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In my opinion, most of the factory sounds are bad, the rest have great ideas but need to be tweaked to be usable for my purposes. Also, they vary widely in volume, so when you try to use it in a performance setting, you'll need to switch between your patches and make sure they have the levels you want. That's really easy to do - just press "EZ Edit", use the scroll knob to adjust the volume, and then press the "Write" button twice to write the patch back to the 55. Also, make sure you get a copy of GR-Floorboard (the software I show here). Deep editing on the unit itself is torture.

Thanks for the advice

Not really in the GR-55 itself. You could easily take the MIDI note out from the GR-55 and run it into a synth that is setup to play full chords when it receives certain notes.

@@RoySmithVideo oh great suggestion!!! I'll have to explore that

Thank you for your uplifting and helpful comment, Ricardo.

It's available on VGuitarforums, in the "Jazz guitar" section. I took a patch called "Motete" and modified it to add some frills, then reposted my version.

@@RoySmithVideo OK thank you very much

Read the comments below.

@@RoySmithVideo Thank you very much, I have downloaded it.

Thank you!

There are hundreds of good 55 patches in the 55 section of vguitarforums.com

@@RoySmithVideo Thank you

Thanks, bro!

The GR-55 is very deep tool and I agree, nearly impossible to program using the front panel. Kudos to GumTown for creating the Floorboard software. I want to encourage anyone who uses this software to send a tip to him via PayPal. You might find my newer tour of my GR55 rig of interest, I have taken the unit to a high level of function.

Audio: Stereo outputs from GR-55 go to Mobius and then Timeline, then to Korg Kaossilator - then to speakers. MIDI-right iPad MIDI out goes to Mobius MIDI IN and the OUT gots to Timeline MIDI IN. Mobius is set to use channel 3 and Timeline is set to use channel 4. On the left iPad, MIDI out goes to the GR-55 MIDI IN.

I use an iPad dock that has a MIDI in and out. The MIDI out goes to the GR-55 MIDI in. The iPad dock is the Behringer IS-202. It is not made anymore and only works with older iPads that have the large connector.

Yes, everything you are hearing is from my GR-55 - no guitar pickups or amps. The GR-55 has very powerful modeling capability to create any guitar tone you want, and then modeled amps, speakers, microphones, rooms, and multi-effects. You just need to mount the GK3 pickup on your guitar for it to work.

I have the Graphtec hexphonic bridge in my Parker nitefly so i don’t need the GK3, I’ve been offered the Vg8 or a VG88 at a reasonable price. I don’t want Synths sounds, I just want cosm strats pls and rickies! Do you suggest the vg8 or vg88. I’ve read that the Viopatches in the vg 8 are better than anything else. Any thoughts?

@@cobowe My suggestion is that with the graphtec pickup, you will not be able to get very good modeled sounds from either the GR-55 or the VG-99. I know this from personal experience. I had a Brian Moore guitar with a Graphtec system and it worked well for the synth side of the GR-55. However the modeling sounds were never very good for two reasons... first the Roland modeling software was designed using a magnetic pickup (GK3), not a piezo. The signal created by a piezo pickup is very different from a magnetic pickup, and that's the cause of the problem. The models expect a magnetic sounding input but with Graphtec, they get a piezo sounding input. The second problem for me was the fact that the graphtec was on a whammy bridge, and the physical movement of my hands on the bridge caused all sorts of problems for the Roland systems (both pitch detection for MIDI and modeling). That's why many people use a subsonic filter with piezos. I understand why people think piezos are great for driving Roland gear - they are convenient, but the fact of the matter is that the Roland gear just works much better with GK-3 magnetic pickups.

It's a "dock" that was made by Behringer called an iStudio. It's very nice, provides guitar inputs and outputs, midi in / out, and a mixing and headphone system. They worked with the old style of iPads with the big 24 pin plug. Sadly, when iPad switched to the smaller plug 5 years ago, Behringer did not make an updated iStudio, so there is nothing this nice for recent iPads.

@@RoySmithVideo Crap!…lol. Thank you for your reply.

You have G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome!) Can your GR-55 transpose to alternate tuning on the fly? I might get the GP-10 if it can accomplish this. Also, since you have G.A.S., look into the Godin xTSA. It has piezo pup, electric pup and 13 pin midi port for synth. It sounds incredible w/my Fishman acoustic amp and plays really well- high quality instrument to be sure.

@@MOAB-UT The GR-55 can do string-based transposition to any number of tunings. In my opinion, piezo-based 13 pin systems do not work well with modeled COSM sounds, which is the basis of VG-99, GR-55 and GP-10. The reason for this is the Roland gear was designed and built using magnetic pickups of the GK-2 and 3. The signals presented to the DSP from a piezo pickup are very very different from magnetic signals from a GK. The pitch detection works fine, but the modeling aspects just don't work well.

@@RoySmithVideo Thanks. In that case I could buy one that comes with the pup or just buy a Martin D-18 and mic it. do you think the GP-10 is a good option for a non-pro. Just want something new to have fun with. I don't play out- maybe camping is about it but I do have and don't mind investing in really nice gear if it's worth it. Is there a way to mount it without drilling into my guitars? I really don't want to do that.

@@MOAB-UT The Roland synth pickup works just fine with double stick tape and does not require drilling. Sometimes people do mount it permanently, but that's a choice. I have seen people use them on acoustic guitars but personally I would not do that - the audible sound of the guitar will conflict with whatever synth or modeled tone you are producing with the GR-55. Particularly if you use alternate tunings, that would be a problem.

@@RoySmithVideo Thanks. Good to know tape/less perm. options can work. That's of course assuming it fits. Some guitars need some router work to achieve the correct height.

Just uploaded it! czcams.com/video/WB2hLXQoCoM/video.html

There are many GR-55 patch demos on YT, and I posted a video showing how the built-in modeling sounds work.

You can attach the GK3 using double stick tape. It does not mar the finish and of course there are no screw holes.