Vintage Vibes: Roland GR-700 Guitar Synthesizer

Space Blues: The Roland GR-700 Guitar Synthesizer

Our resident metaphysical oracle, Future Joel, soul-bonds with “Midnight” Mike Hussa to demonstrate the infinite groove of the Roland GR-700 Guitar Synthesizer. Now, this is no toy. This is a previously unidentified funk object. This UFO came to us through a beam of laser light from the future-past to share the mathematical secrets that bind the very fabric of space-time, like how eight times eight equals infinity, and the wisdom of fast neck plus contoured body equals who f****** cares. So fire all your friends, because time is a flat circle. That’s just the way it is, and things will never be the same. Also, we’re pretty sure Joel did not read any books by Carl Sagan.

Joel Describes the Roland GR-700 Guitar Synthesizer

This right here is not your average instrument. This is the GR-700 Roland Guitar Synthesizer.

Much like the infinite nature of space and the cosmos, so is there an infinite number of tones that you can get from the Roland GR-700. The footswitch has eight banks, and in each bank there are eight sounds. You can edit those as much as you’d like, but you don't need to because there's an infinite number of sounds built into those eight specific banks that have eight sounds per bank. Count it. Eight times eight. That’s infinity. It’s math.

Everything you hear in this video is made using unedited presets, and they sound incredible. You can shift octaves or change tone just by switching the preset. Some sound almost indistinguishable (in a very synthy way) from a real bass, organ, horn section, string quartet. Even some renn fair vibes for you LOTR types. As a guitar, it plays really well. You’d be surprised. But let's be serious. That's pretty much irrelevant when you’re talking about something like this. It’s a fun and useful tool for synthesis, not a well-oiled machine for the guitar virtuoso who wants to shred with pure tone and playability.

It's the Roland GR-700, and if you’re a collector, goofball, or synth-head with a penchant for guitar or live instrumentation, it’s what you want. Trust me.