Gakken SX-150 Review: Taming the Beast

(Editor's Note: I finally deleted my Myspace accounts, but I wanted to save this review. So, you're getting a recycled post instead of something new. I've been busy learning the Juno and falling in love again with the Xio.)

When I accidentally discovered the SX-150 in late summer, 2010, I felt compelled to own this handful of cheap analogue goodness. The first thing you notice is the size: yes, it really is a handful, and not much more. (Note: I wrote that sentence before my Monotron arrived). The DIY part of the project takes about 15 minutes and fills you with the vague satisfaction that you have understood some Japanese. (Yes, they still ship it with the magazine). And you also have now created an analogue synth: a cheap, plastic synth that you play with a stylus smaller than an IKEA pencil. Oddly enough, the SX-150 is also capable of creating some very lovable low end. What you’ve got sounds good, but is a pain in the palm to play in a meaningful way.

I doubt that anyone has that has owned a SX-150 for more than a week has left it stock. Much of what has been written about the SX-150 concerns modifying it in order to impose some control over what notes you play, taming the beast using whatever means available. Indeed, the SX-150’s popularity appears to be directly related to how easily it can be modded / hacked. Honestly, some of these mods (especially the midi mods) are way beyond me, but then I have trouble telling the difference between a circuit board and a billboard. At the same time, some mods cost more than the SX-150 itself, which seems a little self-defeating. Most SX-150 owners have probably seen the Novation BassStation sequencing video (http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2010/01/06/sequencing-the-gakken-sx-150/). However, it has also been pointed out that it is a little silly to have a $400 piece of gear driving a $40 synth. Still, the BassStation video demonstrates best what needs to be done with a SX-150: plug it in to whatever you’ve got, or plug whatever you’ve got into it: I plug it into a SansAmp GT2, crank the bass and get an amazing tone. With the Monotron and the Punk Cosole, you have the Poor Man's Modular. Connecting the PMM to the Electribe promises to be great fun.

My Mods

As you can see from the photo, I haven’t done much: the main thing was removing the original speaker, which really should be the first mod everyone makes to their SX-150 – it is a piece of crap that does not do the synth justice. With the extra space, I was able to install a ¼” jack (which is a much hotter signal than the stock 1/8”) and The Big Black Knob.

i. Terminal A to the left of the ribbon

ii. Terminal B to the stylus connection

iii. Terminal C to the right of the ribbon

Advantages:

- Don’t have to play with the stylus: instantly less geeky

- Can set a note & leave it: drone, excellent with tremolo or flange

- You get to play with a Big Black Knob

Disadvantage:

- Sound is constant, thus making Attack and Decay redundant. And as the Pitch envelope barely works and the Cutoff only works from 12:00 to 5:00, you are really only left with the LFO Rate/wave to shape the sound. However, if you ask me, that is enough: get the LFO and the pulse-wave working together and you’ll understand.

I promised myself not to cover this synth in stickers, but I really messed up the resonance switch hole: I wanted to replace the switch with a pot, but while trying to remove the switch (which was solidly soldered in place) I made a right mess of the circuit board and had to abandon the idea. However, I had already made the hole big enough for the pot, so I had to cover it up somehow, and if you have an eight-year-old daughter, Hello Kitty stickers are easily available.  

Peace

TJ

Roland Juno Di Review (OR: How I released my GAS )

(Editor's note: this review was written after only two days of ownership. Please forgive the over-exuberance.)

Price (new): $820 US, tax included, from Zuhal Müzik, Istanbul.

Well, that was quick.

1. Does it do something that you can’t do now? __Yes__

2. Does it have lots of flashing lights and knobs and/or sliders to play with? __No__

3. Can you afford it? __Yes__

Buying the Juno-Di was a new experience for me: I actually planned this purchase. I read the manual and reviews before buying it. I was even ready to compare it with another similarly priced keyboard. I really did try to use my head. In the end, though, it was the same old story: I followed my heart and my ears.

The Juno-Di is a hybrid: it is loaded with presets like a home/school keyboard, but all parameters can be edited like a real synth. Apparently, Roland is trying to cut into Yamaha’s profitable home/school market, while at the same creating an affordable board for gear heads. You’ve never heard me say this before, and may never hear it again, but this my kind of “Middle of the Road.”

Where to start? From the top left, of course. Under that little door is one of the features that first got my attention: the USB memory port. Think of it as bringing the concept of midi files on floppy discs (remember those) into the 21^st century. In typical Roland fashion, they don’t include a USB device, but this is hardly a deal breaker. Anyway, you can load wav, mp3, or midi files onto your flash, and access the files with the very easy to use song player on the right hand side. Everything comes up on the huge LCD screen. This set-up is brilliant, and certainly a huge step up from plugging an mp3 player into an external source jack. The sound quality of the playback is excellent, with no coloration from the Juno. So, basically, you can have the backing tracks at your finger tips. Doubleplusgood. Don’t be surprised if you start seeing this feature become commonplace.

Moving along, we come to the D-Beam. Meh. Cool for about 30 seconds. If I want a Theremin, I’ll buy a Theremin.

Next, the volume. Self-explanatory. What is handy, however, is that with a quick global edit, you can increase the output by 12db.

Mode/Mic: Haven’t even touched the Midi controller or Preview buttons yet, though I guess they do something. The Menu button, however, let’s you do all kinds of wonderful things. Well, actually, it only allows you to see the Menu, and then you can do all kinds of wonderful things. Trust me, we’d be here all day if I started listing all you could do. But this is one of those points that sets the Juno on a higher level than a home/school keyboard – the Menu is so gear heads can go nuts.

Unlike the volume level, you can’t adjust the global level of the Mic. However, it does have its own dedicated reverb.

Ahhhh, the Keyboard section. Lovely bits here. Especially those top three buttons: Split, Dual, & Super Layer. Split does what you think it does – splits the keyboard. Simply pressing the button automatically assigns the split at keyboard C3. However, you can also easily assign your own split by holding the Split button and pressing any key on the board. May not sound like much, but I’m impressed.

Confession: when trying this out in the store, the Dual was THE BUTTON that pushed me over the edge. Dual, here, means layer, or two sounds at the same time. Okay, fine, we have a 20-year-old Yamaha PSR-38 at home that can do the same thing, big deal. BUT, we are truly into tons of fun territory here. Let us take a brief detour, and consider some sounds. More specifically, some synth sounds. Oh look, a saw preset. And over there, a square preset. Gee, wonder what they sound like together. A familiar scenario? Yep, basically a two oscillator synth. And yes, you can adjust the levels of the two layers/oscillators.

Super Layer is a fancy name for unison detune. You can stack up to five layers of the same sound and detune to your hearts content. Clearly designed for gear heads. Unfortunately, you can’t use Dual and Super Layer at the same time, but you can’t have everything (at least, not in this price range).

The Arpeggio requires some Menu work to get the most out of it, but it is nothing special. Chord Memory I haven’t bothered with, and the V-Link (to control video/images from the keyboard) requires another investment I’m not ready to make. Transpose, Octave, self-explanatory. 

The poor next section, it didn’t even get a name. Battery indicator – you can run it on batteries for your next techno busking gig. Numeric – something to do with numbers, haven’t been bothered yet. Favorite – oh, yes please. Okay, I haven’t mentioned this yet, but now is the time to get a little fact out of the way: the Juno-Di has over 1200 sounds. Naturally, there are hundreds of these sounds that I will listen to once and never want to hear again (most of the natural sounding Brass immediately come to mind). However, that still leaves several hundred more that I will want to use at some point. And, like all lazy bastards, there are some that I will want to use again and again. Favorite lets you organize up to 127 of your, well, favorites.

The Middle: good bits here too. First, big thumbs up on the LCD screen. Big, bright, legible, the only negative thing I can say about it is that it is orange (a hideous color). The Dial is even better, mostly because it is black.

Under the screen are the Banks: Rhythm, Piano, Organ/Keyboards, Guitar/Bass, Orchestra, World, Brass, Vocal/Pad, & Synth. Again, I could spend all day here, but I won’t. Suffice to say, if you can’t find something useful among all these sounds, you probably already own higher-end gear. Personally, I wanted the Juno to replace the computer/VSTs while playing. So, I was mostly looking at the Vocals (See my previous Mellotron post), Pads, and Strings, all of which are of a high quality, though not always particularly useful (the Vocal bank starts with two Jazz scats – why?).

In the Vocal Bank you will also find three vocoder settings – the other is in the MFX section which I haven’t fully explored. As someone with a severe Kraftwerk obsession, I have wanted a vocoder for ages. Now, this is one area where the Juno is kicking competitor butt. Forget about the e-Bay price, in Istanbul a Microkorg will cost you 1000 TL / $630 US. The new Mini AK by Akai/Alesis is 1200 TL / $755 US. So, to get a vocoder, I could by something with miniature keys – no, if I want to play miniature keys, I’ll get out my Casio VL-Tone or my Monotron. Or, I could by something that wants to be a Novation Xio 25 – no, got one already that I’m madly in love with. Or, I could buy something that costs a little more and get 61 keys and tons of features. Bit of a no-brainer.

The next no-name section is where you do a lot of the Menu stuff, so I don’t know why the Menu button isn’t located there, but anyway. I haven’t written anything yet either, mostly because I am not sure what I’ll be over-writing, but I’ll get there soon enough. Looks easy.

I’ve already discussed the Song Player section, so let’s skip over to Sound Modify. Again, this is a point that sets the Juno on a higher level than a home/school keyboard. The Attack, Release, Cutoff and Resonance are all amazingly responsive – you almost want to sit there doing filter sweeps all afternoon. Okay, so there’s no decay or sustain – but you can’t have everything (at least, not in this price range). Déjà vu.

Moving down now, the Pitch/Mod wheel is alright – haven’t seen if you can modify its parameters, but I’ll keep looking. And the finally, the keyboard. Alright, so I’ve not played a lot of high-end boards, but it feels good to me – light, responsive, good sized keys. When discussing the keyboard velocity settings in the manual, you see how Roland is thinking about the home/school market:

"LIGHT: This sets the keyboard to a light touch. You can achieve fortissimo (ff) play with a less forceful touch than MEDIUM setting, so the keyboard feels lighter. This setting makes it easier for children, whose hands have less strength."

Roland is right – my nine-year-old daughter has no problems achieving fortissimo. She even knows what fortissimo means: comes from having a music teacher for a mother.

Right, that’s about it. Just a few more things:

a. You can plug in just about anything you need to in the back.

b. You can modify any parameter via the computer using the Juno-Di Editor provided by Roland.

c. Dude, it’s a Juno.

Conclusion

The Juno-Di is serious value for your money. Music Radar said it well when they called it “definitely one to check out if you're on a budget and need a workhorse keyboard.”

On the Causes and Effects of G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome)

A quick look at the Wikipedia article on G.A.S. revealed a shocking fact: I am a narrow-minded bigot. Really, I thought only musicians suffered from this condition. Although it only took seconds to say, “Yah, well, of course photographers too,” it took a few minutes to understand how fishing enthusiasts could have G.A.S. But then you have to consider that anyone willing to wake up in the middle of the night so he can go stand waist deep in water is insane enough to have will naturally develop G.A.S.

The Primary Cause of G.A.S.

No one, except the filthy rich, starts playing music with great gear. Instead, we typically begin with cheap pieces of crap: guitars with horrible intonation, M-Audio keyboards*, whatever. Because we start at the bottom and work our way up, musicians are, by definition, incredibly wonderful people. Now, as we begin to progress as musicians, we naturally start to think that we deserve better. So, we want to buy a better instrument, which, in our minds, will make us sound better. In these early stages, buying a better instrument will, nine times out of ten, actually make you sound better. Unless you are filthy rich, in which case you are forever cursed to sound like a third-rate Richard Clayderman.

However, the problem starts here: there is always a better instrument out there. And, even if the next instrument is not inherently better, it sounds different from what we currently own. Maybe it is a vintage classic. 

Maybe it is new and red. 

 Or blue. 

At the very least, it has lots of flashing lights and knobs and/or sliders to play with. 

(Editor’s note: the Gaia is causing serious G.A.S. pains these days, but is likely to lose out to a Juno-Di, which has some terribly appealing features).

Whatever the reason, we must own it. We deserve it. We even have a chart.

Dealing with G.A.S.

As was conclusively proven by the 1999 Nobel Prize winning research into the subject, the complete suppression of G.A.S. leads to spontaneous combustion. While this would be an awesome stage effect, it suffers from an extreme limitation: you can do it only once.

Now, there is a concept called hedonic adaptation. In general, hedonic adaptation refers to how people quickly become used to changes, great or terrible, in order to maintain a stable level of happiness. For consumers, hedonic adaptation means buying something new because they stopped getting pleasure from a previous purchase. It has been suggested that one way consumers can deal with hedonic adaptation is to buy many small pleasures instead of one big one. So, instead of buying a big new synth, you buy a Punk Console (which finally arrived after three months), a Monotron, a drum machine… Guess what – that doesn’t work. I want a new synth.

Questions that Need to be Addressed

A more detailed list of questions can be found HERE, but I believe it can be boiled down to the three basics:

1. Does it do something that you can’t do now?

2. Does it have lots of flashing lights and knobs and/or sliders to play with?

3. Can you afford it?

If you have answered yes to any two of these questions, get thee to a store immediately.

Shopping in Istanbul 

In one way, Istanbul is a very Asian city: in the Western world, a store that sells something would not open right beside a store that sells the exact same thing. I first noticed this while living in South Korea, where I would see strip malls that had only bridal shops. Across the road from where we live now, there are six pharmacies within 500 m. 

Now, this set-up isn't really helpful when buying medicine, because you don't need to compare prices. However, if you want to buy a new musical instrument in Istanbul, it is easier than looking on the Internet. Istanbullu know I am talking about Tünel. And yes, Tünel is the Turkish for tunnel. In this case, a tunnel built by the French in 1871 for what is possibly the world's shortest subway system - the tram goes it goes up the hill, and then it goes back down the hill. A one way trip takes 90 seconds. For this discussion, it is the top of the hill that matters because this is the home of Istanbul's music stores. Nice place, you really ought to visit. I'll be there sometime within the next two weeks, relieving my G.A.S. pains.

Peace

TJ