Roland guitar synth?

[GT]

Has anyone tried one of these?

The guy at Sam Ash sez, "They are addictave".

They are very expensive, but look like fun.

Or are they, as they say in France, le toy?

 

[teknomike]

Right up my alley !
I have a Roland GR-50 (the rack mount jobby), and I love it.

I'm a poor, poor keyboard player (2/4 finger, kinda like typing this message), and with the guitar synth, I can do virtually anything (within my technical ability) I want. I can input MIDI data using the guitar as a controller, I can record synth audio directly to disk or tape, it's stereo, I can create my own funky patches, I can control other synths, it's limitless.

And yes, it is a toy, but what a fun one. And freakin' addictive.

Although, you really want a good controller - the GK-2A works, but unless it is permanently mounted, it doesn't track as well as it could. I've got a Godin LGX-SA that is the cat's meow - well worth EVERY penny...

But that's just my opinion, yours could be wrong...

Cheers,
Mike

 

[mikeh]

I've got a GR09 - which is an older model, but it is a great tool.

I use it for recording, in particular for banjo and trombone and solo violin, which sound better useing guitar technique vs. a keyboard technique.

I have worked with two guitar players who used guitar synths live, mostly to add strings, organ or horns to a song. The key thing to understand is that the guitar synth is a "different instrument" than a guitar - meaning you do need to think differently and alter your technique to accomodate the different sounds.

 

[teknomike]

Absolutely, mikeh - I never realized how "messy" my playing was until I got this thing. I've had it for about 7 years, and when I feel I'm getting sloppy again without it, all I have to do is crank it up, and it shows me the error of my ways...

 

[37point5]

I have a GR-30, and have found it quite useful in certain situations. For example, I use it live a lot when I do solo gigs; I do a lot of solo jazz stuff (cocktail party crap). I usually have a CD of backing tracks I've created, and I use the GR-30 to keep the soloing during the 10-minute + songs sonically interesting (at least as far as background music goes). I've also used it to record midi parts for horns and bass into Cakewalk so that I can print out charts for my jazz band; it saves a lot of transcription and tedious hand-writing.

The main downside with it is that the majority of the "real" instrument sounds pretty much suck. The "synth" sounds are okay, although there aren't enough of them. Admittedly, all of the keyboard-based instruments sound great, although the chord voicings normally played on such instruments don't really translate well to the guitar. Then again, I don't have the most recent model (mine's the one before the most recent), and it's very possible that they've improved the sounds greatly.

As far as the tracking goes, I haven't really had any trouble. Once I got the pickup permanently set up on my guitar everything seemed okay. The only trouble I've had is with the bass notes; they respond WAY too slowly, so I usually end up transposing everything a fifth down so I can play bass lines starting on the 5th string instead of the 6th.

In short, I'd recommend one if you have the money. I bought mine used on Ebay, so I got it for significantly less than the retail price.

Have fun!

Ryan