Boss SY-200: Worth the upgrade from SY-1?
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- čas přidán 17. 07. 2024
- Guitarists (and bassists) looking to add some other-worldly voices to their repertoire have a few options available to them, and the Boss SY-1 and SY-200 are right there at the front of the list for many. Both are outstanding options, but what does the SY-200 give you that the SY-1 lacks? Will those additional features make it too complicated, or a perfect fit. That’s what we’ll explore in this video.
SY-200 Sound/Memory List : www.boss.info/global/support/...
Music from www.zapsplat.com
All other music by me
Chapters:
0:00 - Intro / Demo Jam #1
2:43 - Some SY-1 Background Info
5:31 - Preset Demo Montage
10:25 - The Breakdown
14:35 - Creating and Saving a Memory
16:50 - Organizing Memories
19:37 - Demo Jam #2
21:35 - Which One Is Right For You?
Being in metal bands in college, we'd often say we needed a keyboard player. Now, the band just needs another guitarist.
Kidding aside, this pedal sounds wicked, and I appreciate the detailed breakdown. Cheers.
I think one of the best things about this pedal is the tracking. When recording, the SY-200 lets you imagine a synth part, and play it really accurately with guitar. Once you're in the daw, you can convert the track to midi, and put any other sound on it. But the SY-200 lets you capture a perfect performance with your guitar. As a non-keyboardist I appreciate this a lot!
This is time and time again turning into my favorite pedal effects channel. I literally know nothing about many of these synth pedals so it's cool to learn about them. I had a Digitech Dirty Robot in the past but that's pretty much the closest thing.
Brilliant Review - thanks a lot!
Crap, now I gotta upgrade too. Congrats, another fantastic video! I really enjoy your channel.
Happy to be a bad influence! Thank you so much for watching, I appreciate it
VERY helpful. Thanks!
This is great, man! Even after many years every now and then there is someone who disects a pedal differently than the avarage. Yours really couldnt possibly be topped. I subbed for future references.
Oh man, I'm so glad I got my demo out before you! No way would I have wanted to follow this.
Fantastic breakdown, dude. As per!
Ha, no way man, plenty of room in the pool, and you did a great job of showing way more variations.
@@StompboxBreakdown Cheers matey! Congrats on passing 3k, btw! You're really gaining on me now. Ha ha!
Thanks for this. I got mine 2 weeks ago and it is addictive. Using it in the send return of my NUX MG-30. I love being able to add more direct guitar to the mix as well as the amount of synth in the mix. Moving it in the chain of the MG-30 changes the sounds radically!
Blending some of the noise effects into a distorted bass tone is how I get some of the heaviest metal bass tones I've ever made. Epic pedal
And Thank You for your
Video!
Sweet thanks. I love the phillips pointer too.. :)
Always handy!
Great video. I have an SY-1 which I really rate. I previously had a Meris Enzo - a truly incredible synth pedal, but while I consider myself a geek and a nerd, it was way too hard to edit and the granularity of the controls was not good enough, so tiny changes would ruin the sounds you created/made it impossible to recreate something I liked. That said, I liked it so much that as soon as I sold it I had FOMO and bought another. But the tracking on the Boss is arguably better, and while the sounds are less tweakable there are still a whole bunch of great tones packed into the compact format.
The 200 looks good, and I think you've hit the nail on the head - if presets are a thing you would use and enjoy, the 200 is definitely worth the upgrade despite the increase in size. I have a tape cribsheet on my SY-1 so I can swap between my most used settings. Most of the time it's fine, but anything with a pitch shift needs to be double checked in case you don't quite get to the right point and end up +/- 1 semitone ("jazzy"). Presets fix that.
That intro demo is the most 80s thing I've ever heard in my life.
Oh I assure you we can go WAAAAYYY more 80’s
another home run! thank you for your incredible deep dive into a really deep box from our heroes at Boss. i'm wondering what happens if one runs a synth into it! terrifying, and potentially Event Horizon-esque...
Being that guy that uses guitar pedals for synths, i'm always happy to try a new stereo, line level capable pedal. in this method, i've been absolutely lost in OBNE's new dual filter, Float. can highly recommend.
Thank you, man. Really appreciate it. I tried it with a synth after doing the video and it kinda transforms some of the notes it detects into the new sound. I’m sure someone could find it useful, I just heard a machine struggling, haha.
An excellent comparison - loved the sounds you got from the SY 200. A few queries - if you hold down control 1 on the SY200 will that affect pitch/ swell/ hold? Also, does the SY200 retain edited presets after it's switched off? Do the foot switch and expression pedals have to be Boss ones? Thanks. ( I have the SY1 and wondering whether to buy the 200 too).
thanks for this i will be upgrading from my sy-1 for the same reasons you mentioned, im not able to get the same sounds sometimes when i change to another sound on my sy-1 but its still a killer pedal the sy 200 just makes more sense all visuals you can tweak and know where you are at i think the price is not bad too plus my old band member thought that i owed him money for a rehearsal spot he has that i was just pitching in here and there with no contract that he was ok with until i decided to leave and pick up my equipment which he said i owed him money i know he really liked my sy1 and wanted to keep it along with my genz benz head schroeder cab and pedal board with a wah and distortion too.
All the presets of this synth sound like they are coming from behind of a curtain… in every video I found on YT
I swear, with the right pile of Boss pedals and processors, you dont need anything other than a way to hear it loud enough. While completely in another world in terms of price range, i'd be super curious how to see you go down the rabbit hole of a full fledged sy-1000 and Gk-3 setup/effects chain one day (maybe throw in a few other Boss pedals you cant live without that arent emulated lol). Great stuff as always!
I’d love to try out an SY-1000, but at $1200, that ain’t happening unless someone wants to loan me one. At some point, it comes down to fingers, though, and I wonder if/when I’ll find the limits of the 200.
But yeah, pretty sure you can do just about anything with Boss pedals. They always hit the sweet spot in terms of features and quality.
Organ variation 4 has definitely been my favorite organ sound from this pedal get into a minor groove and it makes it soo moody. I've had heaps of fun with my sy200
Based on your comment, I tried out that variation the other day at practice. Turned out to be the one I've been looking for all this time. Thanks!
I originally wanted the sy-1 but ended up going for the SY-200. No regrets!
Nice video as usual, and nice Reverend. How do you like it? How’s the Railhammer in the bridge treating you?
Thank you! I love the way it feels. I need to spend an evening adjusting the bridge and neck to get the strings dancing the way I want them, but the railhammer in the bridge is really nice. It’s got an SD SH-4 in the neck, and it feels like a nice balance. Definitely a fan of Reverends.
I really appreciate this demo; but I'm desperately looking for a synth pedal that can emulate the vocal "doo" sound. Might pick up the SY-1 though just because it's awesome
Have you had a chance to play with a Meris Enzo? I have the Enzo and I think it's kinda too much for me. I like the idea of the SY200 having presets to tweak as opposed to coming up with a sound pretty much from scratch with the Enzo. I've been eyeing this pedal off for a while now, and this video is making me seriously consider selling the Enzo to fund an SY200.
Thanks for the demo and keep up the great work!
Thank you! I haven’t played with that pedal specifically but it’s been mentioned in the comments twice, so I assume it’s pretty popular. I checked out a video and I have to agree with your assessment.
I'm going to have get one...
Can someone please answer this for me???!! Can this synth send MIDI notes thru Midi out?
HI! One question for SY 200, does pressing the pedal increase the gain a lot? Because I bought it and when I turn it on the gain goes up a lot.
I went the opposite direction. I originally had the SY300. Never took the time to learn how to program it and never liked the fact that Boss never did any firmware updates other than onesimple bug fix, so I sold it. I missed the sounds though but I passed on the SY--1. Once the SY200 came out I grabbed it instantly.
I have I love it.do you think this was made by the same ideal as yamaha dx7 fm syth ideal case to me it kinda seam that way
I had an SY-1 for two days. Thanks to Amazon, I was able to return it, and I bought an SY-200. The capabilities of the SY-200 are well worth the $$ if you are using it live. It is extremely live-application friendly, and it has several additional sounds. If you can afford it, the SY-200 is well worth the investment.
The SY1 allows the guitar signal to be adjusted/blended with the synth sound. Does this pedal allow that too? Also I play 80s music on distorted guitar. Can the SY200 provide a synth sound in the background without drowning out the guitar or the guitar drowning out the pedal? When playing distorted guitar, the sy100 doesn’t have the headroom to allow the guitar sound to be helped.
Yup, its got those same controls, so you can do all that
Great SY200 demo. Congrats! On the SY1, I found the Lead Synths don't work above about top E (High E string 12th fret). The sound just goes dead above there. What happens with the SY200 if you play above above that top E ? Thanks!
It’s at the practice space right now, but I’ll check it out and get back to you.
@@StompboxBreakdown Thanks so much. Really appreciate that. Best. Andy
@@StompboxBreakdown so any thoughts on that?
@@theviolinoob Ah, sorry. I left my pedalboard at the practice space. Haven't had a chance to try it out.
About the same unfortunately
Hello Guys
Can I connect the Rolland GK-3 pick up to be pairing with SY-200? , please advise
Nope, this is guitar audio input only. I think you need the SY-1000 for that
How about the SY-1 into the loop of the SY-200. I would imagine you could get some massive sounds with that setup. Great video.
Now you’re thinking!! I bet it’d just try to detect the pitch and turn it into what the SY-1 was set to, and the detection might be a little off, since these units seem specially attuned to guitar and basses.
@@StompboxBreakdown another video did a quick demo with the SY-1 in the loop and there was no issue with tracking. Stacking two completely different synth sounds and your direct guitar signal really opens up some unique possibilities.
At 8:00 the arpeggio your playing sounds like the same notes and type of patch that Camel’s Lady Fantasy uses. Great song btw, check it out!
If you think you need sy1000
Here's a thing
How well verse are you in tweaking actual roland synthesizer
Can i use it on acoustic guitar with piezo pickup?
Yup, that’ll work
Actually it started out as SY-300, then SY-1, then SY-1000, then SY-200 ;) The SY-300 is fully programmable guitar synth that don't need a gk pickup and it has tons of options and control to deep dive. The SY-1 and SY-200 is pretty lame compared to the SY-300, as there's not much options for editing your sound. And the SY-1000 is super awesome too and can be used without gk pickup, but only synth you can use is the dynamic synth which is pretty much the same synth inside the sy-300, sy-1 and sy-200, but if you get a GK pickup then you have tons more options and the synth actually sounds more warmer and analog.
Thanks, I'm wondering which one to get.
I'll assume all the sounds that are on the newer 200 are also on the 300 ?
Like the organ sounds ?
I listened to a bunch of demos and just haven't come across that yet.
I like how small the 200 is for travel, but I do want enough editing ability.
So I guess I might get the 300.
I don't think the GK3B fits on my new bass, so I guess getting the 1000 would only be a small step up from the 300, being that, that option is gone ?
Thanks for your input !!!
Big help !!!
:-)
Does the SY200 also output the midi notes we play with guitar?
No, just the audio
@@StompboxBreakdown are u sure because it CAN recieve midi notes and be used as synth... What does the midi out do then?
@@boimesa8190 On the SY-200? I’m looking at the manual and it only mentions using another device to change programs, not to use it as a synth. I could be wrong, but I think it’s just for program changes
@@StompboxBreakdown It CAN receive MIDI notes look it up on CZcams
@@boimesa8190 Ok
I’ve never really fooled-around with synth guitar very much. I’m 52 and still amazed I finally own a tube-amp. 😂
Your intro was cool though. I have a Boss GT-1 with the synth circuit emulated. I may do a morning bong-rip and get weird.
Cheers! ☮️
What drum machine are you using, or, just a software thing?
It’s just the built in drums from Logic. Probably the same ones in Garage Band
@@StompboxBreakdown Ha! I thought there was some fun stuff on the drums in that first jam. The Brightside of Logic. While I've got your ear, excellent channel, sir. I've stayed up late now watching these after a late shift Friday night. Just the most nutritious, easy going, grooviest of hangs in CZcams gearland. An oasis in an obnoxious world of wank demo/editorial sludge. Glad I found this place. The formula is clean, the production is proper, the news is on point, the takes are solid and the vibe is divine. You're good at this, man. Onward and gearward.
I traded my sy-1 for a jhs 250 preamp overdrive and the guy I traded it to is now selling it so he can upgrade to the sy-200 I'm kinda over my synth pedal phase I think I love the sounds but I haven't found any way to incorporate it into my band so I just can't justify keeping a bunch of synth pedals around
👍👍
The 8-bit chiptune sound being polyphonic is actually a big deal, as I don't think there's any other pedal that can do that. My RPS Arcade Machine is cool but it's monophonic and the tracking isn't nearly as good.
I’ve looked into that one, seems interesting. Yeah, there’s something deep rooted in my brain that picks up those chiptune polyphonic intervals. That patch is dead-on, especially with the percussion that happens when you hit the strings.
@@StompboxBreakdown Good ol' CZcams not giving me reply notifications.
The Arcade Machine having all the intervals and octaves is really cool but you're OOL when it comes to chords. The Source Audio C4 has limitless customization but, again, monophonic. EHX's Synth9 has impressive chord tracking and response time, but of course doesn't produce pure sine/saw/square waves. So far I haven't seen a do-all chiptune pedal but I'm wondering if the SY-200 can get me there.
@EricTheCleric93 Looking for a similar solution. Found anything else promising?
Did you try any of the Boss SY's?
I was just about to ask you if you had this sy 1
Yup! Not using either if you wanna borrow them, or anything else for that matter.
@@StompboxBreakdown greatly appreciate that! Would love to get together and come up some sounds!
Dude that’d be great. I know you want to rock out that Digital Metalizer
Guess what? My SY-200's in the post and my SY-1 will soon be relegated to my practice pedal board. They got me!
The Boss plan sells another SY-200. I’m still living mine. The look on peoples faces when they’re trying to figure out who’s playing the organ is worth the price of admission. Enjoy it!!!
it kinda sounds like dx7 fm syth l0l
I never knew Kevin James knows how to play 😮😮
I like you on Impractical Jokers. I didn't know you played guitar.
What up Sal!
They did this so they can sale things 2 times like the speed control that was not with sy 1 lol
I own both and sucks to say the su-200 doesn’t have more sounds they just over repeated the same sounds mix with bell or other noise sound , the other part it’s that to get good tone it’s hard cuz the time I used una gig it hurts ears … no worth it, just the boss sy-1 regular the sy-200 it’s a tramp
I gotta agree. The presets are a HUGE step up, but controlling levels is tough live. I ended up putting a volume pedal after mine and I use that to keep things under control.
In my last comment I said I was going bankrupt because I want to buy every single pedal you've been presenting... and now, after watching this video, I have to sell one of my kidneys... this pedal here in Brazil is too much expensive. 😕
Hahaha, my apologies!! At least I didn’t demo the SY-1000
Big cheese box vs little cheese box 🤔
First. I’ll tell you what I like about it later lol
Hahaha, I was like “wow, are they complaining already?!?!”
Many sounds are just as dinky as the SY-1, so it's not worth the upgrade. Thank you for saving me a couple of hundred bucks. The SY-1 will do: it has enough good tones to justify owning one. I can't say the same for the SY-200, all the nice features don't hold up when the tones are basically the same as the SY-1.
Cool, glad I saved you some money
I feel like he actually made the case for the upgrade. Saving sounds, easy recall, etc. It's a pretty powerful device in creative hands.
Try the SY 300, you’ll loose your mind! The SY 1000 can not do what the 300 can. Yes it has samples, but the SY section isn’t as capable as in the 300.
I’ve spoken to Boss
I’ll be brutal, you will find you like a smaller handful of sounds and stick to them and forget the rest! Stick with the SY-1
It was only a synth, it was only a synth.
It's not worth the price. Where are the standard synth sounds found in keyboards? No whistle, violin and other synths sounds.
Na, get the sy 1000
I’ll start saving my pennies
Yes It has Great Sound.
However what I Hear is Not The
Guitar. Just Sounds coming From
The SY 200. Throw your Guitar Away. 🎸 :).
Inflation is crazy and I’m super cheap if anyone has one they’d like to give away I’d appreciate it
lmao never gonna happen