BOSS ME-80

The Boss ME-80 is a professional guitar multieffect that offers clarity, ease of use and simplicity along with a wide variety of sounds. Its sound library gives you access to dozens of high-quality effects that, like other Boss multieffects, use popular COSM modelling technology to replicate the effects, amps and speakers that have set the standard as closely as possible.

The ME uses standard DACs operating at 24bit and 44.1kHz, and by using AF - Adaptive Focus technology, the signal-to-noise ratio is greatly improved. Its sound library of 60 simulations is divided into 8 sections - Preamp, Comp/FX1, EQ/FX2, Overdrive/Distortion, Modulation, Delay, Reverb and Pedal X, which in itself suggests that there's something for everyone. Among the effects you'll find a compressor, wah, acoustic guitar simulation, a variety of different types of distortion, several simulations of preamps of the most famous instruments, various types of modulation effects, large range delay, reverbs, octavers, noise gate and looper. Of course there is a tuner.

To control the multieffect you will use 8 footswitches and one pedal to control wah-wah or volume effects and other parameters. Each of the sound sections has its own controls. The back of the effect, in addition to the input and stereo output, offers a jack for connecting external devices such as CD or mp3 players and a headphone output. A USB interface allows you to connect the ME-80 to a DAW on your computer/laptop, edit sound presets in the editing program (freely downloadable from the Boss website) and even respond to commands and changes made in MIDI.

Power is supplied by a 9V battery, six AA batteries or an adapter. The adapter is not included.

COSM technology
This instrument uses what is known as COSM, or Composite Object Sound Modeling, a technology that is at the pinnacle of digital signal processing. COSM attempts to virtually mimic all the elements that affect how our ear perceives sound - the materials and parameters of the instrument, the pickups, the amplifier and speakers, and even the effect of the air or room you're playing in. In the end, by combining several different modeling mechanics, COSM is able to perfectly mimic sounds you may be familiar with from the "real" world or create sounds that no one has ever heard before. The proof of COSM's qualities is its wide use not only in effects, but also in modeling machines or guitars.