New Roland VG-800 / NAMM 25

melod

Quite interesting and not as unobtainable as I recall it to have been when I was younger .. (£599 I believe)

https://youtu.be/siWfYQBQxOc?si=nIb7JxwpH7ki3Dpa

susbemol

It's hard to be positive about a product that is basically a rehash of 30-year old modelling in a new box.

Apart from newer amp/FX modelling, it seems to be a lot less capable than previous similar units in the instrument/synth modelling side of things which is very odd considering their main target audience is people who are already on the ship. 

I guess it will be a hard pass from most people that already have an SY-1000, GP-10, the very old VG-99 or similar units.

melod

susbemol said:

It's hard to be positive about a product that is basically a rehash of 30-year old modelling in a new box.

Apart from newer amp/FX modelling, it seems to be a lot less capable than previous similar units in the instrument/synth modelling side of things which is very odd considering their main target audience is people who are already on the ship. 

I guess it will be a hard pass from most people that already have an SY-1000, GP-10, the very old VG-99 or similar units.

Fair point. I remember drooling over an acquaintance’s VG88 when it used to cost half a car or something.

i would have thought that the tech has progressed with the times. Need to do my research.

Winny_Pooh

Strange product. 

melod

Winny_Pooh said:

Strange product. 

I think it’s sort of gt1000 core with some guitar synth/modelling.

I still would struggle to justify the cost but would love the alternate tunings and some modelling sounds + gt1000 core guitar stuff. 

monquixote

I think it seems like a decent product. 

It does the virtual guitar stuff and allows all the tuning and acoustic functionality that you might have otherwise needed a variax for .

The b bender functionality also seems very cool. 

The AIRA modelling is also waaaay better than COSM.

Being able to record each string to a different track is also super cool as it would give some very cool panning options.

susbemol

monquixote said:

I think it seems like a decent product. 

It does the virtual guitar stuff and allows all the tuning and acoustic functionality that you might have otherwise needed a variax for .

The b bender functionality also seems very cool. 

The AIRA modelling is also waaaay better than COSM.

Being able to record each string to a different track is also super cool as it would give some very cool panning options.

Most of which have already been available on previous units for decades, often with more options and control available.

AIRA is used in Roland's synths only, I guess you mean something else. I wish they used component modelling tech and better audio specs to get rid of some horrible aliasing that comes up with certain settings in most of their guitar synth products.

Having owned most of their products, I am having difficulty understanding who they designed this for.

monquixote

susbemol said:

monquixote said:

I think it seems like a decent product. 

It does the virtual guitar stuff and allows all the tuning and acoustic functionality that you might have otherwise needed a variax for .

The b bender functionality also seems very cool. 

The AIRA modelling is also waaaay better than COSM.

Being able to record each string to a different track is also super cool as it would give some very cool panning options.

Most of which have already been available on previous units for decades, often with more options and control available.

AIRA is used in Roland's synths only, I guess you mean something else. I wish they used component modelling tech and better audio specs to get rid of some horrible aliasing that comes up with certain settings in most of their guitar synth products.

Having owned most of their products, I am having difficulty understanding who they designed this for.

AIRD rather

melod

susbemol said:

monquixote said:

I think it seems like a decent product. 

It does the virtual guitar stuff and allows all the tuning and acoustic functionality that you might have otherwise needed a variax for .

The b bender functionality also seems very cool. 

The AIRA modelling is also waaaay better than COSM.

Being able to record each string to a different track is also super cool as it would give some very cool panning options.

Most of which have already been available on previous units for decades, often with more options and control available.

AIRA is used in Roland's synths only, I guess you mean something else. I wish they used component modelling tech and better audio specs to get rid of some horrible aliasing that comes up with certain settings in most of their guitar synth products.

Having owned most of their products, I am having difficulty understanding who they designed this for.

I think it’s mostly made for guitarists who never had that kind of unit and fit it to an existing pedalboard.

Most guitarists would just go for some acoustic/bass sim and alternate tunings and barely scrape the surface of the synth side (if they get interested in that they can sort of daisy chain a gm-800). So they get that plus some good amp/fx from gt1000 core I presume.

Sporky

melod said:

Fair point. I remember drooling over an acquaintance’s VG88 when it used to cost half a car or something.

I think mine was £800 including the GK2A.

You could do stuff with it that you can't with anything else. Like adding octave down to just the bottom two strings, or a harmonised third on just one string, or Nashville tuning, or making your guitar be tuned in fifth, or proper 12-string emulation where the top two (or three) strings were unison for the second course. And the hex pickup output (processed however you like) could be added anywhere in the chain.

It was an absolute bargain.

melod

Sporky said:

melod said:

Fair point. I remember drooling over an acquaintance’s VG88 when it used to cost half a car or something.

I think mine was £800 including the GK2A.

You could do stuff with it that you can't with anything else. Like adding octave down to just the bottom two strings, or a harmonised third on just one string, or Nashville tuning, or making your guitar be tuned in fifth, or proper 12-string emulation where the top two (or three) strings were unison for the second course. And the hex pickup output (processed however you like) could be added anywhere in the chain.

It was an absolute bargain.

Actually it was  VG-8 the guitarist I knew had. I remember the really Star Wars kind of looks and it did cost a fortune !!! I think 2k in like 1995.. 

It really was THE thing to own if somehow you had money to burn.  

I think you are right that VG-88 and VG-99 (and sy-1000) were priced around 1k

Kebabkid

I've had the GR-100 (with a Roland GR-202 guitar), 300 and the GR-33 - you can now reproduce the sounds of those early ones with a couple of pedals and not go through the faff of the special cable and pickup. However, the GR-33 was a gamechanger for me in function bands, particularly when I did Greek function gigs and was able to get ethnic sounds and the key to these units was the correct setting up of the pickup and sensitivity and understanding the approach to playing the emulated sound/instrument.

This one is sort of interesting in that you can keep separate or bring in the VG and GR aspects with the 2 respective units and all in with pickup and connector cable, you're probably looking at £1300 and the units appear to be bigger than the
GT-1000 Core. However, I can't see any controls on the GK-5 pickup and the older units had up/down preset buttons, a blend etc and so where's that stuff?

It needs to be seen what this can really do and how it can be incorporated. Were the SY synth units or their GK pickup pedals popular and did they sell well?

Sporky

melod said:

Actually it was  VG-8 the guitarist I knew had. I remember the really Star Wars kind of looks and it did cost a fortune !!! I think 2k in like 1995.. 

It really was THE thing to own if somehow you had money to burn.  

I think you are right that VG-88 and VG-99 (and sy-1000) were priced around 1k

Ah, yes - the VG-8 was a lot more money.