need to get the cv mod.
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love 'em. I have SH-101, 5 and 7, Juno 106, TR-707 and RE-201. I have also owned a Jupiter 4 (and wouldn’t mind picking one up again…). for me, “vintage” Roland has to be analog. others can define it how they like. but I’ll probably always see it this way.
anyway, they’re incredible machines that look and sound absolutely fantastic.
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Im a big fan of the SH101, and I have one, so that’s pretty cool.
Other than that, I’ve never had any vintage roland stuff. So cant really comment.
Ive got the TR8S, which is incredible, love it. And I did own the TR09 boutique, but didnt see any point keeping it as the TR8-S covers 909 ground and is nicer to use. The TR09 did sound spot on though.
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JX-8P. I dont own it but borrowed it from my bandmate a couple of times. Oh its so lush and wonderful.
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Yep, most beautiful synth I’ve ever heard by a long long way…
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I never loved their old monosynths. I tried an sh3a in a music shop (for £125!) 20 years ago, loved the way it looked, non plussed by the way it sounded. Still love jp4 and space echo.
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Old Rolands are fantastic, they made so many great sounding machines (well maybe not the SH-3a). I especially love the early stuff (pre-1985), and the 70s green machines in particular.
I’ve been lucky to use most of them, as they usually cost less than a Sound canvas when I started getting into synths.
Here’s a track made exclusively with the SH-5, just for fun (Octatrack for sequencing):
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This is awesome. It feels like it could have come right off of the DM Speak & Spell album.
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Thank you Shiggin 
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V-Synth and samplers not included, it comes down to:
Roland analog -> yes
Roland digital -> hell no
That’s my experience anyway. Any digital Roland synth I touch, I instantly hate, including Boutiques, D-series, U-series, JP8080, etc. I think they are pieces of garbage.
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mc202 playing arps is what i hear in my dreams with 106 pads throbbing along underneath and a dr110 through a 501 space echo providing minimal analog grooves
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I love my Juno 106. It’s so easy to use and always sounds good (but not always interesting). My ear gets tired of it quickly when I play it solo. I got it dirt cheap a long time ago and haven’t minded the chip replacement costs. I doubt I’d buy one at today’s prices.
I regret selling a Jx-3P; they’re more interesting than a 106 at the expense of being uglier and a bit less “forward”.
I’d love to get an SH-101 and Jupiter 6 one day.
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I have sold some but still have a alpha Juno 2 love it, a MC-505 (almost same engine as JV1080(?)) Like it.
Favorite boss is Boss220a love it, boss Dr groove 202 (almost like it 
, the Battery died now last week - i bought it 1998. Makes me little worried for the mc-505 battery…
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Having been on a synth chase for a bit has lead me to find that I am not a synthesizer person, but instead, a rhythm programmer (if that makes sense).
I found that I cannot settle on a sound if the instrument I am using is highly flexible, like an A4, Rytm, all Digis, MD, MnM, etc; and instead, I find myself creating sequences on Vintage Roland gear, like the SH-101, TR-707/727/09 or similar, to get those basic snappy tones and drums I like.
Also, when trying to sell my more expensive ‘non-essential’ items, like the ones mentioned above, ‘Vintage Roland’ is the only trade option I consider. I’ll add the word ‘Analog’ in there too, that way people don’t offer the wrong ‘Vintage Roland’. (Is there?)
I’m down to just a few pieces nowadays, and of course, mostly Roland. Still on lookout for the possibility of acquiring a System 100M or a TB-303 though, so the hunt never really ends.
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Although the 909 is used in a lot of 90’s techno I still love, I have no desire for one or an emulation, and usually don’t like new tracks where there’s obvious use of it. OTOH, I haven’t tired of the 808 and 606, so much so I recently acquired an Acidlab Drumatix - a fusion of the two and then some.
As for the vintage synths - far more bang for the back available for many of them considering the prices they go for. Wasn’t tempted by any of the digital emulations I’ve tried.
Dunno if Roland owned Boss when they made the BX mixers, but I’ve got two of those. Crap eq’s and I mostly don’t push the preamps into saturation, but to my ears the summing is ace.
I generally avoid vintage gear like the plague. I don’t have the time or energy to maintain electronics such that they are not active fire hazards. But Roland is the one company I make exceptions for. I have an MC-303, SH-32, JV-2080, SC-88, and SC-55 (with SB-55), and I adore them all. I really feel the “Roland Sound” is half shaped by the interface and what could be reached vs. what’s a menu dive, etc. Even something like a rompler, there’s a difference between a 1080 and 2080 performance that has nothing to do with sound and everything to do with having more available on the 2080s screen. I didn’t understand that before I had the hardware.
I don’t know that I’ll ever venture into the vintage-analog-world of, like, the Junos or 101s, 303s, and 808s, though. Apart from being crazy expensive (which is enough to deter me on its own) and significantly more upkeep, they are mostly huge and I don’t have that kind of space. But they definitely fall into that “the interface is half of what made the sound” territory so I wish I had the time/money/room.
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