Designing a Wah Sound Using the Roland SH-01A

The previous tutorial on synthesizers was about designing a wah-type sound using the Korg Volca Keys. Somebody had requested some help in getting that sound in a group on Facebook so I took up the challenge and learned a lot in the process. If you want to learn a lot about designing sounds, trying to emulate somebody else's sound or sounds is a great way to learn.

My recommendation is to listen to the sound before trying to produce it. Lots of people use other people's presets and that is great. It can help a lot I imagine because you get the settings used as well as the sound itself. It would probably help a lot if you listen to your newly designed sound and sensed that something was missing. Then you could go look at the settings in the preset and figure things out from there.

Anyway, read on for how to get a that wah sound from the Roland SH-10A. If you want to find material about why the synth is working the way it is, you can read the other tutorial here:
Designing a Sound Using an Example from a Song – Getting the Wah Using the Korg Volca Keys

Reading the previous tutorial is not necessary. If you do, there are certain sections that you will probably like to check out if reading that tutorial.

Here is a list of sections that will help you understand the tutorial, especially if you do not have a Korg Volca Keys to use (simply scroll down and you will see these parts):
1) Diagram of the Korg Volca Keys - useful for the layout of controls. It is the second diagram.
2) So, What is a Filter Sweep? - under this section it explains what a filter sweep is, the thing that makes a wah sound.
3) ADSR Envelope under the previous section.
4) Working on Wah or Filter Sweep - See the altered ADSR diagram.
5) LFO Applications affecting the Low Pass Resonant Filter, the VCF - see the two diagrams on the LFO Cutoff Int affecting the Low Pass Filter

The Steps:

The SH-01A is laid out in a very straightforward fashion. I did not feel the need to record sound clips for this tutorial.

Here are the steps for getting a wah-type sound from the SH-01A:

Step 1: Slide all controls to zero.
Set VCA Env/Gate to Env.
Set Gate+Trig/Gate/LFO to Gate+Trig
Set LFO Waveform to rising saw wave.
Set Transpose to M.
Set Portamento switch toOff.
Pitch control is in the middle.
Sub Osc is set to 2 Oct Down but it makes no difference because we are going to use the Sawtooth oscillator by itself.
Even though single notes are being played, my SH-01A is set to Poly so I can play up to four notes when I want.
LFO section beside the control that selects the LFO waveform are three small sliders. Set them all the 0%.

I do not think there are Menu settings other than setting the synth to Poly that affect anything. If you are not getting what is expected from your SH-10A, back up your synth then reset it to factory settings.

Step 2: Slide the Sawtooth oscillator up to 100%. Set the Volume to an appropriate level.
Play notes and you should get no sound. I get no sound.

Step 3: Set VCF Freq to 50%.
Play notes and you should get a bassy pop.

Step 4: Set ENV Attack to 25%.
Play some notes. You should get a short note that does not plucky. The notes ease into maximum volume.

Step 5: Set Decay to 50%.
Play some notes and you get a note that rises and falls in volume.

Step 6: Turn up Res to 100%.
Play notes and get a tone that tracks with notes being played. There is also a self-oscillation in the filter. It does not track with the notes being played. (NOTE: Later, you can turn up the Kybd setting under VCF and the self-resonating filter will track with the notes being played. The tutorial used Kybd at 0%.)

Step 7: Turn up VCF Env.
Play notes as Env is turned up and the wah sound really starts to be heard.

Step 8: Record a sequence and play it back.
Tweak to your heart's content.

Take time to help people out. You will thank yourself later!