GR-55 "Initial Impressions" by new owners.

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

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Elantric

Soon many many folks will have their new GR-55.  
I started this thread to "warehouse" the GR-55 First Impressions by new owners.

But lets have new GR-55 Owners post their reviews in this thread.

Move the specific Q&A dialogues to the GR-55: Q&A thread here.

https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=3013.0

If you can please post the following response at the top of your GR-55 "First Impressions to provide more meaningful data:
=======
Prior Roland VG COSM Guitar system (VG-8/VG-88/VG-99 )Owner? (yes/no, if yes please indicate years experience)

Prior Guitar Synthesizer Owner? (list make/models used)


thanks!


Elantric









mbenigni

OMG.  I just wrote a book and then clicked on the "compatibility view" button and poof.  :(

Elantric

#2
Where is ""compatibility view" button ?

FWIW - I recommend composing long posts with an external "offline" local editor on your PC/Mac/Iphone/Android/Ipad -

This is a shame when you loose 20 minutes of a carefully composed post - only to see it "vanish" due to a hick-up in the system.


mbenigni

VG experience: 0 years
Guitar synth experience: dear god too many

To answer Elantric's questions - I've never owned a VG unit before.  My only experience w/ COSM amp modeling has been with Cube 30X
(which I like) and Boss GT-3 (which was awful, but then that was a long time ago...)  I've been using guitar synths on and off for years, but have been mostly unsatisfied with them.  I owned the predecessor to the GR-33 - or maybe its predecessor, who knows - and I can't remember it's name.  I also ran a GI-10 into a Proteus sound module for a while, with a GK2 guitar and then a Godin LGX/SA (which I now deeply regret selling.)  More recently I've used Parker MIDIFly's into PC's with softsynths (Dimension Pro is a fave) and occasionally I'll use non-MIDI guitars but convert to MIDI with software (e.g. the WIDI VST is very impressive for pads and other applications where precise timing is not essential.)

So GR-55.  I have to stress that these are *very* early impressions.  I fully expect (and in some regards hope) they will change once I've gotten familiar with the unit and can impose my own preferences.

Right out of the gates, I'd forgotten how much I didn't miss finagling with the GK pickup and the daunting instructions.  But in the end I just slapped it into a reasonable position with the double sided tape, put the bzillion spare parts back in the box, and rolled with it.  Plugged everything in, ran the left out to the FX return of a combo amp and started running through presets. I was immediately amazed at how easily everything just worked and how well it played.  The tracking is fast and intuitive - comping on electric pianos or leaning into the "rock organ" feels right, more like a musical instrument and less like a switching system.  

For reference, I had a similarly positive reaction when I tested the GR-33 in a store last year, so I can't say whether GR-33 owners will perceive a huge improvement here.  But on it's own terms, I'd say this is great.  There were occasional inconsistencies, but then again I've made no effort to really dial this in yet.  A playable acoustic piano is the ultimate test in my experience, and I'm not quite there yet, but closer than I would have expected.

Sounds are a mixed bag.  A lot of it sounds over-familiar, and for me, having been away from Roland for a while, it's a bit like traveling back in time, 5... even 10 years.  That's very subjective, of course, but to my ears, Roland is still hanging onto a lot of content that they'd do well to jettison.  No big deal, I'll simply learn which samples to avoid.  A few of the PCM tones sound great, which is probably all that's required.

At this point I put the combo away and ran the stereo outs into a P.A.  (Admittedly, the trashy basement-rehearsal P.A - I'm looking forward to doing more critical listening through proper studio monitors tomorrow - but big full-ranged speakers at any rate.)  I started doing a little deconstruction in order to hear what was and wasn't working for me.

Again I had the time-traveling feeling when confronted with monochrome menus, page left and right buttons and so on.  Laptops present their own headaches, but I have become spoiled by a proper GUI with the likes of Guitar Rig etc.  As much as the big screen and the dial make a visual impression, when it comes time to deep edit, you find yourself wondering if the most was made of the real estate above the pedals.  It all feels slightly clunky and inconsistent to me, but I guess it will come together in time.  Meanwhile, still praying Roland will change their tune re: editing software.  The GR truly needs one.

I picked a guitar tone and pared things down and started running through amp sims and... sadly I'm not too impressed here.  Hopefully it's just a matter of my having some work to do, but out of the box the amp modeling is no where near, for instance, Guitar Rig, or recent hardware from Line 6.  I was a little surprised with this, but if you look at the logo it plainly states "GR-55 Guitar Synthesizer" - so you know where the priorities lie.  It's telling that any device aimed at guitarists, and featuring amp modeling, wouldn't have dedicated controls for gain, a tone stack, etc.  It's just not really competing in that market.  Something of a shame as this will probably prevent the GR55 from being the all-in-one solution I'd hoped for.

I thought the problem might be the guitar tone itself, so I tried to turn on the guitar audio, but something weird happened.  Everytime I tried to enable the guitar in tone, it would instead turn on the (previously disabled) PCM1 tone.  There seems to be a dependency between this setting and the GK3 mix/synth/guitar switch, but even in the mix and guitar positions I couldn't get this to work.  So I haven't truly isolated the amp sims yet - just guitar sim + amp sims.

Surprisingly though, when I picked a simple clean amp and ran through some guitar tones, I found that I really liked some of them.  They're smooth and they sustain quite well.  I had expected just the opposite - that COSM amp sims by now would be up to snuff but the guitar tones would disappoint versus the Line 6 Variax competition.  In fact I think I'll be fine using alt. tuned COSM guitars, I'm just not sure whether these amp sims will cut it.  (I'm also a little disappointed that there isn't a good, customizable simulation of a spring reverb in there.)  So in  the end, this will probably have to be part of an integrated system with either a good guitar amp on the business end, or some other guitar amp modeling elsewhere in the chain.  But the verdict is still out...

Alright lots of blathering.  I'm excited and it's my lunch break.  :)  In summary:

Ease of setup: 10 (Despite what the manual would have you believe)
Tracking: 10 (imo)
Synth tones: Everything from 1 to 10, so figure 10 :)
Amp sims: 5 :(
Guitar sims: 8
Ease of Programmability: 5

Tune in next week, when I've changed my mind about everything. :D


mbenigni

"Where is 'compatibility view' button ?"

It's an Internet Explorer 8 feature - meant to overcome problems with older websites.  I have a lot of problems with scrolling when I enter long posts here, and thought that might help.  Oops.  :O

Anyway, hunkered down and got through the post again.


ddlooping

Thanks for sharing your initial impressions, mbenigni. :)

Quote from: mbenigni on February 04, 2011, 09:53:57 AM
It's telling that any device aimed at guitarists, and featuring amp modeling, wouldn't have dedicated controls for gain, a tone stack, etc.

Just to make sure, you do mean physical controls as opposed to virtual ones, right?
(the GR-55 having plenty of the latter)
Diaz Guitars (work in progress)

mbenigni

Right - physical controls.

I just get this sense that if you'd put a few guitarists in a room, along with a couple of bean counters to make sure costs didn't get too out of hand, and had them think it through, you would have wound up with a user interface that was very different than that which found its way on to the GR-55.  There are somethings that I just know I will need *all the time* that are presently buried under a couple of layers of menus.  It's a common problem with multi-purposed gear like this.

LinzHenderson

"more like a musical instrument and less like a switching system"

That's a great line and I think it's what everyone wants a guitar synth to finally be.

Thanks for the all the info so far.  :D

mbenigni

"Thanks for the all the info so far."

Thanks for reading.  :) 

Can't wait for everyone else to get theirs so we can compare notes, help each other work around the shortcomings, determine whether I'm taking crazy pills re: those shortcomings, etc.

Jim Williams

mbenigni thank you for your impressions. I believe that guitar sounds will require some tweeking.... most roland guitar processors do. They never sound good with just the factory presets. The original cab models sound week and you have to choose the right speaker cab and mic setup. you also have to set the GK-3 just right to get a good guitar sound. after that everything is easy.
QuoteSomething of a shame as this will probably prevent the GR55 from being the all-in-one solution I'd hoped for.
I am thinking of getting a Boss GT-8 or for kicks I might even use my old ART SGX-200 with some some stomp boxes. A wah, TS9, Boss ST-2, Boss Harmonist and my Talk-box.
Skype: (upon Request)

Everything from modeling to the real deal, my house looks like a music store.

3dognate

Quote from: gtrjimmy413 on February 04, 2011, 12:41:47 PM
you also have to set the GK-3 just right to get a good guitar sound. after that everything is easy.I am thinking of getting a Boss GT-8 or for kicks I might even use my old ART SGX-200 with some some stomp boxes. A wah, TS9, Boss ST-2, Boss Harmonist and my Talk-box.

I 'm glad that Roland thought to allow for multiple pickup types and ease of switching between those stored configs for each guitar... I've got multiple Ghost and GK equipped guitars. That was a big + for me as the ghost and gk guitars behave a bit different with the GR-20. Maybe I can get some consistency with the 55.
>>> 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

pjmuck

#11
Thanks for the initial impressions. I often find that it takes a community of (eventual) users to unlock the secrets of a new piece of gear, and I can't wait for the patch sharing to start. (I assume we'll have that ability, right?). My current setup is a Godin LGX-SA with a GR-33, Boss GT Pro (with Harmonic Converger in the loop), Ground Control Pro, and Atomic Reactor 50 112 amp. I also occasionally use a Line 6 Variax. Far too much gear to be hauling to gigs at this point and if the GR-55 can do 80% of the job that all my gear does, I'll be a very happy man. People constantly complain about Roland's/Boss's COSM amp simulation (Q: are they the same, or completely different simulations?) and while I can't say how it compares to Line 6's stuff I can say that ALL of my 150+ patches used for the cover band I'm in are 100% simulated amps and I often get compliments on my sounds. I have to wonder if COSM ampos will generally sound better through a flat response cabinet/PA (i.e. my Atomic) than running through a conventional amp anyway.

Had I not spent a few months learning the ins and outs of the gear and discussing with other owners how to get optimal results, I may have easily gotten discouraged. So hang in there. Help is on the way.  ;)
Live gear:

Boss GM-800
Boss GKC-AD
Boss Katana Artist 100
Fender Mustang GTX100
Roland GR-33
Liquid Foot Jr. midi foot controller
Boss EV-5
Godin LGX-SA guitar (lefty)
Line 6 Variax 500 guitar (lefty)
Carvin LB50 w GK3B

Elantric

#12
Quoteand I can't wait for the patch sharing to start. (I assume we'll have that ability, right?).

The "databucket" for GR-55 patch sharing already is waiting here:
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?board=67.0

Anyone is invited to post user created  GR-55 patches there today.

Although we may have to wait for Gumtown's GR-55 editor, as things now stand  - it appears the GR-55 owner can only save  / restore ALL the GR-55 patches. In this GR-55 firmware release it appears there is no facility for saving / loading individual user patches.
 


MrSparkle

#13
I've been out the house all day, came home to a big UPS box. ;) Very quick impressions.. I've been playing guitar all day and my enthusiasm for the toy has been greatly subdued from having a guitar in my hands all day.. so I'm not gonna mess around with it too much tonight.

Plugged it into my monitors. Some of the new presets sound really nice- I like the blends.

My initial reactions are kind of similar to mbegnini's... I'm gonna first get my negative thoughts off my chest:

-Expected this coming in, but the GR-55 does have the vibe likes it's still stuck in the 90s... whereas the VG-99 felt like a new step. The brass/horn samples all sound as useless as they did on my GR-09.
- Made in Taiwan. Expected this too, but hoped MIJ after seeing that on the demo unit pictures.
- Need software editor.
- Really sad there are no EXP/FS pedal jacks. Changing banks on pedals and switching the Exp. between volume and exp. is a chore. Maybe this will get intuitive with time.
- I doubt this is the GR-55's fault, but maybe? I haven't used them as often, but my Axon and VG weren't giving me issues. Every so often the PCM freaks out (cuts out OR sounds out of tune in the case of the GR-300 patch) and the only solution is moving the GK-3 Volume knob. Really hope this goes away.  :-\

Whoo. OK. Now... the good...

1) Again the presets sound fun. I'm itching to do some songs. The new blends are more modern sounding.
2) Acoustic guitars sound very warm.
3) Actually lot of the patches sound warm. They had a very nice sound when I listened to some loops on my monitors.
4) Tracking seemed nice and I messed with no settings and my GK-3 on my Musicman seems to be losing grip.. I stuck it a year ago... need to adjust it's height a little, but overall, quick tracking.. pretty comfortable playing the sample inst. (pno, upright bass, horns, yadda yadda), really comfortable playing synths.
5) It's pretty small. Very sturdy metal.

I have yet to try anything with the pitch-to-midi... or running a FCB1010 midi controller into it... and haven't recorded yet. My initial thought is it's a fun piece of gear. Again, I didn't think about it enough, but I really freaking wish there was an Expression pedal jack. I use a Volume and Wah simultaneously always... with all the filter and effect possibilities on the GR-55, it's a shame. I wouldn't want to lug it along for gigs, but I'll see how the FCB1010 cooperates with it. I guess one verdict is how the COSM tones will stack up in the real world? I actually didn't mind the tone of some the distortions. I still hope this can be an all-in-1 option for the occasional easy gig.

HCarlH

Quote from: MrSparkle on February 04, 2011, 10:05:48 PM
2) Acoustic guitars sound very warm.

Thanks for your first impression.  :)

Everything you said I expected.  I know Roland is stuck in the 80s and 90s when it comes to synth sounds and I can live with it. As long as it can be MIDI'ed to more current units, I'm OK with that.

I'm thrilled you like the acoustic guitars as that is something I need live and don't want to schlepp around when the GR-55 can handle it.  I'm also interested in the nylon guitar sounds for smooth jazz type pieces.

My major reason for buying the GR-55 is the (allegedly) faster tracking over my former GR-20, guitar modeling with possible altered tunings, COSM amp/effects for standard guitar, and partial VG-99 sound set. The synth stuff I can always update by using something like a Yamaha MOTIF.

This is win/win IMO.
GR-55 (or) Fishman TP + Kemper Profiling Rack -->> 
QSC K10 -->> FOH
Fender Squier Stratocaster Bullet (w/GK3), Ibanez AM93 (w/FTP pickup),  Stratocaster (w/FTP pickup)

Telecaster, Charvel SoCal ProMod, Gibson Les Paul, PV Wolfgang,

MrSparkle

#15
Quote from: hcarlh on February 04, 2011, 10:19:25 PM
Thanks for your first impression.  :)

Lol, went back to it. It was staring at me.

Got to say, I really like a lot of these presets. They sound REALLY good to me. The doubled low piano for example sounds fantastic. Rich strings. The funky synth lines. Hell even the opening Metal Synth Lead is cool. I had to go to my basement and run it through the bass and keyboard amps in stereo. Sounds rich and fat. The 2 PCM + COSM concept is working.

I tweaked my GK PU settings also, still need to fiddle but it's even better now. I have to play more with the new low feedback edit to take out the some glitch. In terms of out-the-box functionality... Can't say I've had such quick results out of a GR/gtr-synth unit before (excluding the VGs)... although the VG8/88/99 presets sounded awful to me. These sound usable. Best thing is I know it'll only get better once I edit.

Here's a big thank you to Elantric and the Alto guys responsible for the Group Buy! I don't think anyone will be disappointed with this esp. at the price we got it guys. It's gonna be a great piece of gear.

macjones

I can only use this if it tracks as good or better than my GI20 (which I like fine).  I'm perfectly happy with the GI, but always could use improvement.

I'm skeptical frankly. Only time will tell.

And although these first impressions are fun, they are still 'first impressions'. If you know what i mean...:).

note: UPS is late, weather to blame (this time) LOL

Elantric

#17
QuoteHere's a big thank you to Elantric and the **** guys responsible for the Group Buy! I don't think anyone will be disappointed with this esp. at the price we got it guys. It's gonna be a great piece of gear.




Hey your welcome, and great to get a real world review. I have only been able to spend 30 minutes alone with the GR-55 on the last day of NAMM show,  and midway thru I knew this product was going to make a big impact.  

And other new owners , don't be shy. Let's hear your impression of the new GR-55.
There are few perfect things in this world.
And I apologize for being a bit cold and with all the humorless  warmth of Mr Spock on some of the threads lately. It's been a week of 18-20 hour days, and MCK our new Admin did a major relocation of this forum to a new server and domain transfer this week with hardly any down time.

I'll hit the hay, and look forward to more user reviews right here this weekend.


musicman65

ok....my first impressions:

first...

I am a current VG99/FC300 user and utilize the guitar-to-midi to a hardware synth module for live use.

My initial impressions:

very sturdy build
screen navigation is a little cumbersome, different
lacks tons of feature found in the VG (mainly global eq, etc)
lacks external I/O (ctrl, exp, spdif, xlr, etc...)
patch navigation is really different
small, compact package
defaults to S1/S2 for bank change
only 3 patches per bank..but has 99 banks.
midi tracking is faster and less prone to glitches
many of the tones are VERY FAT

At this point, I am impressed for what it IS...and realize its NOT a VG99. I think I may stick with the S1/S2 for bank changes until I can experiment with a FC1010 midi control to tame this little beast. I also noticed the GK volume is mapped to overal patch volume in most patches which wont allow use of the mag pup only switch position since that turns the gk-vol to 0 and kills all sound. That will be changed when I start making my own user patches.

Theres a lot to learn so I'll post an update later after I wrap my head around this new technology.

Musicman65


Norbitt

Spent a couple of hours with it tonight. I've had most of the Roland guitar synths and Axon--The tracking of the GK-55, is the best I've experienced by far. It does feel very natural. The delay is minimal. As usual with guitar synths, some patches, like Piano, glitch more then others. I've always used just one GK setting as a global in the past, but I can see where I'm going to need to use two or three and do it patch by patch to compensate. The velocity and the nuance parameters are really nice. They can really make a difference in the feel.

As someone else said, most of the factory patches aren't all that exciting, but the individual PCM tones sound very nice. So the ability to program some really nice sounds is definitely in the box.

Didn't take long to get the hang of navigating through the menus. Pretty standard Roland stuff.

The one strange thing I'm experiencing, is that I'm having to set the string sensitivity way high to get the filters to open. And my high E string has to be much higher than the other strings to match their volumes. I've used this guitar with the VG-99 and GR-20 and didn't have that problem. I have a couple other guitars with GK pickups and I'll try those tomorrow and see what's up.

I didn't spend much time with the Cosm module, but it seems to be just like we all expected--A scaled down version of the VG-99. But it seems Roland used the same "Cosm quality"?? from the VG-99, instead of using what they have in their cheaper modeling stuff.

Overall--I'm happy!!

preetsei

I'll start by saying that this is the first "V-guitar" device that I've had the pleasure to own or use.   So far, I'm very happy with the sounds and the enormous capabilities of the GR-55.   I just had a chance to connect the GR-55 to an external MIDI device - an older Korg 05R/W sound module.    I thought the tracking was excellent.   Not much more of a delay compared to the internal sounds of the 55.  However, the sensitivity seemed a bit off.  For example, it seemed like I had to occasionally  play a string harder for the note to register compared to the internal sounds.  I know that doesn't make much sense.  If the note is registering with internal sounds, it should also with the external, but that's the way it felt.  But overall, I was very pleased with the external MIDI results.

ddlooping

Thank you all for posting your first impressions. :)

It'd be cool if one of you who also have a VG-99 could do some recorded comparisons of the COSM guitars/amps using the same settings on both units.
A kind of A-B blind test. ;)
I'd do it myself but my GR-55 will not arrive until mid February.  :(
Diaz Guitars (work in progress)

pjmuck

Well mine will be here on Monday, so I'm anxious to dive in and join the chat. I'll be using mine with a Godin LGX-SA with piezos, so I'm curious to see if the sensitivity issues some of you are encountering with the GK PUPs are evident with a piezo setup.

I also fully expected typical Roland 80's/90's patches, but also expected I'd have to create my own patches. With my GR-33, I was pretty much able to replicate nearly every sound needed by way of combining tones, tweaking attack, release, balance, etc. The tonal editing looks substantially deeper on the GR-55, so I'm not worried (though a little bit intimidated).

Very happy to hear the tracking is improved, though I personally never had a problem with the tracking on my GR-33 either, (though I wasn't exactly flying around on the fretboard either, just simple chords/lines). I had an Axon AX-50 for a while, and just couldn't get comfortable with it, as it was constantly glitchy despite adjustments to sensitivity.

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?
Live gear:

Boss GM-800
Boss GKC-AD
Boss Katana Artist 100
Fender Mustang GTX100
Roland GR-33
Liquid Foot Jr. midi foot controller
Boss EV-5
Godin LGX-SA guitar (lefty)
Line 6 Variax 500 guitar (lefty)
Carvin LB50 w GK3B

ZenSonic

#23
Mine is to arrive too on Monday after a weather related delay pjmuck. I use to play a Godin LGX-SA too but sold it when I switched from a VG-8EX to a VG-99 because of the sound was so much better with A GK pickup I discovered. A sweet guitar though...maybe the GR55 will work well with Brian Moores and Godins...hope so.

pjmuck

Quote from: ZenSonic on February 05, 2011, 07:32:19 AM
Mine is to arrive too on Monday after a weather related delay pjmuck. I use to play a Godin LGX-SA too but sold it when I switched from a VG-8EX to a VG-99 because of the sound was so much better with A GK pickup I discovered. A sweet guitar though...maybe the GR55 will work well with Brian Moores and Godins...hope so.

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.
Live gear:

Boss GM-800
Boss GKC-AD
Boss Katana Artist 100
Fender Mustang GTX100
Roland GR-33
Liquid Foot Jr. midi foot controller
Boss EV-5
Godin LGX-SA guitar (lefty)
Line 6 Variax 500 guitar (lefty)
Carvin LB50 w GK3B