Roland GR-700 - Back, MIDI Input Mod & Memory Mod

Roland GR-700 MIDI INPUT Analog Synthesizer - Bach 2-Part Invention

YouTube Published on May 27, 2012 by WayneJoness

"http://www.joness.com/gr300/GR-700.htm This GR-700 has the rare, MIDI Input modification. What can you do with a GR-700 that has this modification? I use Digital Performer to play a sequence of Bach's 2-part invention in E minor, incorporating program changes to call up various patches. The internal sounds are the original GR-700 factory patches, and the cartridge sounds are the second generation factory patches."

Roland GR-700 Analog Guitar Synthesizer with MIDI INPUT Mark Tsurata Modification

Published on May 27, 2012 by WayneJoness

"http://www.joness.com/gr300/GR-700.htm Roland engineer Mark Tsurata created a MIDI Input modification for the Roland GR-700 programmable analog guitar synthesizer. This is a very, very rare modification. This video clip gives you all the details on how the modification works, and how to access the MIDI IN paramaters."

Roland GR-700 Analog Guitar Synthesizer with MIDI INPUT with Memory Expansion

Published on May 27, 2012 by WayneJoness

"http://www.joness.com/gr300/GR-700.htm This video clip shows how a Roland M-64C memory cartridge can be used with the Roland GR-700 to expand the external memory from 64 patches to 256 patches!"

Roland GR-505 Guitar and GR-300 Analog Synth Overview & Demos

Roland G-505 Metallic Red Vintage Analog GR-300 Guitar Synthesizer Controller - INTRO

YouTube Published on Apr 26, 2012 by WayneJoness

"http://www.joness.com/gr300/G-505.html Introduction to the Roland G-505 vintage guitar synthesizer controller. Like a lot of Roland G-505 guitars, this guitar has been modified with a Kahler locking tremolo bridge and Seymour Duncan pickups. These are really great guitars that make outstanding vintage or modern synth controllers"

Roland G-505 Metallic Red Vintage Analog GR-300 Guitar Synthesizer Controller w/ GR-300

Published on Apr 26, 2012 by WayneJoness

"http://www.joness.com/gr300/G-505.html The Roland G-505 guitar is played with a Roland GR-300 vintage analog guitar synthesizer"

Roland G-505 Metallic Red Vintage Analog GR-300 Guitar Synthesizer Controller w/ VG-00

Published on Apr 26, 2012 by WayneJoness

"http://www.joness.com/gr300/G-505.html The Roland G-505 guitar is played with a Roland VG-99 modern guitar synthesizer. A BX-13-VX is used to convert the 24-pin signals to 13-pin signals."

Vintage Roland Guitar Synth Instructional Videos - Adrian Belew & School of Rock

Roland G-505 and GR-300 Instruction Video Excerpts with Adrian Belew (1981)

YouTube Published on May 14, 2012 by WayneJoness

"http://www.joness.com/gr300/G-505.html Adrian Belew offers some great insights into pushing the limits of the guitar synthesis in this vintage excerpt from an hour long instructional video. Belew loves to use the volume control for expression, and you may notice the volume knob on his G-505 controllers has been moved to make it more accessible!"

Roland G-707 GM-70 Vintage Guitar Instructional Rock School Video - Excerpt - Series 2, Episode 2

Published on May 14, 2012 by WayneJoness

"http://www.joness.com/gr300/G-707.html In 1985 the BBC produced a series of one hour instruction programs called Rock School. These were also broadcast in the US on PBS. To demonstrate proper, cutting-edge technology, a number of vintage Roland guitar synths were used. This is a great clip which features the rare Roland G-707 guitar and GK-1."

Roland G-77 Vintage Bass Guitar Instructional Rock School Video - Excerpt - Series 2, Episode 2

Published on May 14, 2012 by WayneJoness

"http://www.joness.com/gr300/G-77.html In 1985 the BBC produced a series of one hour instruction programs called Rock School. These were also broadcast in the US on PBS. To demonstrate proper, cutting-edge technology, a number of vintage Roland guitar synths were used. This is a great clip which features the rare Roland G-77 bass."

RC-1324-VR Roland GR-300 Vintage Guitar Synth 13-pin Adapter Introduction

YouTube Uploaded by WayneJoness on Mar 4, 2012

"The RC-1324-VR adapts modern, 13-pin guitars to play vintage 24-pin guitar synthesizers. Any 13-pin pin Roland-Ready guitar can play a vintage Roland guitar synth like a GR-300, GR-700, etc."

RC-1324-VR Roland GR-300 Vintage Guitar Synth Fernanades Sustainer

Uploaded by WayneJoness on Mar 4, 2012

"The RC-1324-VR bridges the gap between cutting edge guitar technology and vintage synth technology. In this clip, a Fernandes Sustainer equipped guitar with a GK-3 pickup plays the GR-300, with infinite sustain."

RC-1324-VR Roland GR-300 Vintage Guitar Synth 13-pin Adapter Hexa Fuzz

Uploaded by WayneJoness on Mar 4, 2012

"Details on the Hexa Fuzz distortion circuit in the RC-1324-VR."

Parker NiteFly SA Guitar with Factory Roland Ready GK-2A and Roland GR-300 Guitar Synthesizer

Published on Jan 31, 2020 WayneJoness

"In August of 2006 I found this really, really rare Parker NiteFly SA guitar on ebay. This was a stunning NiteFly SA with a factory installed Roland GK-2A kit. I have never seen one of these before or since. As the Roland kit was factory installed, all the controls, knobs, etc. fit seamless with the standard controls. This NiteFly SA was a true jack-of-all-trades guitar. In addition to the sweet custom DiMarzio pickups, the guitar also had a Fishman pickup installed for acoustic tones. And topping everything off was the Roland 13 pin GK output as well.

In my MIDI speed tests, this guitar has proven to be a real tracking champion as well. Response time was a blazing 15.96 milliseconds using the Roland GI-20 Pitch-to-MIDI converter. This is a tracking speed that is on par with the latest technology available.

In the video, you can see the guitar demonstrated with the Roland GR-300. At the time I was making the RC-1324-PDL, a pedal that accepted a modern 13-pin input and supplied a vintage 24-pin output. The pedal included trimmers for each string, plus two filter preset settings, modulation control and resonance, as well as output presets. The pedal needed to replicate the controls found on a vintage guitar synth controller which are not a part of the GK-2/GK-3 design. You can hear the guitar controlling a Roland GR-100, GR-300 and GR-700.

As much as I loved the sound and flexibility of this guitar, I was never able to adjust to the thin, carbon fibre neck. Do not get me wrong, the neck is awesome, with its stainless steel frets and dead-on intonation. But I found the neck a little fatiguing, as I really prefer a fatter neck. And so, like many guitars, it eventually left and found another owner courtesy of ebay."

Parker NiteFly SA with Factory Internal Roland GK-2A and Roland GR-700 Analog Guitar Synthesizer

Published on Jan 31, 2020 WayneJoness

"This video demonstrates using a Parker NiteFly SA with a factory Roland GK-2A internal pickup. This is a rare guitar, with the Roland electronics installed at the factory. This is the same pickup as found in the original Fender Roland Ready guitars. A RC-1324 converter is used to boost the signals from the Roland 13-pin output to be compatible with the 24-pin system. This enables the Parker NiteFly SA to play a vintage Roland GR-700 Analog guitar synthesiter."

Super Fat Analog Roland Guitar Synth Video

Super Fat Analog Roland Guitar Synth - GR-300 VG-99 Control Voltage MIDI Demo

Published on Nov 26, 2012 by WayneJoness

"http://www.joness.com/gr300/vwham.htm Inspired by the original Analogger GR-300 video using control voltages [embed added below], this clip shows a simple VG-99 GR-300 patch being modulated using MIDI CC commands for filter cutoff and resonance. With its built in effects, including poly compression which puts a compressor on each individual string, the VG-99 is capable rich, thick, analog synthesizer tones. In this demo, the two VCOs of the GR-300 are layered in 5ths for a fatter sound."

Update: some additional info from WayneJoness:
"Quite some time ago, I was really impressed with a demo of the Roland GR-300 that Analogger did, using a MIDI sequence, then converting the MIDI sequence to control voltages using a Roland MPU-101, and then taking the output of the MPU-101 to the CV/filter pedal input on the GR-300.

So I thought: couldn't you do this directly with the VG-99? It would be easy to make a basic MIDI sequence that would send MIDI CCs to the VG-99. I came up with a simple pattern and added a drum loop. See the video below. Most of this video is me playing a four note pattern on the VG-99: E, G, F and Bb, with the VCOs tuned in 5ths. In some sections I added a top note on the high E string, and in other sections, I just played minor chords: Em, Gm, Fm and Bbm. I added in a low bass at one point, with the second VCO pitched one octave down.

I used poly compression and regular compression to reduce the natural attack of the GR-300 to give it more of a keyboard sound. Anyway, I was surprised at how analog the entire thing sounds, it fell together quickly, and I spent as much time tweaking the video as I did playing the track! Because of the nature of the GR-300 waveform, and the fact that the guitar almost never plays the same note the same way twice, I think this is very convincing analog simulation, on par with the best virtual analog synths."

Update 9:47PM: Here's the Roland GR-300 video referenced in the description above.

Roland GR-300 Guitar Synth (filter modulation)

Uploaded by Analogger on Jul 18, 2007

"Greetings everybody! Please check out my new Myspace music page when you get a chance. The project goes by the name "Mr. Dithers." thanks!

http://www.myspace.com/mrdithersnoisebox
I have this immaculate Roland GR-300 guitar synth and the G-707 guitar controller. (I have the 505 as well which actually works better with the GR-300 but I wanted to test the 707 with the 24-pin cable I bought on Ebay!)) I am not really a guitar player but wanted to use the 300 for textures - kind of like what Andy Summers did with his on certain Police tunes. The GR-300 is not midi in any way. It is triggered by a guitar equipped with a GK-1 pickup and rare 24-pin cable. The GR-300 features six voltage controlled oscillators (VCOs)-one for each string. It also features a hexa-fuzz unit (again one for each string) which can be layered with the VCOs. You can also blend the actual clean guitar sound as well. The key to the sound is that the VCOs and Hexa-fuzz go through a beautiful fat 24dB analog filter. The cutoff and resonance are adjusted from the guitar. However, in the back of the unit you will find an input for an expression pedal. This is designed to sweep the filter to give you wah-wah efx. This is for all the synth geeks out there who are compulsive 'tone chasers.'"

Also see this post for the GR-300 on it's one.

Ibanez IMG2010, Roland GI-20, BX-13-VX and Soft Synthesizers

YouTube Published on May 11, 2012 by WayneJoness

"The BX-13-VX is used to convert the output of the IMG2010 to 13-pin format. This is then hooked up to the Roland GI-20, that drives various soft synths! This clip includes blending the IMG2010 pickups with the synth output."

BX-13-VX, Roland G-505, Roland FS-6 and Roland VG-99 Volume Adjust

Published on May 11, 2012 by WayneJoness

"This demo is a quick over view of using the BX-13-VX with a vintage Roland G-505 guitar and a modern Roland VG-99 guitar synthesizer. Details on volume adjust"

Andy Summers - Roland GR-300 Guitar Synthesizer Demo with Jools Holland - G-808

Uploaded on May 14, 2020 WayneJoness

"https://www.joness.com/gr300/andy-sum...

Andy Summers of The Police gives a demonstration of the Roland GR-300 guitar synthesizer with the Roland G-808 guitar synthesizer controller to Jools Holland. Andy shows how he used the GR-300 in the smash hit, "Don't Stand So Close To Me". This is the same rig that Andy is featured with in magazine advertising and in the Roland Users Group Magazine, Volume 2, Number 2."

Also check out the History of the Guitar Synth on WayneJoness.

Latest Guitar Synth Videos by WayneJoness Featuring the Roland GM-70 Turbo

Roland GM-70 Turbo Vintage Guitar Synth Volume Control Options + Hex Fuzz GR-300 Demo

Published on Jun 12, 2013 WayneJoness·265 videos

"http://www.joness.com/gr300/GM-70.htm... The specialized Roland BC-13/GM-70 Turbo circuit board also reconfigures the way volume commands are processed. With the original Roland GM-70, you can have 100% synth output and 0% guitar. Or 0% synth, and 100% guitar. Or any mix between, such as 75% synth, and 25% guitar. But not 100% synth, and 100% guitar. With the GM-70 Turbo Plus, you can have 100% synth, and 100% guitar. The master volume now directly controls the synth volume regardless of the mix/blend control, and the mix/blend controls guitar volume control, dependent on the master volume level."

CLICK FOR MORE »

Roland GK-1 Demonstration Video with GR-300, GM-70 and VG-99

YouTube Published on May 15, 2012 by WayneJoness

"http://www.joness.com/gr300/gk1_kit.htm A brief demonstration of the Roland GK-1 kit installed on an Xotica EA-1 guitar. The GK-1 is used with a Roland GM-70, GR-300, and the new Roland VG-99, with a BX-13-VX converter."

Update:

Roland GK-1 GR-300 and Ovation Acoustic Guitar

Published on May 15, 2012 by WayneJoness

"http://www.joness.com/gr300/gk1_kit.htm A quick test of the Roland GK-1 on an acoustic guitar. While the GK-1 and guitar synthesizers are usually associated with solid body electrics, the GK-1 test well on an acoustic guitar."

Roland GC 10 Soft Synths

YouTube via WayneJoness. Update: see WayneJoness' YouTube channel for more. Note for all YouTube videos you can click through the video playing to get to the video on YouTube. Once there you can click on the link for the YouTubers alias for more. You can also checkout the thumbnails after any video here or there for related videos.

Roland Guitar Synthesizers - GR-33B, GR-300, G-303 and US-2

Roland US-2 Turbo Vintage Guitar Synth Switcher GR-300 Parker PM-10 Korg Kronos GM-70

YouTube Uploaded by WayneJoness on Mar 14, 2012

"http://www.gr300.com A vintage Roland US-2 is modified with modern, 25-pin DB 25 connectors, and optional EV-5 inputs for independent control over CV#1 (filter), CV#2 (resonance) and CV#4 (lfo). A Parker PM-10 is used with a RC-1324-VR to connect to the US-2 Turbo, with a Roland GR-300 connected to the Synth A output, and a GM-70 connected to the Synth B output. The GM-70 is driving a Korg Kronos 88."

Update:

Roland Guitar Synthesizers - GR-33B, GR-300, G-303 and US-2

YouTube Uploaded by WayneJoness on Mar 15, 2012

"At last! An answer to the question, can you play a vintage Roland GR-33B bass synthesizer with a vintage Roland G-303 guitar. Yes, you can! This clip show the Roland G-303 guitar playing the GR-33B and GR-300 at the same time, using the very rare Roland US-2."

RC-1324-VX Prototype Overview

YouTube Published on Sep 19, 2012 by WayneJoness

"http://www.joness.com/gr300/RC13.htm A quick overview of the rare RC-1324-VX, the original Prototype. THe RC-1324-VX is used with an Xotica guitar and a Roland GR-300, with a VG-99 as well."

Update:

RC-1324-VX Prototype Bass Guitar Synthesizer Interface - Detail

Published on Sep 19, 2012 by WayneJoness

"http://www.joness.com/gr300/RC13.htm A more detailed look at the rare RC-1324-VX used with both the Roland GR-33B vintage bass synthesizer and the modern Roland VB-99 bass guitar synthesizer"

Roland GM-70 with XV-5080 & GM-70 Ibanez MC1 Compared

Roland GM-70 Vintage MIDI Guitar Synthesizer Controller Assignments - Tutorial

YouTube Published on Apr 28, 2012 by WayneJoness
Guitar audio comes in at :51 followed by the XV-5080.

"http://www.joness.com/gr300/GM-70.htm A brief tutorial on making MIDI controller assignments using the vintage Roland GM-70 pitch-to-MIDI converter. One of the strengths of the GM-70 is the ability to control up to nine MIDI sources."

Roland GM-70 and Ibanez MC1 Vintage MIDI Guitar Synthesizer Compared - Tutorial

Published on Apr 28, 2012 by WayneJoness

"http://www.joness.com/gr300/GM-70.htm A comparison of the features of the Roland GM-70 and the Ibanez MC1 vintage pitch-to-MIDI converters."

07 Roland-Ready GR-700 Turbo Synth NEW End Panels!

YouTube via WayneJoness | February 07, 2011 |

"I have been working with the Roland GR-700 since 1985! I have accumulated a large supply of GR-700 parts, some in great condition, and some rusty and worn-out. The GR-700 Turbo is built from the best possible components. All switches are clean, functional, and fully tested. In addition, I have replaced the original flimsy plastic end panels with new, solid block end panels custom made by California Acrylic Design in Los Angeles."

06 Roland-Ready GR-700 Turbo Synth - Final Version Voice Board with NEW Lithium Memory Battery

WayneJoness | February 07, 2011 |

"The GR-700 Turbo also has the final revision of the GR-700 Voice Board, plus a new battery for patch memory backup. The early GR-700 voice boards used open frame trimmers for the adjusting the critical parameters of each voice chip: level, DC balance, filter cutoff and resonance. The GR-700 Turbo has the last revision of the Voice Board with closed trimmers. The later Voice Boards also have additional test points to make testing and adjusting the board easier. And finally the 3 volt lithium memory backup battery has been replaced. This is the battery used to power the memory chip so that patches are retained even when the unit is turned off. This battery should last five years, so the original GR-700 batteries are long overdue for replacement!"

IMG2010-SOFT-SYNTH-01-gr300.mov

YouTube via WayneJoness

IMG2010-SOFT-SYNTH-02-gr3000.mov


Update: more vids in this series are going up on WayneJoness' YouTube channel here.

XJ-S_GR-300.mov

YouTube via WayneJoness

XJ-S_GR-100.mov

Simple Guitar Synthesizer Reaktor 5.0 Roland GR-300

YouTube via WayneJoness
"I was inspired by a Moog Freq Pedal demo. I took my monophonic Fatman synthesizer, and used an external input (guitar) as the sync source for oscillator 2. Oscillator 1 is still on the control panel, but it does nothing. The external input (guitar) forces the sync of Oscillator 2, making it track the pitch of the guitar. Making this work well depends on the settings of the input compressor, noise gate, and a low pass filter used to roll off the treble from the guitar. These elements are common to all guitar synthesizers. I was amazed at how well the whole thing works with minor tweaking. This unit is monophonic. If you could input each string individually, as with a hex pickup, you could create a very workable polyphonic guitar synthesizer in software only. The other thing needed is a good envelope follower. The file is on the Native Instruments website, available for improvements from other user. Search for SIMPLE_GTR_SYNTH.ens."

Van Halen Michael Anthony Roland GR-33B G-33 Bass Guitar Synthesizer Solo 1982 Largo 1983 Devore

WayneJoness

"Van Halen Bass Guitarist Michael Anthony takes the bass guitar to new limits with his Roland GR-33B and G-33 Bass Guitar, along with an extra dose of delay! From 1982 (Largo) and 1983 (Devore)."

That's some Bonanza right there.

RC-1324-VR Roland GR-300 Vintage Guitar Synth 13-pin Adapter Cable

YouTube Uploaded by WayneJoness on Nov 21, 2011

"The RC-1324-VR has a d-sub 25 pin output, with a special 25 pin to 24 pin Roland proprietary connector.a"