GR-55 "Initial Impressions" by new owners.

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

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Norbitt

Quote from: pjmuck on February 05, 2011, 07:23:20 AM
Here's a quick dumb question: How many drum tones are there? As stupid as it sounds, I need hand claps on a few songs for the cover band I'm in. Didn't have any on my GR-33. Any on the GR-55?

Haven't messed around with the drums yet, but I'm sure the have the Clap (maybe a tiny bit funny?) There's 3 Standards Kits, Rock Kit, Jazz Kit, Brush Kit, Machine Kit, R&B T-Analog, R&B Mini Kit, Hiphop Kit, R&B Kit, and 3 Dance Kits.

ZenSonic

#26
Quote from: pjmuck on February 05, 2011, 07:56:48 AM
That is interesting, though not surprising. I compared the performance of my Godin LGX-SA to my Strat-equipped GK3 with the GR-33 and felt the performance results were exactly the same despite various chat boards telling me that piezos track better. (Maybe with Axon units, but as mentioned, I never got on with mine). Since the GR-55 has a multitude of setup options for various pickups (including my LR Baggs piezos), I'm hoping they've made improvements to the issues you've encountered with the VG99.
Me too with my GR-33 but not at all with my VG-99.  Both my Godin and Brian Moore sounded dull in comparison to a RR Strat when using the VG-99.

3dognate

I've been poking around with the GR55 today and all is goind well the sounds are fantastic... there's a little learning curve.... But as long as I get patches made up for my next show I'm ok and will keep tweaking...

Anyone get the Expression pedal cross fader to work correctly? I cant get it to do jack to the modelling tone... only the PCM tones... I'd like to have only Modelling at the heel and only PCM at the toe...I can do it with the CTL button but it's not smooth like cross fading would be.
>>> http://www.tddRocks.com <<<

My live rig consists of:
-Noel Custom Guitars both GK and Ghost Equipped
-Digitech GSP1101 + Control2
-Roland GR-55 Guitar Synth
-EV ELX112P FRFR monitors
-Gator Cases
-Miller High-Life

ddlooping

Quote from: 3dognate on February 05, 2011, 09:42:31 AM
Anyone get the Expression pedal cross fader to work correctly? I cant get it to do jack to the modelling tone... only the PCM tones... I'd like to have only Modelling at the heel and only PCM at the toe...I can do it with the CTL button but it's not smooth like cross fading would be.
I'd have thought it'd be pretty straight-forward. Double check your settings.  :P
Diaz Guitars (work in progress)

preetsei

Quote from: 3dognate on February 05, 2011, 09:42:31 AM
I've been poking around with the GR55 today and all is goind well the sounds are fantastic... there's a little learning curve.... But as long as I get patches made up for my next show I'm ok and will keep tweaking...

Anyone get the Expression pedal cross fader to work correctly? I cant get it to do jack to the modelling tone... only the PCM tones... I'd like to have only Modelling at the heel and only PCM at the toe...I can do it with the CTL button but it's not smooth like cross fading would be.

There is a a way to do this:  Edit the patch. Under the "Master" tab, select "Pedal/GK CTL".  On the "EXP" tab, there is a "Cross Fader" option for "EXP Function".

Hope this helps.

3dognate

Quote from: preetsei on February 05, 2011, 11:58:12 AM
There is a a way to do this:  Edit the patch. Under the "Master" tab, select "Pedal/GK CTL".  On the "EXP" tab, there is a "Cross Fader" option for "EXP Function".

Hope this helps.

Yeah found that... doesn't work... modeled guitar never rolls volume off when I put the toe down and the modelled guitar is set to "heel" (or vice-versa).  Trying to figure out... might try a new patch to make sure I didn't screw something up in the line that makes it not work for me.

Have you actually made it function as expected?
>>> http://www.tddRocks.com <<<

My live rig consists of:
-Noel Custom Guitars both GK and Ghost Equipped
-Digitech GSP1101 + Control2
-Roland GR-55 Guitar Synth
-EV ELX112P FRFR monitors
-Gator Cases
-Miller High-Life

Elantric

#31
dumb tip of the day - be sure you are "tweaking a User Patch"  - Ive made the dumb mistake of trying to tweak one of the Preset patches, and discovering that things do not work simply because I was tweaking a patch in the Preset area, instead of the User patch area.
 

preetsei

Quote from: 3dognate on February 05, 2011, 12:08:09 PM
Yeah found that... doesn't work... modeled guitar never rolls volume off when I put the toe down and the modelled guitar is set to "heel" (or vice-versa).  Trying to figure out... might try a new patch to make sure I didn't screw something up in the line that makes it not work for me.

Have you actually made it function as expected?

Yes I was able to get it to work in a "user" patch.

mariogag

Quote from: preetsei on February 05, 2011, 11:58:12 AM
There is a a way to do this:  Edit the patch. Under the "Master" tab, select "Pedal/GK CTL".  On the "EXP" tab, there is a "Cross Fader" option for "EXP Function".

Hope this helps.

Talking of the ctrl footswitch.

How does the GR behave when switching patches using the pedals or turning parameters on/off using
the ctrl pedal?

You know what I mean.....this annoying 1 half of a second delay you get when you switch patches on
the GR-33 and VG-8ex.

Please, please, please tell us it has gotten better; I've never a VG-99 in "person" so I don't how it behaves.

rrrr.....if the "end of february" could come now......:):)

LouieAtienza

I thing this is the best sounding GR Roland has to date.  In fact I think it's also the best sounding VG Roland has to date.  I never got any of my acoustic tones in the VG-99 to sound line the ones here; and I liked a lot of them.

Thank God for the metal case.  I always babied the GR-33 because of it's plastic shell.  But this thing's got some weight and looks like it's built to play out.

Even if ithe MIDI features are not as extensivev as the AXON, this is twol less things I need to carry with me to rehearsal or a gig.  I actually feel it tracks as fast as the AXON, and sometimes maybe faster.  Even so, it just feels more "natural" to play.

I'm using my hand-made Strat style guitar with the complete GHOST system, as well as an Ibanez with the Sound Garage pickup, and both work excellently, though I'd give the slight edge to the Ghost system.

3dognate

Ok, I got the cross fader thing to work... I figured out where i was going wrong.

Now... audio file format is killing me trying to find a WAV/AIF format that the thing will play back.

Any clues.. nothing I'm saving in Cool Edit pro is working? Anyone found a proper way to save a useable audio file to a USB drive that works?
>>> http://www.tddRocks.com <<<

My live rig consists of:
-Noel Custom Guitars both GK and Ghost Equipped
-Digitech GSP1101 + Control2
-Roland GR-55 Guitar Synth
-EV ELX112P FRFR monitors
-Gator Cases
-Miller High-Life

727lawrence


Elantric

#37
QuoteNow... audio file format is killing me trying to find a WAV/AIF format that the thing will play back.

See page 65 of the GR-55 Owners Manual for the Audio File Format specifications the GR-55 supports.


On a PC, use  16 or 24 bit wav file @ 44.1kHz sample rate.



If you are on Mac, use 16 or 24 bit Aiff file @ 44.1kHz sample rate.


An Audio CD Ripper program typically can perform such tasks.
even itunes can be set to Rip a CD into a Wav or AIff format 16bit@44.1kHz audio file suitable for the GR-55's Audio Player.



preetsei

Confirmed that when an alternate tuning is selected, the 12 string option is unavailable.  bummer!

Elantric

How about Patch Change Speed and "Muted Audio Output" during patch changes?

Can anyone report if the GR-55 changes patches adequately fast for live use?

ddlooping

#40
Quote from: 3dognate on February 05, 2011, 03:48:22 PM
Ok, I got the cross fader thing to work... I figured out where i was going wrong.

3dognate, could you let us know what the problem was, for reference?


Quote from: preetsei on February 05, 2011, 04:08:37 PM
Confirmed that when an alternate tuning is selected, the 12 string option is unavailable.  bummer!

Expected but still disappointing.
Diaz Guitars (work in progress)

Elantric

QuoteOk, I got the cross fader thing to work... I figured out where i was going wrong.

I believe the problem was attempting to edit the controls of a factory Preset patch - these are Read Only and can not be edited.

The solution was to Copy the Patch for tweaking to the User Patch Area, then adjust / apply the PCM to Guitar Crossfader assignments to the expression pedal once the patch is in the User area.
 
This was his earlier response:

QuoteYes I was able to get it to work in a "user" patch.

ddlooping

QuoteYes I was able to get it to work in a "user" patch.


I had missed that one, sorry.  :-[ 
Diaz Guitars (work in progress)

3dognate

Quote from: ddlooping on February 05, 2011, 04:29:45 PM
3dognate, could you let us know what the problem was, for reference?

Yeah, I was editing [EXP] and not [EXPON]...
But the patch i was on already had the Expression pedal turned on... ah ha!


Oh and 16 bit 44.1khz fixed the audio file problem.
>>> http://www.tddRocks.com <<<

My live rig consists of:
-Noel Custom Guitars both GK and Ghost Equipped
-Digitech GSP1101 + Control2
-Roland GR-55 Guitar Synth
-EV ELX112P FRFR monitors
-Gator Cases
-Miller High-Life

ddlooping

Diaz Guitars (work in progress)

gumtown

any GR-55 owners be able to make a backup to a USB pen drive, and send it to me?.
I need a file structure to look at for building the GR-55 FloorBoard editor software.
Free "GR-55 FloorBoard" editor software from https://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/

Elantric

QuoteOh and 16 bit 44.1khz fixed the audio file problem.

Describe the GR-55 Audio Player?

For example, if you press the"Audio Player / USB Memory" button and hit "Play" -

can you Change to another GR-55 patch while the Audio Player is playing a backing track?- just using your feet?  (how?) 

in other words, once you enter the "Audio Player" Mode - and hit "play" - and have a backing track playing,  how do you navigate out to change to another GR-55 Patch, and still have the Audio Player not skip a beat?

gumtown

the manual describes the CTL button as the escape from the Player controls (while a song is in progress), and restores the pedals to normal patch change usage (while the song is still playing).
Some one with first hand experiance could elaborate on if this is as the manual describes.
Free "GR-55 FloorBoard" editor software from https://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/

3dognate

Gumtown pretty well nailed it... I was able to switch patches normally while the file was playing... Not 100% sold on using it live though... we'll see how it works out... If I can call up a particular track along with a patch put the thing in player mode and start play with the "3" button... I might try it out. We run a mono mix live... I might dedicate the L or right channel to a click track and only put that in the drummer's mix. He's the only one that uses in ear monitors.....
>>> http://www.tddRocks.com <<<

My live rig consists of:
-Noel Custom Guitars both GK and Ghost Equipped
-Digitech GSP1101 + Control2
-Roland GR-55 Guitar Synth
-EV ELX112P FRFR monitors
-Gator Cases
-Miller High-Life

jassy

The first impressions about the midi tracking sound interesting, even more the ones from axon users.

But how is the tracking in the in the low #6 string? here is where the problems with previous Roland units are. Can anyone with the unit test it with different PCM sounds (only PCM please) and share with us if there is a delay? there is where the Axon shines, so its equal or better than the axon?

Also would be very interesting if someone can share how it tracks with external synths.

thanks in advance!.