Everything you wanted to know about MIDI Guitar and an honest review of the Boss SY-1000 

I'm in college right now for programming... this whole video seems like a great explanation of what happens when UI design is an afterthought

Roland have such a weird, weird habit of designing the most stunningly capable and gorgeous-sounding gear, and then packing them full of the worst presets imaginable. Every pedal. Every synth. They just can't stop.

Thank god this isn't another video that makes me feel like I need to buy more expensive gear. Also they should put you on the design team for this product line.

These really genuine, honest reviews are such a rare gemstone nowadays, and I can really not express my gratitude enough to you for making them. It's so good to have someone you can actually trust when they talk about gear. I am really interested in MIDI guitar (actually MIDI bass to be exact) and from watching this video I feel that you have a super interesting workflow with it, extracting more out of the tech than just staying within the limits of the Boss/Roland interface. It would be extremely helpful for me to know a bit more about the various uses you have for midi guitar in your setup - how you use it to export midi out to a 3rd party destination, if you use midi guitar to midi map daw controls etc. I think this info can be eye-opening to many here, myself included. Thank you for all your efforts invested in this channel, as well as in your music which I've been a fan of for years.

The Roland GK-3 hex divided pickup provides 6 analog Output signals ( one per string) and a 7th for the normal Pickups and feed these ANALOG signals through the GK 13 cable to the connected "GK 13 pin PROCESSOR" . The Roland VGuitar 13pin GK Processors (as well as competing DSP Guitar Modeling systems from Antares, and Line-6 Variax) do not employ a Guitar to MIDI conversion function for their principal sound . Instead think of the VGuitar system as six separate DSP Modeling signal paths - The Strings are the oscillators. and it functions quite similar to the Line-6 Variax signal processing flow - ( Guitar PU for each String> six A/D's ( one per string) >DSP >D/A) and latency is similar to Variax (under 2 milliseconds for each string) and substantially much faster than any Guitar to MIDI system or Guitar to PCM system. The biggest difference between Roland VG Series and Line 6 Variax is the DSP is inside the Guitar on the Line-6 system - both allow real time DSP generated Alternate Tunings, Guitar Modeling and on Roland VG systems and Antares ATG-1 - Pedal Steel multi-string pitch bends - no MIDI involved ! STILL many folks call the GK cable a "13 pin MIDI Cable"

"Fooled You Again" seems like a reference to the synth opening in The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again", but it does sound much like it.

Benn Jordan: your in-depth analysis of the Sy-1000 is right on. I have spent an entire day trying to arrive at where you lead us here today, and so I want to thank you for your mastering of the medium. Your pre-sets are quite amazing. And the performances are magnificent. Thank you.

Man Ben I remember when I heard red extensions of me for the first time. I was running the radio show at my highschool and asked my friend that worked at an offbeat record store and wanted something to play for Halloween on the radio. I asked him what would be good. He gave me that album and meathole by venetian snares. Both of them blew my mind but especially red extensions. That experience is what made me start making electronic music and I have been obsessed with it for about 15 years.

Thank you so much for taking the time and putting the effort in to make this video you've really given me an insight into how this unit works. The best review of this unit I've seen. Again thank you.

This is brilliant content I can’t get or trust anyplace else. Thank you Benn!

Shredding a Right Handed (Strung) guitar Left Handed. Bizarre Kudos. But I only found this channel as a 30 year guitariist who just bought a Yamaha Synth looking for tips. Mind Blown. You are truly a musical God! Superb videos. Totally subscribed.

Consistently fair and detailed reviews, practical and honest.👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🧿

This is exactly the video I wanted to see, thank you man

Finally someone breaking this thing down great job! Was on the fence for 6 months on getting this, gonna save my money :)

Yes! Finally! Been waiting for you to do a MIDI Guitar video since you started your channel! And a long one as well, oh man...

Thanks for making this video, I was looking to upgrade from my GR55 but I think I will wait a couple years until there are significant improvements,

I started watching this video thinking “oh boy I need this ... a massive upgrade for my VG-88” and ended it thinking “Roland have had over twenty years ... how is this as far as we've got?”

I'm at 14:30 ish and you've hit it dead on with the evaluation of the SY1000 presets. I've tried so hard to want to like this but it's hard so far. I even own two pups and several new cables from my GR55 and i SOLD THE 55 TO GET THE 1000 AND SO FAR i'M STILL NOT DOWN. i JUST GOT AN aRTIPHON SHOULD BE HERE TOMORROW so I'm see how that does. i ALREADY OWN A fANTOM 6 and Jupiter XM plus loads of plugins. I will say the guitar modeling is the only thing I'm holding onto and the reason I'm not yet gonna sell my pickups just yet. You did the BEST review I've seen great job man. Been subscribed a while and love all your videos. Boss should have had you design all of the presets! The reviews and product would've been received much better.

Woah, just realized he’s playing upside down. 🤯 thinking of buying the vg-88 .. but this guy is always cool to hear out

Ended up subscribing. Awesome review!

Dear Good job. Simple and honest. I also have for 13 years a VG99 and in addition a Cell Sonic connected and all controlled with the VG99 RC pedal board. Top gear. Could not be more satisfied. As I mentioned, I'm satisfied with my set up and the userfriendlyness of this VG99. Is still the best midi product on the market in my opinion. So you are right the SY1000 is not yet the improvement that we had hoped. Finally the musicien makes the difference. Greets from Belgium Steve Verstichelen

Never knew much about MIDI guitar, thanks for the video!

Hey Ben. Great work as always. I think the "fooled you again" preset may be a reference to the Who's "Won't get fooled again". I think Pete Townshend got the synthy intro from plugging a Lowry organ into an Arp 2500. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Won%27t_Get_Fooled_Again

Your review is good. With you on higher expectations. Thanks for your review.

Thanks for posting. You know your guitar synths. I am someone who has several but don't really use them that much, too busy learning songs. Hope to get to your synth level someday and apply the knowledge to performing. thanks again

When the bass comes out at 49:53 to fullfill the low-end with the constant upper ambience, it sounds just like heaven.

20:32 That's reminiscent of the end of "Floods" by Pantera. Must say I've enjoyed your exploration of the presets, it was very entertaining!

Thanks so much for this video, it’s very clear and helpful

Referring to it as MIDI Guitar is fundamentally incorrect. The GK pickups output hexaphonic audio and perform no MIDI processing. The general parlance most people use these days, for this technology is Hex or divided pickup. The GR-300 you referred to Pat Metheny using in the introduction, was an analogue synthesiser; no MIDI involved. The VG-8, VG-88, VG-99, GP-10 and SY-1000 all work in the audio domain using the strings as the oscillators to drive multichannel DSP's, which then perform physical modelling (including guitar and amps), realtime re-synthesis, harmonic restructure modelling etc. Internally there is no pitch to midi or tracking. Think of them as a more complex Line 6 Variax in a box. The VG-99, GP-10 and SY-1000 do also offer a separate, pitch to MID conversion via USB and 5 pin MIDI in order to drive external soft synths/hardware synths. It's important not to confuse people, as it perpetuates the stigma of 80's style pitch to MIDI converters where tracking and false note triggers were factors. The internal latency can vary on these processors, based on the type of synth model or processing being used (the OSC synth on the SY-1000 for example), but this is not the same as tracking on a pitch to midi convertor. For those interested in the underlying principles involved in this technology read this paper: msp.ucsd.edu/Publications/icmc10.pdf

nice patches you built! quite beautiful some .... would loved to see how the midi plays with a sampler like Kontakt ... some orch strings.

Wow, that sound starting @49:18 is really beautiful! (also - I think it *does* probably help that you're an awesome and highly experienced sound-designer) Your jazz-guitar skills are pretty on point - getting some Joe Pass, maybe Jim Hall, Barney Kessel... great stuff! Very glad you reviewed this - I'd been playing with the thought of getting one of these. It's not bad - it probably won't satiate my appetite for a real Synthaxe, but might be an option - I'm gonna give it some time and see what firmware and software updates it'll get. Meanwhile, for jamming and studio work, it's not like all the other controllers (midi-keyboards, launchpads and a Touché with its amazing articulation-capabilities) won't do. Still waiting for a synthaxe like Holdsworth got to enjoy for the 21st century though - no tracking latency, keys and pluckable strings, hold-mode.... all that stuff.

I’ve been using Guitar Synths since 1974... Thanks so much for your great dissection of the Roland Preset Fluff and diving deep into the core of the Japanese engineers idea of what music is! LOL! Aka: Engineers not Musicians! As I have learned with all latest greatest equipment .... Find it’s limitations... I’m most cases are many , many.... only then....you can find if there is anything elements left, that your can use to create a few a truly dynamic sounds ! So far after many ~ I use the GR-55 and as I am sure you know 99% of those presets were all junk too... unless you can Tweek all that was left...into some thing that is usable to me. Lol... Some things Never Change!!! Thanks for the deep dive!!! Gerard

Dear Roland. Please employ Mr Benn Jordan as a consultant on future firmware updates for the Boss SY-1000. #bossSY1000

I often hear “it’s great for synth wave” Which is nice but also a huge red flag.

Everything i wanted to learn in one video!

Really informative, thank you

I can't thank you enough for this honest review. I'm am not a professional or gigging musician just somebody who loves jamming along with my favourite rock songs at home but also don't mind spending a lot of money on high level equipment if it sounds great and Is easy to use. I have used lots of boss multi effects units over the years and was always very happy with my purchases. But a couple years ago I purchased a headrush pedal board as it seamed more advanced than the then newest boss unit at the time. I absolutely love the headrush, it sounds amazing and is very easy to program and use. I recently have been interested in the gk3 pickup functions especially the ability to use custom and alt tunings and switch to 12string and acoustic sounds at the Press of a foot switch. I was about to pull the pin and order the sy1000 as I thought being the flagship boss gk3 model it would give me all my headrush board has plus the gk3 tuning/acoustic ability. SO GLAD I FOUND THIS VIDEO FIRST!!!! I didn't hear one single preset I could use and the thought of spending hours deepdiving into menus to try and create my own presets nearly gave me an aneurysm! I've decided after watching this video to instead buy the boss gp10s and gk3 which only costs around a third the price of the sy1000. And run this into my headrush. That will give me best of both worlds, alt tuning, acoustic sim and great sounding easy to set up amp/effects sounds. I wish there was more open honest reviews like this on RU-vid. Thanks again your newest subscriber 👌

God bless you. ❤ I almost got rid of my SY 1000 till I watched this. I hated the presets and now I see why. I guess it’s time to deep dive.❤

I had a Boss GP-10 for a while, and it was quite good at the modelling other guitars stuff. I could sound like an acoustic, a big jazz semi-hollow, a sitar, etc. and it sounded pretty good. It didn't really have any intention of MIDI control, though, I didn't use it enough to keep it around.

Moldover is a great musician that deserves much more attention.

The only good experience I have had with Roland Boss 13 pin products (aside of GK-3 pickup, which is a must) was with GP-10. The best guitar to midi product (which works together with Roland’s GK-3 pickup) is by far Axon AX 100 made decades ago by a German company called Blue Chip, and later company Terratec Producer. With Axon AX 100 and GK-3 pickup, you can connect your guitar to any sound source of any kind and never have to worry about latency, or triggering errors (at least that is my own experience). By the way, thank you Ben for all your wonderful videos ! I love all of your videos I watched so far. X🤘🏻X

We should do a VG-99 lovefest somewhere. I just got an SY-1000 too. Good video. More after I watch the whole thing.

I use things like ez drummer, but never thought about midi to emulate one string at a time and sound like a banjo or acoustic whatever. Good demo with great insight!

easiest subscription ever -what a stunning video.

I came for the SY1000 and stayed for the accurate analysis and real world (and time) experience with midi interfacing with a guitar. I love playing the guitar for the reasons you mention - the overtones and what you can do with years of practice and playing. The first time I used a midi processor with guitar I heard all of those out of control weird untamed tones and immediately realized that my lack of experience with a keyboard was no longer a problem. But you are so right to say that it’s not really like playing a midi instrument(s) with a guitar. It’s like a whole different thing. This is sounding very familiar to both my approach and my opinions regarding guitar and contemporary music. My initial influences were A Belew and R Fripp, which morphed into Fred Frith and Marc Ribot … but I still love SY and Pavement. None of that should matter. Have you used Jam Origin products? I’ll check your other videos and figure that one out. MidiMorphose seems to have vanished.

Супер обзор,спасибо!Super review, thanks!

What a fantastic video. Thank you Benn for going so in depth, yet in a concise way. It does give a great insight as to what exists, what expectations one may have etc. What do you make of the Jam Origin stuff and do you think they will release a newer and better version of their own system in the future for example?

Thank you so much for taking the time to create this video, very much appreciated. I am quite happily surprised to find that you play upside down and backwards, Albert King, Otis Rush, Dick Dale, Eric Gales, yourself and I!! I just acquired this pedal and have not had a chance yet to install the GK3 in one of my Guitars. Is there a particular guitar that the GK3 works best with. I have an SG and a Stratocaster available. Which would you choose as your first 13 pin guitar between those two? I’m subscribing to your channel. Cheers!!😊

would like to see you sending midi guitar to your modulars!

Great T-shirts!!🥰

thank you for sharing :)

I was fucking cackling at all the factory presets. God that made my day. Thank you

Great review... I've toyed around with purchasing one of these units and still on the fence after this review. I'm curious if they have made updates to address any of the issues you listed. Obviously the stereo issue must still be there but anything else improved?

Thank you! I currently have and use a VG99 and GR55. For a long time I also used 2 GI20’s going into Roland 880 and 1080 synths. I recently tried the SY200 (useless imo!) and have been thinking about trying this new synth you just reviewed. I think I will stay with what I have for now. Thanks for saving me some $$!

This video should be called "Everything you can't discover about your purchase when you don't read the manual".

first time in ur channel, very cool review and info on midi guitars and sy1000. it was inspiring. got any review video of sy300 or if not, any thoughts on that? kindda new on this synth-guitar world as a guitarist-singer. need a good starting point and advises. cheers.

I can't believe that they didn't include 001: ARP 303 Saw in that preset bank..

Would appreciate hearing your analysis of the latest system - GM 800 & GK-5

Have play midi guitar system for 15 year it's the best review for SY1000。

Wow! Thank you.

Hey man... I've had mine for about a year, coming from a Gr55 and a GP10. It's basically in my opinion, the GP10 new flagship. I do battle to program anything but a silly 80s synth or a pad. I'd prefer to learn more on harder synth leads and rhythms. The GP10 had a great wave synth or something using the gk which gave it a more "synth for a guitarist" feel. I have days where I love the sy and days I'm not sure where to go with it... Considering using it mainly as my guitar modeler, tuning, clean tones, etx... and a core as my main drive tones etc. I wanted this to be my all in one... But until I get an IR box I can't go any further, also the lag between patch changes... All the best man always wanted to go more into synth guitar but my brain just can't comprehend it, which is why I loved the blender on the 300. 🤘✌️

Roland/Boss offers the best guitar modeling (the L6 Variax guitars are good too, but have significant disadvantages) on the market, but when it comes to pitch-to-MIDI, the Fishman TriplePlay is far superior. Spitfire Audio recently sponsored a competition for scoring a scene from Westworld. For my entry (which you can see on my channel), with the exception of the drums, I performed all the parts with TriplePlay. There was a bit of MIDI editing after the fact, but I’ve never been able to get synth parts down so quickly before. I’d highly recommend checking one out.

Thank you for this in depth review. I've been a 13 pin user since the original Roland V-Bass. I had been ignoring the SY series because of the lack of PCM sounds. I wish you had demoed the midi out to other synths. I was curious if it tracks identical to the GR-55, or if it has been improved. The last few years I've been doing a lot of acoustic guitar duo gigs. I've found the FTP to track sampled sounds better than a GR-55, but as you mention the acoustic models aren't there with FTP. I used to think the Roland models were really good (VG-99), until I heard the Antares ATG-1 models! Those are my favorites (especially the 12 string). The other thing that the ATG-1 has that no Roland had is auto tune. Hit a button and all your strings tune up instantly (it even corrects for poor intonation up the neck). So I cut the pickup off my FTP Connect and built a 13 pin adapter to feed it. The ATG-1 has a 13 pin out, so I send that to my FTP and use my favorite softsynths on an iPad mini 4th gen. I get great models on the ATG-1 and great synth tracking from my FTP, check it out here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qBsXT7qZN2c.html

Great review! Just learn something! Work can be very deep aesthetically interesting.

Benn, your video is great, as usual. Have there been any updates since then? Are you still using it?

Thanks for such a thorough, honest review. To you knowledge, were any of the interface or modeling issues ever addressed in an update since 2020?

Nice review man ! Cleared lots of questions and gave right expectations.. To simply control external devices via midi with a 13 pin adapted guitar what would be your recommended pedal/processor ?

So I found this to be quite helpful so thank you for putting this out there. I have been on the fence about getting this I love midi guitar... And I'm currently using a fishman triple play myself. I have never used the 13 pin, and especially when I'm recording I'm finding that the Bluetooth triple play create some very unsavory artifacting that I have not found a way to avoid. I usually have to go back in and manually edit the midi in my daw to remove some of this craziness and I need something I can play my guitar and still record well. Would I benefit more from a 13pin pu with my library over this?

Great loads of useful information. I am still trying to get to grips with my VG99 Can anyone explain to me how to set up alternate tunings? Especially NST in the VG99. Thanks Glad I found your channel.

Hey Benn! I really appreciate your honest feedback on this thing, and since you said that you kept it, I'm curious if there have been any notable software updates? You said that most of the things bothering you were software problems that could be patched, has Roland gotten around to "fixing" the SY-1000?

Great video! What would you recommend for somebody who's an experienced guitar player, looking to try midi guitar for the first time?

So i wonder, which soft reverbs do you like? Great video as always. thanks

You suggested Allan Holdsworth as MIDI- king. Love that, and a bit awed. He has been my musician hero all my life. Audun

Do you know the soft MIDI Guitar 2 ? Works even with chords. A quite good tracking, and without any hardware or drill :) It's only software and I don't know why nobody knows it !

Thank you

Can you post your patches on the V-Guitar forum? Really like the Traffic patch. I share your frustration about the editor and the presets, the bass patches are more creative IMO.

Ben, would love to see a review of the new Roland gm-800 guitar synth. This one is a PCM synth, but it sound way better than the old stuff. Lots of videos on RU-vid...

I have a Fishman and I think maybe I need to tweak the software more, but what do you think about the capability of just transcribing music with a midi pickup? I’ve found it to be a huge pain in the ass, but do you think the technology in general is there yet, and are there better alternatives?

I just bought a second hand VG-99. I’m almost finished building a guitar to use with it. I’m so glad I didn’t get this thing.

mr Jordan, what oyou think about roland GR55 ? nice video btw...congratz hugs from brazil

56:30 The "WAVE PEDAL" (in the "ASSIGN" page), is a tempo sync-able LFO that can be mapped to anything: read the manual.

Hey there, nice video. But I am kind of surprised that you don't mention the Fishman Tripleplay and/or the line6 Variax stuff.

God, how I am greatful that I'm able to play this instrument 😊

Can we get an update on the SY-1000? I’ve off and on considered buying one for quite some time now.

I built an FFT based polyphonic pitch detector that has excellent tracking without the need for hexaphonic pickups. in fact it works so well it can run pitch detection on full mixes it can be done with FFT, but it's not that simple. you need a loooooot of additional tricks for it to work well

Hey Benn, first i love your videos and your style. Its a shame that you skipped the GP-10. I use it since many years and i love the sounds and the possibilities it offers me. Not this useless pianos or trumpets but it comes with a kind of real synthesizer and the roland guitar simulations and a bunch of very nice effects. Ok, i like it if the sounds are a bit row and ruff... and to connect a LFO to an parameter is very easy... :) Cheers and take care

Thanks for honest review!.. So what’s the best alternative to what this claims to be?..

Probably this is the only review on youtube brutally honest on SY1000 also I don't think a guitar player spent their life full on amps and effect can make a review in this extent so thank you so much for making this video. I am a guitar player and keys are not really for me, so I was searching for midi recording midi controlling equipment for so long and SY1000 seemed like a solution for my search. However apparently it is not after this amazing review. I have a question on this topic, will MIDI2.0 be able to make it closer to guitar pick ups response?

Hey, I'm using Godin with Gr 55, but tracking on many of most midi sounds is quite bad, especially with deeper notes, also there is just too much of ghost notes and unintentional sounds, sure depends on playing, but even if im playing as clean as I can Do you find Nylon strings on Godin are tracking less good than steel? also, I'm using the shamisen sound in some songs, and it is quite tricky one...does SY-1000 also have shamisen?...also what's your opinion on Gr-55?, im huge fan of having that expression pedal, would miss that on SY-1000, but guess I could plug in one...great review and channel btw, tnx, and subbed😉!

I'm the guy you talked to at WNAMM 2020 from BOSS.

Hi Benn. Thanks for the video. Is there such pickup that I can use without a processor that can directly go to 5 pin midi input? I am not a live performer I just want to put some ideas down on my DAW with the guitar. Thanks again.

Your shirt is amazing

At the moment, most SY-1000 users program on device than in the PC editor. Pressing down on the knobs unlocks a new feature. You can reorder instruments vertically, by the way. Noisy USB is not generally a problem. Please have another look.

I have the GR-55. Has a learning curve and wish it had better editing software but I’m really exploring new sounds

Hi, this is a great video! I have a question. I currently on the Boss GX 100, and I was wondering if I should just get like a boss sy 200 instead of the 1000 and added into the chain to get the synth sounds. Because I so far I’m a big fan of the GX and I’m not very impressed with the higher up sy models. On paper I am, but the presets sound Garic and you’re right in saying they sound out of touch they sound like somebody who is still making acid music from the 90s no shade to that but it’s 2023.

So many questions. Does it answer well as VG series? I mean no off tone notes or unwanted sounds? Thanks

If I were just getting into MIDI guitar, would you advise getting a GK-3 and a VG-99, or a GK-3 and an SY-1000 ... ? I know you said ‘probably the 1000 for a noob to guitar MIDI’, but given what you says about the harmonizer in the 99 (and possibly the tone/noise of the units?!), assuming I had plenty of other effects, a good interface, etc, it sounds to me like you might think the basic tone, function (esp the harmonizer) etc of the 99 is better ... at least, unless/until Roland gets around to patching the 1000 (if ever?) ... ?!!

Nice video...the search for a decent MIDI Guitar is a never ending saga! My first midi guitar was the Yamaha EZ-AG! Have you tried the Fishman triple play? I'm not sure if i should go roland or fishman!

I use it with an internal midi looper and so it can be used with any vst in any daw

Just ordered a SY-1000. Let's see if it can replace my current rig: GT-1 + SY-300.