Boss SY-300 - (User Reviews) Make Some Noise!

Started by mixman, June 30, 2015, 09:56:42 AM

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gumtown

#50
I have been wondering the same.

Has everyone disappeared into their cave to try it an not been able to get away from it to discuss findings?

Has it imposed some kind of hypnotic mind control, with users unable to move until the SY-300 dispatches further instruction?

Sound Demo's too please....

Free "GR-55 FloorBoard" editor software from https://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/

Rhcole

Did you just say something...? Gumtown's picture has me re-experiencing the early 70's...

I have read the User reviews, they are good but not quite as numerous or meaty as I expected.

Elantric

#52
QuoteDid you just say something...? Gumtown's picture has me re-experiencing the early 70's...

Ive only had my SY-300 72 hours, but busy work week only allowed me 1 hour of actual playtime,

QuoteI have read the User reviews, they are good but not quite as numerous or meaty as I expected.

Thats because bulk of the 1st shipments of Boss SY-300's Anywhere on the globe only started shipping to customers only a week ago, and many SY-300's are currently on a Fedex / UPS truck heading down a highway  - wait another week for the early SY-300 adopters to take possession and report their findings.   

thebrushwithin

While I don't wish to discourage anyone here from purchasing it, I must admit my SY is on a return trip "home". It is completely glitch free, no detectable latency, totally polyphonic, great possibilities with the fx and feature set, but, in the end, the "oscillators", were not my cup of tea. I'm more interested in pure synthesis, than it provides, for my tastes. My preference is for the oscillators to have a clear, ice cold sound. So, for now, I am super happy using an FTP, driving Omnisphere 2's synth engine. The SY is designed for live use, and I just asked myself if I would incorporate it into my live rig, and the answer was no. If you are looking for a very guitarish synth, however, I couldn't recommend it more!

aliensporebomb

Can you specify what the issue was?  They weren't like a clear digital sound but more...guitar like?
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

Elantric

All Boss SY-300 factory Presets can he heard and scrutinized here:




BOSS SY-300 GUITAR SYNTHESIZER SOUND TEST

JolietJake

Quote from: thebrushwithin on July 16, 2015, 05:32:20 PM
While I don't wish to discourage anyone here from purchasing it, I must admit my SY is on a return trip "home". It is completely glitch free, no detectable latency, totally polyphonic, great possibilities with the fx and feature set, but, in the end, the "oscillators", were not my cup of tea. I'm more interested in pure synthesis, than it provides, for my tastes. My preference is for the oscillators to have a clear, ice cold sound. So, for now, I am super happy using an FTP, driving Omnisphere 2's synth engine. The SY is designed for live use, and I just asked myself if I would incorporate it into my live rig, and the answer was no. If you are looking for a very guitarish synth, however, I couldn't recommend it more!


To be fair, I was always of the opinion that it "wasn't for me" and really that is probably still the case. However from the latest videos I can say now that I GET IT, and its pretty impressive. I think the whole point is that the "essence" of the guitar does remain in the sound and that you are simply expanding on the tonal palette to an extent you could never accomplish with conventional guitar pedals. You could argue that what you are saying is a bit like "I don't want a chorus pedal because I can still hear the original guitar sound". I can see guitarists with conventional pedal boards who are "looking for something more" see this as a real and simple way to accomplish this and massively expand the sounds the can produce. I think if I wanted a "clear ice cold sound" I would simply play a keyboard. For the cost of this thing you could get a pretty usable synth.
However at the end of the day it all comes down to personal choice, and if its not for you then its not for you.
I have always been quite the critic of the SY-300 but to be honest from what I have seen lately I would order one of these today. The only thing stopping me is that I already own a GR-55 (which has features that suit me better) and I have already done the hard work and "GK'd" a few guitars.

thebrushwithin

@aliensporebomb - to sum it up, it is a highly advanced GR300. I still think it will be quite successful, but I was looking for more nuance as opposed to an aggressive sound. Just listen to the video Elantric has posted, for your own impression. As I worked with just the oscillators and filters, I just couldn't get past the sound engine. Had I employed the bountiful effects, I probably would had been more tempted to keep it. My scrutiny is based on need vs expenditure, and I doubted I would ever like the sound. For what it's worth, I am not a huge fan of the GR 300 either. What you hear in the presets, is pretty much representative of the sounds, and I couldn't really change them enough for what I enjoy in a synth.

@joiletjake - I do play keys and have several hardware synths, but guitar is my preference for live work, and I was especially intrigued at the possibility of using the SY with voice, which worked very well, except for the sound of the oscillators. Just personal choice. It is high quality, no doubt.

midiman

Have to admit when this was 1st announced that I was very skeptical about what it would turn out to be. Thought it would be little more then a GR300 without a hex pickup. Having seen some of the clips of sounds generated by it am developing a much more open mind as to its capabilities. Not sure if it is for me as the GR-55 does everything I need but if it looks like it could replace or supplement it then may buy one. Will at the very least be demoing one when it arrives in the UK. I don't need the Midi capability nor am I concerned about amp/speaker simulations so that's not an issue. If I can get a reasonable approximation of Strings, Flute, Organs, Brass then may well be an option. It certainly seems to have some decent FX and the only thing missing are the guitar modeling features which I can overcome by using my JTV Variax.

I am tending to view this more as an advanced Guitar Processor rather the a Synth as effectively that is what it is doing. If I understand it correctly it process's the source signal (guitar/voacal etc) with Oscillators and various FX rather then generating a tone like conventional Synth's. I look forward to this becoming a 'very' noisy subject as more users with hands on give feedback

Spider

I'm waiting for first unit in Poland. Should be next Wednesday...  fingers crossed.

Orren Merton

Quote from: thebrushwithin on July 16, 2015, 05:32:20 PM
While I don't wish to discourage anyone here from purchasing it, I must admit my SY is on a return trip "home"....My preference is for the oscillators to have a clear, ice cold sound.

In other words, there's a sound in your head, and this isn't it. The same reason that some people prefer humbuckers over single coils, or Minimoogs over ARP Odysseys. Makes perfect sense and is the best reason to choose or not choose a piece of gear. :)

I think my fantasy guitar synth would be a Prophet-5 (or now, Prophet 6) with zero tracking latency!

Orren

thebrushwithin

QuoteIn other words, there's a sound in your head, and this isn't it.

Yes, that is pretty much it, Orren. Roland has developed incredible tech for this unit, and I would think most guitarists would find them incredibly useful. Actually, I was open to something I hadn't heard before, but this wasn't it. I've been involved with guitar synthesis since my Arp Avatar back around 1979. Over the years, my thing is for a guitar to sound like a guitar, a synth to sound like a synth, then mix and match tones on each, that compliment each other, giving a "new" sound, with each combination. In fact, I bet a keyboardist would find the SY very complimentary to their keyboard rig, because it is a bit more guitar like, than their synths. If money were no object, I would have kept it, probably!

szilard

I've just unboxed mine and have only listened quickly with headphones using an Am Standard Strat so I won't say much yet. I waited to see a couple reviews before I ordered. If it had been glitchy I wouldn't have ordered it. I think the biggest wow factor is the technology. Plug your guitar in and play! I've been playing guitar synths since the mid/late 80s starting with a GM-70 & MKS 50. Wow, considering the price point and features the tech as come a long way. Based on what has been advertised this is pretty much what I was hoping for - the oscillators seem to be cosm based or something similar (wave shaped from the signal). Zero latency, seems to be glitch free, polyphonic, and captures the nuance of your playing. In terms of the sound it's not a wow, it's not as though we haven't heard a cosm wave synth from the VG-99 or GR-55. I think there is some improvement over the VG-99 & GR-55 wave synths. I like analog synths so I like what I'm hearing. I'm sure I'll keep it. I'll write more in a couple days ...

Rhcole

Well, nothing can beat personal experience. I had about 40 minutes available and sat down with the SY-300 at a local music store and worked over the features that I am most interested in/concerned about pretty well. I think I get it now.

The SY-300 is a real synthesizer as long as you are willing to concede using a base sound as your sound source with no separate oscillators. My biggest concern was digital distortion and aliasing on pitch shifts, and they are most definitely in the mix. What you hear is on many patches a kind of warm distortion made up of pitch shift and other COSM artifacts. However, in most cases these distortion components are tolerable and in some cases even musical. It is this distortion that Boss/Roland is betting you will overlook for the convenience of not requiring a 13 pin guitar. This is why most of the videos are screaming lead sounds- that's where the unit shines, not on chordal comping per se. BUT, and I am very picky with respect to desiring clean pitch shifts, I mostly could overlook these flaws and LIKED the base sound, except for a few presets where the artifacts were shoved up your nose.

The sound of the unit is kind of a warm, distorted 70's poly synth sound. It can get a bit brittle and whiney due again to the nature of the sound generation, but it mostly delivers on giving you a real synth vibe. I can confirm that it is capable of providing warm pad sounds and acceptable poly synth patches that sound authentic, especially if blended with regular guitar.

Can it replace an FTP driving Omnisphere? Oh MY GOD, NO! An FTP equipped guitar driving most any synth will chew the SY-300 up so fast you won't have time for a fair comparison. The SY-300 is glitch and latency free for sure by comparison, but it sacrifices fidelity, clarity, and clean pitch shifting against other synth products.

Can it replace a GR-55? No! How about the VG-99? No! The GP-10? Well... strangely, I like the SY-300 synth better than any synth on the GP-10, if only for versatility or tracking purposes. But the GP-10 has those great guitars...
Keep these other products if you like them.

But, I liked it. A lot. Where the SY-300 outshines all comparisons is in it's clean simplicity, especially for live work. You want to take a wailing synth solo in a song that will be bomb-proof from an equipment standpoint? Done. You want to blend some synth pads into your guitar playing and not have to change guitars or worry about your laptop messing up? You got it. You want a simple sound and idea generation canvas for an enriched guitar synth experience? Yes.

I'm gonna' buy one. The 13 pin/FTP rig will be for recording or very special circumstances where only the best will do. THIS is the product I would take to play at a wedding or a party.

JeffVolume

#64
I just ordered my SY-300.. So far most of the sounds Ive heard are uninspiring, but Im sure after some time in the hands of true synth programmers this thing will be phenomenal...  The synth on the GP-10 seemed weak to me in the beginning as well, but users like ainsoph have worked miracles programming it... I expect no less from the SY-300 ..

szilard

I took Bill's advice and went into an "init patch" and just listened to the oscillators and played with the filters a bit. Now I'm being wowed by the sound. I think this is going to be a lot of fun. The unit tracks really well, no glitches and the oscillators seem really solid. Very cool.

I created a a sound similar to a dark trumpet. This is one osc, filtered and some effects. There's not much done to it in the song - a little reverb in the mix, and some EQ & limiting in the mastering.

https://sites.google.com/site/phoenixtaiji/music

It's the lead instrument in can'tShakeThisFeeling


hippietim

#66
I've had the SY-300 a little over a week now.  Right out of the box, a lot of the presets are really annoying.  But keep turning the dial - there's some good stuff to check out.  Then I started just started editing and experimenting on my own.  It's a pretty simple box to use but there is a lot of capability there.  It's going to take a while to get it down.  I found it simplest to just work on one oscillator at a time - you can either turn the others off or use the blender to change the levels.  I like starting off with them in isolation and then start bringing the other oscillators up gradually throughout the process.

The first preset I wanted to create was the synth bass tone Loverboy used on Take Me To The Top - it was originally done with a Yamaha CS50.

! No longer available

I got kind of close but haven't quite nailed it yet.  I'm pretty sure that I will get their eventually - I think everything I need is in there.

The tracking is ridiculously good - after years of frustrating experiences with divided pickups this thing is just a f**king miracle  LOL 

Polyphony works great.  However, you have to exercise some common sense here unless you want to sound bad.  Typical chord voicings on the guitar don't always sound all that great.  Like strumming an open G.  Sure, it works.  But you will get a better sounding result by playing the low G and an inner triad vs. all of those notes at once.  Or use different oscillators for the different note ranges (something like you'd get on a split keyboard).  And as always, if you're emulating some other instrument then play things that are possible on that instrument - so no chords on a flute, no low E on a harmonica, don't bend notes on an organ, etc.

admin

Quote
The first preset I wanted to create was the synth bass tone Loverboy used on Take Me To The Top - it was originally done with a Yamaha CS50.

Consider sharing it here:


VGuitar Forums > Boss SY-300 Synth > Boss SY-300 Patch Exchange
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?board=191.0

hippietim

Quote from: admsustainiac on July 20, 2015, 11:04:45 AM
Consider sharing it here:


VGuitar Forums > Boss SY-300 Synth > Boss SY-300 Patch Exchange
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?board=191.0

I will once I get a patch I am happy with.

gumtown

Got a chance to sit down with headphones and bass plugged into the SY-300 and flick through the factory patches.
Haven't read the manual yet, but I set the bass mode on, and adjusted the input level down a little to get only a couple of peak pointy things on the meter.

My initial impression is very positive, this thing tracks much better than the GR-55 does in Bass mode, but the factory patches are not great.
Some nice sounds but the levels are way off balance.

I will need to figure out how this magic box can be used stand alone with a regular tone mixed in, maybe with my preamp pedal (Tech21 Vt-Bass) in the thru/return loop.

I will definitely not use any factory patches as they are, much experimenting on configurations, then creating new sounds from basic waveforms, then work my way up to tone shaping, filters, and effects.

I can see this replacing my GR-55 eventually, although the GR-55's wave file player will be missed.

All in all, very impressed so far, I see much potential yet to be unleashed with the SY-300....
Free "GR-55 FloorBoard" editor software from https://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/

mixman

#70
To everyone who mentioned the tracking on the SY-300. There is no tracking! This is why there is no worries with any tracking. You can make  some kool guitar patches, I have been using it since June and have made all kinds of stuff. I made some great guitar tones as well!  I have an amazing Satch Boogie / VH-1 tones to the T! They work.

Elantric

#71
Boss SY-300 docs have zero mention of COSM (Composite Object Sound Modeling ) There is no Modeling ( nor "Profiling") DSP Algorithms involved with the Boss SY-300's revolutionary  technology
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=88.0



Suggest re-read the Boss SY-300 Spec Sheet
http://www.boss.info/products/sy-300/

http://www.boss.info/products/sy-300/specifications/




I would suggest avoid associating the Boss SY-300 with COSM - with many guitarists, "COSM" is a must avoid technology  - it's a four letter word , and WILL kill SY-300 sales!

szilard

Perhaps the definition of tracking will expand a bit. Some how the device is "tracking" each note in the signal. It's not only isolating each note in the signal, but I'm guessing it's isolating its envelope as well. Tracking seems like a good term too me. What do you prefer?

mixman

Quote from: Elantric on July 21, 2015, 04:13:42 PM
Boss makes zero mention of COSM (Composite Object Sound Modeling ) in regards to ANY Technology found in the Boss SY-300

Re read the Boss SY-300 Spec Sheet
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=14600


I would suggest avoid associating the Boss SY-300 with COSM - with many guitarists, "COSM" is a must avoid technology  - it's a four letter word , and WILL kill SY-300 sales!
well we do not want to kill any SY-300 sales!

Elantric

#74
Quotewell we do not want to kill any SY-300 sales!

But if we do, then  Boss SY-300 will remain the secret weapon understood only  by  a select few !

( Do I really want EVERYBODY to have MY sound? ( ! ! )