BOSS GM-800 Synthesizer

[gumtown]

It looks like I might not be able to mount the GK-3B on this bass due to the volume knob and lack of clearance from the strings to pickup.

Has anyone been able to work around this type of issue?

View attachment 7028458

One other option is to re-arrange the GK pickup 8 pin connector inside the gk blob with the volume knob.
Mount the pickup one string space up, so 1/3 of the pickup os above the E string.
In the 8 pin plug are two ground and 6 pickup wiring pins, extract the 6 pickup wiring plug pins so that the order is moved along 1. That way the GR-55/SY-1000 can still have the GK setup seen as a regular 4 string, you may need to try normal or reverse gk mounted options in the menu.

 

[Trvbass]

Thanks @gumtown and @sunbeast!

Moving the pickup off-center will solve the volume knob issue, but there still might be a string clearance issue as the center of the pickup stands taller than the ends. The pickup's curvature also does not match the radius of the bass body, so it will need to be bent (more curvature)- I hope the pickup won't mind!

I did find this listing from a long time back on a modified GK-3B, but I have not found any information on how to do this. Would be a shame to take the clippers to a brand new GK-3B and it might not solve the string clearance issue.

https://www.talkbass.com/classified...modded-for-4-string.1017536/#comment-28557210

 

[Iristone]

I normally embrace technology, but it's expensive and a bit of a hassle if I install one of the special pickups on every bass I'd like to play with the synth. The SY-300 implementation seems more convenient, but I wonder if they really play similarly.
When I need that synth bass sound, I'll likely buy the Keith McMillen pedals instead. Triggering synth with keys just feels more natural to me. The downside is that only one octave, but I'll hopefully learn to play it in "positions" - like I do on bass guitar.

 

[sunbeast]

Thanks @gumtown and @sunbeast!

Moving the pickup off-center will solve the volume knob issue, but there still might be a string clearance issue as the center of the pickup stands taller than the ends. The pickup's curvature also does not match the radius of the bass body, so it will need to be bent (more curvature)- I hope the pickup won't mind!

I did find this listing from a long time back on a modified GK-3B, but I have not found any information on how to do this. Would be a shame to take the clippers to a brand new GK-3B and it might not solve the string clearance issue.

https://www.talkbass.com/classified...modded-for-4-string.1017536/#comment-28557210

The metal casing of the pickup is unnecessarily tall compared to the internal coils, but the radius of the top is the real problem as it is taller than the internal pickups (I’ve also had the same problem trying to install one on an Ibanez bass of mine with fairly low string height). Are your strings contacting the top of the pickup in the center? The built in radius doesn’t really even serve a whole lot of purpose as the internal pickup is probably sitting flat on the inside from the few I’ve opened and all the coils are the same height.

If your bass has a bolt-on neck and has action height to spare at the saddles then you could add a neck shim which would be the easiest fix, otherwise you’d probably need to remove the coils from the pickup casing and put them in something squatter (I’ve got a set I plan to embed in epoxy) or try to reshape the case though that will probably only work if you only need a hair of extra clearance.
Or find a more suitable bass that can fit them!

Cutting one of these down into a 4-string shouldn’t be difficult either. I’ve never done it but have repaired wiring on one and opened a few. The 6 pickups are on two circuit boards in sets of 3 and all the wire solder points happen in the middle portion, so cutting one pickup off the opposite end of each circuitboard should be easy and I don’t believe will sever the ground connection (though I’d have to double-check that- in any case that would be easy enough to reroute). Then you just have to figure out what to encase it in.

 

[Trvbass]

Does anyone know if this 96 Fender ROLAND READY STRATOCASTER GK will drive the GR-55 that i have a GK-3 on atm? I'm interested in getting a guitar with the GK stuff onboard.

Thanks!


[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[sunbeast]

Does anyone know if this 96 Fender ROLAND READY STRATOCASTER GK will drive the GR-55 that i have a GK-3 on atm? I'm interested in getting a guitar with the GK stuff onboard.

Thanks!


[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Yes the RR Strat has a GK-3 built-in, so no different than your current setup: https://www.roland.com/global/products/gc-1/

 

[Trvbass]

Yes the RR Strat has a GK-3 built-in, so no different than your current setup: https://www.roland.com/global/products/gc-1/

The controls layout on this guitar do look just like the one in the video - thanks for posting that link and for your reply!

 

[gumtown]

Does anyone know if this 96 Fender ROLAND READY STRATOCASTER GK will drive the GR-55 that i have a GK-3 on atm? I'm interested in getting a guitar with the GK stuff onboard.

Thanks!


[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Be sure to flip the GR-55 into guitar mode for the Strat & GK-3

 

[Trvbass]

Thanks again for everyone's helpful comments. I am liking the RR Strat, GR55 and Floorboard software combination and even though I thought I would use this for bass, I'm no longer interested in that.

I would like to ask a couple more questions:

1. Should the RR Strat + GR55 be able to drive a midi keyboard acceptably? I have tried this with a synth patch on my Juno D8 and it does not work acceptably. The GR55 track in Reaper is good, the Juno's track is a mess.

This would be great, but If it's not going to work, that's fine, I just want to know.

2. Now that I have the RR Strat with the built in GK pickup, would you recommend any other GK devices, ie, the SY-1000 or the GM-800?

 

[Tosh]

.....a couple more questions:

1. Should the RR Strat + GR55 be able to drive a midi keyboard acceptably? I have tried this with a synth patch on my Juno D8 and it does not work acceptably. The GR55 track in Reaper is good, the Juno's track is a mess.

.....

2. Now that I have the RR Strat with the built in GK pickup, would you recommend any other GK devices, ie, the SY-1000 or the GM-800?

1) "acceptably" is the key word here. The GR-55 is capable of Pitch-to-MIDI, but it's not one of the best choices for this purpose. No harm trying it, and it might provide the results you're looking for. Many guitar players report that the Fishman Triple Play is superior to the GR-55, in the PTM arena. I use a Roland GI-20 for PTM with my bass.

2) SY-1000. Hands down. My Opinion, of course ....

 

[gumtown]

Thanks again for everyone's helpful comments. I am liking the RR Strat, GR55 and Floorboard software combination and even though I thought I would use this for bass, I'm no longer interested in that.

I would like to ask a couple more questions:

1. Should the RR Strat + GR55 be able to drive a midi keyboard acceptably? I have tried this with a synth patch on my Juno D8 and it does not work acceptably. The GR55 track in Reaper is good, the Juno's track is a mess.

This would be great, but If it's not going to work, that's fine, I just want to know.

2. Now that I have the RR Strat with the built in GK pickup, would you recommend any other GK devices, ie, the SY-1000 or the GM-800?

Depends on your needs, the SY-1000 does HRM modeling including guirltars & basses, plus analog style synths, and amps very well with virtually no latency.
There is the GM-800 which is a different technology using guitar to midi conversion to play pcm based sample synths of a limitless variety of tones.
The GM-800 with the latest firmware is the best hardware guitar to midi device out there (imo) on par now with the Fishman tripleplay.
The SY-1000 is not so great at guitar to midi, since that is not it's primary function.
I use both the SY-1000 and GM-800 in tandem, and still have the GR-55 as a backup.

 

[sunbeast]

Thanks again for everyone's helpful comments. I am liking the RR Strat, GR55 and Floorboard software combination and even though I thought I would use this for bass, I'm no longer interested in that.

I would like to ask a couple more questions:

1. Should the RR Strat + GR55 be able to drive a midi keyboard acceptably? I have tried this with a synth patch on my Juno D8 and it does not work acceptably. The GR55 track in Reaper is good, the Juno's track is a mess.

This would be great, but If it's not going to work, that's fine, I just want to know.

2. Now that I have the RR Strat with the built in GK pickup, would you recommend any other GK devices, ie, the SY-1000 or the GM-800?

I’ve gotten “acceptable” MIDI response from the GR-55 tracking with outside synths with a guitar (not a bass though!), but you do need to make sure everything is configured right. Make sure the pitch bend range on the Juno is set to plus/minus 24 if possible- this is a fixed value in the GR55, and will not work well if the attached synth is not the same or very close. Also check out the “nuance” settings in the GR55- this affects MIDI messages sent out too (I can’t recall what I set mine to, but probably pretty low for triggering external synths). Also ideally you want to use the GR55 “Mono” mode which sends each string on a separate MIDI channel, but this requires a multitimbral synth- meaning a synth that can respond to MIDI messages sent out on multiple channels independently. If you use the GR55 in MIDI “poly” mode then it sends all the strings on a single channel and any pitch-bend from a single string will affect all the strings, which makes playing pretty messy unless you are playing single note lines IME. Also turn “chromatic” mode off if you want to be able to slide or anything.

I really love the SY1000 myself, and use it much more than the GR55. If you like the Dynamic Synth and Gr300 voices in the GR55 then the SY-1000 gives you far more tweakable versions of those along with lots of other sound options and tons of amp and pedal models too.

I hope to try a GM800 at some point, but the price of the pedal and necessary GK-AD convertor box (to turn the GK-3 signal into a digital GK signal) puts it outside of my price range at the moment. Reports of massive improvements with newest firmware are definitely creating more GAS!

Definitely join VGuitar forums for a TON of useful info about all of these devices and how to get the most out of them!

 

[Trvbass]

Thanks for everyone's comments! I think this clears it up for me - Enjoy the GR55 for now and maybe look into the SY-1000. I see there is a Floorboard software for that!

 

[Trvbass]

@gumtown - Is your SY-1000 Floorboard software ready to use with Windows 11? I'm interested in getting an SY-1000 soon if I could expect a similar experience to the amazing GR-55 Floorboard!

Thanks!

SY-FloorBoard

Download SY-FloorBoard for free. A collection of graphical midi based editors, each made specifically for the Boss SY-1000 , Roland VG-99 guitar, or VB-99 bass synth units, which provide an alternative to the Boss/Roland version of midi editors, with full features and control of the SY-1000...

sourceforge.net

 

[gumtown]

@gumtown - Is your SY-1000 Floorboard software ready to use with Windows 11? I'm interested in getting an SY-1000 soon if I could expect a similar experience to the amazing GR-55 Floorboard!

Thanks!

SY-FloorBoard

Download SY-FloorBoard for free. A collection of graphical midi based editors, each made specifically for the Boss SY-1000 , Roland VG-99 guitar, or VB-99 bass synth units, which provide an alternative to the Boss/Roland version of midi editors, with full features and control of the SY-1000...

sourceforge.net

Yes, works on Windows 10 and Windows 11.
This version let's you load in and convert patches from many other similar Boss & Roland units, such as GT-1000, GP-10, VG-99, VB-99.

 

[Trvbass]

I’ve gotten “acceptable” MIDI response from the GR-55 tracking with outside synths with a guitar (not a bass though!), but you do need to make sure everything is configured right. Make sure the pitch bend range on the Juno is set to plus/minus 24 if possible- this is a fixed value in the GR55, and will not work well if the attached synth is not the same or very close. Also check out the “nuance” settings in the GR55- this affects MIDI messages sent out too (I can’t recall what I set mine to, but probably pretty low for triggering external synths). Also ideally you want to use the GR55 “Mono” mode which sends each string on a separate MIDI channel, but this requires a multitimbral synth- meaning a synth that can respond to MIDI messages sent out on multiple channels independently. If you use the GR55 in MIDI “poly” mode then it sends all the strings on a single channel and any pitch-bend from a single string will affect all the strings, which makes playing pretty messy unless you are playing single note lines IME. Also turn “chromatic” mode off if you want to be able to slide or anything.

I really love the SY1000 myself, and use it much more than the GR55. If you like the Dynamic Synth and Gr300 voices in the GR55 then the SY-1000 gives you far more tweakable versions of those along with lots of other sound options and tons of amp and pedal models too.

I hope to try a GM800 at some point, but the price of the pedal and necessary GK-AD convertor box (to turn the GK-3 signal into a digital GK signal) puts it outside of my price range at the moment. Reports of massive improvements with newest firmware are definitely creating more GAS!

Definitely join VGuitar forums for a TON of useful info about all of these devices and how to get the most out of them!

@sunbeast & @gumtown

I should have an SY-1000 in a few days and I'm looking forward to using it with the Roland Ready Strat and the Floorboard software.

As a secondary use case, do you think it can serve as a multi effects box for a bass without the GK pickup? I have a pedalboard for bass with Source Audio pedals for EQ, Compression, C4 Synth, Chorus/Flange, Reverb/Delay that I would like to compare to the SY-1000 and rationalize where possible.

Thanks!

 

[sunbeast]

@sunbeast & @gumtown

I should have an SY-1000 in a few days and I'm looking forward to using it with the Roland Ready Strat and the Floorboard software.

As a secondary use case, do you think it can serve as a multi effects box for a bass without the GK pickup? I have a pedalboard for bass with Source Audio pedals for EQ, Compression, C4 Synth, Chorus/Flange, Reverb/Delay that I would like to compare to the SY-1000 and rationalize where possible.

Thanks!

I haven’t tried it that way (and mostly run my SY-1000 into external effects pedals that I am more accustomed to), but my understanding is that it has most of the effect blocks of the flagship Boss multi-effect unit at the time and a lot of guys on the Vguitar forums rave about it for the effects. I can’t see any reason why it couldn’t replace your standalone effects in many cases if you like the options available.

 

[Trvbass]

@sunbeast & @gumtown

Thanks for your helpful comments on this topic! I no longer have the GR55 and I now have the SY-1000 and the GM-800 driven by the Roland Ready Strat and the US-20 A/B/Both switcher. I'm still looking for better support for bass guitar on the 1/4 input than what the SY-1000 has and I'm considering the VG800 or the GT1000/GT1000CORE to compliment the GM-800.

Do you have any experience or viewpoints on the VG-800 and the GT1000/GT1000CORE as better compliments to the GM-800 over the SY-1000?

 

[sunbeast]

@sunbeast & @gumtown

Thanks for your helpful comments on this topic! I no longer have the GR55 and I now have the SY-1000 and the GM-800 driven by the Roland Ready Strat and the US-20 A/B/Both switcher. I'm still looking for better support for bass guitar on the 1/4 input than what the SY-1000 has and I'm considering the VG800 or the GT1000/GT1000CORE to compliment the GM-800.

Do you have any experience or viewpoints on the VG-800 and the GT1000/GT1000CORE as better compliments to the GM-800 over the SY-1000?

What are you missing from the SY1000 from the 1/4" input?

I haven't yet tried a GT1000 or VG-800. From demos and what I've read though, the GM-800 wouldn't offer much over the SY1000 for 1/4" use apart from the built-in FX Loops and some added amp modeling while you lose some of the modeled synth abilities (like the Dynamic Synth engine) that the SY-1000 has. For me the Dynamic Synth engine is a big part of what makes the SY-1000 so cool due to the lack of any latency and the flexibility of layering multiple sounds- very different than the triggered synth sounds in the GM-800, and can be triggered from the 1/4" input (which I don't believe is an option for the VG800 synths, though I could be wrong)

 

[fokof]

Here too , I use two units , I blend both to create some very original tones ( SY1000 + VB99 )
BTW : VB99 has better PTM performance than the SY1000