Roland Aria System-1 Synthesizer Revisited, Revisited
As a follow-up to the blog from a couple days ago about the system-1 synthesizer, there are a few things more things worth mentioning.
The Keybed One of the more interesting parts Roland got killed for at the time was its click-y keys. They're super short travel, basically just on/ off switches. But they are full size.
It's a 25 key synthesizer, not for maestros.
You get a little skittish when you're on stage, and you don't really hit the keys with professional deftness 100% of the time. An exceedingly professional keys player told me one time he thinks he can do 8-10% on-stage of what he can do at home. John Taylor from Duran calls it the asphyxia of this stage.
So when you do something like mis-key or maybe you're nervous you very lightly press the keys and it feels like literally nothing's happening because the monitors are bad, it feels horrible. So the kind of person that's buying this, who's not probably an ultra professional, they should have velocity off on-stage anyway.
The short travel can also be a positive as well. Every time you press a note it's there instantly. I think this is a huge part of why I love the feel of this synth so much, even though there's basically no "feel." It's just so fast.
The Arpeggiator System-1 was probably designed for people who wanted a generalist, classic analog Roland sound, as it's kind of a greatest hits. Seems impossible now, but at the time Roland was not getting into or doing any recreations. In fact, they were saying they wouldn't do it. They were only 'looking forward.' Now they seem to not be able to stop recreating the classics. Kind of like a Fender Stratocaster, or the Gibson Les Paul. They just keep making the same thing over and over. But a little different.
So it's basically a 'lil Jupiter 8, but more flexible. It obviously doesn't have the same arpeggiator (so shut up about that).
For some reason, everything at this point in time in the mid-teens, Roland not making random mode an option, but they really made up for it with the scatter (and the scatter's crazy).
In fact this is probably my favorite hardware arpeggiator ever (and my favorite mode is a random). So I think that says a lot. The weird pitch bend, which is basically like a console dial in a mid-90s BMW, oddly works wonderfully. It's rubberized (and the rubber is held up after all this time) and it just works--super fun to play to go nuts on. I haven't deeply followed Roland's work through the years, so I'm not sure where this weird thing came from, but it combined with arpeggiator gets pretty crazy.
It also has really great time. This is one that's a bit harder to explain because some synths have great time and some are terrible. Don't I don't know what the deal is honestly. I don't know enough about midi and clock and all that good stuff. All I know is it just slots in and works.
The Sound Engine The other thing when I was looking this up to start writing about it was that it's not what they were calling at the time ACB technology, but it sure sounds like it. And the plug-out runs on ACB, so I'm thinking it must be they're just not saying it. Especially since all of that technology starves-down the micro-processor to 4 note polyphony. Sounds like a System-1 to me.
I've owned everything the Juno range, including an SH101 (which I would always include in this range) and this gets all these tones easy. The other best hardware emulation I found is the little boutique Juno 60 in the last iteration of whatever model that was. That was beautiful, but the dials were really tough to deal with, and I couldn't imagine using it on stage. Not to say someone couldn't use it on stage because I've seen it done masterfully. Just not me.
I've never been for a want of anything tone-wise.
Typically I use a Nord A1 lead, but I'm thinking I could just use two of these and almost be better off. I could sync to the drummers sX pad, using one for arpeggios and the other leads and chords.
Sometimes the Internet is just a big, shitty shopping machine, and I've never seen professional opinions on this synthesizer. Just a bunch of bedroom suppositions, because it's not there and also because it's completely ridiculous I think I'm gonna keep reviewing this synthesizer weekly. If for nothing else, it's just a good exercise.
-jd