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Re: Roland GR55 - First Impressions review



On Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 11:06 PM, mark francombe <mark@markfrancombe.com> 
wrote:
> Its stuffed full with the good, the bad and the ugly.


I totally agree with Marc on that! I researched its options all
through and for me only a little fragment of the box is "good". But
that tiny slice of goodness justifies it anyway. I avoid any guitar
sound, don't even run my magnetic pickups through the GK cable because
doing so just sterilizes the sound. I dislike the amp sim even more
than I usually dislike any amp sim. Distortion is not even evident, so
there *is* nothing for me to dislike there ;-)  Effects sound lame. In
short, nothing pops out from the GR-55, all sounds just stays there
inside the box and you can hopefully make up what they should really
sound like and then mix them appropriately low in the background to
give a bit of a vibe. Except for MIDI. (here is the lowest point were
we turn to the good stuff in the GR55) So I actually use it as a MIDI
converter and a MIDI pedal controller (to drive stuff like Sculpture,
ES2 or Alchemy on the lappy). I find use for a dozen custom synth
sounds, typically cling-clang stuff or pad-like buzz or swoop
organisms to stay low in the background behind a up-front guitar
pickup sound that has NOT passed the Roland. The fidelity is just too
bad for everything except background carpets. The whole box also
hisses a hell of a lot of noise - but all this is not bad for "wet
blanket dull background carpets", a certain emotion tends to come with
it. I also find good use for the GK-3 knobs and the GR-55 pedal and
buttons to control other things; i.e. synths on the lappy plus the IK
Multimedia Amplitube 3 plugin on the lappy. Note that my guitar/Stick
PU output goes directly into the RME interface (NOT passing the Roland
thingy). As for distortion I'm very fond of the sound you get by
running a wha pedal into an Octavia and then into a tube amp set to
"8" (crunchy dist). This is a warm and fat sound that sparkles with
dryness as if going to burst into flames at any moment (quite mid
range rich but not sharp and not bassy). Nothing even from that
universe to be found in the GR-55, but since the Amplitube 3 plugin
has it I therefore  redirect the knobs of the GR-55 to control
Amplitube 3 instead. This works well and I'm happy with it.

I find this GR-55 strategy very good and I am happy with it. I even
picked up a second GK-3 to put on my other STick (to make them back-up
compatible in shows). But I know my input would not sell many units in
a store ;-)

Here's an impro recorded right off the outputs that shows the good use
I think I have for those dull-wet-blanket  sounds behind a normal
guitar sound (although STick here, and Alchemy synth layered with
GR-55 to give some sparkle) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4963264/forest.mp3

And here's a recording using a lead sound ONLY made up of synth tones;
not a good sound but it works. The guitars here are played through the
GK's amp sim including the wha effect. It is not a good sound IMHO,
but lame guitar sound worked anyway for this tune.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4963264/distorted_beauty.mp3

On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 12:20 AM, Kris Hartung
<krispen.hartung@gmail.com> wrote:
> If they would just include an authentic and convincing emulation of the
> GR300, I'd buy it for that alone.

If you like those type of sounds you may find the GR-55 quite
playable. I mean, synths follow well what you play. On my two Sticks
the exact string length differs by 3 millimeters to the closest
guitar/bass setting in the trimming preferences setup and they trigger
the synths brilliantly anyway. Not saying that it emulates GR300 well,
I personally never liked the GR300 although I was exposed to it a lot
since a duo partner used it.

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.perboysen.com
http://www.youtube.com/perboysen