Boss SY-1

The Boss SY-1 is a polyphonic guitar/bass synth in the form of a compact Boss pedal that, with a bit of exaggeration, turns your guitar or bass into a wide range of great sounding synths. It offers a total of 121 sounds (11 types in each of eleven groups) ranging from solo, bass, layered organ/keyboard surfaces to rich pad sounds and arpeggio sequences. In addition, you don't need to access modifications to your instrument in the form of special pickups or MIDI implementation to fully enjoy the box. Another definite plus is the zero latency and intuitive pedal control, thanks to which you will master the individual functions in no time.

The sound database is divided into the following eleven groups:
LEAD 1/2 - a wide range of sounds suitable for solos, i.e. playing melodies note by note.
PAD - full tones that sound great in chords; from layered pads to synth breaths, etc.
BASS - bass synth sounds, including tones with applied effects (Filter, Sub-Octave)
STR - analogue synth loop sounds
ORGAN - a large selection of organ sounds, including many with rotary-style modulation (Leslie cabinet simulation)
BELL - percussive synth sounds with metallic reverb
SFX 1/2 - sound effects
SEQ 1/2 - pulsating synth sounds

In addition to selecting a group and a specific effect type, the box's controls can be used to switch between guitar and bass mods, and two dual knobs determine the ratio of clean to processed output signal (Effect, Direct) and the character of the sound modulation (Tone/Rate, Depth). You'll also appreciate the handy Hold function (similar to freeze) for playing over the sustain of a synth sound, the ability to place other effects pedals in the SY-1's parallel loop, or the input for external footswitches (tap-tempo and octave-shift control) or expression pedals (Tone/Rate control).

The SY-1 operates like all Boss effects in buffered bypass mode. Power is supplied by a 9V battery or 9V adapter (PSA series, not included).