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.

14 VISITOR COMMENTS

charlotte

January 2, 2012 @ 4:25 pm

Hi i have one of these units in working order with guitar. any idea what to do with it. email me. thanks. charlotte

Pete, Dance of the Druids

November 17, 2011 @ 5:42 am

So far my GR-500 and GS-500 are worry free. I believe there is some rule regarding not using which controller with which guitar synth ... can't use the GS-500 on a GR-300 or can't use G-808 on a GR-500?

Keith, I've used the following:

1. Wayne Joness http://www.joness.com/gr300/index.htm

2. Bruce Forat http://www.forat.com/drummachines/midimod.htm

3. Dave at http://studioelectronics.biz/index.html

4. Wes Taggert at www.analogics.org/

5. Dain Beamish, Beamish Electronics 4560 State Rd # A, Cleveland, OH 44109-4714 (216) 351-9599 ‎

Peace!

Keith Krause

August 11, 2011 @ 10:25 am

I have a GR 500 in need of some restoration. I'm less concerned about money than I am about seeing the instrument go to someone who would appreciate and be able to work with it. If anybody is interested or know someone who would be pleqse contact me at: kkplaystheblues@gmail.com

Ronny_Pudding

July 18, 2011 @ 11:58 am

"Is it possible to play it with keyboard?" It runs off of standard CV so you should be able too. It has CV gate and trigger outputs.

Mats Jonason

May 7, 2011 @ 9:16 pm

There actually is a 3 "patch" memory "floorboard" called the PC-50 that was available for the GR-500. You could save 3 presets and have a fourth sound in manual mode. It is extremly rare and fetches crazy prices. I actually bid on one for my GS/GR 500 last year but had to give at roughly 1000 usd.

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