Audio (and Mini Review): Roland SH-4d (Patreon)

So this new Roland groove box dropped today, the SH-4d: https://www.roland.com/us/products/sh-4d/

Roland reached out early and sent me a unit. I got to know it a little bit but stopped messing with it because I knew the embargo drop date was going to be a shitshow and that Roland doesn't pay for shit. So I wasn't going to do a drop-day video.

Then they reached out and asked what I was planning to do. I told them my fee, and that I didn't want to do a drop-day video. They countered with half my fee and asked if I could do some supplementary content. 

I said yes, and produced two tracks for their Soundcloud playlist (the audio is attached) and two Instagram videos that will come out in March.

My take on the device is: 

It sounds good. The synth engines are fun to play with. 

The sequencing is a pain, and the entire process of using it reeks of Roland jank. 

Between this and the SP404 Mk II I just bounced off of and am sending back to Roland, I kinda feel like Roland should just fire their entire UI / UX team and start over.

So we have a good-sounding device, not fun to program, but the real kicker is that it's not fun to perform. You can enter a mode where you can mute and unmute everything with a button, including drums, and you can mess with one synth at a time. It felt like fighting the whole time.

There's basic probability in the sequencer but nothing else. I didn't feel like I could really stretch out and experiment. This was my take on the SP404, too, in that it just felt really restrictive and wanted me to learn a whole new take on something I already had learned with something else I already liked.

I think there's a lot of value here, but the experience wasn't for me.