These low-end VAs and ROMplers simply aren't worth it IMHO. Poor build quality and sound quality that is no better than software. The SH-201 looks great until you actually play it, then you quickly see how cheap and flimsy it is.
It seems to me that the hardware manufacturers are lost in the current software world, much like every company that wasn't Yamaha was lost when the DX7 first came out. Now, as then, most of them have focused on either niche items or unremarkable synths that are made as cheaply as possible. Anyone remember those awful basic Korg synths like the Poly 800? Yuck.
At the prices that these cheap synths go for, software is a much better deal: your choice of DAW, plus plug-ins like Atmosphere, Korg Analog Collection, impOSCar, MiniMonsta, Oddity, etc. There's also heaps of free Windows VST plug-ins. Or a Mac plus Logic Studio, which comes with a pile of excellent internal instruments and effects, and you can expand it further from there.
If you've got the cash, go for hardware, but if you're just getting your feet wet and/or don't have a lot of cash, forget about the cheap stuff. Good software beats crappy hardware any day.
