Shapeshifta

Roland SH-32

Shapeshifta sound bank artwork for the Roland SH-32

Synth mutator

Shapeshifta for the Roland SH-32 features 64 luscious ambiences and rich analog strings. Trippy leads and FX mutate into ear bleeding slabs of urban audio. For your tweaking pleasure!

SH Blaster

Open that cupboard and grab that box, blow the dust off and wipe the early naughties from your Roland SH-32’s brain. With Soundsauca’s SH-32 life extension plan you can inject some new sysex into this unappreciated little fella. Often maligned and misunderstood, the SH-32 is an experimental hybrid of a synthesizer. Sometimes it feels like a long lost cousin of the JV/XV and JP8k series, other times it spits out D-50 and JD-990 memories. However the SH-32 is it’s own thing and I had a blast getting to know it again.

Dirty space

With this sound set I set about exploring the Roland SH-32’s ability to create really dreamy textures with sounds like “Droid Choir” and “Crystal Pulsar”. The preset “Floral Haus” features colourful resonances with unique SH sheen. Whilst dual FX slots sprinkle fairy dust over “Fallen Angel” and “Rainbow Ice”. Massive analog strings abound with “Victory Horns” and “Nazel Hazel” force you to take this box seriously, but on the other hand “Spectra Strain” brings the box up to date with it’s pseudo side-chained vocals.

Bigger & bolder

Along the journey my SH-32 revealed it’s darker more intense side. Thick Juno basses underpin lush ambiences. Slabs of concrete fire relentlessly at your eardrums, exploding with “Square Trash” and “Dirt Box 32″.  And my favourite, “Domin8rix” proves that Alpha Junos aren’t the one and only Dominators.

As you might guess, I love the character of the SH-32. It has bags of personality, an enticing blend of lo-fi goodness and tripped out sonic vocabulary. I hope you enjoy the Shapeshifta!

Front view of the Roland SH-32
The Roland SH-32

Sounds

Bank B

PS: The soundset is officially 64 sounds (Bank A) which are demonstrated in the YouTube video. But I did make a few more sounds… So there’s another 64 presets in Bank B (128 in total). I didn’t think all of them fitted in with the Shapeshifta vibe but I didn’t want to let them go to waste!

Levelling Up

During my time with the SH-32 there’s a few technical aspects I wanted to highlight. It’s pretty easy to overload the synth output. The main reason for this is the filter. The SH filter is a double edged sword. It does have a very colourful resonance which if carefully programmed is really nice. The issue comes if the filter is swept – some pretty harsh distortion comes into play at certain settings. As a precaution, many of my presets intentionally have the level set lower than others. This may at first appear like I have forgotten to match the sound levels.

The reason for this is that some other presets, such as Domin8rix and Metareese rely on this gain structure to push the “dirty” nature of the synth. If these sounds were reduced, much of the aggressive character gets lost. I decided that it would be better to reduce the level for sounds that need it and to leave others louder. I hope this makes sense!

Low Boost

Another note is that the low boost setting needs to be set to off. By default it is turned on. This will overflow the bass end of things as the SH-32 has plenty of bass without using this. Instructions are included for turning it off.

Details

  • 64 Presets included
  • Big analog strings
  • Spacey drones & effects
  • Fat basses
  • DnB reeses
  • Twisted choirs
  • EXTRA 64 patches outtakes from editing!

Patch List

  1. Mutantz
  2. Electron Wash
  3. Gooey B
  4. Crystal Pulsar
  5. So Far
  6. Distance
  7. Sticky B
  8. Metachaos
  9. Atonal
  10. Chamber
  11. SyFy
  12. The Machines
  13. Wavy Space
  14. Metabells
  15. Shtrumma
  16. Wiggly War
  17. Rainbow Ice
  18. D-32
  19. Hollow’s Wood
  20. Cheap Kix
  21. Space Harp
  22. Flutter P7
  23. Misty Quiver
  24. Nazel Hazel
  25. RM Swirl
  26. Grain Freeza
  27. Big String
  28. Spectrum Damage
  29. MetaReese
  30. DirtBox-32
  31. SQ Trash
  32. ruSH?
  33. ED Squarez
  34. Domin8rix
  35. Droid Choir
  36. Dust Combi
  37. Spectra Strain
  38. Shimmers Speak
  39. Deep Whip
  40. Brassed Off
  41. JU Swimma
  42. String Mystique
  43. Floral Haus
  44. Deep Water
  45. SH Singsong
  46. Time Dilator
  47. Billions
  48. Spacialise
  49. Acid Puddles
  50. SpaceTrance
  51. Quantum Foam
  52. Twinkle-D
  53. Dirty Trip
  54. Solar Temple
  55. Harmonix
  56. Victory Horns
  57. Ice Pixie
  58. Fallen Angel
  59. RefleKtor
  60. Sauca String
  61. Overdone
  62. Another Mystery
  63. SH Malfunction
  64. SH Orchestra

Extra Presets [Bank B]

  1. StepRunner
  2. Jays X
  3. JD Shimmer
  4. SH Supers
  5. DX Epeez
  6. Almost Vox
  7. FlowerBrea
  8. QuietFlute
  9. Horny Saw
  10. Beefy Org
  11. Dirty Org
  12. Sweaty Org
  13. OrganFayre
  14. Luv Struk
  15. Synctopia
  16. Doomed
  17. DrainSweep
  18. Acid 32
  19. 3030303031
  20. Trapezoid
  21. Unstable V
  22. Nite Organ
  23. Alpha Faza
  24. PCB-D
  25. RV Stab
  26. SH Ballad
  27. Suitcase V
  28. ClassPhase
  29. BizarreInc
  30. CrystalSQ
  31. WarmGlass
  32. StaticPhas
  33. Euro Fizz
  34. LizardFizz
  35. Rich Saws
  36. OrganDream
  37. VX 2
  38. JU SQ
  39. ScatterRings
  40. BrassBalls
  41. Corsten LD
  42. Flangie P
  43. RM Xperiments
  44. Insta Arp
  45. DreamCycle
  46. DodgyVox
  47. Rainbow Distort
  48. Menace-B
  49. Wormy One
  50. Squidgy-A
  51. Rocky
  52. Comms Ripple
  53. OctaveFlutter
  54. Tin Flux
  55. SteepPeaks
  56. Fuzzy Stuff
  57. Toy Piano
  58. Dark Throb
  59. Freakazoid
  60. Sublight
  61. Meta Lullaby
  62. ProtonRipples
  63. Arcade Alarm
  64. LatelyBass