uk_lefty Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 Well, I took the plunge. I got one of these for a good deal on eBay just before Christmas. I've not had a lot of chance to fully explore the unit but I've fiddled with most of the presets to find something I will use in my set. So far it's been very promising. Good stuff straight off: It's so simple to use. Choose one of the synth settings like Bass, or Strings, then number 1-11 for which variant, fiddle with the tone and depth to get it where you want it. Of you like the sound take a photo on your phone and label it! Couldn't be easier. A lot of the sounds are usable, not squelchy weird mess, but usable synth sounds from recognisable pop records. You can make them weird if you want. There's also some weird stuff I'd never use too, but others might love. So what am I going to do? Well, it's already inspired one addition to the band set list with one of the sounds. It's also going to let me add some stuff for passages in songs that will just lift things up. For example, locked out of heaven by Bruno Mars has a slower pre chorus but with a synth sound that I would call a "soft fuzz", I'm going to do something on this unit that's soft fuzz with a bit of octave up, it will just elevate things from "guitar sound" and keep things interesting. Will try it with the band on Weds and then possibly a gig a week on Fri if all goes well. This is how I see the pedal being used, for me at least, elevating some passages of pop songs that need a synth sound to prevent it feeling empty in quieter or slower sections. This can often happen with pop covers, something feels missing and if you really listen there's often a synth somewhere hidden in the track that holds everything together. This pedal won't give me that subtlety, far from it, but it should do enough to keep things lively and interesting. I'll try to record some bits with it and share in here. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted January 11, 2022 Author Share Posted January 11, 2022 I've just hooked up an abandoned expression pedal..... Holy moly. This is fun. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 I've never used it with an expression pedal. I shall investigate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 When I was looking at these I completely missed that an expression pedal could be used. Now I have bad GAS again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SumOne Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 These look good but I haven't heard many Bass demos of the SY-1 (or 200). Does it do the classic funky 70/80s moog and envelope filter stuff like: Chameleon, Flashlight, Funkin for Jamaica, Sign o' the times, Atomic Dog? That's the sort of stuff I'm after (whch the FI and C4 do well), I've got no interest in synth strings, organ, bell, pad, arpegios and from the guitar demos I've heard that all seems to be a focus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 Oh my golly gosh. Expression pedal. Amazing. Opens up so many possibilities. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 (edited) 59 minutes ago, SumOne said: These look good but I haven't heard many Bass demos of the SY-1 (or 200). Does it do the classic funky 70/80s moog and envelope filter stuff like: Chameleon, Flashlight, Funkin for Jamaica, Sign o' the times, Atomic Dog? That's the sort of stuff I'm after (whch the FI and C4 do well), I've got no interest in synth strings, organ, bell, pad, arpegios and from the guitar demos I've heard that all seems to be a focus. Sounds like a challenge! Edit: nearly got Chameleon. Not identical yet but close enough. Edited January 14, 2022 by stewblack 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 On 14/01/2022 at 17:09, SumOne said: These look good but I haven't heard many Bass demos of the SY-1 (or 200). Does it do the classic funky 70/80s moog and envelope filter stuff like: Chameleon, Flashlight, Funkin for Jamaica, Sign o' the times, Atomic Dog? That's the sort of stuff I'm after (whch the FI and C4 do well), I've got no interest in synth strings, organ, bell, pad, arpegios and from the guitar demos I've heard that all seems to be a focus. So far I've not found that sort of thing but I've been digging into the strings synth bits. But this is a synth pedal and not an envelope filter so a dedicated envelope filter might be better for what you need? The SY1 is sensitive to playing dynamics, it behaves differently in different settings but I'm yet to work it out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 On 14/01/2022 at 17:45, stewblack said: Oh my golly gosh. Expression pedal. Amazing. Opens up so many possibilities. It's great isn't it? Speeding up and slowing down the sequencer, altering the pitch, it's great. I used a few settings with the band the other night and it was great. The synth sits really nicely under the guitars, it's not in-your-face, and the bass guitar sound still pushes through very clearly and nicely. I'm impressed. Going to use it on my next gig on Fri, hopefully can record it and see how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 On 14/01/2022 at 17:46, stewblack said: Sounds like a challenge! Edit: nearly got Chameleon. Not identical yet but close enough. We need a thread of recordings of good settings.... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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