Roland SH-3A Vintage Analogue Synthesizer

Description

I’ve had this Roland SH-3A for a few years now, and it’s one of those quirky little synths that just never quite fit into the modern setup — but it still has a real character. It’s from the 70s, one of Roland’s early programmable additive synths, kind of like the SH-1 or SH-09 — only one oscillator, monophonic, so not as powerful as the ones with multiple VCOs. That said, it could mix up to five waveforms, which was pretty cool back then for additive synthesis.

The power button’s stuck in the on position — you’ve got to just unplug it to turn it off. I had it serviced a couple of years ago, so it’s been running fairly well.

I’ve got a Kenton upgrade kit for MIDI that I haven’t installed yet — it’s actually a pretty solid upgrade, and I’m happy to sell it separately for £95 if anyone’s interested.

The layout is a bit odd — all the controls are shoved to the left side of the keyboard, like it was designed for people who want to put it on top of a piano. There’s even a little stand for sheet music, which is kind of a charm. The casing is wood with fake leather, and the corners are metal — feels solid, though it’s not exactly a luxury instrument.

It’s been played by people like Kitaro, Human League, and Vangelis — so it’s had some real stage time, even if it wasn’t always on the front line.

No arpeggiator or sequencer, just basic ADSR on the VCA and a resonant lowpass filter with a bit of self-oscillation. LFOs are decent — one has a sawtooth, the other a sine or square wave with a delay and sample-and-hold. Can assign them to VCF, VCA, or VCO.

Polyphony’s monophonic — low note wins if there’s a conflict. No memory for portamento.

I’m keeping it in Mexborough, Doncaster — it’s been my go-to for some sessions, and I’ve actually used it a few times in the studio. It’s not flashy, but it’s got that vintage charm.

It’s sitting in a storage box now, and I’m not sure if I’ll be using it much going forward — so I’m just passing it on. Price is £675 if you’re interested, but I’ll chat about it if you’re thinking of getting it.