As usual BOSS is the boss. Where the competition is fragile and can’t even allow batteries, BOSS always brings out a quality-sounding tank that’s easy to open to replace batteries and takes little space.
This is why I love Sweetwater. In-depth product demos that you wish you could get from the manufacturer. Informative, instructional, engaging. Boss's demo video of this pedal is really cool, but it offers nothing in the way of explanation. It makes me want to get an Ibanez and make some 80s concept art rock.
Totally agree. Unfortunately it also shows some glaring weaknesses, like others mentioned a preponderance of 80’s synth sounds. Well done, but must KEYBOARDISTS even don’t consider those sounds as classics.. The pedal is worth the money, but it is so puzzling why waste time on those cheesy 80’s Synths. Even the actual guitar synths have this vexing problem, way overproccesed tones. Never heard of anyone asking for that great Thompson Twins sound. If you have 150 presets, sure, up the price $75 or so.
Chris helped me at Sweetwater and today my pedal arrived. I'll have fun with it later. Thanks Chris and Sweetwater. You folks have earned my future business.
Pure fun and the ability to use an expression pedal makes it a proper synth. Gives EHX a real competitor. Mitch is the most competent presenter I think I've ever seen; he really takes the time to learn about the product before the camera rolls.
Fantastic demo of a fantastic pedal. My brother brought over my early birthday present in, you guessed it, a Sweetwater box. It was this pedal. We then spent about three hours noodling with the his thing and honestly didn't scratch the surface. Want to unison synth and guitar lines ala Yngwie or Dream Theater? You can nail it with this pedal. I can now okay Highway Star and do both solos. This thing rocks!
I like this demo, but I can't stop giggling because the letters showing on his t-shirt say "twat". Sorry! Nice demo, GREAT pedal, next time go with the basic black t-shirt...
I ordered one in August 2019 - received word today - January 6, 2020 that it has shipped. Long wait but I think will be worth it. My guitar synth has been the old Roland GR-1 that required lots of extraneous stuff to get it up and running. It sounded real nice but is large, cumbersome and was very expensive. This current device is seemingly much better in terms of cost, footprint and ease of use. Boss/Roland have superb products always.
@@tj03297 It's great! However I tend to use only a couple settings on it - though there are many to choose from. I tend to stay in the pads and leave it on as a subtle addition to clean, delay, overdrive, or distortion and it fits perfectly in al situations. I love it! Well worth the money.
I wish someone would make a synth pedal like this loaded with monophonic voices for soloing. All the synth pedals I know of on the market have sounds which are stacked octaves with fuzz and harmonized 5ths, choppy rhythmic sequences, etc. It's like a shortcut to making EDM. For a soloist just wanting an electronic voice like Allan Holdsworth got with his violin, oboe, etc patches from old school Oberheim synths on the Synthaxe, there's basically nothing, and it seems that would be simpler than all of what this pedal does, which makes it strange it's so hard to find.
@@satyanpatel6403 I have the Mel9 and have tried the organ ones. The problem with all of them is they don't track well enough to keep up with fast playing, no matter how clean. They sound great with chords and simple lines but trying to be really precise with syncopated rhythms is a mess. The POG series is better but the tones are limited.
Coming up as a guitarist in the 80s , I was digging the synthesizer sounds but wasn't a competent keyboardist so I was utilizing chorus, flanger, envelope pedals and even tried the Roland guitar synthesizer but felt it wasn't keeping a real time feel with the guitar. After 40 years, in discovering the Boss SY1 and this video, I am going to buy it. Thanks for the inspiration!
It's fantastic. I couldn't get a better synth. The only drawback is that the dry signal is killed when the unit is switched off. That means you need two separate outputs from your guitar if you want to switch off the synth while playing guitar. The other thing is that you need a compressor, because some sounds are uneven - that's not a big issue, most if not all effects units suffer from it.
I love you guys. this pedal seems the best of the bunch not getting the sy1000 which is a thousand dollars and the pickup is like 270 and the cable is like 80 bucks. WOW even with payments that is too rich for my blood this one is just plug and go and a good price. wish it had a release/decay knob that is a big misstep
If not for all the cool things you can do with this small beast I'd buy this pedal just for the "Lead 1" that resembles the nicest tone of the iconic Roland GR-300 synth guitar from the 80s. Dude, how I love this tone! I NEED this pedal badly.
just saying, the pedal is more useful then what others say, you just have to put in the time to find cool tones that you can use. Every once in a while i'll go through it, find a cool setting to mess around with and even use my acoustic on it, i'll keep it there for a month or so then i'll switch it a while later for something new. Helps in creating new types of music and really fun. Definitely a cool pedal to add to your board.
Need a way to store each different sound to play with each live song; that combines all the sounds available. All the sounds selectable by a foot switch for each song- LIVE
After a month-and-a-half of waiting I finally received mine today. Straight Out of the box looks great. It's has a royal blue flake paint looks looks beautiful. First impressions tracking is incredible, tones are wonderful. Having said that it comes with the caveat. The tones alone are lacking focus. I watch many reviews where the person was always playing the patches with the guitar and the effect together and everyone would ask for the FX only. Now I see why guitar was always present. Without the guitar there is now true mid highs and top end even with the resonance sweep. Overall great gear!
Great review. Finally there is a pedal that will replicate that flatulence sound after eating kung pow chicken! Really an amazing catalog of sound and versatility in this pedal. Reminds me of the Electro Harmonix "Super Ego" in many ways, but this pedal seems much more versatile. My initial reaction is that it seems to have excellent tracking. Also, since there is no stereo output or input I guess it would have to go at the beginning of the signal chain and then into a pedal or pedals to expand the synthesized sound into true stereo, which is okay I guess. As Mitch Gallagher points out, you can get an expansive sound by running the dry signal with the effect signal. It would be interesting to run it through an amp effects loop, too. A great review by the two best reviewers in the business. Love the Space Truckin' sound Don got in the loop with the distortion.
You'd want it near the end of your signal chain (although in front might be better, maybe because of tracking issues) into something like a TC Electronic Mimiq, HOF, Flashback, or an Arion SCH-1 stereo chorus if you want some stereo separation. But this isn't a stereo pedal so it's always going to be wet/dry. I'd just get an ABY and run it in wet/dry as I do with many mods and most of my delay/trem/reverb. FX loop would be like placing it towards the end or middle of your effects chain, after gain.
What a great, sensible review. I wouldn't buy the pedal, myself, because I think most of the tones are cheesy and too digital, but you presented it in a much more musical way than some of your TH-cam competitors.
While I disagree with your opinion, I respect it, but you essentially said why this pedal is fun and great, it’s cheesy, it’s got the sounds of 1980’s keyboards and synthesizers which you can just have fun for hours playing around with. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have effects that are 100% pointless and don’t add anything in terms of musicality but they are fun to play with for hours. I mean I have a Kermit the frog pedal called a “Frog wah”, cost me $150, I’ve never been able to use it anywhere in the music I play, but I’d also be lying if I said if I didn’t smile having fun with it for hours.
At some sounds I was hoping you were going to play the theme tune to Rhubarb and custard kids show America was probably never blessed with such an awesome airing
I’m a musician who loves experimenting with new sounds every session, I’m considering buying this pedal and I’d like to know how can you set a tempo for the arpeggiated notes if that’s possible?
Hey, Jace. Thanks for your question. Hope you and yours are safe and well. Using an external footswitch, you gain access to tap tempo in the SY-1. You can't control the sequence of the arpeggiator nor can you save settings as a preset. Still a really cool feature. Please contact me direct for more information. Robert Williams, Senior Sweetwater Sales engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 2371, robert_williams@sweetwater.com
Can you tell me if guitar direct sound goes to "amp" and SY-1 goes directly to a mixer? I wonder if I use it only with my guitar combo, would it sound still good or better is to send direct output to combo and Synth out directly to a mixer?
Hello, Henryk. Thanks for the questions. The SY-1 direct out is meant to go into a guitar amplifier. If you are going to you a Direct Injection (DI) box, you would go from output of the pedal to your mixer. This will change the high impedence signal to a low impedance signal and allow you to have better control, more headroom, and a much cleaner sound taking the SY-1 into a mixer. Both options will work fine, it is really up to you. Please give me a call or an email if you have any more questions. Michael Morgan, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1607, Michael_Morgan@Sweetwater.com
Finally, someone going through each of the settings 1 by 1. Thanks Sweetwater
😎👍
Holy Van Halen “dreams” intro at 3:35 that’s awesome
Skip the yakking 3:00
The yakking is pretty good at 1.5 speed
we still call it yapping 4 years later 😂
Widely used and longtime lingo doesn't change that fast does it? Am I getting old? Lol @@NathanRech
I also like "yammering."
Blabbering. Not sure why they think it's the way to go. Let's describe the sound for 4 minutes without letting you actually hear it
As usual BOSS is the boss. Where the competition is fragile and can’t even allow batteries, BOSS always brings out a quality-sounding tank that’s easy to open to replace batteries and takes little space.
Nice demo. Had to smile reading Don's T-shirtat 9:15 😄
This is why I love Sweetwater. In-depth product demos that you wish you could get from the manufacturer. Informative, instructional, engaging. Boss's demo video of this pedal is really cool, but it offers nothing in the way of explanation. It makes me want to get an Ibanez and make some 80s concept art rock.
So, did you get the Ibanez /art rock going ?
Sweetwater has the best review videos. You guys do a really good job! :-)
Totally agree. Unfortunately it also shows some glaring weaknesses, like others mentioned a preponderance of 80’s synth sounds. Well done, but must KEYBOARDISTS even don’t consider those sounds as classics.. The pedal is worth the money, but it is so puzzling why waste time on those cheesy 80’s
Synths. Even the actual guitar synths have this vexing problem, way overproccesed tones. Never heard of anyone asking for that great Thompson Twins sound. If you have 150 presets, sure, up the price $75 or so.
Chris helped me at Sweetwater and today my pedal arrived. I'll have fun with it later. Thanks Chris and Sweetwater. You folks have earned my future business.
Pure fun and the ability to use an expression pedal makes it a proper synth. Gives EHX a real competitor. Mitch is the most competent presenter I think I've ever seen; he really takes the time to learn about the product before the camera rolls.
Fantastic demo of a fantastic pedal. My brother brought over my early birthday present in, you guessed it, a Sweetwater box. It was this pedal. We then spent about three hours noodling with the his thing and honestly didn't scratch the surface. Want to unison synth and guitar lines ala Yngwie or Dream Theater? You can nail it with this pedal. I can now okay Highway Star and do both solos. This thing rocks!
I like this demo, but I can't stop giggling because the letters showing on his t-shirt say "twat".
Sorry! Nice demo, GREAT pedal, next time go with the basic black t-shirt...
My first thoughts too!
Lmfaoooo
I cut up my sweetwater stickers so they say twat on them and put em on stuff
Hahahahaha. That’s hilarious
hahah nice one!! sweetwater has done it again! love this channel.
Oh man my wife is going to kill me!
mine too! Pre-ordered. Will rush to the mail FIRST! Sneak it onto my board!
You need to divorce
@@bloodromance4776 for real right? But then they'd starve!
Now ya'll got me scared. I loved my wife, too.
Yeah I may be in trouble when my wife sees my pedalboard and she sees like 4 new pedals. “Hey what are those?!” This will be one of them lol
I have no idea how exactly to use this thing, but I think i'd be fun as hell to play with.
@4:40 I love the way his t-shirt just says "twat" ... one for viewers in the UK to enjoy.
Great pedal, I don't want to want one, but i do.
chuckling brit here, too🤣
This is a heck of a pedal, got one last week but barely scraped the surface!
I ordered one in August 2019 - received word today - January 6, 2020 that it has shipped. Long wait but I think will be worth it. My guitar synth has been the old Roland GR-1 that required lots of extraneous stuff to get it up and running. It sounded real nice but is large, cumbersome and was very expensive. This current device is seemingly much better in terms of cost, footprint and ease of use. Boss/Roland have superb products always.
@@tj03297 It's great! However I tend to use only a couple settings on it - though there are many to choose from. I tend to stay in the pads and leave it on as a subtle addition to clean, delay, overdrive, or distortion and it fits perfectly in al situations. I love it! Well worth the money.
Wow that second arpeggiator is pure Boards of Canada, love it!
my thoughts exactly!!
Impressive pedal. Can't wait to get one.
I wish someone would make a synth pedal like this loaded with monophonic voices for soloing. All the synth pedals I know of on the market have sounds which are stacked octaves with fuzz and harmonized 5ths, choppy rhythmic sequences, etc. It's like a shortcut to making EDM. For a soloist just wanting an electronic voice like Allan Holdsworth got with his violin, oboe, etc patches from old school Oberheim synths on the Synthaxe, there's basically nothing, and it seems that would be simpler than all of what this pedal does, which makes it strange it's so hard to find.
Alex Hand
Huh......
Have you seen the EHX 9 pedals? I think that's what you want. This pedal, dialed in just right, has some awesome sounds.
@@satyanpatel6403 I have the Mel9 and have tried the organ ones. The problem with all of them is they don't track well enough to keep up with fast playing, no matter how clean. They sound great with chords and simple lines but trying to be really precise with syncopated rhythms is a mess. The POG series is better but the tones are limited.
Agreed, most of the synth pedals have a polyphonic effect which doesn’t serve the purpose for soloing most of the time
Put a guitar into an MS-20 maybe?
Great review and some intelligent detail (for a change!)
Incredibly well done video, this is a fantastic overview. Thank you so much!
Coming up as a guitarist in the 80s , I was digging the synthesizer sounds but wasn't a competent keyboardist so I was utilizing chorus, flanger, envelope pedals and even tried the Roland guitar synthesizer but felt it wasn't keeping a real time feel with the guitar. After 40 years, in discovering the Boss SY1 and this video, I am going to buy it. Thanks for the inspiration!
This really needs reverb and delay to sound the best it can. Synths always use reverb to smooth it up.
actually it sound pretty good without it tbh
All I heard missing was a compressor. Pair this with some compression to vocalize all notes equally and this will be a very impressive pedal.
The bell sound compliments my tinnitus.
Space Trucking, hell yeah. Great review guys. You demonstrated alot of what it is capable of without it being a 1 hr long video.
Time for a new toy.
That must be Don's own guitar; he uses it a lot these days. Maybe the coolest PRS made.
"I'll play the Captain, and you play Chappers!"
The most annoying turds on TH-cam..
@@coreymineard what about music is win
🤣
Can’t stand those dorks.
@@Dixie-Normus-209they can't stand you either
adding this into the loop of a fractal fx 2 produces some unique sounds
It's fantastic. I couldn't get a better synth. The only drawback is that the dry signal is killed when the unit is switched off. That means you need two separate outputs from your guitar if you want to switch off the synth while playing guitar. The other thing is that you need a compressor, because some sounds are uneven - that's not a big issue, most if not all effects units suffer from it.
Uhhh I know I’m a year late but I think your power supply may be fucked, I have the SY1 and the dry signal goes through just fine when powered off
Agree with Matthew. No problems when the pedal is off. I have a simple, single chain setup and this pedal has given me no issues
I love you guys. this pedal seems the best of the bunch not getting the sy1000 which is a thousand dollars and the pickup is like 270 and the cable is like 80 bucks. WOW even with payments that is too rich for my blood this one is just plug and go and a good price. wish it had a release/decay knob that is a big misstep
@ a buck ninety nine......Boss has hit GRAND SLAM,!!
It's like turning your guitar into a DX7. Being able to even separate the guitar and synth signals is wild.
one of the best reviews
That's pretty amazing!
Great review, as always.
Got it on my must buy list. Great demo!!
Great review.
I need this in my life.
The guy controlling the knobs has HUGE hands!
This presentation is exactly like after midnight telemarketing about the air fryer that will change your and your family's life
Cool video amigos.
If not for all the cool things you can do with this small beast I'd buy this pedal just for the "Lead 1" that resembles the nicest tone of the iconic Roland GR-300 synth guitar from the 80s. Dude, how I love this tone! I NEED this pedal badly.
Don, at 12:40 in the demo, you tap the A side of the FS-6 3 times, Why? What were you changing?
Mike V
just saying, the pedal is more useful then what others say, you just have to put in the time to find cool tones that you can use. Every once in a while i'll go through it, find a cool setting to mess around with and even use my acoustic on it, i'll keep it there for a month or so then i'll switch it a while later for something new. Helps in creating new types of music and really fun. Definitely a cool pedal to add to your board.
Love to know how this pedal works with a non-synthesizer keyboard such as an electric or d digital piano.
What does that T-shirt say?
Twat...
sweetwater
Lol. looks like "Twat"
Came on here just to see this. Now i need this shirt.
So basically get it and leave it on organ all the time, got it
thx for the demo...would be nice to hear a note being held for a 4\4 measure..
now this is the kind of pedal I could use for my keyboard pedal board setup.
Everyone just wants to know: What knob do I turn to get the Metheny synth sound?
Exactly what I was thinking!! He is a master of guitar synths sounds that don’t sound like fake guitar synth sounds!!
Just bought this with an RC-10r and cant wait to make some crazy stuff tomorrow :D
So exciting!
This is the kind of witchcraft I'd expect from Electroharmonix
Need a way to store each different sound to play with each live song; that combines all the sounds available. All the sounds selectable by a foot switch for each song- LIVE
that is what the SY-200 is for.
sweetwater! please take all my moneys. what a great demo vid.
Great demo
Amazing! but does it come with your own personal stage hand to twiddle the dials!
After a month-and-a-half of waiting I finally received mine today. Straight Out of the box looks great. It's has a royal blue flake paint looks looks beautiful. First impressions tracking is incredible, tones are wonderful. Having said that it comes with the caveat. The tones alone are lacking focus. I watch many reviews where the person was always playing the patches with the guitar and the effect together and everyone would ask for the FX only. Now I see why guitar was always present. Without the guitar there is now true mid highs and top end even with the resonance sweep. Overall great gear!
Amazing review.
I think this will really help my space rock inclinations.....🤗🤘
I've had one of these for about 4 years. A tad pricey but nothing unreasonable.
Great review. Finally there is a pedal that will replicate that flatulence sound after eating kung pow chicken! Really an amazing catalog of sound and versatility in this pedal. Reminds me of the Electro Harmonix "Super Ego" in many ways, but this pedal seems much more versatile. My initial reaction is that it seems to have excellent tracking. Also, since there is no stereo output or input I guess it would have to go at the beginning of the signal chain and then into a pedal or pedals to expand the synthesized sound into true stereo, which is okay I guess. As Mitch Gallagher points out, you can get an expansive sound by running the dry signal with the effect signal. It would be interesting to run it through an amp effects loop, too. A great review by the two best reviewers in the business. Love the Space Truckin' sound Don got in the loop with the distortion.
You'd want it near the end of your signal chain (although in front might be better, maybe because of tracking issues) into something like a TC Electronic Mimiq, HOF, Flashback, or an Arion SCH-1 stereo chorus if you want some stereo separation. But this isn't a stereo pedal so it's always going to be wet/dry. I'd just get an ABY and run it in wet/dry as I do with many mods and most of my delay/trem/reverb.
FX loop would be like placing it towards the end or middle of your effects chain, after gain.
love those cool effects!!
I'll take 2! Wonder what that will sound like....
Thank you soo much! Great review!
I just ordered the sy-1 brand new for 184 bucks flat at guitar center yesterday and it’s coming on Wednesday
I just bought that from you right now 😊 thank you !!!
Never seen them so blown away. Definitely a must buy.
Great video !! In-depth and fun !
you need to rethink the t-shirt/open shirt combo, it has truncated SweeTWATer, see what I mean? :) Nice pedal btw, one is coming my way.
Sounds like the same sounds that were in the GR synths.
I'm actually buying one of these today...the pedal AND the twat shirt.
I read this comment and didn’t get it, and then I looked up at his shirt… I laughed so hard and unexpectedly I farted. I’ve never done that before.
Looool :-D
@@jimmygriswold9258 TMI
Everyone needs a test shirt
What a great, sensible review. I wouldn't buy the pedal, myself, because I think most of the tones are cheesy and too digital, but you presented it in a much more musical way than some of your TH-cam competitors.
While I disagree with your opinion, I respect it, but you essentially said why this pedal is fun and great, it’s cheesy, it’s got the sounds of 1980’s keyboards and synthesizers which you can just have fun for hours playing around with. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have effects that are 100% pointless and don’t add anything in terms of musicality but they are fun to play with for hours. I mean I have a Kermit the frog pedal called a “Frog wah”, cost me $150, I’ve never been able to use it anywhere in the music I play, but I’d also be lying if I said if I didn’t smile having fun with it for hours.
Must get! Play some 80s with this baby..
What I wanna to try is sy1 with monophonic analog synth or even Gameboy for example 🤩
What I want in the guitar synthesizer pedal is that it can imitate the keyboards, winds and strings sounds.
At some sounds I was hoping you were going to play the theme tune to Rhubarb and custard kids show
America was probably never blessed with such an awesome airing
@12:48 what a choice of t-shirt to wear an open shirt over😱😆
Love both you guys
4:02 queue playstation startup
I've had this pedal on back order a month. I'm beginning to think it's never actually being released. Don't get hopes up.
is it good? 🤑
Want this just to do the Van Halen Jump intro
Love your videos
You know what? That is amazing.
This has definitely saved me from buying one of these. Thanks.
In all of these demos I've watched for this pedal not one damn person plays The Final Countdown 😭
It has a switch to optimize for playing Guitar Or Bass
11:45s Sounds almost exactly like "You Better You Bet"
For the sequenced sounds, can you adjust the tempo? Tap tempo? Cool pedal.
Thanks for sharing with us!!!!
I wrote the question, and you answered it 30 seconds later in the same video. Damn you guys are good!!!!!!!!
You should have wrote with the answer was instead of that other comment that you wrote so what was the answer does it have tap Tempo or not?
aunt jenifer 12:37
SOLD‼️🔊🤠👍
Great sound but they didn't explain the send/return loop!
Just bought one from you guys. It’s awesome and so is your service!
Really cool!
I’m a musician who loves experimenting with new sounds every session, I’m considering buying this pedal and I’d like to know how can you set a tempo for the arpeggiated notes if that’s possible?
Hey, Jace. Thanks for your question. Hope you and yours are safe and well. Using an external footswitch, you gain access to tap tempo in the SY-1. You can't control the sequence of the arpeggiator nor can you save settings as a preset. Still a really cool feature.
Please contact me direct for more information.
Robert Williams, Senior Sweetwater Sales engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 2371, robert_williams@sweetwater.com
I have mine ordered from these guys.
this sold me. Thx!
Zappa would have loved this.
This why I shop at sweetwater
Can you tell me if guitar direct sound goes to "amp" and SY-1 goes directly to a mixer? I wonder if I use it only with my guitar combo, would it sound still good or better is to send direct output to combo and Synth out directly to a mixer?
Hello, Henryk. Thanks for the questions. The SY-1 direct out is meant to go into a guitar amplifier. If you are going to you a Direct Injection (DI) box, you would go from output of the pedal to your mixer. This will change the high impedence signal to a low impedance signal and allow you to have better control, more headroom, and a much cleaner sound taking the SY-1 into a mixer. Both options will work fine, it is really up to you. Please give me a call or an email if you have any more questions.
Michael Morgan, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1607, Michael_Morgan@Sweetwater.com
I just ordered it.
But where is the bass demo?
Blackmore and lord in one what can you ask for purple mania maximum
Kurt Rosenwinkel vibes!