A delicate, nostalgic and gentle piece of music in 7/8.
All sounds are from the Roland SH-101.
Written and recorded on 30/3/20.
Written by R Cook 2020.

SH101 EP 1

Saskatchewan (SH6) - Stars of the SIlver Age

All tracks recorded using just a Roland SH-101 and a Korg Volca Beats. 
Stars of the Silver Age was my analogue synthesizer project from 2011 that I completed alongside recording in International Electromatics and Art City Glimmer. Inspired by getting my Roland SH-101 back from it's first service in the 13 years I've owned it, I reactivated the name for these recordings I completed using just my SH-101 and a Korg Volca Beats drum machine. All the tracks were written from scratch, recorded and mixed in no more than a single day each with 4 being finished on the 28th March alone. I found it liberating to make music so spontaneously and quickly - some of the Art City Glimmer and i.e. songs I'm currently working on started life up to 10 years ago in some cases... I set myself some basic rules for this project - I would only use the two pieces of equipment and each piece would be in a different key - to make sure I didn't fall back on familiar 'safe' patterns in favourite keys. It was a real pleasure using the SH-101 to get all of these sounds. I controlled it using a Doepfer MCV-4 and recorded all the tracks into Cubase. The SH-101 is a popular synth and as such seems to attract as many detractors as supporters. I think it's great; it's been a staple in my setup since I bought it in EMIS but I was guilty of using it mainly for sequenced bass-lines and arpeggio parts. I hope I've balanced the record now and done this great little synth proud. I love the way it's perfect for the dance-based tracks as well as taking the ambient tracks to another place altogether. I love my SH!