Roland S-1 Tweak Synth

It’s not from me. Here you’ll find an Amazon link:

1 Like

I ordered a random cheap case from amazon that was alright in terms of its dimensions. Works great.

P.S. A quick off-topic question: How do you guys manage to get these small preview panes for your amazon links? Tried to reverse engineer it by quoting people, but did not figure it out…

6 Likes

Thanks for the replies, went for this one in the end. Seems deeper than the other Switch cases and plenty of space for cables and maybe room for a power bank too. Worth a punt for £8.49

I copied the whole URL for the Amazon page I was linking from the browser, then pasted it in my post here, expecting the link would show up as text. Instead the preview window just … appeared.

Wish I had a smarter answer, lol.

fits perfectly inside a pencil case from the dollar store. Even have corresponding colors for each AIRA device.

2 Likes

Suspect the answer is here:

1 Like

Ah, thanks, fixed it. Still no clue, why it didn’t work in the beginning.

1 Like

Think i’m gonna buy one of these todays just because i want a lil battery powered sketchpad to play with over breakfast, on breaks at work, etc.

Finally set the S1 up properly today with the rest of my set up and first time I’ve heard it out of the monitors… Christ it sounds good!

8 Likes

Got a couple of questions regarding the arpeggiator hoping someone could help me with.
Set the S1 up with my Syntakt (ST midi out, sending clock, transport etc) but having trouble getting the arp to synch… any suggestions?

I can sequence/record the arp via the ST sequencer but ideally would like to play it directly from the S1 as no hold/latch function on the ST to be able to loop and alter the pattern on the fly. When I set the arp notes directly on the S1 it’s completely out of time.

Also when using the arp directly on the S1, after inputting the initial notes with the hold function if I press another key it removes all previous notes rather than being able to add/remove as I want. Any way to change this? Have checked in the manual and couldn’t see a solution.
You can see in this video the functionality I’m looking for -

The add/remove functionality was in firmware 1.0 but was changed in the update. I wish they’d made it an optional setting. Lack of arp sync is a frequent complaint.

1 Like

Thanks for the info, shame they removed that function … hopefully both get addressed in a firmware update.

1 Like

Got mine yesterday and already went thru a full battery charge just enjoying it for hours. I’ve been just taking it around the house looping mellow ideas while i do dishes, brush my teeth, bascially like a giant ipod stuffed in my hoodie pocket. I really love this thing as a sketchpad and a way to just constantly be playing with ideas in the wee moments when im not at my gear.

10 Likes

Hello all,

Just a question in case somebody is/was in the same case.

I’m an happy new owner of the S-1 (which I love). I plan to buy a SH-4d soon to replace my Verselab (which I hate).

Apart having a extra synth (the S-1) on top of the 4 synth tracks of the SH-4d and the S-1 form factor is it relevant to keep the S-1 ?
Is the SH-101 synth model of the SH-4d the same or close than/to the S-1 one ?
Is there any extra features on the S-1 versus SH-4d I didn’t identifiy yet ?

Thank you

I’ve got both and they’re a very different experience. The s-1 is modelled on the 101 (I forget if it’s acb or one of the other roland things) but the SH-4d’s 101 model is just sort of some oscs loosely arranged like a 101. The filter is also totally different which is a huge part of the character of the 101

With the SH4D for doing any subtractive synthesis stuff you’re best just using the 3D algo as it gives you far more flexibility and an extra LFO. The ‘models’ are really just there for the vibes.

Both sound and feel great in their own ways in my opinion.

4 Likes

Thank you Stlaub for the information. I must conclude that for now I should keep the S-1 until I can test the SH-4d and then decide later. For sure this S-1 is a beautiful small machine.

The tracks I heard from the SH-4d (including yours) are very very good. I didn’t know it before the Verselab purchase which I highly regret.

1 Like

I have both and they are different beast for sure.

S-1 is ACB circuit modelling, the SH-4d uses the Zencore engine (less accurate but more flexible, afaik).

I’m potentially interested in a combo of S-1 and T-8 …

BUT … I saw a recent video that said the sync was only for clock, and NOT for transport. So to get the two devices running in sync you have to be careful to hit play on both devices at exactly the same time.

Is this right ? Maybe it’s a limitation of the (non-midi) sync method … seems a bit clunky though.

Be carefull though, it’ a stripped down version of zencore models, so not compatible with zencore if that’s important.

2 Likes