Return of a Legend:
BY WAYNE JONESS
Recently, GR-300 modules have sold for
close to $2000 on eBay, with complete
systems featuring the G-303 controller selling for over $3000. This is well above the
cost of a complete VG-99/FC-300/GK- 3 rig,
which made me wonder, would the VG-99/
GR-300 emulation compare with the original
1980 version?
What makes the GR-300 so special?
To appreciate the unique qualities of the GR-
300, let’s take a look at the unusual design
of this early guitar synthesizer. Before the
GR-300, most designers used a pitch-to-voltage circuit to generate a control voltage to
drive a VCO, or voltage controlled oscillator. In other words, the guitar fretboard was
basically substituting for a keyboard. This
approach is much like today’s MIDI guitar
synthesizers, which convert the pitch of a
guitar string into a MIDI note.
The advantage of pitch-to-voltage systems,
like pitch-to-MIDI systems, is that the guitar
controller can be interfaced with similarly
equipped gear. The ARP Avatar, for example,
could be expanded with other ARP modules,
or similar vintage synths. The GR-300 broke
from this tradition, and used the output of
the Roland hex pickup to directly drive the
guitar synthesis process. It was a closed system, but what the GR-300 lacked in expansion and voicing options, it more than made
up for in its remarkable ability to almost
immediately translate fretboard actions into
distinct synthesizer sounds.
While conventional analog synthesizers typically offer a variety of waveform outputs, the
GR-300 has a unique sawtooth waveform
not found on any other analog synthesizer.
Because the cycle of the waveform from
the hex pickup drives the synthesis process,
Roland designers realized that lower notes
would be much louder than higher notes. In
fact, with each successive octave the waveform would lose half its amplitude. The solution was to simply chop off much of the top
of the waveform, as this would keep all the
notes at the same volume across the range
of the guitar. This was certainly a brute-force
approach, but this shifting sawtooth waveform gave the GR-300 a sound not found
anywhere else. In the nineties, Roland sound
designer Scott Summers sampled his own
GR-300, and the unique GR-300 waveform
started to show up in some new Roland guitar synthesizers. But sampling the GR-300
was clearly not the same experience as playing a GR-300.
Blue Box in a Silver Box
After much input from internet user groups,
and perhaps after seeing the price of their
venerable GR-300 soar in used gear markets,
Roland promised to recreate the sound of
the GR-300 inside the VG- 99. Were they successful? Absolutely. After playing a GR-300
for years, it was quite disconcerting playing
the VG-99/GR-300 emulation for the first
time. The sound is all there, from the “spit”
of the GR-300’s attack, to the characteristic
breakup of the sawtooth waveform before
the sound stops.
And Roland included all the features of a
light compact adjustable
light compact adjustable
A revolutionary concept in guitar tremolos
Direct replacement with no drilling
Conwvewrtwsi.nsgtlepamcti aoxnttre
emmo.lcoos mto double acting
Log on to to learn more
Patent# 7339102
