Roland GR-33

Not too bad really. Once you understand the basic concepts, fairly easy to get a good sound. Reading the manual is a must to get the GK pickups etc. set up right.

Using it with a Godin Multiac Steel SA. Using a Danelectro Cool Cat Chorus for a nice effect on the raw guitar sound. Play through a Peavey Ecoustic 112 at home, and a Peavy 6 channel mixer/amp at church. Playing more accurately is an absolute must, as well as playing the instrument in a different style to get the sound of an organ etc. As has been mentioned by others, many of the patches are WAAAAAY "over the top." However, the soft pads and strings patches are just perfect for our contemporary parise/traditional hymnns worship service!

I'm happy with the quality. Granted, it doesn't have the solid feel of the Cool Cat "tank" pedal, but treated carefully it should last for a good many years.

Haven't had to deal with them. Hope I never do.

Since we are very small, I am forced to be a "one man worship team" and was looking for a way to get a fuller sound than just my Larrivee acoustic guitar. The reaction of the congreagation was amazing when cranked up the Cathedral Organ for our opening hymnn! As we flowed into contemporary praise, the soft pads filled out the sound wonderfully. Our congregation is older/retired folks and I wasn't sure how they'd take to all this "electronic gadgetry." However, The response was overwhelmingly positive. I searched high and low for a cheaper way to get the job done, but this box has been the only thing I've tried that really give me the "whole magilla." Would be nice if they replaced some of the really "spacey" patches with something usable. I just can't seem to come up with a appropriate place for Molten Lava in the service!

You need to read the manual . I use to have a GR-1 which was more complex to use and not as intuitive. Once you know your way around, piece of cake with a Gr-33. Manual is far more easy to understand then the mediaval and obscure gr-1's.

The piano, voice pads, some accoustic guitars and a couple of bass are pretty good and usable. Sax is ok if you stay in a tight range , as a sax should be. Organ ...nahh. Electric piano mmm... all right , I have heard better from Yamaha. Of course Roland kept a price point when they built the GR-33. The future looks bright, especially with the price of computer memory going down. No jazz guitar, strange choice.. I would build a module with very strong basic sounds (piano, organ, Rhodes, guitars , sax , reeds and brass etc) and forget about volcano, human percussion and all that silly stuff. A gr-33 is intended to replace a keyboard player and I never heard them play kaboom and volcano.

Very very reliable. By the way if you get a hum using guitar out jack, use a 3 sprong/2 sprong adaptor to remove the ground from the guitar amplifier.

Very helpfull.

To use a Gr-33 , you need a perfectly set-up guitar. Mine is a Gr-ready Mexican Strat. I had to replace the synth Pick-up with a gk2a kit because the white plastic cover that contains the pick-up keeps it too far from the string, which causes a weaker signal. It works, but not enough Dynamics. I tried everything to close the gap but this is a poor design. The replacement is the same brand (Roland Gk2a internal kit) with a better design, closer to the string. The tracking is almost perfect, less ghost notes than the Gr-1, but narrower range of dynamics. Of course, you can adjust it to your liking. I use this unit to replace a Keyboard and double my guitar parts. It works flawlessly, but I have a very precise technique , since I studied the guitar many years. Sloppy strummers will be sorry and Pearl Jam type of guitar player would be better off with an accoustic guitar.

This thing is a fucking pain in the ass to get sounds out of. Expect many clunks especially with subtle parts. Editing patches is easy. Manual is cool. Unit has not been upgraded. Overall its VERY frustrating.

Sounds kicks ass WHEN ITS NOT CLUNKING OUT. Its not noisy. For this unit, I'm going direct to disc so no amp needed. The clunks wreck the entire thing and REALLY piss me off.

I cant depend on it. How can I when I hardly get it to do what its supposed to do and its not like I'm new to this stuff. I'd never use it at a gig.

Customer support sucks ass. I say that cause I tried to get some repairs done on a fucked up unit and didnt get a phone call or an email back. So now I'm sitting around with a $600 piece of worthless gear that even if it did work, wouldnt work properly. I'm giving this department a 1. I'm giving them one point for picking up the phone and negating the other 9 for not doing anything when I expressed the problem.

The patches sound great if you can get them to trigger without getting fucked up. For the most basic passages, plan on doing several takes because the sensitivity is all over the place. Bottom line is I'm not happy with this thing, I'd be better off hiring a keyboard player and getting the music tracked properly.

I have an XV-3080 and an MC-505,and compared to programming patches on those two, this one is child's play. If you're used to Roland's patch programming paradigms, then you won't even have to refer to the manual. I think Roland did this because they figured guitarists would much rather play then program synths.

However, I did go through the manual, and I found it adequate.

Anyhow, once you've figured out how tones merge together to form patches and how you can stick fx on top of it, editing and creating patches is a breeze.

It's got great sounds out of the box, and they're a good example of the power of the box. However, if you couldn't program your own sounds and it ONLY came with the presets, I wouldn't have bought it. Fortunately, it's programmable :)
This is not to say that the presets are bad; rather, they're not my cup of tea. One man's good sound is another man's industrial (heh). So, as opposed to saying it sounds good, I'd reather say, yeah, you can get the kind of sounds YOU want if you bother dwelling deeper into the unit and playing around with the 384 tones. There is definitely enough raw material to work with.
Some of the patches are noisy, I think, especially the Grand Piano and the flute although not unbearably so.
I play directly into a mixer and use the unit mostly for composition and studio work. It's great for this purpose. The effects are good, but I prefer to effect the sound through my recording gear and use mostly the weirder in-built stuff, like the leslie and the hexa-chorus.
I don't really try to sound like my favorite artists so I can't really tell how good this unit is for emulation (ie if you're a cover band), but for getting your own stuff down, its awesome.

It's been pretty sturdy so far, but it's plastic and I wouldn't trust it to continue working if you were to drop it heavily or have something fall on it. I have the ZOOM GT pedal which is made of metal or alluminium and you could kill someone with that thing. So, if I were to take it to a gig, I'd probably take a back up (if I could afford it)

I haven't dealt with them.

To summarize, I mostly compose my own stuff, so far that I have found it brilliant. I create ambient music, sometimes heavymetal ( although I use the POD for the crushing tones). THis is perfect for newage & synth based stuff. If you play metal or rock, you'd be better off with an amp or a Line 6 POD.
I've been playing for over 8 years now, and I've found a whole new aural soundscape opened up because of this unit.
If it were stolen, I'd buy another one, unless Roland comes out with a newer model. They keep improving their stuff (except for the MC-505, MC-909 fiasco ;) ) so I'd guess that the next in series would have the XV engine plus better tracking.
For the price I paid for it, I think it's brill and it's definitely a great addition to my studio.
If you're a guitarist and have ever wished to have a larger repetoire of sounds, then this unit is for you.

easy to get sound, yes because i had a gr50 before this product so, i'm incredibly surprised , and as i usualy use effect, so not difficult to understand/progrm

wow, really impressed,the piano, wow,the strings ;wow, great job roland !

WHY roland did put a hold pedal , that you have to stay on it with your foot to keep the sound sustained !!!! i start a song, want to hold some strings, and my feet have to stay in the hold pedal, and i have to jump with the other to touch volume or wathever,roland ???

awfull

good box, i use it with a vg88 , but as i did a gr300 patch with my vg88(www.herbuel.fr.st), the gr300 patch makes me laugh (lol), but for piano, tromper/brass, strings, and bass, wow, great machine!!!!

Out of the box it is very difficult to get a set up of useable patches. I spent many hours adjusting tone banks, pickup hieght,e tc. to get the kind of response and sound I wanted. After using this product for 6 months I found the Grape Light editor. This program is not easy to use either, but you can edit patches much easier and quicker. I have many grape light patches and complete patch sets stored on my computer for easy changes.

I use this direct to a Mackie 56 sound board. Excellent sound quality. The patches are of high Roland Quality. The only problem can be if the pick up is not set correctly.

Never had any issues with this systems reliability. I use it weekly without a backup.

I have actually talked with a Roland representitive about this product and have stated "I can show you how to set up a patch, but that is it."

Overall Very nice. I use it also to drive a Roland XV 5050. Combination of sound phenominal. It is also great to have a set up where I can record my guitar licks into a computer MIDI file. If somehthing happened to my GR-33 I would replace it right away!

I have used Roland products for quite a while and so their configuration menus are quite intutive for me. Editing is so much easier than my earlier GR-09. The manual is more refined compared to the previous manuals Roland had for their products. The firmware is stock from the factory.

I use the GR 33 with a Godin Nylon SA, EJ46C strings and a SWR California blonde and many systems around Singapore. The unit is is not noisy at all, nor hte effects if you really spend time tweaking it. However in the few months that I have used it, I find the sound source not as warm as my expanded GR09. I have read other reviews saying the GR 33 has a gourmet of sound palatte however I have yet to find my quest for the Organ, Fantasia and Strings patch. I feel it is too thinny for my taste,

I have used Roland products for over 20 years and I do trust their reliability. Will go for gigs without a backup.

Obviously the manual does it all and nothing like experience to teach you.

I play more acompaniment style relying on bass patch for the top two strings and organ or strings patch for the other the higher strings. I have played for over 30 years. I like the cosmetics of the unit but have yet to discover the sounds that will suit my needs. The expression/volume pedal and other uses makes it more flashy than my old GR09. Like the previous revious, I think we need to install the new card slots so we can exchange patches easily and add sounds from existing synths. I have not tried the free grapelight software but will do so as I need to find my holy grail of patches with this unit.

I've found the GR-33 very easy to use and program. Although I've had experience programming and tweaking Roland synths (JD-800 & D-50), this seems much easier by comparison, but partly because there are less programable parameters. I would have liked a more informative manual, but it is adequate. There is also a video owners manual now available.

I am using the GR-33 with a Fender "Roland-ready" Strat. upgraded with Lace Sensor pickups, locking tuners, and graphite bridge saddles. I go from the guitar out jack on the GR-33 to a Mesa Boogie V-Twin tube pre-amp into a DigiTech RP-10 multi FX, out in stereo, back to the guitar returns on the GR-33 and out to two 60watt Marshall Valvestate amps. However, sometimes I run the GR-33 directly into the PA and the guitar and effects through the amps separately. Having a stereo FX return is a major improvement over the GR-30 which was mono return. Which brings me to another point: having owned the GR-30, I am very surprised to hear people saying that they feel the GR-30 is superior to the GR-33. Of course, it's all very subjective, and there's no right or wrong, but to me the sound and features of the GR-33 are a huge improvement over the GR-30. The sound engine of the GR-30 is based on the Roland Sound Canvas and is very meat and potatoes compared to the more gourmet sounds of the JV-1080-based GR-33.
Ultimately, it depends on what your needs are, but for my usage on more ambient, electronic, atmospheric music there is no comparison. Also, for this kind of soundscape music, tracking is not as much of an issue as for fast leads and intricate chording. However it does track very well, provided that your fingering is accurate, as many other reviewers have pointed out. Another improvement over the GR-30 is the larger screen and the all the extra information you have available while playing or programming. Also, having the built in expression pedal is a nice plus.
All in all, I think the sound quality is excellent. And, although I don't use a majority of the 'realistic" sounds (pianos, organs, brass, etc), they sound good and are probably useful to other players. Incidentally, I've tried triggering the GR-33 with a midi keyboard and some of the sounds that I did't like with the guitar sounded great as a synth module. As noted before, in general, the internal GR-33 sounds track better than using the guitar to trigger an external synth - although, the combinations can be awesome.

The GR-33 is sturdy, well made, and seems reliable. I've gigged with it without worrying about it.

I haven't had to deal with them for this product, but have found them helpful in the past for questions and info.

As a 53 year old player, I've been playing guitar since the late 60's, and have had 3 Roland guitar synths. This is by far the best one, with Roland making many of the sound and feature upgrades I wanted after the GR-30. The only other thing I can think of that I would like to see is slot for Ram cards to be able to add other sounds. I would definitely buy it again - at least until Roland comes out with the next model.

Well, it's easy to get a bunch of sounds right out of the box, but when you decide to start tweaking around it is a little more difficult. But not really painful, especially if you have some prior keyboard experience. The manual, although not really great, is much better than Roland is usually known for.

The sound quality is actually pretty good on a few of the preset tones and or patches. Roland calls a tone a basic building block of a patch. A patch is a combination of two tones and whatewver effects used. The most natural sounding voices are some of the organs, a couple of basses, some string ensembles, some brass ensambles, a couple of saxes, one or two flutes, a harmonica and an accordian. There are also some pretty decent non-natural sounds in the pads, a few synths and synth basses, and sound effects category.

It seems pretty sturdy. But anything can be trashed if abused. If you're a knucklehead you can break a ball bearing.

Never had to contact them.

Overall, this unit is pretty good, but it has it's bad points too.

Although the sounds are pretty good, they grow old. After a while you'll start to notice for example, that the BreathySax you loved to play always seems to respond attack-wise in almost the same way. Sure, you can change the volume and tone depending on how hard you hit the string, but there is a definite narrow limitation. Better forget about fingerstyle unless you use those steel claws and a thumbpick. And it's the same for all the sounds. You give up a lot in dynamics. On the other hand, this mostly shows up only when you play alone. It's a lot less noticeable when you are jamming with your buddies or a CD, when being heard is more important than having a wide dynamic range.

As far as tracking is concerned, you'd better clean up your act if you want to play with this synthesizer. A lot of the voices track pretty well but a good many track poorly. Don't get me wrong, if you play with perfect execution it WILL keep up with you, no doubt. But there are many things a guitarist does that is not perfect, and purposely so. Do we want to play every note with precision all the the time? God, would that be boring! There are also many things a guitarist does naturally that the synth won't pick up, or changes into something altogether different, even awful. Like percussive strumming or raking on dampened strings. This can sound really bad or not sound at all depending on the voice. And where the damping is done (like anywhere over the harmonics area).

On another point, in terms of really changing the basic characteristics of the tones themselves, forget about it. Oh, you can put an effect or two on a voice and change it that way, but you can't change much about the actual voice itself. You have only a few parmeters to adjust, and on most voices they do little or nothing.

Now you might think "Why would I want one of these lifeless GR-33s? I'm a guitar player and that thing will never capture my playing!". To answer that, I say "You want one because you ARE a guitar player, and right now guitar is the ONLY thing you play". Even with all of the negatives, this unit gives you more versatlity than any effect you have ever owned. No other piece of gear will change your sound as much as a synth can. And you will get used to the tracking, believe me you will. In fact you will become a more accurate guitarist because of it. Just remember that this is not a guitar. It's a guitar synthesizer. There WILL be a learning curve, just like any new thing. But it's worth it. Definitely.

This is not a simple system to use. So you want to be Pat Metheny?? You will need to invest alot of time in learning the nuances of different settings and patch mix. Once you learn some of it, you will be amazed at what you can produce. It's almost like - don't try this ay home. If you think you know it inside out, you're fooling yourself. The manual is ok - I got more from a 5 minute phone call to Roland Customer Service than I got from the manual.

I use it exclusively with a Yamaha guitar with the GK 2A top mounted by the bridge and play a handful of jazz/Pat Metheny stuff. You will really need to adjust the patch drive (loudness) settings to match your amp, and you can adjust the picking dynamics to match the level of response and how hard you play. It's not noisy, but it does `chirp' once in awhile if your left or right hand release is not absolutely perfect. Digital is unforgiving. If you use the touchiest settings for picking dynamics ( I do) you are more likely to get a chirp. PS the distortion and chorus effects on this thing are horrible. Get a zoom 505II and carry a second guitar.( I always have four with me. )

Don't know. I gig with it every week. Backup?? I can hardly afford one!!!!!

Company rep was very helpful when I was trying to figure this thing out. Maybe I just got a good one (rep). I learned more from him than the manual.

I play jazz, been playing for almost 30 years - this is used mostly for my band to do Pat Metheny stuff. I'm still learning on it, but we will expand to make wider use in the future. You won't outgrow this thing quickly. Some patches are more `real' than others. You really have to play with the patch programming to get the best use for you.