The S-1 Tweak Synth as part of Roland's AIRA Compact series is a very compact, digital synthesizer with battery operation, which takes on Roland's analog classic SH-101. Thanks to the proven ACB sound generation, the S-1 shines with authentic SH-101 sounds that have been explicitly recommended for basses and leads since the 1980s. As with the original, the straightforward structure consisting of an oscillator with two parallel waveforms, sub-oscillator, noise generator, mixer, Lowpass filter, VCA as well as envelope and LFO is a guarantee for fast results and high playing fun. Therefore no presets are implemented. Some controls of the original are easily accessible via buttons and the very simple menu function. The final touch is given to the set sounds with good sounding delay, reverb and chorus effects. The S-1 is optionally 4-voice polyphonic playable, but also masters unison, chord and as it should be for a Bass synthesizer also monophony. With the D-Motion sensor Roland has built in a cool gimmick: first this sensor is assigned to a parameter, then you move the instrument and the sound changes! Roland wouldn't be Roland if the S-1 wasn't also equipped with the easy-to-use TR running light sequencer along with a two-octave mini-keyboard. This offers access to 64 patterns, each of which can be up to 64 steps (4 bars) long. Of course, shuffle is also programmable, so that more funk and liveliness enters the grooves.

Battery operation & connections

The internal lithium-ion battery allows an operating time of about 4.5 hours and is charged via USB. The S-1 can also be connected to a DAW via USB and can even be used as an audio interface to integrate the melodies and arpeggios directly into the arrangement. With the sync inputs and outputs the S-1 can be synchronized to other devices of the AIRA Compact series. The synthesizer can be connected to other equipment via MIDI using the separately available MIDI-TRS adapter. The Mix input is useful for small setups and loops signals through to the output; Mix Out is a combined line and headphone output.