Gr guitar synths

[reco]

hey all im in a band that requires a second key board player but no one else plays key so ive been considering buying a gr-30 roland guitar synth but my question is does any one have expeirence useing one?
what do or did you think of it as far as sound and feel?
thanks

[loudnaybor]

Guitar synths are great for special effects and for being creative, but they really don't take the place of a keyboard player.
The sounds are pretty good, as good you'll get from most keyboard sound modules, but because a guitar is played differently, they sound "different", not necessarily worse.
You'll also have to learn to deal with the slight lag in response time that they have. The new ones are getting much better, but the delay from played note to sound is still there.

[This message has been edited by loudnaybor (edited 11-17-1999).]

[37point5]

I've had the GR-30 for about 6 months now and I think it's pretty amazing. Never had any real problems with tracking delay (and I play some pretty fast stuff), except on the low E string. So, usually if I need to play a lot of low fast stuff (like a bass line), I'll just shift the pitch of the patch down a fourth and use the 5th string as the 6th, the 4th as the 5th, etc.

Anyway, the sounds are great, you just have to play very cleanly (it'll translate half-picked or accidentally hit notes as glitches), which you should do anyway. You also have to consider the instrument you're playing; for example, if you're using a piano patch, don't strum the chords, pluck them. Don't bend notes on an organ patch. Don't play a low E on a trumpet patch, etc, etc. I think the best sounding patches are the ones that aren't naturally occuring (the synths) or that are similar to the guitar (basses, sitars, classical guitars, etc). But I use the bass and piano patches on just about all of my recordings, and I use the guitar patches live to switch to alternate tunings without having to retune the guitar (you can shift the pitch of each string with the synth).

So, if you have the money, and you don't feel like dealing with a keyboard player, I'd highly recommend buying one. Your audience will be impressed, and you'll have a much wider tonal range to spur on your creativity.

Ryan