Roland GR-33B User manual

FEATURES
•Any bassist can play the GR-33B, using
ail standard bass techniques, hammering,
giissandos, harmonics, chopping, bowing,
etc.
•A small, compact unit (like an effects box)
with all the electronic-type foot-controlled
switch major functions; great for live per¬
formances.
•Totally polyphonic: one VCO for each
string.
•Instant and accurate transposing to two
preset pitches.
•A duet switch for a chorus effect.
•Synthesizer ON/OFF for each string.
1 IN! D EX
- N,
STANDARD CONNECTIONS
MIXED OUTPUT.3
GUITAR SYNTHESIZER OUTPUT .3
BASIC SETTING.4
PRODUCING SOUND. 5
VCF.5
ENVELOPE GENERATOR.6
VCO VIBRATO.7
PITCH SHIFT.8
STRING SELECTOR . 9
USING ATTACHMENTS ...10
SAMPLE SOUNDS.11—13
SAMPLE NOTES.14—18
SPECIFICATIONS.19
V_ J
Before Starting.
•Use a transformer to produce the cor¬
rect line voltage if the line voltage in your
area does not match the value specified
on the nameplate.
•Keep away from fluorescent lamps, neon
lights, and high-power transformers as
these will induce high noise levels in the
Guitar Synthesizer.
•Avoid the use of this instrument in places
that are dusty, of high temperature or high
humidity.
•Clean the control panel with neutral
detergent. Use a soft, dry cloth for the
wooden parts. Do not use solvents such
as paint thinner.
•The GR-33B Bass Guitar Synthesizer has
been designed to work with the G-33 or
G-88 Bass Guitar and will not work with
the GR-500 and GR-300.
•The length of the sound may be shorter
than normal, or the synthesized sound
may be one octave higher than normal
with certain styles of picking and stopping
the strings.
2

STANDARD CONNECTIO
GUITAR CONNECTIONS
Connect the G-33 or G-88 as shown in the
drawing using the chrome guitar con¬
nector. The connector is keyed and must
be inserted correctly (lock lever up) for a
proper fit. (The NORMAL OUTPUT jack on
the Bass Guitar is not connected to the
Bass Guitar Synthesizer.)
When there is no connection to the BASS
GUITAR OUTPUT jack on the rear panel
of the Bass Guitar Synthesizer, the output
at the MIX/SYNTH jack consists of an
equal mixture of the guitar and synthesizer
sounds.
When both output jacks are used, the out¬
puts are separated with the bass guitar
sound at the OUTPUT jack and the synthe¬
sizer sound at the MIX/SYNTH jack. These
separate outputs can be passed through
separate effects devices and amplifiers
for stereo sound.
3

PRODUCING SOUND
Set the controls as shown on the left. Set
the external amplifier volume at the min¬
imum level and turn on all the power
switches. Turn up the volume control; play¬
ing the bass guitar should produce the
bass guitar sound. If needed, tune the Bass
Guitar in exactly the same way as an
ordinary electric bass is turned.
To produce the synthesizer sound,
The sound produced now is the unpro¬
cessed sound from the synthesizer VCO’s
(voltage controlled oscillators).
The VOICE SELECT switch at the DUET
position, adds the fundamental pitches of
the bass guitar strings to the VCO sounds
to produce a chorus effect. It is necessary
to tune the VCO’s using the MASTER
TUNNING, controls so that they match the
pitches of the strings. For accurate tuning
use at least ten minutes for a warm-up
period after first turn on the power switch.
Turn the BALANCE control, counterclock¬
wise to increase the normal bass guitar
sound. Setting the BALANCE CONTROL,
at "0”, will produce the normal bass
guitar sound only.
USING THE VCF
Let's try the VCF (voltage controlled filter)
section next. Set the BALANCE control at
‘‘10’’. Try slowly lowering the Bass Guitar
CUTOFF FREQ control to “0”. Note that
the sound becomes softer with fewer
harmonics.
The purpose of the VCF is to control the
tone color of the synthesizer sound. Next,
raise the Bass Guitar RESONANCE con¬
trol a little at a time while trying different
positions of the CUTOFF FREQ control.
This produces an electronic type of sound
usually associated with synthesizers. The
two controls, CUTOFF FREQ and RESO¬
NANCE combine to control the tone color
of the sound passing through the VCF.
*VCF Filter Mode
This switch changes the roll-off character¬
istics of the VCF, either -12dB/OCT or
-24dB/OCT, and controls the envelope
modulation of the VCF.
1
DUET
VCD
TUNES VCO’S
9.10
■ \
CUTOFF FREQ
RESONANCE
If a foot volume pedal (Roland FV-20; sold separately)
is connected to the VCF PEDAL jack on the rear panel,
the VCF cutoff frequency (in other words, the tone
color of the output sound) can be controlled manual
ly with your foot.
%
5

Raise the ENV MOD control to maximum.
Set the RESONANCE control at “4”, and
the CUTOFF control at “8”.
While repeatedly picking a string, try
pressing the VCF MOD foot switch. In this
mode of operation, the filtering action ot
the VCF is controlled by the picking of the
bass guitar strings instead of manually, as
before to produce a “WOW” sound.
The LED’s for the VCF MOD light up when
the effect is ON, and flicker when the ef¬
fect is OFF.
The depth of the modulation is determined
by the VCF MOD knob.
Try slowly lowering the VCF MOD control
to “0”.
ENVELOPE GENERATOR
Set the ENV MOD at “MAX”, and ENV
GEN “A”, ATTACK knob at “MIN” and
DECAY at “MAX”. Try picking one of the
strings and raising the ATTACK control.
This causes the raising (attack time) of the
“WOW” sound become longer.
Set the ENV GEN “A” ATTACK knob at
“MIN” and DECAY at “MIN”. Try picking
one of the strings and with raising the
DECAY. The envelope generator generates
a control voltage with time according to
the control settings.
This control voltage is used to control the
VCF cutoff frequency point so as to vary
the tone color during the production of a
note, and/or is used to control the VCA to
give the output sound its loudness contour.
ATTACK . T h i s knob controls the
amount of time which is required for the
voltage to reach its maximum level.
This is called an attack time.
DECAY. . . . .. T h i s knob controls the
amount of time required for voltage to fall
to the level.
This time is called a decay time.
CUTOFF FREQ.
k k k
CUTOFF FOEQ CUTOFF FREQ CUTOFF FREQ
AAA
RESONANCE RESONANCE RESONANCE
11 —18
VCF
FILTER MODE
MIN MAX
ENV MOO
EIUVGEIM
A I B
MtN MAX
ATTACK
VIlN MAX
DECAY
T/iaj
ATTACK
min max
DECAY
VCF MOO
EIMVA/B-
a m
6

The Envelope Generator has two chan¬
nels, A and B, both with the same func¬
tion. Controls are provided for attack and
decay, and the selected envelope curve
can be used for modulating the VCF or the
VCA. Channel A or B may be selected by
a foot switch. It is impossible to use the
different envelopes for both the VCF and
the VCA. The LED indicates which chan¬
nel has been selected. When the power
source is turned ON, A is automatically
selected.
VCO VIBRATO
Next, let’s try different ways of modulating
or controlling the VCO’s. First is vibrato,
which is a slight wavering of pitch. Vibratos
can be produced in the normal bass guitar
way by using the finger to vary the tension
on the string, or it can be produced elec¬
tronically for a wide number of effects.
Set the VIB DEPTH (vibrato depth) knob
on the Bass Guitar at "10”. This may or
may not produce the vibrato effect, if not,
touch the upper metal end (Touch Plate
A) of the divided pickup of the Bass guitar
to turn the vibrato effect ON. To turn it
OFF, touch the opposite end (Touch Plate
B) of the pickup. The vibrato will decay
slowly after releasing the touch plate.
With the vibrato ON, try various positions
for both the VIB DEPTH control on the
Bass Guitar and the LFO RATE (LFO = low
frequency oscillator) and the LFO DELAY
control on the Bass Guitar Synthesizer
and note the effects. VIB DEPTH controls
the depth of the vibrato effect and the LFO
RATE controls the speed of the vibrato.
The LFO DELAY control determines the
delay time of the delay vibrato.
20
o
VCAMC
30
INDICATOR
p
*3*
MODULATION
SWITCH
23—31
LFO(VIB)DEPTH
I -TOUCH PLATE
/ Turns the VIBRATO
/ effect on.
-TOUCH PLATE
Turns VIBRATO effect
OFF, or for touch-Vibrato.
SLOW FAST Mirvj MAX
RATE DELAY
7

The electronic vibrato affects only the
VCO’s. IN the DUET mode, the combina¬
tion of the non-vibrato fundamental strings
pitches with the vibrato VCO pitches pro-
dues the chorus effect sound.
The Bass Guitar OWNER’S MANUAL con¬
tains additional information on the vibrato
ON/OFF function.
PITCH SHIFT
Another VCO effect is pitch shift, an effect
where the VCO’s can be shifted to pitches
other than the string pitches. Set the
VOICE SELECT switch at the “DUET”, the
fundamental pitches will be the same as
the string pitches, and the VCO’s can be
tuned to other pitches so that one instru¬
ment produces the effect of a very large
group.
Set the Bass Guitar Synthesizer and Bass
Guitar for the standard settings shown on
page 4, but with the BALANCE control
fully clockwise. Press the PITCH “A” foot
switch and take note of the LED above the
switch and the LED above the switch
lights. While producing sound, try tuning
the PITCH “A” knob up and down and
note that this now controls the VCO
pitches. Try tuning the VCO’s to a perfect
on octave below the fundamental string
pitch. For this, the PITCH “A” knob will be
set somewhere near “ -3”.
Next, try PITCH “B” by pressing the PITCH
“B” foot switch and adjusting the PITCH
“B” knob so as to produce the interval of
a major fifth the fundamental.
The VCO tuning can now be switched in¬
stantly and accurately between these two
preset pitches and unison by pressing the
appropriate PITCH foot switch. Pressing
PITCH “A” produces the “A” tuning;
pressing again cancels the “A” tuning.
Pressing PITCH “B” produces the “B”
tuning, and pressing again cancels it. It is
possible to switch from “A” to “B” or
from “B” to “A” without passing through
unison by merely pressing the new pitch
foot switch.
The UNLATCH/LATCH switch below each
PITCH knob controls the latching function
of the related PITCH foot switch. At LATCH,
the pitch change function will alternate
between the foot switch as described in
the preceding paragraph. At UNLATCH,
the tuning function will be ON only while
the foot switch is held down and OFF
when it is released.
8

STRING SELECTOR
When using the bass guitar and synthe¬
sizer sounds simultaneously (Bass Guitar
BALANCE control somewhere near
center), the STRING SELECT switches
can be used to determine which strings
are to produce the synthesizer sounds.
There are four switches, one for each
string. Only those switches that are ON
will produce synthesizer sounds. These
switches can be used where it is desired
to play a melody or a bass line against
guitar chords, for example, or for other ef¬
fects where the synthesizer notes are to
be relatively independent of the bass
guitar notes.
When playing the arpeggio with the VCF
and VCA modulation on, if the string of the
first sound is still vibrating when the sec¬
ond note is played, the sound of the first
note will be affected. If this effect is not
desired, play the string of the second note
after the vibrations of the string of the first
note have been stopped.
9

•USING ATTACHMENTS
Attachments can be connected between
the Guitar Synthesizer and the external
amplifier. Since the GR-33B is a synthe¬
sizer, try devices designed for use with
synthesizers, such as phase shifters,
flangers, chorus and echo machines.
GR-33B + SPV-355
When a solo type synthesizer sound is
desired, try the Roland P/V Synthesizer
SPV-355. Use the NORMAL OUTPUT on
the Bass Guitar, or use the GUITAR OUT¬
PUT FROM THE GR-33B.
10
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EQUALIZER
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