Boss SYB-3 Bass Synthesizer

Well if you know something about synthesis, and hw a synth works this pedal is quite easy to use. For people who are new to this, it kan be a little difficult.

The sounds are good, I think this pedal can be compared best to a JUNO-106 synthesizer from Roland.

Typical Boss/Roland case, so it's almost impossible to destroy it.

Never used it

Yes this pedal is a nice add-on to your excisting bassrig, it pulls you out of the blue when your stuck in your daily bass riffing. Give's you a positive boost, and new ways to explore.

Everybody says pretty much the same thing; this pedal is difficult to use. It's true. Not only is it hard to dial in a sound, the range of the knobs is so great that finding your sound again can be almost impossible. You'll probably find half a dozen interesting sounds by accident, while trying to recreate that great sound you found last week.

There's no editing, as such; it's a pedal, with stacked, concentric knobs. The manual isn't bad, but anyone who expects something like a simple envelope filter will get lost right away.

I could see Devo or the Residents using this; not so sure about Robert Fripp or Bill Frisell. It doesn't really matter, I'm not using the SYB-3 to sound like anyone else.

Lots of people have raved about getting Moog-like tones out of this box. I find it kind of buzzy, compared to say, Jan Hammer's Moog sounds, but maybe I'm not trying hard enough to get those sounds. (I use a Roland guitar synth for serious synth sounds.) I use the SYB-3 wrong anyhow. When I'm not using it with a guitar, I use it for TB-303-style sounds. (BTW, the SYB-3 DOES work with an ordinary 6-string electric guitar, in standard tuning, at least one w/HB's; haven't tried it with single-coils.) Here's the TB-303 trick:

I run one output from my DR-660 drum machine into the SYB-3's input, and start a beat. Then I tweak my sound. I use the SYB-3's dual outputs to send the DR-660's signal straight through to my recorder, and I give the bass synth output its own channel. Live, I run the outputs to a PA; no point killing a guitar amp. The SYB-3 responds well to the input levels from the DR-660, and I get a 303-style bass line that's locked to the beat. If you've managed to find that elusive Moog Taurus sound, imagine driving that sound with a beatbox! Try this at home, it should work with any drum machine.

For guitar sounds, the SYB-3 probably rates around a 6, but with the DR-660, it rates a 10; I'll split the difference, and give it an 8.

I've had it for a few years; it hasn't gotten any easier to use, but it always works.

Roland's support people try hard to be helpful, but some players know more about Roland/Boss gear than some of their support staff. The website could be more helpful.

As I've written many times, I play experimental guitar, which leaves room for all kinds of sounds, and noises. I have an assortment of loopers, delays, synths, and weird filter boxes, including a Line6 Filter Modeler, and a Digitech Synth-Wah pedal. The SYB-3 isn't one of my favorite boxes, but it has its place. I've been playing since before psychedelic music.

If something happened to my SYB-3, I might get an SYB-5, but I wouldn't hurry. Most of my music is not beat-driven, so the TB-303 sound isn't critical to my music. I love the range of sounds in this box: I hate turning the knobs millimeter by millimeter so I don't overshoot the sound I'm trying to get. I'm not sure what my favorite feature is.

I have other synth/filter boxes, and no two sound alike, which is why I have more than one. I chose the SYB-3 because it had huge range of sounds, with a small footprint; those Line6 Modelers take the space of three or four other pedals.

I wish it had memory, even if you could only save one sound at a time.

I've never liked the question "Does it help you make music?", at least when applied to effects. Effects make sounds, and we use those sounds to make music; it seems like a small point, but it's an important one. Most electronic musicians do play real instruments, not just noisemakers. Having said that, the SYB-3 is a great noisemaker.

A word to the wise; don't buy this pedal for the T-Wah modes. A usable envelope filter costs a third what the SYB-3, or the SYB-5 costs. If you really want to spend $250-300 for an envelope filter, get the Mutron re-issue.

The tough thing about this pedal is getting the same sound repeatedly. It is takes tweaking and is a little unpredictable. Great for studio work. Tough for live gigs.

This is one of the neatest sounding pedals ever created. It really does turn your bass into an analog synthesizer. A great studio pedal. Gets smooth synth hums with a neat deacay and great sounding fuzz. It can also make splatty moogy electric light parade squonks.

Don't even try to get these sounds out of the Electro Harmonix Bass Microsynth. This is the only pedal that claims to be a guitar synth that actaully does it.

Only works with bass! Needs low tones. Ineffective with six strings.

Tough to get settings on by rock solid.

Boss is great.

I like pedals that have distinctive character. There is no pedal on the planet like this one. It is unique. We used it on our first album for it's long spacey hum and loved it. It's a lot of fun and very weird.

Lots of knobs: Bypass Vol / Effect Vol / Resonance / Frequency / Decay (Sensitivity in modes 8-11) / Mode (1-11)

My relationship with the SYB-3 has been over two years of hate/love/hate... I play with software synths at home, and love vintage Taurus sounds and the like. Plug a cheap keyboard into the SYB-3 and it'll run like a charm (try it, it's fun!). Do the same with bass however, and it's a different story. It just will not track cleanly unless certain conditions are met:

1) Run a strong, clean signal into the SYB-3.
2) Mute all unused strings as you play.
3) Try and play on one string only.
4) Fret buzz _will_ affect the signal, so adjust your setup.
5) Noise will also trigger the SYB-3 - use a gate if you have one.

Doing the above will help, but you'll still get glitches from time to time. NB: when learning to use the pedal, turn down the bypass signal so you can hear what's going on more clearly.

Next bitch: the 'Hold' mode can be very tricky to get used to. You need to ensure that the note triggers before you engage Hold mode, or you'll get silence punctuated by an annoying flashing light ;) What this means is that you will have to play a solid note at the start of the phrase you want the held signal to go under. Having your playing style dictated to you by one of your fx pedals may irritate you!

Last bitch: the (perceived?) output volume changes with the degree of Resonance applied to the synthesizer modes. Low values are quiet, anywhere past half-way and it can be obnoxious.

I am currently using a Stuart Spector Design NS-4 > Sansamp RBI > Carver PM 1.5 > Trace Elliot 1248H. All my effects are parked in the RBI's FX loop (set to 50/50 Mix mode).

Modes 1 - 7 take the input sound and generate analogue monophonic synthesizer tones:

Mode 1 - Sawtooth wave: fairly cold sounding synth.

Mode 2 - Square wave: warmer than mode 1. I've got some very Depeche Mode sounds out of this setting.

Mode 3 - Square wave + pulse width modulation: Mode 2 with a chorus-like texture.

Mode 4 - Sawtooth -1 octave: now we're talking! This is phat, make no mistake. Set the Res/Freq all the way down and it's almost like a normal octaver. I've used this to play "Great Big Lie" by the Tea Party.

Modes 5-7 are versions of Modes 1,3 & 4 with added noise.

Modes 8/9 - Wave shape: a kind of distortion which is input sensitive like an envelope filter. I've gotten a sound very similar to Aphex Twin's "Come to daddy" out of these modes. Sick, sick distortion. Depending on the settings it can fart out at the end of it's decay cycle in a very un-appealing fashion.

Modes 10/11 - very weak touch-wah, but it opens up some with distortion in front. This is the least convincing aspect of this pedal, which is a shame as it would be the most usable otherwise. The pedal loses 2 points because of this.

It's a Boss. I bought it second hand, it works flawlessly. I regularly use it with no backup.

Eats batteries like there's no tomorrow - it has an 80 mA current draw. Loses a point because of this. Use an adaptor!

n/a

'idoru' http://www.idoru.com.au

We play alt-rock with a nod to metal and prog rock/psychedelia. If I lost my SYB-3, I _may_ possibly buy the SYB-5 to replace it, but I'd _much_ rather get a Moog MuRF.

I don't like the last 4 modes much, they just don't seem to react to variations in input except in very particular settings. The hold mode in modes 1-7 is a major redeeming feature of this pedal.

I do like this pedal, but at it's heart it is just a monophonic synth and isn't terribly interesting. However, if you strap other effects after it, you can make some seriously nasty or trippy sounds depending on what you use. Distortion + slow, deep phase is great for spicing up the hold mode. Delays work nicely with a slow Decay on the SYB-3. Use your imagination!

I can find in SYB-3 the most untouchable pedal for a bass, i find it really hard to make it play in a show, but i think at home is some kind of a toy!

I complain the fact that I cannot make the sounds change during playing, I mean, in a song you can use only one set up from 11, I wish I could change the setup with simple footsteps or whatever...

the sounds on the amp are real and freaky, but also I disagree with the fact that the sound will end with a cut instead of fadeing out, i wish it had a knob to make it last longer...

i like it, and I'm learning how to use it, for now i'm going to keep it, but i think at the moment, is not the best sound i want.

the pedal has changed, and i need the exp pedal, I am left with one choice, change the SYB-3 for an SYB-5

DAMN!

YEAH dude! it's a great toy, if you play new music is good, but if you like the roots is not your best move, I would have prefered an equalaizer instead, but, things went this way..

i shall play till i get another toy!

I just picked up my SYB-3 today, but I've had the chance to use in a live situation (even recorded with it!) back a few years ago when it first came out (it was new in 1996, right around the time my band Stratos recorded CD of live improvised music).

Since this unit is pretty much an ANALOG based pedal, you get that warm, synthy, gritty tone. It works (read sounds) great.

Because there are so many settings (for a stomp box) you should really be sure of how you want it to behave BEFORE setting it down on the floor at a gig!

What can be said? realistically, it has its own tone and sound. As with all Boss pedals, when the effect is off, its pretty much out of the path and doesn't have a tone or sound of its own. So its not true bypass (just like ALL of Boss' other pedals), which is all the rage today, but then again, if you need that, go by an effects router rack or something like that!

I love the sound this thing makes- deep and funky. Or trancy and hypnotic. If you like Bootsy, then you can get to within spitting distance of the fried chicken stand with this pedal. Its no mu-tron, but damn it sounds pretty close!!!

Conversly, if you like your tone more like the Moog bass sounds, or just a plain old "touch wah" sound, it'll get you there too!!!

The hold function (something I forgot COMPLETELY about!) makes simulating a Taurus basspedal synth a breeze (remember Yes and Rush???). You can even play over top of things with an unaffected sound while using the hold function to keep the original note droning on and on. That is a very natural thing for me to do, as I'm used to hitting triggers and the like with my feet (plus, I do have 5 other pedals plus two volume controls on the pedal board- just for the bass. Don't even get me started on sequencers, keyboards and triggers! Yikes!!!).

One thing that has bugged a lot of people about this box is the tracking (or claimed lack of). I haven't had a single problem with mine following my notes. The octave DOES have a glitchy quality to it at times, so if thats what is bugging people- learn to articulate your phrasing better! I've found that the cleaner the player, the less this is a problem. The synth sounds never seem to waver or misbehave like people claim they do! I play with a pick most of the time, and run compression (and if used, my octave pedal is before the syb-3) before the unit, but I can't say that I have any serious tracking issues. Hmm...

Pretty much everything that Boss makes in a stompbox rocks! Like I've said, I own five other pedals- DS-2 Turbo-Distortion, TR-2 Tremolo (with effect volume modification), DC-2 Dimension (back from 1985- very rare!), OC-2 Octave, and the BF-2 Flanger, and all are built like tanks. I think they even have had beer and crap spilt on them! They just keep going!

Hey its Boss!!! I've NEVER had a Boss pedal die on me (unless I DID something to 'F' it up!!! And because I've never had a problem, I've never had to use customer support!

That rules in my book...

As mentioned, I play in a 3 member (currently- still looking for a singer) improvising project that does a lot of work with everything from industrial noise, dance rave/electronica to hard core bebop/acid jazz to King Crimson-like experimentation. the SYB-3 simply allows me a little more of a creative palette to choose from now. Mind you, I have a monster rig and split the signals up into two different areas (low with the SYB-3 in there with the BF-2 and OC-2, and a higher guitar like tone up top, courtesy of a Sans Amp GT-2, the DS-2, TR-2 and DC-2, followed by an Alesis Microverb II). Again with the hold feature- its great to have a low end bass pedal-like drone while playing something else over top that bears little resemblance to standard bass guitar "sounds".

I love this thing, and used with taste, its incredible!!!

For the price I paid, if the unit was stolen, I'd probably chase the person out to their car, grab the thing and proceed to beat the snot out of them!!!

with a bit of patience and experimentation... you can surely find at least a few sounds that you will dig. You don't have a patching option... which is a MAJOR drawback! but, it's only 200 bucks new.

I'm using G&L basses and a full Ampeg stack (SVT 3 PRO head with an SVT810E 8x10 cab) It sounds SWEET even through a rig... that is the TRUE test of a stompbox. The only issue is the often lacking tracking of the box... it isn't good if you wanna play fast... but with patience and the right tweaking you can get some settings to move quicker... bottom line *TAKE YOUR TIME WITH THIS PEDAL BEFORE YOU TRASH IT* you still might decide it sucks, but at least sit and really tweak those knobs and literally try everything

well I don't know yet... I guess I have to see... it does eat batteries pretty fast. and you do have to have a good setting to make sure it tracks properly... the pedal seems to be very sensitive.

I'm a fockin metal/rock head... but the pedal is still fun to mess with. I don't really know what else to say for this pedal... Give it a shot and maybe you'll like it... everyone has different tastes

I gave this unit a glowing review a year or two ago. Since I started going further into electronic music (electro, psy-trance, house, etc), this unit became of less and less use. The synth sounds are OKAY if you have no access to a rackmount/keyed synth, but honestly, the simple square and saw tooth waves grew tired for me. I ended up using this unit more for its t-wah, and the FM distortion effects before I finally sold it and bought a Yamaha CS1X synth. Now, I use my bass as a bass, my synth as a synth. For the price of this unit in most places, you'd be better off saving up for something like a Digitech BP80/200. It'll give you wierd sounds, but it just isn't for most people.

The tracking is horrible. I don't care if it's "good" for 1/8 notes, as, like most bassists, I don't only play 1/8 notes. It'd be worthwhile to find out what Les Claypool uses (check Oysterhead's "Mr. Oysterhead" for a really nice synth bass sound, doesn't sound to me like there's any tracking involved at all, no oscillators being triggered, and it still sounds better than the syb-3). Sell it on ebay, people wanna pay through the roof for this unit.

Good to experiment with, but too expensive for an entry level synth for the sounds it's capable of. If you never touch a Moog synth, you might stay happy with the SYB. Buy it used, 'cause if you don't like it, you can easily make a full return on the investment if you resell it on ebay. A 3, as I just got sick of it.

In theory, this should be an easy unit to use. When you've got the right signal going in to it it sounds good, and it's fsairly elementary dialing up a good sound. In practice however it's a nightmare to actually know what the pedal will react to, it seems to cange every time I use it, making it a nightmare live.

Because of it's unpredictable nature, this has sat on my shelf for years with me thinking it's useless. Recently I've been using it for a bit of home recording. It's hard to get a good sound on this, it's 90% of the time too murky, or way WAY too piercing. The pedal has a set range of sounds, rather than the parameters for creating your own, I find this a bit limiting. The actual sounds don't have much variety, there are three different sounds, synth sounds, noise sounds and wah/envelope filter sounds. All of these sounds sound good with one thing, and with others don't react at all. Most of the sounds are pretty samey - there just aren't enough parameters to get the sound I want. The wah sounds in particular almost never seem to work, and are practicall un-noticeable when they do. Just when you're feeling fed up with it though, a brilliant sound comes through - then disapears forever when you turn it off and back on again. The tracking is just unbelievable, it takes so much to get it to react, half the time it's unusable.

As far as the construction goes, 10/10. This thing will never break, but who cares? because it eats batterys like nothing I've ever seen in my life, the adaptor plug doesn't work (please, does anyone know whats going on here? - theres either no life or it just makes one infinite rumble when I plug a 9v adaptor into it - email me if you have any suggestions).

I would not trust this pedal with a bee in a jar. You can be sure, that it will not do what you want it to, even with a drum loop playing through it, it responds slightly different every time. Which can be fun, or it can be a gargantuan pain in the arse. This, in my books, makes it very unreliable.

Never had to ring. Probably wouldn't bother if the pedal broke either.

Quite frankly, this is a bad pedal. Plain and simple, the occasional nice noise really doesn't make up for it's shortcomings. It's layout is limiting, it hardly works, too power hungry, not a particularly nice sound...

it does have a stereo out put however, which is nice but not too useful when you can't get it to work in the first place.

By stompbox standards, it's a pain. By synth standards, it's cake. What patches? In synth modes 1-7, it's an extremely basic subtractive synth: the mode knob selects your waveform; frequency and resonance controls alter those characteristics of the filter, and delay/sensitivity adjust the speed of the filter sweep (no sweep to fast). That's all, folks.

Non-synth modes 8 and 9 introduce trashy types of digital noise into your signal. Non-synth modes 10 and 11 function as up and down envelope filters, respectively. Separate level controls for effected and uneffected signal, ditto outputs - goody. Pedal lets you hold a synth note while you play over it too - very useful.

Good assortment of early '80s monophonic cheesy analog synth sounds. If you want Rush's "Tom Sawyer" or Dazz Band's "Let it Whip," this box can do that. There's all sorts of extreme freakishness to experiment with here. Contrary to what others on this site say, I find the envelope filters to useful and their effects quite audible. Quack quack. Works okay as an octave pedal too. Not noisy in a live setting; dunno about studio. Lots of people address tracking issues here - I think that belongs in "reliability."

Okay, the tracking is a little fickle and it won't take to multiple notes or sloppy muting. Monophonic 1/4" input into a tiny little 9V stompbox, go figure. What has technology come to these days? Play one note at a time, mute unused strings, make sure your instrument volume is high (or low) enough to trigger properly, and don't feed it after midnight. No, it won't follow you around on "What is Hip", but it works well enough. It's also more bombproof than other synthy devices I've seen. It's gigworthy, so long as you are.

Dunno.

Make sure you have an application before you buy, as it's a pretty "extreme" effect - I do some live electronica, which doesn't always require Jacoesque notey-ness but frequently requires noises of sonic interest. This is good to great for what it was designed to do and can be a cheap thrill for an audience. Don't overuse it though and watch that resonance knob at high volumes.