GR-50 roland guit synth

[gargoyle]

I'm looking at one of these to buy but I'm not sure if I should save my $ and buy the new Roland. does anyone have any info or thoughts on this older guitar synth?

Thanks

Sean

[lnl]

I have one you could buy very cheap if it wasn't for the distance.

It really depends what you want to do with it. You can certainly do a lot of creative and fun stuff with it, especially if you are into experimental stuff. But it does have a bit of latency which can be a problem with sounds that has a hard attack curve.

You can get a new/newer and better unit from Roland a lot cheaper than what the GR-50 used to cost. If I where you I would check out the options before making a decision.

Good luck!

[gargoyle]

Thanks for that lnl. I'll be new to the guitsynth thing and I just want it to work...that is better than my keyboard skills.

[KamaSutra77]

Hi, I grabbed a closeout Ibanez RG series Midi Guitar and a new Roland GI-20. Turned out to be an ok guitar -midi rig. I can play reason instruments with it pretty well. There are a bunch of presets you can set up for different playing styles. It works pretty well, latency is alittle shoddy (as has always been the case) on the low notes. For a good deal look into it. Native drivers for X ( and panther :P) on the roland site. It's not perfect, but it works about a 7 on a ten scale, maybe a 6. Leave me an email i'll send you some riffs to check out for tracking & latency. I've read that the godin system on the iguitar is suppose to track better, due to the midi sensors being built into the saddle of a psuedo peizo system. havnt tried that though. Now if i could get the midi drumset to get with it!

here's a hint, ive found that having the synths double track the guitar can make for some wicked sounds. To hell with 7 strings or whammies! Try Tuba or Moog bass as your octave doubling! (once again, bass note dont track as well - the never ending saga.

If you can find the Ibanez Guitar it was deal, since a "add-on" midi pickup itself was almost half the cost, and the guitar is top of the line (cosmetically plain jain black though). But this guitar the Pickup is built in. They also had a higher up model that included a piezo. And I think another that had a fancy top wood. Disocntinued now, though the Roland Box is new 2003.

I've always fancied the idea of playing a great number of intruments, so this set up lets my figners do the talking on horns, drums you name it. Half the fun is learning to play a saxaphone, or pinao, or drum on the guitar and making it beleivable.