Roland introduces the new Boss SY-300 Guitar Synthesizer, an analog style synthesizer effect pedal for guitar.
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MIDI Guitar Pickup Guide
Unlike their previous synthesizer effect which required special MIDI pickups, the SY-300 works fine with regular guitar signals that are captured by conventional pickups – .
This convenient method of getting synth effects is made possible by the latest technology of BOSS, allowing the SY-300 to reproduce latency-free polyphonic synth sounds with any guitar, removing the need to carry an extra MIDI equipped guitar just to add synth effects into your sound.
This convenience gives owners of traditional guitars and effects the chance to expand their sonic palette to include synth like tones without having to make any modifications to their instrument or rig. All you have to do is plug-in the standard 1/4″ cable from your guitar straight into the pedal, and you can get a wide variety of synth effects. It also comes equipped with other I/O options to make it easier to integrate into any guitar rig.
According to Boss, “Powered by ultra-fast DSP and newly developed innovations from the BOSS engineering team, the SY-300 performs its amazing synth magic in real time, with no lag whatsoever. This delivers a latency-free playing experience that’s a natural extension of the user’s normal guitar, allowing them to play freely and organically without altering their technique in any way”.
Designed to behave like a classic analog synth, the new Boss SY-300 pedal will let you build your sound via a wide range of synth parameters including different wave shapes, filter/amp controls, and LFOs. All of which are made possible by the new polyphonic synthesis engine that comes with three separate sections. Aside from the tone shaping parameters, the pedal also comes with a step sequencer with tap tempo control for automatic arpeggios and it has a blender function for mixing synth settings from other parches to give you sounds that can be used with minimal tweaks.
From creating familiar synth tones to unique sonic textures, the pedal can be used in a myriad of ways. You can utilize the synth filters, change the decay and attack characteristics and even create dynamic arpeggios via the onboard LFO and step sequencer.
And to top it all off, the SY-300 can also double as a regular multi-effects pedal, bundled with a number of overdrive and distortion effects, modulation, isolator, slicer, slow gear effect and many more. You can even combine some of the effects like the chorus and delay or delay and reverb.
Check out the official video demo:
Providing real-time control over the pedal are three assignable foot switches, a graphic LCD display and a dedicated on/off footswitch. You can even expand the control further by connecting two external assignable footswitches or expression pedals. You can immediately get workable synth sounds after setting up the stompbox, thanks to the 70 preset patches. 99 user patches are also available for storing and loading your custom made sounds.
Finally, the new SY-300 pedal comes with a USB audio interface for direct recording. You can also route existing tracks into the pedal to apply synth effects into any of your recorded tracks. As expected patch building and online sharing is possible for even more conveniently quick setup time.
The new Boss SY-300 is currently available for preorder with a tag price of $699. For more information and for the complete specifications, head over to Boss.
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