Vintage Synth Explorer

Roland • GR-500

Thanks to Roland, guitars and synthesizers have had a long working relationship together. The GR-500 is a vintage guitar controlled synthesizer - before there was MIDI too! It was the first synth of this kind that Roland had ever produced, back in 1977. The synthesizer module itself was a simple analog affair with Bass, Solo Synth, and String sounds based on previous Orchestral and analog mono-synths from Roland. There are plenty of sliders to adjust the VCO, VCF, VCA, and LFO sections, but no memory to store your edits.

The synth module is controlled by a "highly modified" guitar. Notice all those knobs on the guitar pictured above. It utilized a special pickup system that connected to the synth module via Roland's own 24-pin interface and controlled it using CV/GATE signals generated by the guitar's pickup system while playing the guitar. In addition to the modified pickup, there were magnets under the face of the guitar that could increase its sustain. Performance accuracy was "iffy" but good for 1977 and pre-MIDI. As a piece of guitar-synth history, the GR-500 makes an excellent collectors item and may come in handy for the occasional growl or a strummed analog sound effect. It has been used by Tangerine Dream, Mike Rutherford of Genesis and Alex Lifeson of Rush.

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Posting Rules: Please keep your comments relevant! Do not post requests for help, do not use for sales, do not post unless you have something interesting to say about this instrument, or we may delete your post.

 

Carlos

Posted 97 days ago

To Shelly: I am interested in your GS-500. Please email me at: drkam6 at gmail dot com. Thank you.

Shelly

Posted 103 days ago

My husband and I recently acquired a Roland GS-500 in mint condition, but do not have the GR-500 that goes with it. Does anyone know where we might find one for sale? We're also interested in selling the GS-500 that we have...

Simon

Posted 126 days ago

there is currently one of these on Ebay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d ll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:I T&item=140331268887

some interesting GR links there too

tyler

Posted 140 days ago

I would also like to learn more about the price of the roland gr 500 I currently have one in my possesion and heard it was a collectors item and became very curious!

kevin

Posted 169 days ago

hi can anyone give me information as to the worth of a roland GR500 GS 500 AND 102 EXPANDER ALL OF WHICH ARE LIKE NEW STILL IN THEIR ORIGINAL BOXES AND CASE WITH ALL MANUALS,IF SO CONTACT CAN BE MADE AT KKI24779@BIGPOND.NET.AU THANKYOU.

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