Roland GR-33

[Rhmsc8]

Hi,

Here is my little list of questions..... [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
Has anyone here ever used one?
Are they any good?
How acurate is the pitch changes when playing notes or chords(will it be dead on)?
Anyone have any recordings they have done with one?
Are they worth the money to avoid having a keys player?

Any info you can offer up would be greatly appreciated. I am clueless about this thing. It does however sound like a really cool little gadget.

Thanks

[Accept2]

Re: Roland GR-33

They are pretty decent if you have a well mounted pickup, and you play clean. They wont replace an actual keyboard player since you will simply be playing keyboard sounds using your frets like keys (on/off is all it understands). They are also stiff sounding. I gave up on MIDI guitar when Roland released the VG8. It is much better, because it allows you to play rather than simply turn notes on and off........It still doesnt replace 88 keys, 10 fingers and yer foot though..........

[kruneh]

Re: Roland GR-33

I have one, and I`M TIRED OF IT. Some of the sounds are cool, but this thing is extremly digital, and can never be a replacement for real tangents IMO. Try bend a string when playing for example, and it goes wild with sick sounds... On the other hand I`ve never really learned to use it properly because of my lack of interest. I`m sure it have a high amount of possibilities.
I don`t know what these goes for in the US, but for a good deal it could be worth checking out.
Good luck.

[Accept2]

Re: Roland GR-33

The VG8 corrected the string bending, hammer on, etc type of dealies that confused MIDI guitars............

[markD]

Re: Roland GR-33

i have a GR-30 and it is no replacement for a keyboardist. i only use it for recording, and only for layered tracks...nothing that's soloed. the 30 and 33 have the same synth engine/sounds, etc...and while the sounds are quite usable, even excellent when you really tweak them out, forget bending notes and doing any real fast playing because the tracking accuracy isn't there. especially with roland's pick up. using a gk-2a i hated the synth. after buying my synth controller equipped brian moore guitar, i love the synth. but that was a $1300 upgrade just to have fun with a guitar synth.

live, unless you are ultra accurate in your pick attack, fretting dynamics, etc., the synth will be an absolute nightmare. you set patches based on parameters set around various aspects of your techinique...so when you get pumped up live, and start playing harder than you did when you set up the synth patch...the fun begins: wierd zipper sounds, extra triggered notes, changing decay on notes, different string volumes, etc.

[Rhmsc8]

Re: Roland GR-33

Enough said.... Even for 340 with the pickup hardly seems worth it then.

Thanks for the help.