Strings & Organ Sounds w/ Boss SY-1 Synth Pedal

[Don Mogle]

Hi Everybody,

At the request of Frank Freniere, here is a video of how I'm using the Boss SY-1 Synthesizer pedal for strings and organ sounds. You can find these relatively cheap for around $160 in excellent condition. It does a lot more than organ and strings, but these sounds are the focus of this post.

Before we get to the video, here is some detail on each of the 11 variations you'll be hearing along with view of the pedal. If anyone would like to hear the other voices, I'll be happy to post another video. Just let me know what you want to hear.










Video Information:

Minutes:Seconds

00:00 Intro to Video and rig detail
01.19 Strings demonstration (Variations 1-11)
09:57 Organ demonstration (Variations 1-11)
15:17. Strings Demo "Amarillo By Morning" by George Strait

https://youtu.be/zPsRh9S7gak?si=BTieAwOvgsnlpe86

And before I go, here is my pedalboard just for general viewing pleasure. I know a lot of you have been using the BossTone to get string sounds with its distortion effect. I did not use distortion for my video above, but if experimentation gives any miraculous voicing, I'll come back and post another video with SY-1 and distortion.



OK, thanks for watching. I welcome all comments good or bad. Tell me what you think!

Don

[Frank Freniere]

Hi Don -

What a terrific demo video - thank you! Logical, professional, organized, well-produced and just enough time spent on each variation.

I gotta admit when I saw the vid was 20 minutes long I didn't think I was going to get through all of it, as in TL:DR. But your presentation was so focused and crisp that I stayed for all of it. Sure I was interested in the capabilities of the pedal to begin with, but you were able to bring out the highlights of each variation with simple riffs and commentary.

I'm with you: string variation 1, 7, 8 & 11 about covers it. Using the Strait song as a demo was a nice way to finish the review. And No. 6 does sound like a cathedral - very cool effect!

2 questions: 1) would you ever double up on the 4th string C pedal with string 1 for additional unison voicing? 2) You ever gonna get an 11th pedal for that pedalboard?

Well, I'm sold on the Boss SY-1 for home and gigging. Again, many thanks for your work and a great presentation. Buy you a beer if you're ever in the neighborhood!

Regards,
Frank

[Don Mogle]

Frank,

Question #1. No, I haven't tried unison notes as you've mentioned. However, will try it to see if I like it. I could maybe get a similar sound by lowering 4th string E and picking 2/4 (now in unison). I really like these 2/4 scale runs a lot. For example, if playing in G, start at 4th fret, lower 4th string E, and do a scalic run up the neck for the desired lick.

Question #2. No more pedals. At this point, something will need to be kicked off my board to make room for something else. That's why I have another Boss pedalboard to catch the overflow!

Glad you liked the video. On many of these YouTube presentations, they move pretty quickly through the presets...with almost none dedicated to pedal steel.

I think I may do some other videos for the other pedals for general info.

Don

[Jim Cohen]

Thanks very much for posting this demo, Don. I think I'm gonna get one to try it out myself. Sounds like several of the string patches might work well for me. A few questions if you don't mind:

1. Do you place your whole pedal board before or after your volume pedal?

2. The small volume swell at the start of each note: is that built into the patches or are you doing that with your VP?

3. I had read that this pedal works best when put before any other effects, that it needs a clean signal to do its thing well. Comments?

4. Where do you place such a large pedal board? I'm guessing it's not on the floor. Got some kind of a stand next to you?

Thanks again, Don!

[Don Mogle]

Hi Jim!

Thanks for watching my video. Here are the answers to your questions in order:

1. In this video set-up, I went from guitar --> Sarno Freeloader --> pedalboard input/output --> Volume Pedal --> amp.

2. The volume swells come from the volume pedal. To me it seems more natural...smoother.

3. The only effect that is ON before the SY-1 is the Boss LMB-3 Bass Limiter Enhancer. I got the tip from Georg Sortun here on the Forum and I use his settings.

So as you can see from my pedal board picture, the signal passes through the Boss LMB-3 to the GE-7 and the fuzz/drive/distortion pedals (which are OFF)! I may not be technically correct in placement of the SY-1, but as Brian Wampler says, "there are no rules."

Where I have it located on the pedalboard is a matter of convenience and necessity. I can just see it a lot better when changes are needed. I don't have to twist my head 90-130 degrees behind me to change settings. I have to do this for the LMB-3, GE-7, and dirt boxes.

4. Yes, this is a big pedalboard. The perfect stand turned out to be a suitcase stand. Here it is...










Another nice thing about this stand is that I can make slight angle adjustments to the board! In addition, it matches the legs of the steel--chrome!

Thanks for the questions Jim! Hope this helps answer all of them.

Don

[Jim Cohen]

Thanks, Don. I ordered the pedal today and look forward to trying it out! I'll let you know what I come up with.

Thanks again,
Jim

[Don Mogle]

Wow! Sounds great Jim! It's humbling to think I had some little part of the sound a player of your caliber.

I'd like to see the video when you first use it on your Linda Ronstadt Revue gig. I think it would sound great on Blue Bayou (when not playing steel solo/fills) or any other slow balad songs you do.

Don

[Jim Cohen]

Thanks, Don. I received the pedal today and I think I'm going to start out using #1 for both the high strings on "Long Long Time" and the cello lines on "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". I'll let you know how it goes this weekend. Appreciate it,
Jim

[Jim Cohen]

[deleted]

[Don Mogle]

Sounds good Jim. Looking forward to your review after the gig.

[Jim Cohen]

OK so here's how it went down. I set everything up with my SY-1 pedal included with my other 2 pedals and turned the amp on and started playing and it was totally distorted. I couldn't figure out what was going on and guessed that maybe one of my cables had gone bad but I had about 8 of them and it would take me a while to figure out which one so we just went through soundcheck with my shitty sound and then I started working on it afterwards.

Fortunately before isolating each of the cables I remembered that I had read about the synthesizer pedal that it likes to be before the volume pedal. So I in fact had put all 3 of my pedals in front of the volume pedal with the synthesizer first. Normally I set up with my pedals after the VP. So the first thing I tried was to put all of the pedals after the VP as I usually do and that immediately cleaned up the sound and it sounded clean and pretty again. So I assume what was happening was that the output of the pickup was just too strong for the pedal and was distorting it out immediately. So I learned that I have to put it after the volume pedal. (Strictly speaking, it's possible that it was one of my other pedals now put in front of the VP that was distorting. I did not take the time to try to isolate which one.)

As for playing through it, I also had an issue. Each note, at least on patch 1, has a volume swell at the beginning. That may be okay for long, slow fill lines but was not okay when trying to play notes that should actually start on the beat. I found myself trying to play ahead of the beat so the note would land where it belongs but that was difficult and still didn't sound good.

So my job before the next gig is to try the other patches that I thought were acceptable and see if any of them have less initial swell. I doubt that any of them are editable but if I'm wrong and somebody knows please tell me.

Thank you.

[Don Mogle]

Hey Jim,

Sorry you had this issue. Since I use a VP I thought I was doing the swell…not the pedal. I will connect directly to the amp and see if I get the same scenario.

Don