In the interest of deviating away from workstation synthesis even further,I've been
researching the SH-201 & have found it to be a very unique,versatile & a very user-friendly board with great retro 80's sounds.
Two things about Roland synth products that I have found to be true from my perspective is this;
Thier stand-alone performance synths have great sound quality,but they seriously skimp on sound quality in thier workstations.
Secondly,thier products tend to be a bit overpriced in comparison to other brands,but still,every now & again,Roland comes out with something quite unique & useful and ultimately it's worth the extra expense to a degree.
Considering Roland's pricing in general,the SH-201 is moderately priced,but the amount of factory presets is a bit of a drawback.
It only has 32 presets,but it does have some other features that make up for it,such as;
-polyphonic arpeggiator
-phrase recorder
-USB midi & audio interface
-VSTi editor
-external audio input to manipulate incoming audio signals,such as a cd player or mp3 player
All in all,a very unique & useful synth for $595.00(USD),but considering the amount of presets and the fact that it was released only last year,I am going to wait for a price drop before I make a move on this one.
http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.aspx?objectId=769Thom