Roland SY-300 Guitar Synthesizer | Needs No Interface | An Inside and Out Review | Tony Mckenzie
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- Опубликовано: 8 авг 2015
- The Roland SY-300 Guitar Synth could break new ground with no interface required you can plug right in. But while this sort of thing has been done before (by Sonnus) it never worked poly-phonically. So has Roland Boss beat the odds? Is this thing worth the money? or is it a door stop? Find out in this extensive inside and out review including sound samples.
This unit took some time to arrive, and my regular local dealer let me down... but he said that Roland in their wisdom missed him off the first shipment and they sent them all to the 'bigger' dealers! I ended up paying full list price for this with no discount whatsoever from anyone... especially this supplier (Absolute Music) well.. they are 'absolute' something for sure.
If you like this video then check out my written review here: www.tonymckenzie.com/roland-sy... and my RUclips channel at / tonymckenziecom where there are lots of stuff for guitarists.
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(c) A B Mckenzie and tonymckenzie.com 2015
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This video is very helpful. I just got my SY yesterday, and there is a bit of "shock and awe" right out of the box. I appreciate the detail and also Tony's delivery.
+Jonathan Schwabe Yes it is a little hard when you start with ANY of these sort of Roland Boss synth/keyboard simulators... hard for me too :) Good to know that it helped a little as that's why I make the videos and thanks for watching.
Thanks for this video. This helped me out quite a bit. I needed some information on the software, and this was spot on.
Glad it helped! and the reason I make the videos. Thanks for watching.
Loving your tutorial, great to see a UK northerner doing a youtube, I'm only down the road from you , brilliant video so helpful many thanks for taking the time to do this. The best tutorial I have found so far on youtube.
Yes... I'm not a shop, a dealer, a company, a reviewer that gets paid and I don't just sit thee playing. Ha that covers all the others I think and if you're like me, I got fed up of all that. I'm just simply a guy who buys gear - shows in generally in ways that others have very little clue about and try and evaluate the gear in a completely unbiased way... if I say it's good then generally it is! Do check out my other reviews I have 235 or thereabouts and have been doing this since 2009. My website tonymckenzie.com also has hundreds of reviews that guys like. Thanks for watching.
Best SY300 demo vid I have seen - thanks Tony
Thanks for the kind words... and stay safe.
Well thanks Sami for those kind words.... and stay safe.
My feeling with this unit is that it works the same as a conventional guitar amp modeller. However instead of modeling to amp sounds - it models to synth sounds. Hence no tracking issues or midi note output. The most important issue with this unit is that unlike a typical synth IT HAS NO ENVELOPE GENERATORS. The envelope of the sound coming out is the exact same as that coming from the guitar. That means that this unit is less like a conventional guitar synth and more equivalent to an effects pedal. And that is the thing that makes this unit so great to play. If you play a steaming blues solo in - you get a steaming blues solo out - but with a crazy sound. It does mean that creating long sustained pads is not possible. The synth note dies when the guitar note dies. There is a hold function - but that is not the same thing. That makes the GR-300 type synth and this unit totally different beasts.
+Andy Drudy I think you have summed up its use pretty well Andy. And I do agree they are different. Personally for guitarists like me (little clue on keys) the SY-300 is far easier to play and generally get to grips with. As I'm sure you know tracking and getting used to restyling guitar to give great results with the GK pickup takes time and I do think a lot of guys simply don't want to change their ways... of course the ones that do benefit greatly from the enhanced features etc. Great input Andy and thanks for watching.
I'd just like to correct the record regarding this post. The SY-300 DOES NOT "model" synth sounds. It is in fact generating its own genuine synth waves, and uses the guitar's input signal to trigger the note, dynamics, etc. These are real synth sounds that you are playing with all the expressiveness of your guitar strings.
Because of this, you can literally craft your own unique synth tones, just like on an analogue synth. Each bank controls up to three oscillators. So, pick your waveform(s), tweak the resonance, and add delay or chorus or whatever from the available effects.
All this info is available from the user manuals.
The SY-300 is NOT like the GR-55, however, which plays PCM synth tones, which are simply samples (of real instruments, OR other synths).
@@qloey that's definitely not correct though because you can clearly tell it's actually morphing the signal because there are no tracking errors. What you described is more how the Enzo works. You can shove anything into the SY 300 and you can tell it's morphing the audio as opposed to tracking and then outputing with internal oscillators based on pitch information. Difference being the Enzo (my guess anyway) is using fft analysis to track and then output in polyphony where as the SY is somehow breaking the signal's frequency bins down and morphing them and putting it back together or something like that. I'm not gonna pretend to know exactly what's going on but it's definitely not tracking regardless of what boss's website would have you think. I remember reading somewhere that they're using some DSP called COSM which they haven't disclosed the details of. Which is to bad because it's doing some wizardry I would love to understand and see if I could make some Max Msp/Pure Data patch with it
Excellent review Tony. Thank you for the extended time you put into this, and all your in-depth videos. Seems the only "major" advancement is elimination of the GK-3 pickup. I've been using the GR-33 for about ten years in studio work only. Provided that the GK-3 is set up properly on the guitar itself, as well as the internal sensitivity settings for each string, I rarely get any glitches.I'm keeping it. You just saved me $800, thanks........Rock On Tony Mac
eoglcfophd91 This review did take some time. I have a GR-33 too :) and used that for the studio... the sax on it is awesome but I did not think some of the other stuff was as good as this. The no messing about on the GK does to a large extent make this one stand out above all the others. But this one has no sax :)
Thanks for watching.
I love how you know the electronics stuff on the boards. I know software, and before becoming ill was a monster at coding, but not much about hardware, beyond the typical needed to interact with it on PC's, etc,. Cool as can be. Love your video's Tony. I mean it sir. You rock.
+Tim Smallwood I don't know it all... I just take a look because most stuff has similar inside I/O., Processor (or Atmel chips), Static ram, etc... and many use the same chips. But its always nice to see inside I think - a good pedal well made internally says a lot for the maker, whereas a crappy made unit shows they care just that bit less IMO.
+Tim Smallwood Thanks for those kind words too.
***** You are welcome. I meant it sir.
Gundy Keller is one of my all time fav guitarists and he is such a nice guy!
Certainly a great player for sure!
Thank so much! I just bought this for my Chapman Stick.... this is a great video!
+Randy Clere Glad to help and good to know that you liked it. Thanks for watching.
Hey! yeah, All of your videos are great. I am a bass player who also plays Chapman Stick. I ended up sending the synth back, because I just realized I am not a synth kinda guy. Ordered the Helix instead, so I can run both Melody and Bass side through that pedal board!
+Randy Clere The Helix IS better :) I trust you watched my review!
Tony, I watch ALL of your stuff man! take good care and be well!
Thank you so much for your efforts. I wait for 2.0 for better support of the FS-6 footswitch. Greetings from Vienna, Guenter.
Thank you for watching Guenter... and useful info about V2.
It's nice that Boss has Tone Central & it all is very consistent for this , ME 80, Gt 100, etc. It all works the same. And yep,,, Alex is tops! $700 here in the states. Good review & playing.
greatvanzinni Thanks. £499 here so its a bit cheaper there at $700 (probably the local tax difference as Roland price fix worldwide it seems). Thanks for watching.
Great review as always, Tony! I was wondering if you feel like the sounds are a little retro and not quite as modern synth-wise (not necessarily a bad thing).
+James H They may be... the truth is that I am not a keyboard player and have little to compare it with really. But when I did the review it all sounded pretty good so I voted accordingly. Best thing of course was no GK pickup. I'm sure they will now take this much further. Thanks for watching.
Hi. Thanks for excellent review. Can I get my guitar tones as midi in protools?
Not sure about Protools ... you mean can you get the SY-300 simulations right? guitar tones are not converted to midi? At least I don't think they are. Thanks for watching and stay safe.
It does sound great and seems to track well.
+Tim Smallwood It does... I was amazed at how accurate it really is. The guitar GK units are not like that, they lose it often, but on this there was nothing to go wrong... you could 'just' get it to lose it sometimes but overall if you needed the sounds on the SY-300 there they were... a very clever unit that I am sure they will add in to the next VG-99 update in one way or another.
Good review, really detailed and helpful. But you complain about the lack of a usb cable, did it come with a jack cable, which is more important?
I don't believe it came with a jack cable either! They seem to be cheap skates when it comes down to that sort of thing and the costs to those guys is literally pence. But overall this is an interesting pedal and thanks for watching.
I would like to hear how it sounds with Bass. Thanks For The Review.
+EAveryGtrBass Good question... I did not check but might get my Bass guy around to test it... if I do Ill post a video.
it's tracks so well because it's synthesising your guitar sound coming from the jack, it's not converting to midi notes at all and so doesn't output midi notes either..the only 'midi' this spews out is control changes.
this is why i doesn';t need a hex midi pickup, it pretty clever and perfect for guitars as you don't have to play extra clean so not to generate spurious midi events like with the midi pickup alternative products.
however you can ONLY use the synth in the SY-300 you can't connect your fav 'synth' or module to it.
on the whole is a good move from Roland to simplify getting synth sounds in the hands of a guitarist.
I believe that they 'bought' the technology in from another company that shall remain nameless right now, and as you say it does work surprisingly well. Thanks for watching and your comments are appreciated.
I've been thinking about getting this thing myself but the thing that has held me back so far is that I'm looking for something that has some very good string pad like the old GR-50 had (i had one of those many years ago but sold it because of the need for the gk3 pickup etc) so far I can only find example of "novelty sounds" that are great for dicking around but don't have any real use. Are there any good string pad sounds in this unit? Thanks
Jon Gill Well this one is not bad on sounds and the non interface is the cream on top. But its subjective on sounds... and I'm no keyboard guy. Maybe you can hear more within the tone central software? I would hate to say its sounds are perfect for you... trust you understand. But thanks for watching.
Can you say again what kind of (size) sound you can import?
Sorry I reviewed this item years ago and don't have it now. But hey thanks for watching.
I bought an SY-300, and was told that I needed a GK-5 pickup. After fiddling around installing the pickup, I got the synth out of the box & discovered that it works fine with a regular guitat. Was I ripped off, or is there still a point to having the GK-5? For example, can I use the divided pickup to run different patches for different strings?
Sounds to me the seller did not know it works without a pickup... or like you say wanted the sale... thanks for the info and for watching.
@@tonymckenziecom Swapped it for the SYN800. The guy in the shop had to look at a few things online to confirm that this was the right synthesiser for use with the pickup that I'd installed. Which included a look at your video! So I've got the right gear now, and the people in the shop learned something about the stuff that they're selling - win win.
Just started watching and I can't wait to hear the whole video.
I've thought about one of these, but can't justify the price, since I don't like keyboards especially, but I can see why someone might want one to make different sounds, just like an artists would want different brushes for their art, etc,. :=-) Just my preferences.
+Tim Smallwood This was an interesting piece of gear because there is no interface. I try and show them because they are something different. In fact I did use a guitar synth on a track I recorded on an album in 2009 - it was different to say the least :) They are always hard for me to play really as you need a different technique to get the best from these sort of devices.
Yeah, I tried a guitar with the GK thing and wasn't impressed, but it was also me. You can't play like normal, or at least I wasn't able to do so. :-)
+Tim Smallwood Ha it was not just you at all... they can be difficult to control for sure. The older stuff was really not good and I have 'fought' with them to get anything really useable in the studio.
I bet you had to fight to get it to work in the Studio. Yoiu poor guy. It would drive me nuts..:-_)
+Tim Smallwood The truth is, that we only ever used these type of synthy type of stuff in a small section of what we were recording. It just about did it. When I recorded the section (it was a background type of style while my vocalist was almost speaking words... it worked well but (and there is always one) when I recorded it I recorded while I was composing really... and the actual take on the record was from the very first effort. I never got it to track as well as that again. There is one little bit where I heard the thing go off but overall it worked. As you say... a nightmare especially when it was essential to the track at the time.
Hey Tony, how do I hook up my j. petrucci cry baby wah pedal to the sy 300?
Sorry... I don't have one.
Finally you found a decent guitar synth i think?, well done,tony good as always
i have to save money for this little toy.
Cheers.
ON AN ISLAND The 'no interface' is the thing for me.. no faffing about and it worked out of the box. Thanks for watching.
Can you simulate a sound of a piano or maybe a trumpet? Or any other instruments?
+Ron Queral Not really...
heres what sound on sound said re tones...
While the SY-300 probably wouldn’t wow many keyboard players with its repertoire of sounds, it provides the guitar player with the means to call up some convincing analogue-style synths sounds with stompbox convenience: if you can use a fuzz box, you can use the SY-300.The Boss Tone Studio software includes some interesting additional facilities, such as a 16-step sequencer for the creation of arpeggios.The basic waveforms sound very convincing and can sustain for an impressive time. On their own they sound rather dry, of course, but it’s clear that there’s no perceptible latency and that the pitch always follows exactly what you play. If you chuck in a pinched harmonic, for example, the structure of the synth waveform changes accordingly, without anything becoming confused.You can get you close to the old analogue GR-300 sound here, but the effects engine makes so much more possible. Big, gritty analogue sounds are easy to achieve and monophonic lines sound very convincing, so if you want to fake a Moog solo or play a fat bass-line you won’t have any problem. There are some surprisingly delicate ambient treatments in there too and, while some of the brighter chordal patches can sound a tad ‘dirty’, they sound great with filter sweeps, and creating warm analogue pads with string-like or brass-like qualities is no real challenge.Pitch shifts of four or five semitones work well for those big Emerson Lake & Palmer synth-brass sounds but you have to be careful when pitch shifting by an octave or more, as the pitch-shifting and filter-tracking technology seems to be optimised for single-note playing; pick one note and there’s no audible glitching at all but play a chord and the shifted sound can get a touch ‘lumpy’. If this device has an Achilles heel, this is it: polyphonic sounds aren’t always as pristine as single-line melodies. Whether this is purely down to the pitch-shifting algorithms or also related to the effectiveness of the polyphonic pitch-extraction that controls some of the processing, I can’t say. It’s not always noticeable, as it depends on how the patches are constructed, how much shifted sound is mixed in and what effects are used, but I did on occasion find it frustrating. To be fair, part of the reason for this frustration was that everything else worked so well!I was particularly pleased to discover the pseudo-organ sounds. These don’t stand up to scrutiny nearly as well as the dedicated Electro-Harmonix B9 and C9 organ-emulation pedals, but that’s an unfair comparison because the EHX devices generate more virtual drawbar pitches than is possible via three oscillators. Once I added some rotary-speaker effect, the SY-300’s organ sounds sat rather well behind a guitar part. Another pleasant surprise was the noise waveform: with the Sharpness control fully clockwise, this essentially tracks the noise with a resonant filter to produce a pitched, yet very textural result, that works fine as an alternative to the usual waveforms.As you’d expect of a Boss device, the effects are both easy to use and extremely capable. I was glad to see the Uni-Vibe effect putting in an appearance and, as always, the variety of Boss distortion, overdrive and fuzz effects was welcome. I was especially impressed, though, by the rotary speaker emulation: being able to ‘ramp’ from slow to fast using a footswitch is really handy. It’s an effect that works as well for guitar sounds as for organs, and it’s worth noting that a decent dedicated rotary speaker simulation pedal costs around half what you might pay for the SY-300. This impressive and extensive palette of effects plays a very important part in sculpting the synth sounds, and is an area where the SY-300 most definitely scores very highly against the old GR-300.If you plan on doing more than a touch of casual editing, I highly recommend using the software editor, which required very little assistance from the manual. I found I had to think a little harder when confronted with the controls routing page than the others, simply because this is rather like a keyboard synth’s modulation matrix, which means there are many possibilities. But when in doubt, you can pick a factory patch that’s doing nearly what you want and see how it’s done. I did feel that some aspects of the editor could be enhanced by adding graphical envelope displays, as it’s not always clear in which direction you should turn a knob to get the desired result, but on the whole Boss have done a good job here.At the time of writing, there were three sets of patches provided online by the manufacturer’s demonstrators so, out of curiosity, I loaded some of these into my user bank. There were some very good patches and if you wanted to learn more about editing it would be well worth examining their settings in more detail.The software also makes it easy to tweak the SY-300’s sensitivity to the guitar signal, and to filter and compress that signal to produce more reliable results. One area that Boss don’t seem to make a big deal out of is that, as you can choose the guitar as the sound source for any or all of the oscillators, you can use those four effects engines to process your guitar sounds just as you’d use a conventional multi-effects unit - and there are some great guitar sounds to be had by doing exactly that. There’s even a basic amp emulator in the effects section to process the overall sound.When working in a live situation, I’d recommend sending the output from the SY-300 in stereo to a mixing console, as the editor allows you to pan the three oscillators wherever you like, and this allows you to create some interesting, wide soundscapes. Many of the effects are stereo too. At a pinch, you could feed the SY-300 into a guitar amp but remember that although a guitar is the input source, it’s not the sound you’re trying to create, so you’ll find that some of the more ‘glittery’ patches will lose a little detail. If you turn down the volume on the guitar, the synth sound follows, but be careful if you’ve used any of the noise-gate settings when working in this way, as they will mute the sound when the input signal falls below a certain level.
I'm really thinking about getting one of these but I'm not great on the guitar. Would you say this is only for professionals or is it something that I can use whilst learning to keep my motivation up due to all the different types of sound?
+ultimar235 It can be simple if you want it to be or complex if you want it to be. And remember you can download those different pre-sets which I thought were very useful. Anyone can use it... even me :) thanks for watching.
+tonymckenziecom Cheers, I bought it in the end!
Nothing to compare with Sonnus. I 've got the SY300 since a couple of months now, and I must admit that this little beast is the real revolution that does not only affects guitarists, but basically anything that can produce a sound sent into the SY! Real sound synthesis. But if you are not familiar with oscillators, LFO's, filters and amps, etc etc, it will be hard for you to understand how this thing works to create your own sounds...oh, and factory presets are crap, the sound review done at the end shows it so well :) wonder why Boss put such crappy presets. anyway, I've got so far something like 50 sounds of my own now. it goes with my band and songs (most important) - never forget that this is not a GKxx pcm smapling something. this is analogic sound synthesis. if people are into this - and I am, they'll love it. they might just adapt the way they play their guitar, probably...as an example, bending on church organ sound is fun for half a second, if you see what I mean...
+Aveyroad _ I agree with most of your points on this and the Sonnus is different of course, but that original Sonnus technology I believe did play a part in the interface. You are right on the tones too, but I always play through the unit with pre-sets as they come out of the box. To me as a guitarist they sounded OK but I have little to relate them to (as I guess many guitarists are in a similar position). Good to know that you liked the unit - I did too and the interface works like a dream really. Thanks for watching.
Is it possible to play sounds of an external sound module like the integra-7 with the SY-300 by using midi output? Thanks for help
Good question and something I have not tried... but I don't see why not really. There is a thru... so you could conceivably control this and other gear with midi... I don't really do that myself so sorry I can't offer more info on that question really. But thanks for watching.
no
the sy 300 doesnt not send out midi notes at all only control changes for patches
julienthomas14 They don't make that perfectly clear-- trying to pull a fast one. It's limited to its internal sounds, you won't be playing samples or external synthesizers with it, which for many of us, makes it useless-- I *already* have far more powerful synthesizer equipment than this thing has inside, I want an interface that allows me to use them. It doesn't compete with the classic 13-pin interfaces at all, Yamaha G50, etc... You also can't use it to transcribe...
Hello Tony, great video! Maybe you can help me.. (I hope so). I have a SY 300 and a Boss FV 500L. I followed the instructions to set up my BOSS FV500L as an expression pedal, but it does not work. Do you know how to set an expression pedal correctly??? Thank you very much!!
:( Actually I sold this unit some while ago and can't remember what I did on it... sorry for that. Ensure the exp pedal IS one (sounds funny but might have issues). Fit the pedal and you will have to most likely calibrate it to the unit... check the menus for that. Hope at least its in the right direction and thanks for watching.
tonymckenziecom thanks for the Response and your attention.
I was worried when this came out because I'd only just bought a GP-10 with a pickup. But the SY 300 costs more and does less midi and sound wise so no love lost.
Alan Angel I would not write it off though as that 'non interface' is good. I did think this is a bit overpriced against the other stuff though. Thanks for watching.
The chips will be custom ASIC DSP chips hence the high price.
That may very well be true! They are stamped Roland (if I remember correctly) and I'm sure that Roland will buy many. Indeed in many of the Roland Boss gear I see similar (or the same) chips over and over so I guess they could easily afford to have them custom made because of those volumes. Thanks for that info and thanks for watching.
Does this synth. offer any organ type sounds?
+Atti Boyington Yes it does. Indeed there's a number of them in there but you can also make your own. Thanks for watching.
You give a much more in-depth look at the unit's UI than any other demo I've seen, but you do not show how to build a sound from the ground up, selecting things like oscillator waveforms, filter parameters, LFO parameters, envelope design, etc., and most especially the ability for these things to interact with each other. These are the simple basics that any normal synth review would contain, but it seems that guitar players are limited to walking through patches that someone else has already designed. Or mixing them in a "blender". I am trying to find out if this is the product that will finally open the world of (digitally simulated) analog synthesis to guitarists. I guess I'll have to keep waiting.
+David Ziffer I understand your query. The problem is that the video is long to start with, but adding all the choices in this unit and software honestly is endless. You CAN change much of what you asked about, but I think you are also right about guitarists using pre-sets. The fact is that many of the parameters that are there are basically 'alien' to guitarists. BTW I specifically ALWAYS walk through patches developed by Roland Boss because they invested big time and effort to show off the unit in what they consider it's 'best sounds'. But what I would say is use my video as a pretty reasonable introduction, then go to the store and plug in, you don't need any special interface to try it out and I reckon you will probably be impressed with this unit. For what it does it beats all the others I have tried re the flexibility within. Hope it helps and thanks for watching.
Haway Tony man, when's the next videos coming??? Have you got owt interesting coming up? Hope your okay! Any chance you could do some videos about setting up for live performances? I know you do a lot of recording and your videos are generally tailored towards that but I love to get your thoughts on setting up for live performances.
+Philip Downs I have some coming. They are as follows (but not made yet as I'm on vacation): Line6 Helix, Fulltone 'Secret freq', Fulltone 'Plimsoll', Dunlop Slash pedal (some say they are crap and others think they are great so Ill get to the bottom of that), Gibson Les Paul 'All Wood' (really cool guitar), A Fender Telecaster style guitar similar in colour to the 'blue' strat I made, the Roland Blues Cube Tour Amp (if it ever gets released), some earphones! and maybe something or other but no mention of the video you asked subject about. However, on my new website: www.tonymckenzie.com/recording-great-guitar.htm I have a page that will relate to 'micing' up stuff and maybe Ill throw it on there? If I do then there will probably be a video to go with it. Live always used to be a pain... and I have friends who I keep telling to get a digital mixer then you can store each venue settings in the mixer once you have it good. T.
+tonymckenziecom awesome Tony really looking forward to them like. Hope you are enjoying your hols! I have a plimsol and I think it's a killer pedal it's still not knocked my boss super overdrive off my board but the second trim pot has a killer tone through the right amp. The right amp being a Marshall! Haha almost fuzz like when up full. Really looking forward to that Blues cube!!! Thanks for the link to the website for the micing I'll head over and check it out! Speak soon!
+Philip Downs OK. The website does not really have much on that page yet. It just took me three months to rewrite the site and there's loads of stuff to do. I could literally be busy for a year on that. Lack of time makes it all hard really and the fact I can't get the gear half the time.
Maybe this device fill the gap in my gear.
It all depends on what you want to do. The SY-300 is a pretty clever piece of gear. Thanks for watching.
Come on now, they gave you the sticker for free!!! What a great flogging deal....lol Anyway, great review. Maybe too good. The polyphonic tracking seems to be good. Just a bit over complicated and pricey for not particularly amazing synth sounds. I guess the expression pedal is extra and then a decent synthesizer to hook the midi up to, another extra. Not sure I'd give it a 9. Since this came out, they've dropped the price on the GP10.
Rabi Ben Lavi I was not impressed with those guys at all but you probably saw that :)
I do think this one is a good unit and better than the GP-10 or the GR-55 in some ways. Its true each has its own 'benefits' and caveats but it was nice just simply plugging in and it worked. I do think it was good enough for a 9 though because it is innovative and did introduce a pretty good 'non' interface that actually worked. I was surprised how good it was. However there was the very occasional 'strange' sound out of it, like it just did not quite understand what had been fed in to it. Its overpriced however. Thanks for watching... this video took me hours on end.
***** Well, even the GK pickups are not all that accurate, either. The Fishman pickups are better, but cost as much as a whole Roland setup and you need a computer all the time.
Rabi Ben Lavi I never tried Fishman.. but the GK-3 as you say was never right... this is far better though and with little or no setup.
***** Are you dissapointed there are no samples sounds out from the box, just the synths? Or you could control external synth through midi? Sorry, I haven't watched whole video yet -.-.
wiziek Well it just sounded good :) so what you get in the box seemed an improvement over other gear that I did not think sounded as good. I noticed that the GR-55 has no updated drivers for windows 10 either... shame on Roland - its not that old.
Anybody out there that can replace my broken CASIO PG 380? I miss the totally usable sounds. This BOSS SY 300 wouldn't do as good on my regular gigs where legit instrument sounds pay the bills! Gimme horns, accordions, strings, percussion, basses, synths and especially Hammond organ! This unit is a toy for gearheads?
Hi Rick, Sorry I can't help but other guys read this stuff so anyone help?
On the SY300 my view is that this was the 'first' in what is to come. It certainly is the first re the guitar direct in to the unit from Boss. The SY300 benefits fro 'Tone Central' so likely those tones could be on there. I have not checked so I can't really say they are. I really don't use this type of gear that much as a guitarist but I'm sure if you check the posts below some people like the SY300. Horses for courses I think and keyboard guys always sound better :) Thanks for watching.
Agrees! Plugging straight into a synth bank is gonna open the door for all sorts of exciting possibilities. Thanks for replying.
Rick Roche then get a gr55 duh.. ...
Can you make another review with somebody that play guitar?
Hey guess what? I seem to think you can't read? Why? because plastered all over the video is a message saying its a review of gear and not of me. If you want to watch guys playing all the time you won't find it here. Everyone else does that. You need a set of mumbly pegs (if you know what that means). Bye.
SO,Finally th ey get the tech right,but,,the gr-55 kicks it's ass sounds wise...patches are cool for a sci-fi track,but if you're on a gig........gigers know what I'm talkin about... but, not to worry,in a few months time they'll sort out he effects,trot out a new model,and you'll look stupid..(I think they do this sht on purpose!!)
+MaliVinnyB I agree it is a different type of unit compared to the sounds from the GR-55 (which I also own right now). I know what you mean about new models etc. but to be very honest I don't particularly live on ANY type of keyboard synth product. As for looking stupid :) who cares, I've looked stupid for years :) I stopped looking in the mirror and fixed that. Thanks for watching.
This unit is WAY overpriced right now.. To pay $700 for a synth that can't do strings is ludicrous, other sounds are not much use in a live setting other than the organ. I will grab one when it drops to half price or lower, by then a newer and better version wil be ready to hit the shelves.
+VinnieVic Jones Half price would be wonderful :) and I agree they will undoubtedly improve it. Thanks for watching.
+VinnieVic Jones If you want strings, buy the GR55. The SY is a for a different purpose. How many people you know pay $500 for just a boutique delay or distortion pedal?