BOSS, a trailblazer in the music gear industry, has just announced their latest innovation, the GM-800 Guitar Synthesizer, and the new Serial GK system. Drawing on nearly five decades of guitar synthesizer development, this ground-breaking technology promises to take guitar and bass synthesis to new levels of expressiveness and versatility. Equipped with the advanced ZEN-Core engine and powered by the brand-new Serial GK digital interface, the GM-800 is a testament to BOSS’s relentless pursuit of pushing the boundaries of sound.
Ever since the release of the pioneering GR-500 system in 1977, BOSS and parent company Roland have dominated the global stage of guitar synthesizer innovation. The GM-800, standing on the shoulders of its predecessor Roland GR products, equips guitar and bass players with a wide range of creative tools that were typically only accessible to keyboard-based instruments.
To learn more about the GM-800 Guitar Synthesizer and related products, visit www.boss.info.
At the heart of the GM-800 is the expandable ZEN-Core Synthesis System, renowned for its role in professional Roland products like the JUPITER-X, FANTOM keyboards, and ZENOLOGY software synthesizer. Boasting over 1200 Tones, users can seamlessly shift between pianos, organs, orchestral instruments, and even classic Roland synth sounds like the JUPITER-8 and JUNO-106, exploring an infinite playground of sonic possibilities.
The GM-800’s intuitive workflow revolves around “Scenes” containing four Tone parts, a Rhythm part, and a broad array of synthesis parameters, effects, pitch settings, and sensitivity adjustments. This allows users to layer Tones, assign Tones to individual strings, or even to specific fret ranges. Paired with BOSS’s ever-expanding Roland Cloud content, the creative range of the GM-800 continually grows, encouraging artists to push the boundaries of their craft.
Designed with flexibility, the GM-800 easily transitions from desktop use to an advanced pedalboard setup. Users can also fine-tune their Scenes using BOSS Tone Studio software, along with four assignable footswitches, two external control jacks, and MIDI I/O for other synthesizers and MIDI equipment. Via USB, the GM-800 can capture its sounds as audio tracks in a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) and play software-based instruments and hardware sound modules with the Guitar to MIDI function.
Accompanying the GM-800 are the newly launched GK-5 and GK-5B Divided Pickups and the BGK-15 and BGK-30 connection cables, designed for optimum performance with the Serial GK system. Further enhancing the product line are the GKC-AD and GKC-DA GK Converters, which bridge the gap between the new Serial GK system and the analog 13-pin GK interfaces found in earlier BOSS and Roland products.
In summary, the innovative GM-800 Guitar Synthesizer and Serial GK system reinforce BOSS’s commitment to revolutionizing the world of guitar and bass synthesis, paving the way for an exciting new era of musical creativity.
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
