GR-55 "Initial Impressions" by new owners.

Started by Elantric, February 04, 2011, 08:03:49 AM

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Brak(E)man

I'm not a new owner but I borrowed a GR55 thinking I might pick up a secondhand one.
Luckily enough the one that I had in mind got sold before I could get it.
trying the unit got me back to before I used my Casio midiguitar and and D-550,
that combo trigged better than the 55, I'll stick to the Vg series for "synth" sounds
no trig problems no latency issue and great sounds.
Equally dissatisfied with the OSC synth in GP10 which triggers as a goose on crutches.
so no GR55 for me 
swimming with a hole in my body

I play Country music too, I'm just not sure which country it's from...

"The only thing worse than a guitar is a guitarist!"
- Lydia Lunch

Elantric

QuoteI'll stick to the Vg series for "synth" sounds
no trig problems no latency issue and great sounds.

My replacement VG-8EX arrives today ;)

https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=13021.0


changingparadigm

First Impressions
Well, let me start by saying that what got me on this unit was all the youtube videos/demos I watched.  I just had to get one.  So it is now 3 days after I ordered this unit and got it in last night.  I have a Epiphone Les Paul Standard Pro that I hooked the GK-3 pick up to.  That was a fun ordeal to begin with.  I watched someone install it on their Les Paul and it was 1 - 2 - 3 and done.  But in reality,it's not that simple.  I used the bracket that is included and used that on the posts of my bridge.  The fun part of that was i had to then go back and reset the string height and then intonation.  But that didn't take too much time.  I then set up the spacers so my distance to string/pick up was about right.  Got it plugged in and started to configure the settings.  Only had about 10 5 minutes to play w/ a few of the tones but as of right now i am not too impressed w/ the sound but am optimistic to get the sounds I'm looking for.  I know I have a lot of time needed to learn this system.  If one word can sum it up for me it would be - Overwhelmed

Fusion

Copy out and read a lot of the programming tips and short cuts here, it will exponentially accelerate your learning curve which is substantial on this unit. It is not a plug and play unit although easy after you get things tweaked in. There are a whole lot of complex features in this puppy and it takes some time. Word of advice, check out the tips and documents many put together here, it would take you ages to figure a lot of it out yourself, trial and error.
Next up be sure you get the appropriate driver downloaded into your PC, the Roland library software and the graphic floorboard editor software provided for free from "gumtown" here on this site. I just cannot edit without it as it is just too confusing using the units screens. With the graphic you can see the flow and options clearly.
And oh yeah 90% of the factory stuff blows. Forget it. Some of the users here have put up a few good ones. I am not using mine as a core guitar sound so most of the COSM guitar stuff I have not much use for. Also a decent pair of headphones are in order for some late night editing creations. Another reminded is be sure to adjust the output for the proper usage. Every sort of amp/power amp thing has its own setting.

You are right to spend meticulous time and effort to get the GK3 as perfect as possible. The sensitivity levels are also very important. I went back several times tweaking mine in. Nothing is ever as simple as claimed, at least not for me.
The 55 is a great tool, at first you will not be sure of it or if it is going to do what you expect but in a couple weeks you'll have the editor down and be able to create your own ideas then it gets very cool indeed.
"Long ago in days of old when magic filled the air..."

mmccain

#1004
Here is my new (GR-55) user review: I am guitarist at a live theatre in Houston, playing several shows a week in a four piece band.  We cover everything from Sinatra to Lady Gaga  and everything between, depending on the show theme, storyline and song selections.  Along with my James Taylor Variax , Line 6 HD500, and various other real string instruments, I've been using my old Roland GR-1 synth for quite a while in this gig to fill in lots of sounds to make the band sound fuller and more interesting.  We do a lot of medleys that require very fast instrument changes, so the Line 6 gear along with logical patch access on the guitar synth are critical, as I may switch from one sound to another while crossing over a measure.   Recently, the music director really wanted some tuba for a tune, but I couldn't easily (or convincingly) cover that with the GR-1, so I finally took the plunge and stepped up to the GR-55.  So far, I am very happy with the unit and am looking forward to using a lot more sounds in future shows.  In the current show, I am using flute, clarinet,alto sax, French Horn, tuba, vibes and a horn section patch along with the usual arsenal of guitar sounds from the Line 6 gear and live banjo.  To get started, on the GR-55, I initialized all the user bank sounds and copied in all the sounds I think I will be using (both factory and ones downloaded from this group) and arranged them into logical groups in the upper banks (solo horns, ensemble horns, solo strings, ensemble strings, reeds, ethereal, mallets, etc...) and then copied all the ones I'm using for the current show (which is a Broadway theme show) to the lower bank numbers which I will treat as temporary (erasable) slots for whatever the current show requires.  Having so many user patches available to me in a logical library is one of the great things I like about the GR-55.

While I love a lot of the new sounds and patches, I'm having a bit of trouble getting the french horn to sound as warm and smooth as what I had tweaked over the years on my GR-1.  It seems to be more velocity sensitive than I am used to.  I really loved the old "Big Bee" B3 patch from the GR-1 as well as the old vibe patch.  The new vibe patch I'm using  on the GR-55 triggers more sensitively than the one on I had on the GR-1, so that's taking some time getting accustomed to and is requiring some playing technique awareness that was not necessary with the GR-1 and which I have not quite mastered yet.  Perhaps there is some parameter for that patch which I have not yet found that would help.

I'm looking forward to eventually using it to rapidly pedal back and forth between R&B electric guitar and horn stabs the next time we do some James Brown or similar genre.   I sure could have used the ability to (controller) pedal back and forth between jazz guitar and horns back when we did an Andrew Sisters medley.  The GR-55 (or a few extra hands and feet) sure would have saved me a few gray hairs during that show.

All-in-all, I'm very happy with my graduation from the GR-1 to the GR-55 and its ease of navigation and editing compared to the GR-1, and am looking forward to the next few years using it to the fullest.  Looks like I'll probably be putting the trusty ol' GR-1 and its brother VG8 (which has actually been sitting in my closet for a few years since I went Variax/Line 6) up on Ebay soon.

ratbastid

Quote from: 3dognate on February 07, 2011, 07:03:40 AM
It'd sure be nice if there was a single selection you could pick to reset a preset back to square one with everything off and at default values and all the CTL and Control change setting GONE.... It's annoying having to undo a factory preset (in user space) to be able to do a new patch... All of my patch creation gotchas so far are because of not catching something in the previous settings.

Sitting on the patch you want to clear, hit "Write". The far right tab is called "Initialize" and it'll let you clear all settings on that patch.

CVS

Just purchased a new GR 55. I have had it all of 3 days. Initial impressions are (besides being overwhelmed) are as follows;

1. Factory Patches sound for the most part very interesting but I am looking for "simple" one instrument patches to use on backing tracks, so I guess I am going to have to create my own patches.
2. It would be nice if the library of tone categories was listed in the owners manual. I found a PDF copy of the over 800 different tones on the internet somewhere (can't remember exactly where)
3. This is a very powerful machine and I have already been able to put down a simple backing track / loop connecting the GR 55 to the Boss RC300. This was easy to do.
4. Not being a techie by any stretch of the imagination, I have spent a lot of time in the owner manual trying to understand the concepts as to how everything works. I have also looked at a number of Youtube videos as well
5. I am still trying to figure out how to switch back & forth between a GR 55 patch and my "normal guitar". I was thinking that this should be easy, but I have yet to figure it out and can find very little discussion in the owners manual about how the GK 3 pickup works with the GR 55 . I can't use the GR 55 live until I figure this out.
6. It is going to take me quite a bit of time and research to figure out how to really use this machine, but I am up for "the challenge" and look forward to much better quality loops and backing tracks!

Elantric

#1007
Read the GR-55 FAQ for answers to bulk of your issues
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=3137.0


Fwiw this link takes you to over 1400 patches for GR-55

https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=3684.0



GR-55 FloorBoard Editor Help
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=86

CVS

#1008
Quote from: Elantric on March 24, 2015, 12:47:55 PM
Read the GR-55 FAQ for answers to bulk of your issues
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=3137.0


Fwiw this link takes you to over 1400 patches for GR-55
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=3684.0



GR-55 FloorBoard Editor Help
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=86

Thanks for your help. Appreciated

DickBanks

Got my GR-55 in a trade with a friend--my Fender Twin Reverb (1981) for his GR-55.  I immediately upgraded the firmware to 1.50--that was very easy.  I also have a Roland GC-1 Strat and I blocked the tremolo, so it stays in tune--I never use it anyway.  As for strings--I removed the 9s and strung it with 10s--D'Addario flat wounds, as recommended by someone (?) on this site--definitely good advice, as these strings are almost noiseless.  Set the action between 3/64 and 4/64, which fits my playing style, and made sure the actions on the divided pickups are as close to 1mm as possible.  On a side note:  my GC-1 came very poorly set-up, but who cares--I set up my guitars the way I want anyway.  The Roland part seems to be right on--which is good, because I wasn't too interested in trying to tweak those parts.

So I got lucky--many of the user patches my friend saved on the GR-55 came from VGuitar, and they are much better than the ones that come with the unit.  I have my GR connected through a Boss stereo volume pedal, and then to a Line 6 L3T.  I guess the GR runs pretty hot--I got some clipping initially on some of the patches, so I engaged the -20 dB pad on the L3T and now they sound great together.  I don't have any experience with any other amplification with the GR-55, but I highly recommend the L3T.  It's built like a tank, and sounds great.  I set it completely flat EQ and unity gain, so everything I hear is my guitar and the GR-55.  I had plans to eventually buy the L3S subwoofer to go with it, but I'm reconsidering that in light of the capabilities of the L3T on the low end--checking out some of the bass and drum patches--it definitely shakes the walls, and has a great tone at pretty much any frequency.  Boom-Boom, very nice!

So the first patch I went looking for was--let's see if I can get my Twin back that I traded for it.  So I was able to find it in the user patches--my friend must have conjured it, or maybe he got it from VGuitar.  It sounds just like my Strat-Twin combination cranked--but of course now I can get that sound at any volume.  And there's no perceptible latency involved, and of course no 60 Hz hum that you get from single coils pickups.  It's interesting to switch between the divided and magnetic pickups and listen to the hum drop out completely on the GK-3.  Very nice!

My initial impression is that the COSM patches are outstanding.  As for the other "far out" patches--I think they are an attempt by Roland to demonstrate the range of sounds the unit can produce, so they are impressive in that way.  The 12-string patches are incredible, and like I said, the list of user patches on my unit are priceless.  I spent a couple of hours going through all of Roland's patches--some of them are dynamite, and some left me scratching my head, "Who wants to sound like that?"  But to each his own.  My taste is more for the layering of "real guitar" sounds with synth sounds in the background--that's why I prefer the user patches--a better balance, IMO.  So being able to run the guitar out to one channel, and the GR-55 stereo out to the other two channels is very nice!  Also I love the tuner.

So if I was to buy one of these GR-55s brand new at Guitar Center--I would ask them to load the best patches from Vguitar--so right away I would have these great patches right from the start.

And I should also say that a big motivating factor in deciding to get the synth was the knowledge available on this site.  Very well laid out--it's all here, and excellent advice that I very much appreciate.  I just wouldn't want to go at this thing alone!
Fender GC-1 Stratocaster, Fender Locking Tuners, Super-Vee Blade Runner Trem
Boss GP-10
Line 6 L3T
Record to Scarlett 2i4 --> Ableton Live

vanterz

Hi
My PC not recognize ?y gr55.
:-[
i have instal driver and gr floorboard
:) :) :)

gumtown

Quote from: vanterz on April 12, 2015, 12:03:38 PM
Hi
My PC not recognize ?y gr55.
:-[
i have instal driver and gr floorboard
Did you select "GR-55" as the midi  in/out device from the "preferences > midi USB" menu in GR-55floorboard?
Free "GR-55 FloorBoard" editor software from https://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/

roaster

Had my GR 55 for a fortnight now, in rehearsals band members are blown away with some of the sounds, using it live now in my pub covers band , used sparingly until I get into it more, but the acoustic sim alone is a godsend , not having to cart a large acoustic around. The support some of the strings sounds gives to some tracks is really really useful Addition floor space alongside existing pedalboard is a slight issue as I need them both atm.

CVS

Have now had my GR 55 for about 2 months now. Thanks to this site (and lots of hours) I have been pretty much been able to get this "beast" to do what I want it to do and I have used it cautiously at my 1st gig last week (and people seemed to like it) The only real issue remaining for me is the use of the Expression pedal. I cannot get it to anything for me, except change the volume unexpectedly....I doesn't matter whether I use EXP, EXPON or EXPSW. I have gotten the CTL pedal to work. The GR55 also works seamlessly for me with the Boss RC 300 and RC 30.

The GR55 will be a keeper in any case, but it would be nice to be able to use the pedal to turn for example MOD's on and off, like the manual indicates

admin

Open this example GR-55 patch in the Floorboard Editor and learn how to program the GR-55 Expression Pedal.
Guitarplayer_10's  GR-55 Ultimate Multi Control patch step by step
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=7267.msg50612#msg50612

katmando64

My 1st impressions:

Neg:
1. Hmmm not good as the "Hum" from the guitar out is much annoying. Still not the best tracking esp on the 12 string sim and most lead synth stuffs.
2. EQ not very good...bass cranked on many patches and on the strip (mixer) and still "Bottomless"
3. $900.00 cdn and i get a 50 cent-cheap-crap-cord for gk3 out to guitar in? Do u guys know that better cords = better fidelity?
4. omg that is the cheapest wire hookup on the p-up...That and the 13 pin cord will break within 2 months.
xtra rant lol  Why is it they always cram 100 cheap organ sounds into g-synths? sorry, but stuff those geez. yes, i know i can dump them but what a waste of programs.

Pos:
1. after playing for awhile they're are some very nice patches I can program/work with.
2. luv some of the guitar modelling ie; lipstack, tele, p-90. lp, and the amp modelling as well. They go really good with my own amp sounds. 12 string is nice but tracking is off by a c hair (even with attack @-50)
3. fairly easy to program once u read the manual although my back is dead from leaning over it lol

I guess on a scale of 10 i would give it a 4.5  ...would have been 6 but due to some very cheap parts and my issue with the guitar out.
in my eyes this is a $400 product not $900

IMO :)


Elantric

QuoteIn my eyes this is a $400 product not $900

Agreed

Group Buy - Roland GR-55
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=2931.0

vtgearhead

Quote from: katmando64 on June 11, 2015, 03:12:15 PM
3. fairly easy to program once u read the manual although my back is dead from leaning over it lol

Download Gumtown's "GR55 Floorboard" application (for Windows, Mac and Linux) and save your back!  Trying to effectively twiddle with a GR55 from the front panel is cruel and unusual punishment.

Litesnsirens

@DickBanks, I could have almost written your post myself, blocked the tremolo, moved from 9's to 10's and I also play through L3t's although I have the whole dreamscape PA (2 L3t and 2 L3s with M20d mixer).  That said if I am just going to a jam or something I just bring an L3t.  I find the L3t is a perfect companion for this unit, I just love the guitar tones I am getting out of it.

@katmando64, did your 13 pin cable break within 2 months?  I've been using the same one for over 2 years and to be honest I think that's as long as I have gotten out of any 1/4" guitar cable that I have ever owned and for all I know I may get another 2 years or more out of it.  I'm also puzzled as to how you are getting latency on the 12 string models.  I hear no detectable latency and I use it often enough.  Also as far as bottom end, what are you monitoring through?  I never have to do much with the EQ at all and never boost the bass except maybe for very specific patches that require exaggerated bass, (for my drop D rectifier patch for "Higher" by Creed).  In fact most of my patches the EQ block is turned off, the EZ edit EQ is dead centre, and my amp model settings are as follows Bass = 50, Mid = 50, Treble = 55.  It doesn't get any more vanilla than that and I have nice rich organic guitar tones.  That said one of my tricks is to turn off the mic sim on the amp, which explains the Treble at 55, I make up a bit of the top end with the amp model.  Overall I don't claim to have gotten to the point where I am this happy with the unit in the first couple of months.  It's been a couple of years of tweaking.  But I am at the point now where the only thing that will replace this unit is the next generation of the same thing.  between my PA and my guitar set up, my gear lust has all but disappeared.

Sec-Def

I got my gr55 a few day ago.
first thing I noticed was how huge it sounds.
second thing I noticed, is when changing patches the new patch doesn't "read" the volume pedal position.
so when you move it, you get a volume jump\drop.

hading

Quote from: Sec-Def on July 25, 2015, 06:52:09 AM
second thing I noticed, is when changing patches the new patch doesn't "read" the volume pedal position.
so when you move it, you get a volume jump\drop.

See "Assign Hold" on p. 78 of the manual.

Sec-Def

Quote from: hading on July 25, 2015, 08:13:47 AM
See "Assign Hold" on p. 78 of the manual.
will do.
I'm carrying the manual with me everywhere these past few days.
first time in my life I felt like reading the manual was  an important  part of using an appliance.  ;D

DickBanks

I really got tired of reading the manual myself, although I go back to it now from time to time.

My attack was to download user patches and then go through them to see how other more experienced users set things up.  You definitely start to see patterns that way...

It's "cheating" I know, but I'm all about the sound--I really just want to play my guitar, and not the GR-55. :)
Fender GC-1 Stratocaster, Fender Locking Tuners, Super-Vee Blade Runner Trem
Boss GP-10
Line 6 L3T
Record to Scarlett 2i4 --> Ableton Live

john318

Late to the game, but here it goes:

I am currently playing bass in a trio.  I was torn between the GR55 and the SY-300.  On one hand, I'm very used to being wireless, and I am prone to move about the stage often.  Not only that, but on the rare occasion that I do use a cord, somehow I manage to get it twisted into an incredible ball of cord spaghetti.  The SY-300 would have allowed me to remain wireless, and my biggest desire was to replicate a few fat bass synths for certain funk/disco songs I wanted to play.  I tried a handful of pedal effects and found both the sound and tracking (SY-5 for example) to be miserable.  While the GR55 would still give me tracking issues for some scenarios, it seemed it would offer me more utility than the SY-300 in a 3 piece as I might be able to add more than just synth sounds.  I swallowed my wireless pride and went for the GR55.

I've had the unit for 6 days now.  Long enough to progress from tinkering with changing up the presets, sampling all of the available PCM tones, modeling tones and developing some of my own analog sounding synths.  About two days ago I downloaded gumtowns Floorboard editor and was actually able to stand fully straight for the first time in days.

Before I go on, allow me to thank Gumtown for not only the incredible editor, but for also being (as far as I can tell) the only person on the net to place a GK3 on a Bass IV and actually talk about it.   My main gigging bass is an Ibanez SR505 and between my concern with the curved top of the body to the complete lack of hard finish, I was hesitant to put a GK3B on it.  Thanks to Gumtown, I found I could use the included GK3 pickup on my Bass IV.  This, to me, was a much better idea.  While the string spacing on the Bass IV is a tricky beast to play if you try to play it like a bass guitar (slapping, picking stright up with the tips of your fingers), it's a dream to play if you use the side of your thumb and finger pick 'outward' as you would a guitar.  Plus, I can assign the two extra strings to other sounds and retain my four original bass strings.

On to the unit:  I knew what to expect tracking wise from years of following various systems that track notes, from Rolands system to straight guitar to MIDI set ups.  My expectations on the tracking were pretty spot on.  For most PCM tones its fine until I get to the low E.  Combining PCM with modeled tones goes along way towards solving this for me.  I'm not at all hesitant to use it live, which is exactly what I'm planing to do.

The sounds are great.  I've never been a fan certain keyboard sounds, such as sax or harmonicas.  The Roland is no different.  These sounds just don't sound good to me.  But the strings/horns/brass ensembles, pianos, and synth lead and bass sounds are great.  I've very satisfied in this respect.

The bass modeling sounds fine, but note that I do not use and cant comment on the modeled amps.  I have not used this unit with a DAW, only into an amp, so I have turned all amp modeling off, with the exception of the occasional Bass Clean amp.

In a week I have created some pretty varied patches that match extremely closely (and in some cases, nearly perfectly) the songs I was trying emulate.  I am able to play both the horn section and bass line from 'Celebtration' by Kool and the Gang.  I got the synth bass sound from The Gap Bands' 'Dropped A Bomb on Me'.  As a bonus, I assigned a piano to the top high strings and can jump right into 'Early in the Morning' by the same group.  For fun I made a patch that lets me play the haunting synth leads on Keith Sweats 'Nobody' while retaining the ability to play the very deep smooth bass at the same time.  I can now play the piano parts and bass parts to 'Bed of Roses' by Bon Jovi.  To be clear - my trio doesn't play any of these, lol.  However, they are perfectly viable options now.  The most impressive, though not at all useful, is a patch I created for playing the staccato string section and french horn section on the intro the Indiana Jones theme.  Not only does every thing sound very close to the recording, but if you listen to the original, one of the trombones playing along with the staccato strings in the intro accidentally blows a little too hard on one of the notes.  By adjusting the velocity sensitivity on that particular PCM, I can faithfully recreate this one little accident every time I play it, even while having to concentrate on playing the string section and horn lead at the same time.  Simply amazing.

The insane amount of ways you can set up assigns/layer sounds/assign sounds to particular strings/tunes those strings differently/ect.... the thing is fantastic.  I fully expect to find a ton of uses in a live situation.  I've have noticed already, however, that you need to practice and tweak - practice and tweak - to make sure your patch won't run into trouble spots during the song.  I won't be using the unit this weekend, but plan to the following weekend.  I honestly can't wait.  Very happy with my purchase so far.

AngeloEvs

I recently joined a 5 piece band. At the first rehearsal the keyboard player got wound up by the lead vocalist and quit!  The band has a lot of gigs and about 50% of the material needs Brass, strings, etc.  The band were worried about the loss of a good keyboards and despondent about the possibility of a replacement.  So.......I mentioned 'guitar synthesiser'.

Apart from 'wtf is a guitar synthesiser ?' (Yeah, the vocalist had never heard of them) I explained that I have been using one since the 90's with previous bands but since they had a keyboard player never mentioned it at my audition.

They were interested and I arranged to take my GR1 along to a hastily arranged rehearsal.  Now I love my GR1, I tried a GR33 but for me the GR1 was better so I have never really kept abreast of anything new since the GR33 was released.

So, a couple of weeks ago my  GR55 arrived and I quickly set up some patches purely for synth brass, strings,etc and took it to the rehearsal.  The guys were impressed and the gigs went ahead with the GR55 doing  brilliant job in place of the keyboards.

The synthesiser sounds are fantastic and the control features allow for greater exploitation of a single patch compared to the GR1.    The GR1 has virtually seamless patch changing and this was probably my biggest gripe with the GR55 but I can squeeze more out of one patch in compensation.

Over the last few days,  I have been setting up the guitar modelling side and getting closer to using some patches that feature this part of the GR55 at next rehearsal.   Although only two weeks old, I have carried out the fx send return mod detailed in the forum and tried some of the multi assign techniques to control mod fx, gain and level to achieve regulated output levels so thanks for a very valuable forum - its been a great resource.    I have a few questions but will post them after I have exhausted doing a search in the forum.   A great piece of kit and a great website to support it, many thanks!