Roland GR-33

The reason I rate this a 7 is because to change banks or groups you have to hold the S1 button on the gk2 pickup and press the footswitch at the same time. After you get used to this flaw it becomes very easy to scroll through the factory preset patches. Editing is a breeze if you have any experience programming processors. I would suggest that you take the time to use the manual while you program becuse it can become confusing at first

I use the synth with a epiphone dot,a boss GT3 and a couple tube screamers going through a Sunn alpha 212 amp. When using this unit you have to understand that you will not like all of the tones that comes out. Some tones have very bad tracking under fast picking while others are extremely fast. The tones that you can use are amazing!!! I spent 20 hours in the first week programming because there is just and astounding amount of possibilities. The guitar effects on board are worthless(distortion,od and such) but thats not why you buy one of these toys.

I have never had any problems with reliability from any boss products that I have ever had so I expect that this unit will hold up. I would think that anyone that is buying one of these has a pretty good grasp of how to treat gear because this pedal isn't exactly childs play. It is made out of plastic though..........

Never had to deal with them

I have played for about 17 years. When I got this unit I kicked myself for not having one sooner!!!! I have been especially using the breathy sax,steel drum,marimba, pads,flutes and saw synths. It is great playing with the keyboard player and the people in the crowd can't tell where the sound is coming from. The look on their faces is priceless when my guitar IS the drum solo!!!! Just some advise though... if you are gonna shell out the scrilla for this you should also get the boss FS6 extension control pedal. It makes bank changes so much easier and it is the only way to take advantage of the tap tempo arpeggiator and delay functions

In terms of ease of use, the GR33 is fairly simple and once you understand the editing features its pretty easy to navigate through.

OK...here I go! There are great sounds on the GR33. I dont dispute that. And adding tones make some interesting hybrid patches that are very useable. HOWEVER...this unit will throw out a ghost note or some freakish hell note completely out of the blue on you and ANYONE who tells you it dosent is flat out a liar. I have had the GR33 for several years and I have YET to create a patch, play a preset without it happening eventually and totally from left field. I have participated in NUMEROUS discussions with ROLAND on this subject and I feel like at this point we should all be able to agree that it will blow a freak note at you at any moment. I sure would like to see some real bottom line discussion on this rather then the same old tripe like "its how you play the strings". Thats utter crap. You can play the strings in a gazillion different styles and ways and you will ALWAYS get a ghost note at some point. The best thing I can figure out to minimize it is to set your string sensitivity lower. I am now down to 2 or 3 on most all strings now...I have reduced its frequency but its no resolved entirely. I believe the issue has more to do with guitar synthesis technology...its just not there yet and is certainly not there with this unit.

Any rig that tosses out some hellish freakshow ghost note other then what your playing at very inconvienent moments is not reliable for live gigging.
Its a plastic unit. I think 600 dollars for a plastic unit that cant consistently produce its sound and effects is completely overpriced. I think producing a plastic unit that your heavy feet and boots has to work is well....whats a nice way to say it....how about flat out stupid.

Until SOMEONE, ANYONE from Roland's synth department can admit that unit PRODUCES GHOST NOTES and offer realtime on the ground recommendations on how to correct it rather then this "denial" thing or " we are completely bewildered and never heard that one before" then I have nothing more to say to Roland on this issue. Dont bother contacting them as they cant even admit there is an inherent problem in the first place which I find utterly insulting

I low rate it because of ghost notes with no one able to offer any viable explanation for this or suggestions as to how to eliminate it TOTALLY.
On my rig, I have a Roland XR fantom rack (no ghost notes with that), and also midi into a Korg keyboard (no ghost notes with that either).
If there is anyone out there, who can have an actual discussion on the issue of ghost notes and have suggestions FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME. If your going to send me an email stating you have never had that problem, I am not interested.

THis is a fairly easy to use processor. It follows mostly linear multi-effect editing protocol that has been around for years in roland/boss products

Samples are pretty good, JV series synth samples. Outdated as of now ('06) though. The gr-20 has updated samples.

I had it for about a year (3 gigs a wk) then.... IT FREAKED!! Sent it to the local dealer/repair tech. He said that they almost never come back (2 ever!). He looked over and over and was stumped. So back to Roland it goes........

Roland Gets this product and they call back the tech and say it is water damage (suprise). Thing is it was check over and over for water damage. The local guy is PISSED. He thinks Roland is trying to pull one over on us. He claims he likes to look for water damage, that he likes to find fault with the customer ( it usually is), but there wasn't any with this gr33. So now it is figured out that even though the warranty is still in place and all that goodness, but Roland has DISCONTINUED the gr33. Well that might mean that product support is scarce now for the product as well!! The war is waging with roland as of now and it is fierce!! I have spent alot of money on thier poducts (3000+) and this is first problem. I just want to say.. REMEMBER YOUR CUSTOMERS. YOU ARE A LARGE COMPANY HELP OUT THE CONSUMER

Great device with great sounds. When I had it working it was the ultimate accessory to the guitar and playing music with the guitar.

started getting good pad, string and individual wind instrument sounds right from the start. the brass benefit from a little tweaking but even those are up to roland standards.

almost exactly what i was expecting from a roland product. I can play the piano plink from Buju Banton's "murderer", the organ from Bob Marleys "no woman", and the horn riff from Teach de youth and sound believable.

on the east coast, many reggae and r&b bands are using 2 keyboard players instead of a guitar player. they sacrifice the "skank" but they increase their sound palette overall. with the GR-33, guitarist get back the edge... which translates into dollars.

been gigging with it for over 6 months with no backup.

also, the midi tracking is working well. the manual says that i can get better tracking by making the setting more sensitive, but i haven't needed it.

never had to, hope i never have to.

i play reggae, r&b, and go-go. the gr-33 works great for both thickening up the guitar with undergirding synth sounds, and as a secondary keyboard.

i even started using this in the studio connected to my roland xv-3080.

The only thing that would make this better is if it had a built in effects processor for the guitar itself.

every thing is easy to use to get the sound you want from the gr33 synth and editing is a doddle .it come with a manual but ive never bothered with it

i play my roland gr33 through my marshall ampstate amp the gr33 is not noisy on any setting at least not for me.the effects are as good as guitar effects.you can use the gr33 through any amp .you can get some famous atrists sounds but remember this is a guitar synth so it your looking for guitars sounds theres only one on the gr33 .the best thing about the gr33 is the sounds are 110% real the trumpets and saxophone and all the strings plus hundreds more sound like the real instruments .you know what a sax sounds like and a trumpet to when you play a note or a chord on the gr33 thats the sound you get. all i can say is roland are the kings of real instruments sound no one can beat them there the best if you dont have one of these guitar synths i recommed to anyone to buy one .if your into studio work like i am you need look no further all you need is the gr33 forget hireing a sax player or a trumpet player or ant other instruments if you want these sound added to your music you have it all here you do it all your self and the best thing is its all original played by you

very reliable .on stage you would allways need abit of back up

never delt with company never needed to never gone wrong on me

my style of music is a mixture of jazz/blues some of my music can sound abit like film theme soundtracks ive been playing for around 30 years now .i have a collection of 40 guitars mainly 60's 6 of them being acoustics and 12 string acoustics ive 4 amps and ten differant guitar multi effects units plue a couple of keyboards and other gear to just to many to list.if it got lost or stolen i'd try buy it again.what i love the most about the gr33 is that the sounds are so real.i dont hate nothing about it .my favorite feature are all the strings that the gr33 offers.never compared it to other products no need to this is the best by far.it helps to make music more intresting

editing is kindergarten. results are as u would expect with a 1080. manual is clear by roland standards. does vs 2 solve the problem with the wah pedal staying at its lowest value once engaged?

always go separate inputs for guitar and synth. No noise. Good effects.

i would use it without a b/up

they are v helpful down there in wales

ambient world jazz

30 years grief from the muse.

xv 5080, mpc 3000

way best guitar synth ever but doesn't track OTHER synths as well as the gi20. forget its midi out imho

cards and 5080 sounds

superb machine

anyone got any downloadable patches? links 4 such?

This unit is fairly easy to setup for good sounds! and the manual is well laid out.

The editing is quite good to, and all buttons and dials are easy to use to.

I think for the price the sounds are gr8! and most are very close to the sounds they copy.

I have tried thru a line 6 spider mono amp and the sounds were good even thru that! then i tried thru my vetta 2 and the sounds were fantastic, and i could here no noise at all.

Also the tracking was excellent too!!

Lets hope it is! i have only had a couple of weeks! i think could have been made a bit more robust like the vg-88 tho.

I have rang Roland uk with a few questions and they have allways been very helpful and knowledgable.

I think overall it is a gr8! little box and i can get loads of different sounds from it.

I would like it to be a bit bigger like the vg-88! and have a control on it to go thru all the pacthes so u do not have add one.

It suits my style of playing because i love to experiment with loads of different sound effects and i love that part of music.

Pros: Easier to use than the GR-30. Nice backlit alphanumeric display. Built in expression pedal.

Cons: No cutoff, resonance or velocity switching parameters. You cannot create your own arpeggiator patterns like on GR-30. No detectable improvement in tracking speed.

I've owned a GR-30 since the day it was released, and I dont see a huge difference in the GR-33's quality of sounds. In fact some sounds on the GR-30 are BETTER than the GR-33; in particular, the cello, flutes, choirs and organs. Saxes, horns, strings and pianos all sound like the same samples from the GR-30 to me. Of course this is only my opinion, but the way Roland's press hypes this thing, I was expecting a big difference in sound quality and I just dont hear it. The only place the GR-33 really excels is in electronic and techno synth sounds. Oh, and it has doo wop scat singing, which is good for a laugh but will you really ever use it?

The multi effects are a nice addition, but I dont use them that much.

Roland synths are very reliable.

I have never dealt with them. Their support website is lame.

I have been playing over 30 years and play everything from ambient\experimental to world beat, rock and blues.

I dont mean to knock the GR-33, its another quality Roland guitar synth. Then again, I am glad I didnt sell my GR-30, because there are sounds that I can get out of it that are better than what the GR-33 can do. Adrian Belew and Robert Fripp still use the GR-30 even though the GR-33 has been out for years. That says something, because those guys have been using guitar synths since pretty much day one.

If it were stolen or lost I would probably pick up another GR-30 instead. You can get one used for a couple hundred less than the GR-33. IMO, the GR-30 does realistic sounding instruments better. But if you are looking for wild, spaced out synthy sounds the GR-33 is probably more up your alley.

First off, I realize that the GR-33 is a designed primarily as a guitar-synth. I have used it that way with a Fender "Roland-ready" Stratocaster and a Fernandes "Sustainer" guitar w/ GK-2A pickup since it came out about 5 years ago. I submitted a review of it here on Harmony Central as guitar-synth (in the Effects review section) a few years ago. However, I've been using it lately as a synth module with a keyboard controller, so I decided to write a separate review of it based on that application.

Although a guitar controller accesses the GR-33 via a 13 pin connector, a synth or keyboard controller can use the GR-33's midi in and out ports, just as you would with any module. As far as "ease of use", it's quite user-friendly, especially compared to most keyboard synths or synth modules. That is partly because there are less editable parameters available. Although it is certainly programable to a degree, as I'll explain in more detail below. It's ease of use is also likely due to the fact that it's designed as a guitar-synth and Roland probably assumes that guitarists (in general) are not as technologically-oriented as keyboardists.

This is the third Roland guitar synth I've owned so my learning curve for this unit was insignificant. I've also owned and programmed a number of Roland synths over the years, so I'm pretty familiar with their architechture. This one is as easy as it gets. Editing sounds is a piece of cake, although, as I said, it's not as programable as many synths.

The manual is decent, considering Roland's reputation for complaints about their manuals. There is also a video owner's manual available which I bought and consider worthwhile having - although it is totally focused on it's use with a guitar, rather than a keyboard.

The sound engine of the GR-33 is taken from Roland's industry-standard JV-1080 rack synth module. So the GR-33 is basically a floor mounted version of the JV-1080, with some modifications. In fact, some of the the features that distinguish it as a guitar-synth, make for some interesting and useful features as a keyboard-controlled synth module. Having a built-in assignable expression pedal is something you don't see on most synth modules. There is also a bank of four foot switches that control such funtions as wah/filter, glide, hold, and arpeggiator/ harmonist.

Also, being a guitar-synth there are a number of selectable velocity curves that relate to how the guitar tracks. These are useful for touch sensitivity on the keyboard and add a dimension of expression to how the synth responds to your playing.

It's got 48 note polyphony, which is more than enough for guitar, but not quite as good for keyboard, although I find it adequate for my needs. One of the drawbacks of this unit is lack of expansion capabilities. There are no slots for ram card, expansion boards, etc. However, for my use as an additional tone module in a synth rig, there are plenty of sounds to choose from and expansion isn't as important as if it were my only synth. However, it can definitely stand alone as a sound source with just a midi keyboard controller.

While it doesn't have a sequencer, it does have an arpeggiator. However, the arpeggiator is not the high point of the GR-33. It's not the best, but can be of some use. Although if your controller synth or keyboard has a better arpeggiator, you can use it on the GR-33 sounds via midi. Another feature that the GR-33 has is a send/ return loop (mono send - stereo return). There's also a jack to plug in a pedal for bank shift.

As I mentioned, the GR-33 uses the synth engine from the JV-1080, so you know it is loaded with excellent and useable sounds of every category. There are 128 patches in rom and 128 user spaces. Each patch can have two different tones with separate effects for each. There are a total of 384 tones to choose from to make up a patch, so there is quite an extensive pallet to create from. It also has a fairly decent effects processor with 40 types of editable multi-fx. So while you can't alter most of the building block parameters of the tones, like waveform or LFO, basic things like envelope (attack, sustain, etc) can be tweaked. I understand there are software editors available, but I haven't tried any as it's really so easy to tweak from the panel.

There are some excellent presets, as well as some less inspiring ones. But getting in there and layering various tones and altering the effects and editable parameters can yield some interesting results.
The kind of music I use it for is ambient electronic/ New Age/ soundscape-type stuff. So the sounds I'm working with are mostly atmospheric pads and special effects. Also choirs, bells, flutes, and strings. There are some great sounds in these categories, but after some tweaking, I've come up with some incredible ambient pads that sound nice by themselves, but especially wonderful when layered with other synth sounds from my keyboard controller.

Although I don't use them as much there are also an abundance of "realistic" sounds like piano, bass, drums, brass, organ, ethnic instruments, etc. I'm probably not the best judge of these, but I own and have owned many synths of various kinds, and in my humble opinion, the sounds in the GR-33 compare favorably to what's out there.It's definitely an upgrade from the last Roland guitar-synth which was based on the Sound Canvas. I'm not saying that the piano or orchestral sounds are on the level of say a Kurzweil K2600, but I'd venture to say that they are quite good. Given the overwhelming popularity of the JV-1080, I assume many people would agree. This is a general purpose module that could be used for almost any kind of music - although it doesn't have as much of the type of dance or techno sounds that are found on many contemporary synths.

One interesting thing is how the GR-33 responds to a keyboard as compared to a guitar. With guitar-synth controllers, tracking has always been an issue. Some sounds track inherently better than others, although it usually quite easy to "glitch" or mis-trigger a note from the guitar. However with a keyboard controller, it's a non-issue. It triggers like any synth module - perfect every time. I've also noticed that some of the patches that don't sound great with the guitar have a whole different feeling triggered from the keyboard and work much better.

I've had mine for almost 5 years and it's been totally dependable - no trouble with it whatsoever. Generally, I try to gig with backup equipment whenever possible. I don't have another guitar-synth, but I have other synth modules if I was using it with keyboard controller. However, the GR-33 feels relatively low risk for having trouble with, so I wouldn't be as worried as I would with some equipment if I had to play a gig without backup.

I haven't had to deal very much with the company, but some of the interchanges I've had with tech support have been useful once I actually got a hold of them. Plus, a Roland rep I met recently at a trade show in northern California was extremely helpful and went the extra mile to be of service. So, I know that Roland is not necessarily known as the tops in customer service, my experiences have been ok.

I've been playing electric guitar for over 30 years and synths for about 15. Before the GR-33 I had a GR-30, and before that a GR-50. Pretty much, whenever Roland makes a significant up-grade, it's time for a trade-in. The GR-33 is the best guitar-synth Roland has produced yet. There's not much on the market that compares, especially at that price. Unless there was something better that came out at the time, I would definitely buy this again.

Using the GR-33, a guitar-synth, with a keyboard controller is obviously not the most common application for it, but it's a great option. It's relatively small, compact, and easy to travel with. Also, having the unit on the floor under the keyboard, allows some good real-time control with the expression pedal and 4 foot switches, especially when using it layered with other synths. Playing it with a keyboard after using it for a long time with guitar, opened up a whole new collection of sounds because of the difference in the way they sound played by guitar and keyboard. Also, I'm editing some patches differently for keyboard use.

This is one of many synths in my rig, including Korg Karma, Triton Rack, Wavestation SR, Kurzweil K2000R, Roland JD-800 & JD-990, Kawai K5000R, and others. But I find that I'm starting to use this a lot as a secondary tone layer with keyboards, especially for live playing. What's especially cool is that in a live setup, I can have the GR-33 ready to be triggered by both guitar and keyboard since they have separate inputs. The GR-33 triggered by guitar can also send a midi out back to the keyboard which opens up a whole other combination of sounds.

So, all in all, it's a pretty versatile module, especially if you think outside the box a bit beyond it's intended usage. I highly recommended it in my previous review for guitarists. Now I would just as highly recommend it for keyboardists as well, especially for it's studio-standard sounds, real-time control options and expression abilities in an integrated, portable package. It's definitely become an essential part of my rig first as a guitarist and now as a synthesist. I don't give out 10's a lot, but for me, this one deserves it.

The Gr33 is not as easy to use as the GR20, but then again you will tire of the GR20's sounds and not have much of a chance to change anything. With the GR33's dep editing capabilities, you have way more tonal combinations available, but you'll have to put a little work into it.

Generally speaking, the unit is easy to edit until you get down into the many sub-parameters and tryig to divine how they affect tone.

The manual is decent and complete.

Overall, the GR33 is not noisy. i am using it with a P90-equipped Gibson archtop (ES-137P) into a Gibson Goldtone GA15-RV guitar amp (or sometimes a Fender Acoustasonic Jr acoustic amp).

The effects in this case are the 384 tone bank choices - sax, sax ensemble, flutes, ethinc instruments, brass, synths, guitar sounds, percussion, bass guitars, strings, organs, and more.

The guitar tones aren't all that great to my ears, but I do like the basses, organs, keys, horns, and strings.

Now, don't take this the wrong way, but I am of the mind that with this $600 synth, coupled with the $200 GK pup, and your $1,500 guitar, you can about equal the tone from a $129 Wal-mart keyboard.

That's not necessarily a bad thing since those $129 keyboards have lots of good sounds nowadays. I guess what I'm saying is that you won't equal a $2,000 keyboard synth with the GR33.

When you think that the GR33 is about the only affordable game in town for us 6-stringers, it's not a bad deal.

So far, so good. Seems dependable to me.

I play pop-rock covers in a band and dabble in jazz and hard rock on the side. I've been playing for mroe than 10 years and own several Fender tube amps and Gibson archtops.

I bought the GR33 after owning the Gr20. I don't use a guitar synth a whole lot in my music, but outgrew the lack of customization of the GR20 pretty quickly and wanted the deep editing that the GR33 affords. Ha and now that I've got it, I don't have much time to tweak it... go figure.

The GR33 does hlep me make music by forcing me to appraoch tunes differently when not playing straight guitar sounds.