Both were reminiscent of a P-bass, and very similar to the Ibanez MC-800. But the GR-33B never became the sound of “synth bass.” And the GR-33B only worked with two basses: the Roland G-33 and G-88. Like the GR-300, the GR-33B had excellent tracking, and the sawtooth waveform at the heart of its sound was satisfyingly aggressive. And the GR-33B added something new to the LFO circuit: a nifty lag generator that could swell the vibrato in after a variable delay. The GR-33B envelopes could also be assigned to a voltage-controlled amplifier. The filter on the GR-33B could be switched from the more dramatic –24 dB per octave sound associated with the Moog and Arp synths, to the softer –12 dB per octave sound of Oberheim synthesizers. The GR-33B addressed some of the shortcomings of the GR-300: it had an envelope generator with two presets, each with attack and decay controls. In the early 1980s, after the success of the GR-300 guitar synthesizer, the Roland Corporation followed up with a lesser-known bass version, the GR-33B. So why have bass players let keyboardists take the bottom end in so many top hits? There is nothing second rate or cheesy about a solid, voltage-controlled oscillator-driven bass track. But mention “synth bass,” and that’s another thing entirely. Pumpkins were once used to cure freckles and snake bites.Mention the words “synth guitar” and the mind conjures up images of ‘80s techno bands and a George Jetson-inspired future that never quite arrived.
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