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Boss SY-1000!

#81
Drog said:
Who plays the stock patches? People need to take the time to dig in and program this synth.
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I'm not going to get into a silly argument over the SY-1000, If you like it that's great! For me it was an absolute waste of a thousand bucks and I returned it.. Its labeled as a guitar synthesizer but you have very few synth options to work with, even the so called "pro" players who demo the unit and make there own sounds will bore you within 5 minutes because every synth patch sounds the same as the last and most are just some goofy sounding useless rubbish you can't use in a live situation ever.. I agree with the comment above about putting the PCM synth into the SY-1000, had Boss done that I would have kept it for sure.. :)
 
#82
When this was announced at NAMM 2020 I mistakenly thought this was just an eye wateringly expensive synth pedal and didn't pay it too much attention - I was fooled by Boss' own "SY" labelling not to look at this product any further! (If your marketing department are following this thread Boss...;))

But as @gumtown has pointed out, it turns out it does a whole lot more by incorporating a bunch of effects from Boss' flagship GT-1000 multifx i.e. this is effectively the Boss SY-300 + Boss GT-1000 Core all under one bonnet and cheaper / a lot less real estate than getting them separately. In fact the Boss SY-1000 could very easily be a stand alone pedal board.

So it's delivering a multifx, customisable synth engine and with 8 stomp switch form-factor for ease of live use, in a package slightly larger than a Helix HX Effects. I definitely think this could be worth investigating further, particularly given that the omission of decent filter and synth capability from the GT 1000 was a "key omission" for me.
 
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#83
Al Krow said:
When this was announced at NAMM 2020 I mistakenly thought this was just an eye wateringly expensive synth pedal and didn't pay it too much attention - I was fooled by Boss' own "SY" labelling not to look at this product any further! (If your marketing department are following this thread Boss...;))

But as @gumtown has pointed out, it turns out it does a whole lot more by incorporating a bunch of effects from Boss' flagship GT-1000 multifx i.e. this is effectively the Boss SY-300 + Boss GT-1000 Core all under one bonnet and cheaper / a lot less real estate than getting them separately. In fact the Boss SY-1000 could very easily be a stand alone pedal board.

So it's delivering a multifx, customisable synth engine and with 8 stomp switch form-factor for ease of live use, in a package slightly larger than a Helix HX Effects. I definitely think this could be worth investigating further, particularly given that the omission of decent filter and synth capability from the GT 1000 was a "key omission" for me.
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Then add the GK-3B 13 pin hexaphonic pickup to your bass, you get soooo much more, including instrument modelling (guitars, basses, synths), some polyphonic effects, alternate tunings per string, multi layered instruments per string (have bass models of your choice + guitar on the G & D strings, or synth fade in as you move up the fretboard).

My current setup now is the SY-1000 + Roland GR-55 paired with a 13 pin GK splitter to feed both GK inputs, the GR-55 output into the SY-1000 Return.
So I can have (if I wanted to) 2 x normal bass tones with effects + 4 x modelled bass/guitar/synth tones + 2 x PCM synth tones (usual piano/flute/whatever) all playing at the same time.

The SY-1000 is internally very customizable, for example, it has 2 main and 2 sub outputs which can be split to 4 independent outs each with its own output EQ, you can run 4 different bass models, each into its own separate preamp model, and each to it own output, and have a quadraphonic bass setup, with which ever effects added and all moved into a custom signal chain order.

Once you get past the normal bass jack output, and move to the hexa-phonic GK pickup system, the possibilities of soundscape open up a lot more.
 
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#85
Al Krow said:
Yeah - I'm definitely open to getting the GK pickup!

Do you know which (if any) key effects on the GT-1000 have not been ported across to the SY-1000?
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Probably best to install Boss Tone Studio editor for both GT-1000 and SY-1000, run them both in offline mode and compare the differences.
At a glance, the GT-1000 has
2 extra delay modules,
an extra Send/Return,
an extra distortion module,
2 extra EQ modules but the SY-1000 has 4 global EQ's on the outputs,
and the GT-1000 has IR cab file loading where the SY-1000 doesn't.
 
#86
gumtown said:
Probably best to install Boss Tone Studio editor for both GT-1000 and SY-1000, run them both in offline mode and compare the differences.
At a glance, the GT-1000 has
2 extra delay modules,
an extra Send/Return,
an extra distortion module,
2 extra EQ modules but the SY-1000 has 4 global EQ's on the outputs,
and the GT-1000 has IR cab file loading where the SY-1000 doesn't.
Click to expand...

That's really helpful, thanks!

My key concern was that the SY-1000 might have had certain important fx omitted altogether rather than simply fewer of them. So if the SY-1000 has (say) 3 delay modules and the GT-1000 has 5 - that's no biggie for me. My only issue would be if the SY-1000 had no delay modules whatsoever in this example.

I think from what you're saying, the only thing you've spotted that the GT-1000 has that the SY-1000 doesn't have at all is IR cab file loading? If that's the case, then that's definitely not a deal breaker in the way that a lack of decent filters and no synth engine in the GT-1000 is a glaring omission for me.

Well my Helix HX Effects was sold over the weekend and I'm seriously thinking about the SY-1000 plus GK pickup to replace it with :)
 
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#87
Actually one thing the SY-1000 has over the GT-1000 for bass players is the GT-1000 has 3 bass amp models, the SY-1000 has 10.

I have had the SY-1000 for a few months now, and have hardly touched the synth side of things yet,
I am still buzzing on getting great varieties of ordinary and grindy bass tones,
my two favorite preamps are the X-Mod Bass and the Fliptop.
 
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#88
gumtown said:
Actually one thing the SY-1000 has over the GT-1000 for bass players is the GT-1000 has 3 bass amp models, the SY-1000 has 10.

I have had the SY-1000 for a few months now, and have hardly touched the synth side of things yet,
I am still buzzing on getting great varieties of ordinary and grindy bass tones,
my two favorite preamps are the X-Mod Bass and the Fliptop.
Click to expand...

Excellent! Not much uploaded stuff on YT of bass players' actually making use of the SY-1000 and what patches they've created - any particularly good ones you've come across?

Also is the GK pickup important when using the non synth effects as well, or only for the synth fx?
 
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#95
Hi, anyone has experience how much faster is internal PCM synthesis of GR-55 compare to using MIDI OUT with external synth? I have AXON AX-50 and tracking is faster with external synth than internal PCM synthesis on GR-20 I used to have. If SY-1000 tracking is improved to be close to AXON, I'd be able to combine sounds of SY-1000 with sounds of XV-2020 synth feeded by MIDI OUT of SY-1000. Means I wouldn't mind lack of PCM in SY-1000.
 
#96
tripcat said:
Hi, anyone has experience how much faster is internal PCM synthesis of GR-55 compare to using MIDI OUT with external synth? I have AXON AX-50 and tracking is faster with external synth than internal PCM synthesis on GR-20 I used to have. If SY-1000 tracking is improved to be close to AXON, I'd be able to combine sounds of SY-1000 with sounds of XV-2020 synth feeded by MIDI OUT of SY-1000. Means I wouldn't mind lack of PCM in SY-1000.
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I have both the GR-55 and the SY-1000 + Roland Fantom XR rack midi synth.
The GR-55 internal PCM synth is much better than the SY-1000 + external synth, I find the SY-1000 pitch to midi is no better than the GR-55.
Bass and pitch to midi don't really work too well together, due to the physics of pitch to midi at low frequencies, the lower the notes, the more laggy the time is to detect the pitch.
So after trial and error of various setups and gear, I have settled on using both the GR-55 and SY-1000 with a GK splitter box to feed the GK input to both units.
The SY-1000 is superb at instrument modeling, analogesque type (subtractive) synth and the amp/cab modeling is out of this world better than previous Boss units.
The GR-55 does the PCM synth well for bass input, and gives an extra line of modelled instrument, my GR-55 is also modified to have an insert loop for the 'normal pickup' which I use a Tech21 VT-Bass preamp pedal in-line.
The GR-55 output is fed into the SY-1000 Loop Return and the GR-55 EXP pedal is midi connected to the SY-1000 to give mix control for the SY return level and the SY effects.
 
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#97
gumtown said:
I have both the GR-55 and the SY-1000 + Roland Fantom XR rack midi synth.
The GR-55 internal PCM synth is much better than the SY-1000 + external synth, I find the SY-1000 pitch to midi is no better than the GR-55.
Bass and pitch to midi don't really work too well together, due to the physics of pitch to midi at low frequencies, the lower the notes, the more laggy the time is to detect the pitch.
So after trial and error of various setups and gear, I have settled on using both the GR-55 and SY-1000 with a GK splitter box to feed the GK input to both units.
The SY-1000 is superb at instrument modeling, analogesque type (subtractive) synth and the amp/cab modeling is out of this world better than previous Boss units.
The GR-55 does the PCM synth well for bass input, and gives an extra line of modelled instrument, my GR-55 is also modified to have an insert loop for the 'normal pickup' which I use a Tech21 VT-Bass preamp pedal in-line.
The GR-55 output is fed into the SY-1000 Loop Return and the GR-55 EXP pedal is midi connected to the SY-1000 to give mix control for the SY return level and the SY effects.
Click to expand...
OK, thanks. So since there is no improvement on pitch to midi with SY-1000, I will probably keep the Axon. I usually play bass via standard pickup on E and A string and feed external synth with D, G and C. It works quite well with Axon. (as I understand it they use different method for pitch tracking than Roland). Regarding SY-1000 I am going to buy it anyway just for subtractive synth, amp modeling... and sequencer :)
 
#98
Bought SY-1000 last week and played with that a bit over the weekend, so far:
+ Tracking is really fast
+ Editing options are endless, combining up to 4 sound sources, plenty of effects to be placed anywhere in the chain
+ The editing is quite intuitive
- Most of factory presets are unusable, be ready to spend some time tweaking

I don't mind it does not have PCM synthesis, don't need to simulate other instruments (piano, brass...whatever). Want to use it to create new sounds based on mix of bass/guitar and synth, for that purpose it is great.
 
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#100
Gsnorgathon said:
Thanks for keeping us up to date, tripcat. Are you using the GK pickup? How are you attaching it to your bass?
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Yes, I use GK-3B attached by screws. The advantage of screws is, that I can easily adjust height of GK pickup whenever needed. I don't mind holes, since I use this bass for bass synth project only and I don't plan removing GK pickup in the future.
 
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