Boutique SH01a ...Pretty nice.

[KBD_TRACKER]

Got a little while ago the SH01a with the K25m keyboard (for me the convenience here overrides the added keyboard price...).
Never owned a SH101, but all I can say is the SH01a sounds really really good. The Boutique format also works great here: the controls/sliders are easy to manipulate with no overcrowding and the unit sports a sturdy metal face plate.
And then, the added features like high freq LFO, 4 voices, patch & seq memory, etc.. So overall very happy with this little thing.

[ranzee]

It probably is the best boutique to be honest - for 4 reasons:

1) It sounds like an SH-101 (without being pedantic, it is pretty close)
2) It has 4 voices polyphony - so it is bigger than a mono synth
3) It has an awesome sequencer, I love it!
4) It can sound like a Juno :

[youtube][/youtube]

[nuketifromorbit]

I've always had a precarious relationship with roland gear, due to their at first vexing user interfaces, but I'm actually pretty impressed with the tr-8 and h**l even the tb-3 which I picked up on a whim. I've never owned or used the originals, but the former definitely sounds better than any sample set I've encountered.

[Walter Ego]

vexing user interfaces

Which Rolands? When I acquired a Jupiter 6, I had no need for a manual because it was laid out so intuitively. Now I have a Juno 60; I've never seen a simpler user interface, except maybe on the venerable Korg Synthe-Bass. Even the Volcas are more complex than a Juno.

On the other hand, my experience with Roland gear is fairly limited. I had an MC-307 which I eventually just got rid of, as well as the SH-32. Way too fiddly. Powerful, no doubt. But still pretty fiddly.

As much I want to gripe at Roland for the names of their Boutiques, the SH-01A does look intriguing for the sequencer. It does do simple CV sequencing like the original 101, correct? This might justify it as a much more robust alternative to the simplistic SQ-1 or the MicroBrute's sequencer.

[Blue Monster 65]

Picked up a blue one - love it! Brings me back to when I had an MC-202 (1983 or so), but much more fun and useable for what I do. And it’s blue, so it sounds better. Did I mention it’s blue?

[nuketifromorbit]

vexing user interfaces

Which Rolands? When I acquired a Jupiter 6, I had no need for a manual because it was laid out so intuitively. Now I have a Juno 60; I've never seen a simpler user interface, except maybe on the venerable Korg Synthe-Bass. Even the Volcas are more complex than a Juno.

The TR-626 I used to own and the JV-1080 I currently own both required a bit getting used to. Any old knobby analog is going to be pretty straight forward obviously. For the record I don't mind editing matrixes or menu diving, its just that most of the digital yamaha, akai, and emu gear (aside from their samplers) just seemed to feature more logical UI's.

[Walter Ego]

The TR-626 I used to own and the JV-1080 I currently own both required a bit getting used to. Any old knobby analog is going to be pretty straight forward obviously. For the record I don't mind editing matrixes or menu diving, its just that most of the digital yamaha, akai, and emu gear (aside from their samplers) just seemed to feature more logical UI's.

Right on. Those digital interfaces can get mind numbing. I don't mind simple numerical editing ala Poly-800 but menu and page diving gets tedious. Like I said, I never got a handle on the MC unit I had. Even the SH-32 had some fairly non-intuitive features.