i've only had this synth for like four days but if anything happened to it i'd kill everyone in this room and then myself . its got some issues too but not enough to fuck my groove up, read my disorganized thoughts below if you'd like!
PROS:
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good god i love the form-factor n build quality on this thing . very nice size, takes up less space than i expected, super rock solid n sturdy. wish my mpc was as lightweight lmfao (yes i know the 500 exists but no it doesn't </3. no i don't have mpc live ii money fuck of)
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goddamn thing is just a sight for sore eyes i swear . it looks a lot like the roland sh-2/sh-09 and i LOVE that!!! for the price i got it at, i could've gotten roland's tiny-but-powerful Aira Compact offerings (and some do look enticing...) but i won't lie to u i kinda dislike the way those look idk... (i think it's the font tbh, i have the same problem w/ the sp-404 mkii and full sized aira's. i'm the world's biggest slut for helvetica, sorry). the sh-4d just makes me super happy to look at, it's a design tht - at least for me - inspires.
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sound design is sooooo much fun! i love sitting down for a cool minute and just like. crafting tones in all the different oscillator engines! everything having a dedicated knob makes me so happy (relatedly i love tht they have a filter drive knob. they KNEW ppl were gonna make acid house with this)
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presets are super good!! i don't often use synth presets on hardware just cuz i love trying to make my own stuff but the designers ate w/ all the built-in stuff u get hehe
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usb-c powered, but!! like a lot of roland's gear you can run it on batteries! you can go a couple hours w/ rechargables, i love their dedication to making music gear portable tbh
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midi AND audio over usb! not class compliant atm but for what i bought it for? a-ok to me :3
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not as menu divey as roland's stuff can get thx to the nice lil screen! lots of shift-button usage but i love pressing the little skittle ass buttons the thing's littered with lmfao
CONS:
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the 4d is a desktop synth module but also has like, sequencer capabilities - you get 4 instrument tracks and one drum track! which is very neat and cool, but it also makes just using it as a sound module for its synth engines a bit messy. e.g. saving ur own patches kinda sucks since it prioritizes saving everything in the context of a pattern ur on first + switching to a different pattern erases all ur progress - from env. settings to effects - unless you had saved prior. it'd b cool if they made it easier to ignore the sequencer stuff when i want 2.... like idk have a togglable Synth Mode + Groovebox Mode or smth idk
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Why is there no metronome/count-in on the recording function. Why.
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no option to add user sounds at the moment, which kinda sux cuz i'd love to be able to expand the PCM sounds for the eponymous osc module.
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the oscillator modules i mentioned earlier are mostly just like, One synth engine n filter w/ different parameters, which isn't often a problem! but also like.... a big reason i bought this synth was because i was struck by decision paralysis between the SH-01a and JU-06a Boutique modules since the original synths they emulate are like, my literal top 2 favorite synths ever made. i thought tht the 4d solved my problem by including sh-101 + juno-106 models ootb but the fact tht they didn't extend the emulation to the filter is a bit of a bummer. you can absolutely get incredible 101 and 106-y sounds out of the 4d's emulations (without the BULLSHIT 4-note polyphony limit) of course, but i see myself getting one or both modules in the distant future too just in case lol (especially if i see another under-$400 blue sh-01a... the best roland boutique based off my favorite synth in my favorite color? ooohohoho~). not right now tho, the juno pads i can wring out of the 4d are so lush and tasty + i love being able to apply the iconic juno chorus to Everything
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speaking of the filter!! the aliasing on it sucks ass when you crank the resonance high ): for smth tht wants to model analog synths i kinda hope tht they find a way around this bcs it gets actually painful in ways tht even VSTs avoid
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the 4d is built off of a similar technology to roland's "zen-core", a versatile workstation synth engine tht has many uses, up to and including providing broad emulations of their vintage analog synths. zen-core synths like the jupiter-x/xm, the juno-x, the fantom sampler workstations, and the zenology VSTs have the ability to load different "modules" so you can swap out the jupiter-8 sound for, say, the sh-2 sound. the sh-4d however, is Not a full zen-core synth. while it retains the xen-core line's track-sequencey-type capabilities, as of rn the ability to swap modules out entirely is Not a thing. kinda sux bcs it's the Most Space-Conscious, Least-Expensive Hardware Thing to use this type of tech (i.e. roland are out of their Fucking minds and expect me to skip rent for two months and sell my bed to fit a jupiter-x in my room somehow)
OTHER THOUGHTS + VERDICT:
sounds like a lot of cons! that's cuz i cant stfu--
but honestly? the biggest reason i bought the synth despite familiarizing myself w/ some of my complaints pre-emptively is tht roland is like the sega of music. both keep doing this thing where they'll drop stuff and i like it a lot despite some notable flaws and then later down the line they drop updates to the sht tht literally erase like, all complaints . the sh-4d came out in like, i think feb/march 2023 . i think we're on the precipice of the Big Super Goodass SH-4d update that'll turn this sht to THE synth of all time. maybe it will go more in-depth into the vintage modeling or allow pattern-chaining or (lips touch the mic( ***please make it easier for me to just . do synth stuff dogg im cryig
overall? i love this synth! i love this synth very much!
won't be my last piece of roland kit by a long shot but it's the only one i need rn :3 super excited for everyone to hear wht i make w this beautiful batterypowered bastard. thank u roland from saving me from giving u.b more money. super excited to see what becomes of this lil dude in the future!