The Most Inspiring Synth Pedal I've Played - Boss SY200 

If I put a Tube Screamer in front of the SY-1, SY-200 or SY-300, I find the articulation of individual notes within a full chord is significantly improved. As a subtractive synth, it loves the added balanced harmonic content of the TS, so it doesn't zone in on the dominant low frequency as much. Of course, if you are only playing bass lines and single note lead runs, then the dry guitar signal is best. The TS also balances out playing dynamics in a way that a compressor pedal before the SY can't. Again, that's because a compressor would focus on the dominant frequency too much. I'm sure the SY has an internal compressor to improve tracking, but it follows the dominant frequency to a fault, and this will spoil complex or ambient chords, etc. The SY series are my absolute favourite pedals, so I've worked around some of their limitations on my channel.

whoa! when you kicked over to that bridge pickup tone at 1:07 you totally had me!!! Yeah, the synth pedal is cool too, but with guitar tone like that...who needs it!!!!! That's just killer all on it's own!

I can appreciate you reaching for that huge knife to lift off the lid. "Is that a dagger I see before me?" Either that or a potential strained back...

John, the Boss SY-1000 has 3 different synth engines and allows 3 different sounds at once. Also on the SY-1000, if you combine a Roland GK pickup with the Guitars 1/4 inch cable it enables an even greater amount of Dynamic and Articulation sensitivity with the Synth and Modeling sounds. Although all of this comes at a price. It's not an inexpensive pedal. Thanks.

This thing is incredible in the Helix's FX loop. Split the chain up, put a poly pitch and screamer in front and man it really gives it more lift and versatility

This is awesome for ambient stuff and with propper tracking it can do bass synth as well.

Absolutely beautiful playing..i love all your videos I hope your channel gets big ❤️ Love from Nepal

Two things are consistent in the mornings, one my coffee and two Mr. Cordy playing filthy ass riffs that I undoubtedly think I can play but then quickly realize my only path to play them is at .50% speed 🤣

You have incredible chops and your voicing is beautiful! I received my SY200 two weeks ago and it is so addictive! Love it!

I got one of these right when they came out, I had wanted an SY-1 but really wanted to be able to save presets. It's a really fun pedal that I have running into my GT 1000 Core and then into an RC-5. Allows me to make some really fun sounds for looping.

My current gigging board is an HX Stomp with the SY200 in the loop and an Eventide Ultratap in the loop of the SY200. I don't really use it for straight up synth sounds though. I like to layer it underneath my regular guitar sound. I've never loved any of the shimmer reverbs I've tried and much prefer having string synth preset sitting under my guitar tone to get that type of effect.

thank you I'm buying one asap!

I've had mine for about 6 months now and I think I love it... I mean, its now a part of my set list so I can't get rid of it haha. I find some of the sounds rather 'grainy' however but I do enjoy setting it to 100% wet and using a volume pedal for some funky swells.

Love my SY-1

off topic ... could you do a vid showing how to cable up an hx stomp and an hx effects then showing how you would set up the signal chain? I'm struggling. no worries if not. 🙂

I got the SY-1 a while back and absolutely love it. With a buffer friendly fuzz in its fx loop (Tate FX Raise the Dead) and you have some excellent sounds. The only thing missing was midi presets……until the SY-200 came out. Can’t wait til I can spare the cash to get one on my board.

I find this pedal comes to life when used with other pedals... either in a chain before or after the pedal, or in the effects loop. Used on it's own, I find the sounds a bit too synth-y and same-y. Paired with fuzz, drive, delay, reverb and/or modulation pedals is where I find I can get some really cool sounds. Also the three parameter buttons really can make huge changes to the sound. When I do get a great sound going, though, it's like gold. It does take a bit of experimentation, though. If you aren't willing to do that or it's just not your thing, you should look elsewhere, IMO.

That Synth Pedal is amazing but, what really caught my eye there for a second was the knife. Did Crocodile Dundee lend it to you?

Thank you for the video - it convinced me that, if you want synth sounds, get a synth (with a keyboard). For me, I don‘t see the point of using a guitar as a „keyboard replacement“.

Awesome sound in your guitar!

It sounds like it tracks nicely.

yes yes I'm buyin' it! lol

i put a compressor in front just to even out the notes. I found with some of the synth modes, the notes fizzle out quickly as you go high up the fretboard on the high strings.

Gotta try the Meris Enzo

Mine is on order...😎👍🎸

how late in the chain can you place it before it screws up tracking?

They did such an amazing job in this pedal!

Can this integrate with GX100 & take the BPM Tempo from GX100 patches ? Or always use external footswitch

I’m having a hard time figuring out how to save my own modifications to the settings? Any tips?

Can you separate sounds by string or by frequency range (similar to the OC-5)?

funny how most of guitarists are not used to opening real synths and having an infinite range of presets available. The pedal is very usable. but outdated presets look like cheap synths

Just got me an sy200..love it but am struggling to use my helix to change patches by midi..any ideas

That knive killed me.

Personally, I find these type of effects gimmicky. The sounds are rather lo-if. The guitar and synth/keyboard are different disciplines which I prefer to play separately. I have the SY-1, which is a bit of fun for messing around at home, but can’t see any use for playing live. In a three man setup, who would play the guitar while I’m using the synth pedal?

Any word on trying their synth guitar ? I’d assume here if you can have momentary switches, this could also be hooked up via the Hxfx relay switches which are normally sitting there vacant, could offer a lot of possibilities if swapping to boards without midi.

What do you do with a huge knife like that... I wonder.

There are lots of first-impression videos with all thumbs up, but have that many people incorporated the SY synths as a permanent element of their individual and band sounds and used them for at least a year? I have the SY-1 and it is awesome for the Pat Metheny synth lead sound. But that's about the only thing I find it really useful for. For anything else it's just too harsh, and even for pads it's problematic, something like the EHX Superego+ works better.

Can someone please answer this for me???!! Can this synth send MIDI notes thru Midi out?

😀 I'm not gonna tease you anymore... U have a big Knife there...

How does it perform when hooked up to a real synth?

Is it a keeper?

Can I do similar things with the fractal?

After a bit longer with this thing, do you feel like you can really get use out of it? I’d really like to see a vid pushing it as far as you can. Just about everything about it on RU-vid seems to be a first look and that’s a huge red flag to me, as much as I want to like it.

Can you layer the presets? I mean really, for sounds like this, you want to run 2 or 3 of them together and mix them in to generate a very amazing and unique sound. Of course, you could buy 2 or 3 of them and blend them with a mixer or Old Blood Noise blender, but that cash is starting to stack in order to do that. In the US, you get 2 Sy-1s for $400 and then you can blend them and that will produce a combo of interesting sounds. For the Sy-200, well now you're out $600 or so. I'm really flummoxed about this. I have a Jamstik so I tend to dial in VSTs for it and I can mix/match several different synth tones. Although I'd think the tracking is not as good as what these guitar synth pedals can do if the combo of sounds can be obtained and not just one preset but layered stacks.

You missed the perfect opportunity to play the legend of Zelda theme on one of those lol

I have the SY-1 and I've been keeping an eye on eBay to see if I can pick up an SY-200 "cheap" .... if you want to sell yours, let me know! :D

Felt like the 80s! Are you ever going to try getting a Korg Miku? Don't think it's going to track your legato but I'm sure you'd get some laughs!

Fascinating technology. If only it wouldn't sound atrocious in my ears.

02:08 was that some kind of inside joke?

Why’d you whip out a machete, Mate?

The sounds sound like the same old thing. Mostly cheesy stuff IMO. I wish they’d come out with sounds that have more personality…

Great demo, John! Question: were you able to find the ability to have the sequencer or arpeggiator change 'steps' at all? Couple units out there do it (few), but LOVE to have ALL the other sounds offers, plus have any rhythmic syth 'work' with 3/4 or 6/8 time ...these all seem to be 'set' with even steps. Kinda dorky question I know. Looking at Sy-300 but even in those demos/manual I'm not seeing that seemingly obvious ability to edit that piece (kinda like this pedal's step knob: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-C2x3RpnrBBc.html) Thanks for your time if you have it on this one!

Anyone have an opinion on whether to run this direct to amp or in an effects loop?

quite the unboxing knife ye got there eh! lol

Honestly, I guess context is everything as usual, but if you're over a certain age, these sounds can be super cringey. To my 48yo ears these are all associated with worst of the 'cheap and nasty' '80s synths (that weren't always cheap) when I was a teen. They were considered tacky and were largely shunned by my cohort who looked back to the 70's for something other than the sounds we were being bombarded with at the time. :) I know it will do some '70s sounds too, but overall... I was relieved when the 80's were over! So it's ironic to me that they have returned, probably in the same way that there was a '70s revival in the '90s. I guess each generation can tend to romanticise the decade of their birth and just before; for me the '70's was "before everything got crap!" :) Musically, it's not strictly true of course; it's perspective. The '80s had some great stuff going on, but I do maintain that this pedal seems to offer sounds predominantly reminiscent of naff cheap home synths and 'Stock, Aitkin & Waterman' (the kings of cynical tasteless mainstream chart nonsense). I had a DX7 knocking about for a while back then, it was pretty cool. I'd expect that 35 years later a pedal like this might sound significantly better, not worse. 🤷‍♂ (Also, I swear my '90s Boss ME-8B sounded better than this (?), although I did program the fuck out of it.) I would suggest (perhaps unwelcomely ;) ) that if someone who doesn't remember a decade first hand want's to delve into what that decade had to offer, then they dig deep to discern what was the best and worst that era offered for context. Sure, you like what you like, and it's only inspiration, regardless of what how it was perceived then, but perhaps it's knowing a little more than everyone else that makes someone "hip" for want of a better word. Just my perspective.

훌륭한 연주와 환상적인 패달이군요. 팻메스니 느낌을 구현할 수도 있을지 궁금합니다.

Too many of the sounds are almost exactly the same. Go to a patch and go through variations and you'll find the exact same sounds as the last patch. And nearly every patch has some distortion on it. I would love the ability to turn take the distorted effect of some patches and use a clean version of some. Also, having to go through each preset, then select mode, and THEN select variants is the most inefficient way I've ever see a pedal laid out. It's backwards. Let me first pick all the pads, and THEN variants.

Sounded like the 1975

Im my oppinion this is Boss recycling the same shit from the 1980's. I haven't seen boss do anything relevant to this day and age. They just throw that same crap in a different case and call it new.