Boss SY-300 (was "Boss new product teaser video")

[alfstone]

I'm a synth fan - this just does not grab me, it seems like an attempt to put a fairly mediocre synth behind a guitar interface. I'd rather have keys and knobs. It looks like a prototype too, which doesn't really help.

I agree. What I DON'T like in this Sy-300 is:

- the sounds. Software synths sound infinitely better.

- there's NO MIDI output (...no guitar-to-MIDI)

- too much expensive!!!

IF and when Roland will make a box with a 1/4 jack that will be able to track *WELL* soft (or hardware) synths, THAT will be a real revolution. Partially there's already something of this kind, the Sonuus i2M, but tracking isn't so good...  

Alfredo

[Bluesberry]

IF and when Roland will make a box with a 1/4 jack that will be able to track *WELL* soft (or hardware) synths, THAT will be a real revolution. Partially there's already something of this kind, the Sonuus i2M, but tracking isn't so good...

Yes, I agree.......that is the holy grail.......this thing is just a child's toy compared to what we really need from a device like this

[Flash Harry]

The problem is:
To sample the audio from a guitar jack, you have to look at the frequencies in the signal and decide where the fundamentals are - this has to be done pretty quickly, like within a very few miliseconds. The frequency of bottom E is about 330Hz, which means that the period is about 3ms. You start 'hearing' attributes of stuff that happens in 10ms, so the synth has to spot the fundamentals (at the worst case inside 6ms) or two cycles of the bottom E fundamental. 'Ha!' I hear you say, 'That's easy for a modern processor'. 'Yep' I say, 'But there's loads more shit to deal with in a guitar signal, you can't just do your fundamental analysis and say 'Look! Ain't I fab' because you have Nyquist to deal with.
So - Hat's off to the techies, they have produced some really smart analysis software, not too impressed with the product engineers, the casiotone did this a while back (I know, I was there). It's the old dichotomy. The engineers will triumph in the end because the graphics are a bit 90's

[Blooby]

To sample the audio from a guitar jack, you have to look at the frequencies in the signal and decide where the fundamentals are - this has to be done pretty quickly, like within a very few miliseconds. The frequency of bottom E is about 330Hz, which means that the period is about 3ms. You start 'hearing' attributes of stuff that happens in 10ms, so the synth has to spot the fundamentals (at the worst case inside 6ms) or two cycles of the bottom E fundamental. 'Ha!' I hear you say, 'That's easy for a modern processor'. 'Yep' I say, 'But there's loads more shit to deal with in a guitar signal, you can't just do your fundamental analysis and say 'Look! Ain't I fab' because you have Nyquist to deal with. So - Hat's off to the techies, they have produced some really smart analysis software, not too impressed with the product engineers, the casiotone did this a while back (I know, I was there). It's the old dichotomy. The engineers will triumph in the end because the graphics are a bit 90's

Could I buy some pot from you?

[Hook]

To sample the audio from a guitar jack, you have to look at the frequencies in the signal and decide where the fundamentals are - this has to be done pretty quickly, like within a very few miliseconds. The frequency of bottom E is about 330Hz, which means that the period is about 3ms. You start 'hearing' attributes of stuff that happens in 10ms, so the synth has to spot the fundamentals (at the worst case inside 6ms) or two cycles of the bottom E fundamental. 'Ha!' I hear you say, 'That's easy for a modern processor'. 'Yep' I say, 'But there's loads more shit to deal with in a guitar signal, you can't just do your fundamental analysis and say 'Look! Ain't I fab' because you have Nyquist to deal with. So - Hat's off to the techies, they have produced some really smart analysis software, not too impressed with the product engineers, the casiotone did this a while back (I know, I was there). It's the old dichotomy. The engineers will triumph in the end because the graphics are a bit 90's

Could I buy some pot from you?

I'll split it with you brother!

[IanR]

Who is this Nyquist guy? Is he your supplier?

[AndyR]

I'm with Harry (I wasn't when he smoked all the pot, just to make that clear, folks ) - fantastic work from the techies and the sampling, but... well, the product doesn't quite do it for me yet...

It almost does - I got quite excited there early on, but then I lost interest (I've got some new vids to watch when I get home, though - especially that one from 64G with some other patches getting a demo).

I'm not really a synth guy, I don't really like "synthesiser" sounds. I view a synthesiser as a tool that allows me to play parts for other instruments that I can't play or get my hands on - piano and organ, mainly, strings and stuff sometimes... I can see me wanting some brass and woodwind soon... I pretty much use my keyboards to do the work of the session musicians I can't afford...

And that's part of one of my "issues", I guess - I call them "keyboards" when I'm arranging etc, not synths... I'm kinda used to using a piano keyboard to play these sounds, and the idea of switching to a guitar to do it seems kinda counter-intuitive to me... It shouldn't, and if I hadn't spent X years forcing myself to get round a keyboard so's I can almost get away with it, maybe I'd feel different?

All I really want is (on top of my guitar cr@p):

A real grand piano
A real Hammond
A bunch of real session musicians (including a drummer who can see into my soul and knows what I want even though I can't express it)
A decent space to record it all in
24/7 Curries
Hot and cold running girls

The SY-300 is a sexy idea, I am very impressed, and I still wouldn't rule out me getting one (or something like), but it doesn't seem to provide much of what I really want... (or have I missed the vids with curries and girls in? - that could swing it)

[Speed Demon]

Nice find, 64G.

Interesting device. Not sure I'd want one right now. I can already get most of those sounds using a softsynth.
It would be much more convenient for live performances, though.

Now for the not-so-nice part: The Price. Sticker shock!

[AndyR]

Aha! So Severus Snape gets some quite different sounds out of it... he was always more drawn to the dark arts, though

I have a feeling this guy either hasn't spent as long with it as the other bloke, or he's treating it more like a guitar effects box. I'd like to see the other bloke play with some of these sounds...

Interested again... Still sounds expensive (for an Andrew) for what I might use it for, though... hmm.

The first half of this video isn't very useful unless you happen to understand the German language. But the second half (from 4:15) is a demo that's quite different from what we've seen so far. He goes through a lot of patches that we haven't heard in the other videos. The organ sound at 4:24 is pretty cool. The first four notes he plays with that organ patch sound like the intro to "Hope You're Feeling Better" by Santana.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAoZ92EyK3U

[bruno]

Have to be quite careful with this, Alex Hutchings makes anything sound great, he must be an incredibly clean player - which we are not all blessed. That said the micro synth I have tracks perfectly. Interestingly my GR-20 tracks very well, is polyphonic (albeit via a dedicated pickup) and has midi out. The more I hear the sounds on the SY-300, the less it really appeals to me, despite my initial excitement. Hmmmm
B