It's important to have the mindset of how the patch is felt in the technique used. For instance in the horn pieces double stops or hammer on techniques, 2 or 3 strings at a time for organs with slides single note leads for sax. If played in a guitar lead style feeling you miss out on a lot of the units potential, It is a steep FEEL learning curve but I thank you for displaying the different patches and your time for making the video. Bravo!!!
I think your comment is right on. I generally stick with gear for a long time... in part because every new piece of gear (effects pedals, GR-55, etc) is in a sense a brand new instrument with its own learning curve. And a piece of gear with lots of presets is like a pile of new instruments acquired all at once. I'm still using the POD 2.0, for example, for home recording. I've been using a Korg Krome88 keyboard for 8 years and honestly I still am learning new tricks with it. So rushing out to buy a newer version of something may not always be the best idea, because a piece of gear is no better than your familiarity with using it in context.
Cheers from Texas! 🤟😺🤟 I have a Roland VGA-7 twin combo. Some sounds are pseudo-Synth but it’s mostly guitar oriented. I’ve wondered how the synth systems in the GR series compare with the Fantom keyboard systems. All the best✌️
i have used 04- 2 E.Piano since the gr55 came out. i use it on all my recordings. chain, ( e piano / Black Lion B173 pre / Empirical Lab Distressor. opt 10.01, 6 2 2 6. Dist2 on. all to taste. mono the do as i like in the box. sounds ok.
I have been in a writers slump with regular clean/distorted guitar tones so I dusted off my Roland GR-55 after years for inspiration. I was setting up my synth to go through the sounds... SUDDENLY! I came across this relatively recent video doing all the work for me AND different ears and ways of playing the patches. Went from being in a guitar players rut to beaming ideas in no time. Some of these GR-55 videos go back 11 years, nice to see a new one. Thumbs up and a sub!
I must have way different tastes than you do, what you think is too much, I see as totally usable. I’m putting together (I originally wrote building, but other than fitting the Floyd, I really didn’t need to build or rebuild much) I will make a video about it, but it just popped in my mind for the ultimate ax, I need midi. I had a series of strokes a while back and basically have to teach my hands the functionality of playing again, so in a sense I’m creating a handicap instrument! Anyhoo, this is the answer with the ability to open tune on the fly and such. I’m a synth guy as well so I’ll be able to pull stuff off and expand my creativity by leaps and bounds. Thank you so much for the demo! Keep your eyes out for me and tell me what you think! Unless it’s mean! Lol, my rig is unbelievable, imagine this, the gr-55, the Gt-1000 with all of dreadbox and EHX, earthquaker, Beetronics, Eventide max, Bluesky, etc… then synths and drum machines, pads and real Harmonica and the Rc-500, it will fun! My goal is write and practice for a year and busker my disabled ass at a fair. PS I got at least 10 ideas for original songs from your demo! Really nice Demonstration! But you seriously need some anti slip pads under the unit, I don’t know how that doesn’t make you nuts! It would me! Lol
I don't dispute that many things are a question of taste. I'm glad to hear from the RU-vid community, and I'm also glad that I run a school where other teachers and students debate my opinions. When you're just talking to a video camera it's easy to be opionated, ha ha. Definitely drop a link to your music here.
Many factory preset employ the real time VGUITAR COSM Modeling with ultra low latency and no Guitar to MIDI Involved ( like Lead 08-02 Feedback Guitar)
sorry about that. I made this vid at home and it was one of those "got to get it done" situations so I just went for it and used my regular cameras without the direct mic'ing / lines I'd use at my studio. I had no idea this more casually-shot video would become by far the most watched and rapidly growing video I've ever made!
I have a Godin XTSA Guitar and GR55 , would you please teach me how to change Patches up and down using the guitar switcher ? please teach how to assign the XTSA Switch button so that I can select only Bank Up and Bank Down
here's how I use the switches currently. The "top" switch turns the synth pickup / functionality of the xtSA on and off. so if you dont want to drive the GR 55 for the whole song you can just turn that off from the guitar. The "bottom" switch scrolls up and down through banks on the GR 55. if it can be set to do something differently, I haven't explored that yet. I think it works well because the bank up-down procedure on the GR footpedal is not my favorite design, so you can use the guitar switch to cycle through banks of 3. Then you can select between the three presets in each bank with your feet... since -- natively anyway -- the switch on the guitar doesnt do that.
What would make them better in your opinion? Are there guitar synth systems with better overall sounds? My feeling about a lot of gear (synths, guitar modelers, multi FX units) is that you often don't have all great presets.... With some it's only a minority. But you dont necessarily need 300 great sounds, if there are 25 really useful ones that's good enough. Some units like the Korg Krome88 keyboard have a really great percentage of usable sounds. With the Spider V amp I had to make useful presets; I liked very little of what it came with but it had the editability to give me what I wanted (I sat in Guitar Center for 2 hours with it before buying). What I don't know yet about the GR 55 is how editable it is. I've just been using the stock presets so far. As a music school owner I have a LOT of gear and wish I could spend more time with a lot of it
@@kaleidoscopeschool I like the Godin guitar line up. I used a GR55 with a Godin grand concert for a few years. Ended up using only about 5 tailored go to sounds (out of hundreds) like you said you only need a few good ones. What I found was, however cool it was to make my guitar sound like a sax or trumpet etc it was a b grade version and I just wanted a premium guitar sound not a guitar that sounded like a b grade version of anything. The Boss SY1000 is a much newer and more improved tech with more guitar oriented sound options that has my interest. A top end guitar and amp is always a good place to start. The gr55 is impressive and can produce some good sounds among a sea of not so great sounds. That pedal is awesome and flawed at the same time. Can't smoothly transition between patch's which restricts options when playing live. Also certain sounds can be a bit buggy if your playing many notes on many strings. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-p2RGPsAATRE.html The tracking issue can be fixed
This sounds like it could combine all of the EHX "9" series in one pedal, the MEL 9, Key 9, Bass 9...all of them, and still track better. I returned my KEY 9 because the "mallets" setting didn't track well enough to my liking. It dropped every fourth note during 8th note practice patterns.
Hi, I'm Charles, the creator of the video. I haven't tried Roland's technical support / customer service lines any time in recent memory, so I really don't know how responsive or not they are. If you try and find out, you could drop a comment here letting us know
@@kaleidoscopeschool I sure will, but I tried to reach them. There is no such thing as Technical Support other than whatever they post on a knowledge base unfortunately
@@kaleidoscopeschool also I will be glad to see. Maybe your knowledge can help me out with a couple of little confusing topics. Wonder if you’ll be open
@@yksushi one of the things I know very little about with the GR55 so far is how you edit it. I've been almost exclusively using the presets as-is. I wish I had more time to spend with it; I run a school with 800 students and 12 student bands....so I make a lot of videos reviewing the gear I (fortunately) have the budget to purchase for the school, but not always a lot of time to deep-dive into the particularities of some of the gear that is harder to figure out or more idiosyncratically designed
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE ❤️ LOVE ❤️ LOVE ❤️ LOVE THIS VIDEO.. I ESPECIALLY LOVE THE ROLAND GR-55 UNIT.. I HAVE SEEN PRETTY MUCH ALOT OF MY FAVORITE GUITARIST'S USE AND DEMONSTRATE THE ROLAND GR-55 UNIT.. WHICH IS WHAT LED ME TO THIS VIDEO..ALBEIT 12 MONTH'S LATER..
Thanks for the video. I just pulled my GR-55 out of the box after several years. I had it hooked up to my strat, which I haven't had for years. It worked really well and now I'm going to try it with my acoustic guitar. Also the GR-55 is not a small unit and your boot makes it look tiny!
Do you realize that you can put a dummy plug (the little jack only) in the "Guitar Out" jack and eliminate guitar sounds that are built into the patches?
I've recorded a lot of my own music (piano to orchestra sounds) using a GR33 midi out into my computer and using soundfont sounds. I'd like to see what a GR55 midi out into a keyboard synth would sound like, especially the amazing Osmose synth.
Hello I'm happy to see that there are still people talking about the GR-55, thank you for your video. Being the owner of this product, I see you go around all the sounds possible, but never the piano alone? I wonder if you have this problem of note repetition especially on percussion instruments which seems to be a problem on the gr-55 if so how did you solve this problem? And maybe help me to direct me to a solution. Thanks for your video :)
I think I know what you mean....repeating notes from a MIDI glitch? I haven't ever experienced that with my xtSA / GR-55 setup, so I dont know if I can be helpful. I have experienced it with other MIDI based gear in the past; that's why I have a sense of what you're talking about.
Hello Thank you for your answer maybe it happens with nylon strings and less with metal strings but I have the GK-3 adapter too and I have the same note rebound on percussion instrument it's really disturbing when you would like to play the piano above all it does not matter thank you anyway. But I also have a Spark amp but not the same godin guitar as yours I have a nylon sting godin with a midi output like yours and a normal output like any other guitar, however your godin has 3 outputs, one midi, one pyzzo and another normal. In short I want to know when you play the sound of the GR-55 does it come out of the Spark, or just the headrush speaker? Do you take the spark amp to use the Spark application and the two other pyzzo sounds on the Fishman amp and headrush for the GR-55 output. If I understood I'm a winner haha. If I'm right tell me yes :) Sometimes other installation approach is interesting to do thank you. Thank you for your good work looking forward to following you.
@@francisturgeon3333 I've only used the GR 55 so far with the xtSA so I dont know about nylon strings. The xtSA has two audio outputs, the electric guitar sound I run to the Spark. I rarely use the Spark App; I just have 4 hardware presets on the amp that I created. The acoustic audio output of the xtSA goes to the Fishman. The third output is just the digital output that runs to the GR 55 (no audio), then the GR 55 has a 1/4" audio out that I generally run to either a HeadRush speaker, a Galaxy Hot Spot monitor or to the PA system
great to see it’s still getting interest. I’ve played roland synth guitar on and off since the GR 300. i love my 55. By the way I’m sure the strings are switched off because the instrument eg trumpet can’t play those notes. I use the Godin LGXT love it although I had to buy a mod for the GR55 from a guy in the US to allow it to work flawlessly with the GR55 synth sounds it’s been so long since I installed it I’ve forgotten what it was exactly. haven’t forgot the price though 😰
Is this just patches that are in it only? I don't see anything on the face of it to where you can make your own. I basically want my guitar to sound like a Synth, with some horns and Strings. I have one of these with the pickup also so I can use any guitar. I hope I haven't wasted my money.
I just did the stock patches/presets in this video. I haven't yet done much with the idea of editing it. I made one 12 string patch for Suite Madam Blue in 2021, but I think I just modified something it came with slightly. The menu system doesn't present very clearly with a "go ahead and make your own presets" vibe, but I haven't pursued the concept either way yet. You should try the Blade Runner sounding patch for basic synth (kind of a Pat Metheny Offramp vibe if I remember correctly). I think you should be able to find what you are looking for in the patches it came with?
first time i watch a vdo demo (...yeare ago...), i was so impressed and want save my money yo buy this whole gigs package, im so exit3d how midi works on guitar... but... after i watch this video, and dig all sound patch of this thing, i lost my spirit to own it 😂😂😂😂... thanks man, you save my money, now i prefer to upgrade my skills than buy this fx 😂😂😂😂😂
You can turn off the chromatic when playing the `brassy` ones so that it jumps to the notes instead of bending - so sounds more like the intended instrument. Having said that, the merged polyphonic sounds are also very creative in their own right.
Why you are using pick for arpeggios which should be done by fingers? Nice demo and it made me to buy this little box for sure, but your versatility related to the style of play and different techniques which would be obvious included in video review lasting nearly two hours in fact are, I would say "slightly limited". Thanks for posting anyway.
Thanks for watching the video! I am primarily a rock / pick-style player, but I often play folk things without a pick. I don't agree with the statement that arpeggios *should* be done by fingers. Arpeggiation can be done either way unless it's a right hand pattern that involves plucking so many strings that there's no way to do it while holding a pick. There are a lot of considerations as to why you'd use a pick vs. fingers, and one of these may just be the convenience of the moment. My focus in this video was on demo'ing the patches as fast as I could, because I quickly realized it was going to take a lot longer than I expected when I started... so I'm sure I gravitated toward some of my more ingrained rock cliches playing-wise.
I was excited to get the GR-55 to go with my Godin Nylon String Multiac until I saw the new Boss GM-800 which to me is a next level synth. Thanks for the demo!!
thanks for watching! one of the problems with making demos on RU-vid is it makes me want to buy all the things that people mention in the comments . . . the new comment to my wife is "but I need one, so I can review it on RU-vid".
I'll be honest that I haven't done much programming with it yet. My primary recent experience with synth programming is my Korg Krome88 and what little I do know about this unit is it's not a similar process to the Korg. I was able to tweak a sound for my 12 string simulation for Suite Madame Blue with ease.
@@kaleidoscopeschool Thanks for the response. I'm thinking about using FTP -> MIDI -> Synthesizer. Still learning as I'm a guitar player and suck on keys. Need synth for new band I'm in.
my sense is it is generally very good. some patches seem less accurate or quick than others but I never feel like it inhibits my performance on the instrument
Thanks. I've also looked at the GM800, which they say has better tracking, but it's synth only so the GR55 seems like a better all-in-one unit as I don't really want loads of units on stage. Appreciate you replying and thanks for the video!
Olá, estou no Brasil e é só para você saber, seu vídeo me ajudou muito na escolha de timbres para um teatro musical amador que faremos por aqui na pequena cidade de Caieiras. Grande abraço!
Lol what I was asking Does the gr55 track well when strumming 1 st position chords. I’ve heard it doesn’t. Your video is the best explanation on these two prices of gear. I thought you might know Thankyou. Shawn
I've mostly used it (so far) in bands for single note phrasing and arpeggiating chords. I'll try to check more what you're asking. I set aside some time for making a followup video this Saturday. Crossing fingers....running a music school with 800 students it's busy.
I am not with my xtSA right now (it's in my studio and I'm at home) but as an owner of over 20 guitars I can say that pickups are sometimes movable/wobbly to some extent as mounted stock by the manufacturer
I didn't really know so I googled it and found this explanation: "It was my understanding that the only difference was obviously the color and that the black one came with the 1.50 update (some firmware adjustments and added some more factory presets), the blue one was pre-update (firmware 1.20) but could be updated to 1.50. No other differences that I know about."
I hear the looper is not very good. Is that true? Not that it’s a deal breaker. I’ve also heard some patches don’t track well. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the video. 👍 oh, being a bit of a Luddite I’m not very tech savvy. How does this compare to a helix, kemper or quad cortex with regards to the amp modelling ,or is that a stupid question?
To make sounds come out better, you need to install Option one in your GR55 so that you can reduce Ghost notes and other bad noises....etc ..Option 1 works fine on my GR55 and my XTSA Godin Guitar. Also the use of a GR55 Floor Editor, Free Software, is very good, it helps to better get great sound from the GR55, lots of option.
I haven't tried out the looper. I personally wish they would leave loopers out of everything. The kids in my rock band program trigger the Line 6 Spider amp loopers by accident all the time. If you want a looper buy a dedicated looper pedal (I love my RC-50). I think the amp modeling in the GR55 tracks well but its treble-biased to my ear (though the stock presets in many things seem to be) and I don't think it's trying to compete directly against a Helix or the like. That's a more comprehensive device that works with the audio output of your guitar. I would guess the Helix and similar modelers are way more customizable
Awesome video. Hey I was wondering I play and sing 24:48 solo at church I have the same godin as you do you think the gr55 would work well with a lot of strumming to fill up the sound. I appreciate this video Thankyou so much. Shawn
