Yesterday the Roland SE-02 suddenly began to behave strange (sounds distorted and did no longer sound as the ones saved). Today, five red buttons and three red dashes indicate it finally gave up. It may well be that this is caused by the ON/OFF switch, which already was damaged when I purchased it S/H and which broke only today.

Due to the wee small controls, this synth is a bit difficult to use. Adjusting values often is a bit cumbersome, and moving one of the pots often leads to a neighboured pot being accidentally moved as well. The small display and well hidden features additionally make it less intuitive to program. But sound wise, this synth is one of the best sounding mono synths I ever owned. Despite its size, it can sound big and fat, but also extremely melodic and singing. A lot of its versatility comes from special features, e.g. its XMOD section in conjunction with the SYNC feature. Kebu shared some sequences when it was released back in 2017.

Meanwhile it seems to be discontinued, but fortunately a couple of dealers still have some devices on stock. In case you want some contemporary Minimoog sound, the SE-02 delivers Studio Electronics technology at a bargain.