I thought I would share some of my thoughts on the GR-55. I won’t get into the tracking issues that

some of you are experiencing, but more in patch creation. We all know your factory patches probably

not much good for a realistic playing situation. So here are some ideas to making your patches sound

good.

First thing you do is initialize a patch. This is done by pressing the write button and tabbing over to the

3rd tab and then press write again. The reason for doing this is to clear any EQ settings and control

assignments. If you wish to give the patch a name at this point press Write and then Enter and the Name

screen will come up. After you are done press write two times.

You will need to have some idea of what you want the patch to sound like and what controls you wish to

assign. As far as your system settings I will assume that all your controls are set to patch settings. These

settings can be set globally for different control items. For instance my S1 and S2 switches are used to

scroll through my patches; you might use them for bank up and bank down. However if you select

patches with the pedals you could use them to make control changes. Note having you patches do

multiple tasks will save you from that patch change latency problem.

When you first initialize a patch all you will here is a 001 Piano and a classic Strat with nothing. The first

decision is it going to be a guitar patch, synth patch or both. This is what my friend Jay calls “Options

anxiety”. Yes, this happens to me all the time, I have more ideas than I have patch locations. So have

your patches do as much as it can and it will be like doubling up your patch locations. You can make a

patch to sound like Eddie VanHalen’s guitar rig but step on the control pedal and you have his synth

tone as well. Now Mr. Gundy Keeler made a patch to do this but we could take it a step further and use

the remaining controls to do some more things like change the alt-tuning on the synth sound so you can

play the synth solo easier. I almost think 8 assigns are not enough.

So let’s start with a simple guitar rig. I like Les Paul’s and it should default at a volume of 50 with the

bridge pickup on. Don’t forget to turn off the Piano. For an amp let’s choose a MS high gain amp

(Marshall JMC 900). The amp model original cabs can be a little brittle so choose the 4X12 option. Cut

the mid and boost the highs and the default Sennheiser 421 mic sound good for most amps. For your EQ

settings start with the following:

Low gain=2 Lowmid frequency= 200 Highmid frequency= 2500 High gain= 0

Low cut= Flat Lowmid gain= 2 Highmid gain= 3 High cut= Flat

Lowmid Q= 1 Himid Q= 1

This is a good EQ for amp models. Setting up your Global effects is easy just set all the levels at 100%

and adjust the amount from the three send lines (MOD, EFX and Bypass). On the subject of Reverb,

remember less is more. Select Room with a time of about 1.5 ms this will give you more of a true Room

Verb. I once said that Roland made bad reverbs but after getting to understand this effect a little more I

gotten some great reverb sounds. Knowing and understanding your effects is key in good patch creation.

Remenber we are only selecting reverb for the MOD line/mix so set it for around 40 for a big room

sound.

Use your imagination for setting up your assigns. In the Pedal/GK assigns section I almost always set it

up this way for Guitar patches.

1. CTL pedal= Led toggle

2. EXP switch= MOD switch

3. Exp pedal (switch off)= patch volume

4. Exp pedal (switch on)= MOD control

5. S1= off or **system**

6. S2= off or **system**

7. GK Volume= Tone Volume

Now you go into the assigns section and the assigns cover a wider range of assigns and are a lot more

detailed. You only have 8 of them so use them wisely. Remember not to double up any assigns, it might

end up badly. There some basic assigns like Solo switch, Chorus switch, Delay Switch and Reverb Switch.

Just get to know all the things you can do and your imagination will come up with that you can do with a

single patch. Change the routing of your COSM guitar for the AMP/MOD line to the MFX line. Then you

can use the Amp Sims in the MFX section and do some channel switching. You can change guitar models

and at the same time switch off the amp, to go from a Les Paul through a Marshall to an Acoustic guitar

model. You can get a simulation of duo amps and guitars if you use both COSM and regular guitar

pickups blended between the AMP/MOD and MFX amp Sims.

This is all just the guitar side of this stuff and that is just scratching the surface of what we can do with

some imagination. I will write some more PDF documents that will give you some more ideas and I hope

they inspire you into achieving greatness in your tone. If you all flood Roland’s Email with requests for

firmware updates for things like a harmonizer(intelligent of course) and make the MOD and MFX

sections have the ability of more than one effect at a time. I f one of does it they’ll just think he is weird,

if two of do it they’ll think they’re queer but if three or more of us do it they’ll think it’s a movement…

yea that’s right I’m talking about the betterment of the GR-55 movement!

Well we can dream. So keep the dream alive.

Control assigns explained

I’m going to start off talking about control assigns; they can be tricky and might throw you sometimes.

There are three sections to assign your controls. The first is in the system section for pedals and GK (see

figure 1.A); this is where you can assign control options to each controller globally and will be the same

for every patch. If you select “patch setting” (see figure 1.B) for each control then you will have to make

assigns within the patch. If you use any other settings it will over-ride any assigns for that control in your

patches. Lest say for example you set your S1 for patch number inc and S2 for patch number dec

globally. You will not be able to assign any other control assigns to the S1 and S2 switches. If you try to

assign pickup selection to S1 or S2 it won’t work, you will just change patches when you use the buttons.

This is where you need to make a choice weather you want to use your controllers globally or per patch.

If you want them to do the same thing in all your patches, you won’t have to make control assigns when

you create a patch. This would simplify things for basic users, but we are aiming for a much deeper

understanding of the GR-55. If you set your GK volume to tone volume in your system you may run the

risk of conflicting assigns. For example if you want to control your reverb level with the GK volume knob,

you will decrease your tone volume and your reverb at the same time. You can have multiple assigns for

one controller and you may run into problems if you don’t have your assigns set up correctly. The last

tab in this section is the hold tab. It has two settings, assign hold on and assign hold off. What this is

whether or not you want your controller to remain in the same state from patch to patch. If you want to

use the expression pedal for patch volume and you set at ½ way when you switch patches the value will

stay the same with assign hold on. If you set it to assign hold off, the pedal will return to the default

value when the patch is changed. I could go over each tab in this section but then I would be writing a

book 4 times the size of the manual.

Figure 1.A

Figure 1.B

Next I will start to cover the assigns per patch. Let’s start with the PDL/GK section this lets you make

basic assigns for each controller. It is limited to one assign per controller and you can run the risk of

conflicting with the assigns in the assigns section.

The CTL pedal is by default a hold pedal for your PCM sounds. I always change this to the on off state of

the led, then make my assigns for this pedal in the assigns section.

**For a lot of my patches I set EXPON to MOD CONTROL and EXPSW to MOD Switch. Then make sure

you MOD effect is a manual wha.** this provides a wah wah pedal for my lead guitar patches… You can

never have too much wah wah!!!

This brings me to the assign section; it has more option for controllers and much deeper options.

The picture shows an assign that has not been modified in its default state. You can’t see the last

parameter (ACT RANGE LO 127) but that’s OK because you probably never have to modify it anyway.

The first thing you want to do is turn the switch on, this may sound stupid but many times I have forgot

this and started to scratch my head when I stepped on my CTL switch. Next select your target there is a

very long list of targets to control (however Roland in all their wisdom forgot to include the ability to

change your amp model). Go through the manual and get to learn your target options and you’ll have a

better idea of all your control options. It may make your head spin; again I refer to my friend Jay and his

term “options anxiety”. Then select your controller and the controller mode. I mean the two source

settings. The mode is either toggle (latch) or momentary. If you use the expression pedal as a source its

mode will almost always momentary.

Now for my opinion on Roland’s shortcomings in the control sections of the GR-55. It would have been

simpler if they omitted the PDL/GK section and put 16 assign tabs in the assign section. The users would

have a lot less trouble with assign conflicts and Roland might have saved a penny or two.

Later today I will post some guitar patches with mp3’s with some control assigns for examples that you

all can get some ideas from. Enjoy and I hope this is helpful. And as always contribute to the forum so

we can all learn from each other.

A good midi perfomance

PCM synths are the only sound sources that require midi conversion. The other source paths (COSM

instruments and natural pickups) don’t have any midi going on at all. The GK-3(or any other guitar with a

13 pin hex system) is not a midi pickup, all the midi conversion happens inside the GR-55. If you are

thinking of buying one of the other 13 pin hex guitars stop and consider Roland made the GR-55 with

their pickup in mind and all though they have options for other systems it is optimized for the GK-3. You

can put the GK-3 on almost any 6 string guitar with steel strings; I even have one on my acoustic guitar.

If you wish to get detailed information on setting up your GK-3 equip guitar please visit the VGuitar

forums website there are many threads on this topic. Here is what I posted a while back:

Every guitar is different what works for my guitar will not work for your guitar. Here are

some tips for getting it right for your guitar.

1. Install the GK-3 correctly as close to the bridge saddles as possible. Use the string height

gauge Roland gave you and remember to gauge the string height with your last fret fretted.

(Adjust GK PU height to 1mm) “See Figure 1.a”

2. Go into your GK setup in the PU tab and set your pickup type and scale length. The other

items should remain at the defaults.

3. Go to the DIS tab and set the distance from the center of each pickup to the point where

the string meets the bridge. This is important for the tone of the COSM modeled guitars and

I don't believe it has any effect on tracking, but it can't hurt to set it right.

(Moderator Note: Use the "D" string saddle to PU distance as an average)

4. Go to the SEN tab and set the sensitivity. This is where your guitar and your playing

come into the equation. Strike the first string like you would during a performance. when

the meter stops just short of the last dot you are there. each string will have different

values. Repeat this process for all the strings. It is a good idea to do this setup every time

you change strings or make any adjustments.

5. Go to the VEL tab and set all 3 settings as you play a PCM sound. you shouldn't have to

get too far from the original defaults. and you can make different GK setups for different

play feels.

6. Next the NUA tab, this is very important. The nuance dynamics you might leave at

default, but you may want to raise the nuance trim some.

I hope this helps you out and remember keep tweaking and you will get good results. This

technology is not perfect but the GR-55 is the best guitar pedal/synth out there. Encourage

every guitar player you know to get one because if Roland sees value in this market they

will most likely develop more and better products along this line.

Figure 1.a

There are some other things to consider that will affect the tracking of your guitar as well. I know you

don’t want to hear it, but your playing is the most important part of a good midi performance. Guitar

players can hit a not sloppy but with all that distortion you just can’t tell. Sometimes you rely on those

harmonic overtones to enhance a guitar solo. Maybe that buzzing from the strings being too close to the

fret board isn’t audible when amplified and who cares as long as you can shred. These all come into play

with midi, when converting audio to midi the note you want has to be clean. An old scratched up guitar

pick will cause unwanted overtones. Excessive string vibration behind the nut will create overtones that

will affect midi. If your hand brushes the strings you will get extra unwanted notes. Palm muting will

reduce a lot of the issues but ultimately you need to improve your technique. Remember you are no

longer just a guitar player you have evolved to playing other instruments through your guitar. When you

play a saxophone sound you have to think like a sax player. You don’t want employ double stops or tap

techniques. When you play a piano sound a soft touch is necessary to sound like a piano performance.

When you strike notes pay attention to your attack, you will need less force when playing PCM tones.

You also may want different GK settings for different instruments and select them per patch in your

Other section. This is the same section that your Alt tunings are located.

There are 910 PCM sounds in the GR-55. If you times that by the two PCM sound sources that’s 1820

sounds. Now if you take each PCM and go into the deep editing, I can only imagine how many sounds

you could create and massive effects. Wow! It boggles the mind, again “options anxiety”. Thank Jay you

for coining such an appropriate phrase to describe the GR-55. If you let your imagination take over your

patches can be incredible and take your music to new hights.

Remember, keep tweaking.

GR-55 Options

There a few options in your GR-55 witch I have started to mention in my other documents. In your

System tab curser over to Pedal/GK CTL and there some options that can change how you use your GR-

55. The first tab is for your CTL pedal. There a few options to set that control to but I leave mine on

patch setting. This way my CTL pedal can be used for many different tasks assigned per patch. The other

options will override any other settings in the patch and if want to make an assign for it in pedal/GK CTL

patch section all it say is “***SYSTEM***” and you are stuck with the pedal only doing one task. I

understand that some of you will use the GR-55 in different ways and it was designed that way. I used to

know this guy with a GR-33 and all he mostly did was play his piano patch and I think it was the stock

GR-33 patch with no editing. So if you were only using the GR-55 for a select few synth sounds you

might want to set it up as a hold pedal globally.

My opinion would be the same next three tabs EXP, EXPON and EXPSW. But you may want to set them

globally for your own needs. There are a few players that will use this for a synth only tool and run their

old school guitar rig. There is nothing wrong with that, the GR-55 was designed to meet the needs of

many types of players.

The GR-55 does not come set up like other synths in the way that you use the mix switch to select GK,

guitar and mix (of both guitar and synth). If you want it to do this set the GK volume to tone volume for

PCM1, PCM2 and COSM guitar globally. I set mine per patch instead of globally so I can use the GK

volume for other expression.

This picture shows the GK-3 controls.

I will give you my GR-55 setup and you may decide if it will work for you.

1. CTL pedal = patch setting

2. EXP pedal = patch setting

3. EXPON = patch setting

4. EXPSW = patch setting

5. GKS1 = patch number Inc.

6. GKS2 =patch numbed Dec.

7. GK VOL = patch setting

8. HOLD = on

These settings are for my own purposes and you should set it up to meet your needs. I use the GR-55 as

an all in one box and the only way I use the guitar (dry) out is to feed my Rocktron Talk box. And I also

assign my guitar out per patch which is set up in your “other” section.

I have on occasion set up different GK settings for one guitar. The reason for this is to have sensitivities

and play feels for different instruments. You can also set this up per patch. This will also maximize the

tracking from one instrument to another. I find that if you set up your GK pickup right you can mostly

use your system GK set.

The key is to experiment and set it up to your needs. There is a lot to learn so you can make the most of

your performance from your setup to how you mix live.

Now let’s talk about a live performance. First off you want to hear yourself play so you need to have

some sort of stage monitoring. You also want the other guys to here you too. I took 2 Tech 21 power

engine 60’s and modified them by putting a pizzo horn and a 12” woofer with a crossover. This gives me

a full rang stereo sound; I even installed speaker stand cups on the bottom so I could get them in the air

with some separation. In most of my playing situations this is all I need. If I need more I have a second

stereo cord that goes from the phone jack to the board. The Tech 21’s also has XLR outs that can go to

the board. In other situations I just plug strait into the board and send my signal to the floor monitors.

This is also ideal if you use in ear monitors. I am all about using as little gear as possible and sounding

like you brought everything you own. I use a 16 channel board out to an EQ and powered speakers. It’s

very easy to setup and sounds great.

Setting up your patches can be trying at times and you can download gumtown’s wonderful GUI editing

software. You can get it at http://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/

Here is the editor and it can make patch creation easy and fast. Personally I feel that you should be used

to the manual editing process and know your way around your GR-55 first. You don’t always have a

computer with you when you need to make adjustments.

If you have an external looper you can make a loop of your dry guitar signal and run the output of the

looper to the normal input of your GK-3 and edit your sound. This is a good trick so you can hear the

parameters change as you edit.

Now we are getting more into patch creation. First let’s start out with an “Initialized” patch. Even when

you initialize a patch it still has some things turned on so you will have to turn off some things if you

truly want to start from scratch.

Structure 1 INI.g5l Structure 2 INI.g5l

Here are 2 INI patches I made for starting from scratch. Don’t be concerned if you hear nothing,

everything is turned off. You will be able to download them from the patch section or click the link in

this document.

I must apologize if I sometimes I get off topic but I have so many ideas that pour out as I type. Someday I

might organize them and consolidate them into one document.

My next topic will be a step by step walk through on making patches out of the above patches.

Until next time,

Jimmy.