Roland GR-50 Guitar Synthesizer

Released in 1988 with a synthesizer engine designed after the D-50, the sounds of the GR-50 are based on the Linear Arithmetic (LA) sound system. Where by the structure of a given sound is based on tones broken down into pairs called partials . With a partial you can select to use a synthesizer sound which is like a conventional analog synthesizer or a PCM sound which is a sampled waveform. Deeper editing of the sound engine can be done with the optional PG-10 programmer but all editing can be done from the front panel.

The Gr-50 has 128 Preset tones with 64 user available and can expand to an additional 64 user presets with a memory card. The GR-50 is 3 part multitimbral when used as a stand alone MIDI sound module. 2 synthesizer parts and 1 rhythm part. Additionally there are 64 rhythm tones and additional 64 rhythm tones are available with a memory card.

In addition to playing synth tones on the GR-50 the player can also play additional MIDI synthesizers in combination with the GR-50's sounds or the external MIDI instrument(s). Complex layers of sound can be created with what Roland refers to as branching. Where by layers of sounds are spread across the guitar fretboard with each string having the ability to have split points and layers much in the same way as on a MIDI keyboard. Sounds can be played from selected strings that are on board the GR-50, over MIDI, or both. Additionally strings can also be muted and have just their guitar sound sent out through the guitar output or completely muted.

Optionally the user can control program changes and expression with the FC-100 foot pedal and EV-5/EV-10 expression pedals.The GR-50 can be played by older Roland Guitar and Bass Controllers by using the optional BC-13 Bus Converter.