Roland SH-101
Goal
Keep the old girl alive and kicking!
Current Issues
- Noisy volume control
- Resonance knob doesn’t fit very snugly on the slider shaft
History
Let’s rewind - how did I get to own this synth and why do I love it so much?
Log
2026-03-01 Filter Cutoff Closed Unless ENV slider is turned up
2025-09-01 Power Switch Replacement
2025-08-01 Resonance Issue
One strength of the SH-101 is that the filter will happily self oscillate. Whilst this isn’t anything special in the world of synths, there’s no doubt that this expands the available sound pallette just that little bit further.
I don’t remember the exact timeline here, but at some point through the 2010’s the resonance slider stopped doing what it does best when dialled to max.
Armed with the service manual - here was the best copy I could find, which I’m mirrorring here for future posterity, just in case - I took to the task of working out where the issue lay.
2014? VCO Problems
In 2011 I moved to Japan with my wife for a few years and due to shipping restraints all my music gear was left in the UK. Rather than leave the 101 languishing in the garage with all our other stuff that got left behind, it went to stay with my good friend, Steve.
Some time during the stewardship Steve reported that all was not well and the 101 was sounding not good. Steve and I go back a long way and I trust him with my…. well, my prized SH-101, so after some diagnosis, the CEM3340 VCO was identified as the culprit. As this happened in the days before cheap clones of the chip, a moderately expensive ebay purchase was required in order for Steve to do what needed to be done.
1995? Novamod
Fitting the Novamod was terrifying, but an absolute game changer.
In summary, copy-pasting from the instructions, it adds:
- VCF FM: Amazing new sounds are now added through this feature. Six FM sources are available.
- LFO Clock Input: Syncing the Arpeggiator and LFO to external drum modules and sequencers is now possible. As well, interesting feedback loops can be created.
- PW Modulation Source Selection: Now you can choose a pulse width source. It is independent from the LFO’s waveform setting. OSC sources are included.
- Pulse width to near 0%: Pulse width effects are now made more extreme and powerful.
- External Audio Input: The ability to do FM of the VCF by an external audio source or to simply route a signal into the audio path is now provided. Don’t forget feedback loops!!
- VCF CV Input: Just plug in a foot pedal or a CV from a midi converter and your SH-101 will sing!
- LFO Rate Scalar: Ever hear a bell sound out of a 101? Try this on Hi!! Want a really slow sweep…you got it too!
In particular, the LFO rate extension and VCF FM were where the fun was to be had and particularly useful for percussion sounds.
Looking at the work of my 20-year old self, I’m impressed that I had the patience to be as neat as I was, which wasn’t super neat. However, here we are 30 years later and it’s still fully functional. Everytime there’s a problem with the 101, the Novamod is always the first thing I suspect but so far it hasn’t turned out to be a root cause.
The original Novamod instruction document used to be pretty easy to find online, but many of the links are dead now. This is the best online source I could find.
For posterity, I’ve uploaded my copy to the site. Download here .
1993?? VCF CV Input
I have no recollection where I read about this, or how I knew how to do it, given that there was no internet and I only knew one other person in the world who owned a 101.
Either way, the mod was done (a socket, a wire and a resistor) and from that day on I was able to sequence the 101’s filter cutoff rather than relying on real-time movements at the point of recording. In those days, I was sequencing with Music-X running on an Amiga A500, sending CV through a Kenton Pro2.