The SPV-355 is the forgotten brother to the much more familiar Roland GR-300 guitar synthesizer. Look inside the GR-300 owner’s manual on page 10, and you will see a reference to the Roland SPV-355 Synthesizer. The manual reads:
"When a solo type synthesizer sound is desired, try the Roland P/V Synthesizer SPV-355. Use the NORMAL OUTPUT on the Guitar controller, or use the GUITAR OUTPUT from the GR-300."
I was very curious to check out the SPV-355. Does it share the same fantastic tracking as the G-300? How does it compare to other Roland guitar and MIDI synthesizers? Does it have the same analog tone as the GR-300?
In short, the SPV-355 falls short on tracking when compared to the GR-300. A look through the service notes revealed a tracking system much more like the GR-700 than the acclaimed GR-300. The tradeoff here is that the SPV-355 offers three different waveforms, for a much more flexible sound. The synthesizer section is very much a classic analog synthesizer, and the SPV-355 has rear panel control voltage inputs, allowing it to also work as a stand-alone analog synthesizer expansion module. In addition, there are CV outputs as well, so that the SPV-355 can be used to drive any standard 1 volt/octave analog synthesizer.
Features of the SPV-355:
Dual-voltage controller oscillators.
Selectable input source with filtering and level attenuation.
Portamento with foot switch control.
Three selectable waveforms: Pulse, Square and Sawtooth.
Three selectable ranges: 4’ (octave up), 8’ (unison pitch) and 16’ (octave down).
Offset tuning for VCO #2 with foot switch control to select from two pitch presets.
Audio mixer to blend VCO #1, VCO #2 and Sub-Octave outputs.
Envelope generator with attack, decay, and sustain.
Voltage-controlled filter with resonance, pitch tracking, and variable envelope generator or envelope follow control.
Voltage-controlled amplifier with selectable envelope generator or envelope follow control.
Hold pedal input.
Variable foot pedal control over filter cutoff of VCO output.
CV outputs for Pitch (control voltage), Gate and Envelope Follower.
CV inputs for Pitch (control voltage) and Gate.
Effects send.
Rear panel details:
Effects send/return with Grounding post.
CV interface.
SPV-355 Block Diagram:
Click on the above diagram to open a much larger picture in a new window.
Short Audio Samples:
Square-wave output with slow attack envelope controlling filter.
Variety of tones: bass, pulse save, and bright Metheny-sawtooth.
While playing hammer-ons, selecting various output waveforms.
Summary:
Check out the above mp3 audio samples to hear what the SPV-355 sounds like. I ran my favorite Ibanez IMG2010 through a Yamaha 01V mixer to add compression. The compressed signal was then sent to the SPV-355. You really must use an outboard compressor with the SPV-355. In fact, without the compressor, I had a very hard time getting the SPV-355 to track decently. The output of the SPV-355 was recorded into Digital Performer, where I added chorus, delay and reverb to sweeten the sound.
In all the above samples, you will hear a sudden, wild scrambled sound. It is kind of an appealing, funky sound that says "tracking errors!" It is a pretty random sound that calls to mind the tracking qualities of the Roland GR-700. With some work playing the SPV-355, I think you can eliminate most of these errors by correcting your playing style. This is also true of the Roland GR-700. The SPV-355 is not like the GR-300, which pretty much works perfectly all the time.
And this goes back to the nature of the synthesis. The SPV-355 is really a pitch-to-voltage converter. The voltage output is then used to drive a conventional analog synth module. The GR-300, on the other hand, more directly connects the input waveform to the output of the synth. Also missing from the SPV-355 sound is the characteristic "spit" of the GR-300. The sound is much cleaner, though as mentioned, somewhat erratic.
The biggest advantage of the SPV-355 is the variety of waveforms available. And the extensive foot pedal inputs on the front panel make the SPV-355 a very playable instrument. In one of the above demos, I simply played hammer-ons while switching the waveform outputs and octave range, or moving the mixing faders. The SPV-355, like a lot of analog synths, is fun to play while manipulating the sound, whether with the foot switches or foot pedals, or just reaching up and moving a fader or two.
Another interesting feature of the SPV-355 is the input control. By selecting the "voice" input for example, the SPV-355 automatically adds extra gain for what it expects as a microphone level signal. At the same time, the output signal of the SPV-355 is lowered considerably, anticipating that the SPV-355 would be plugged into a microphone input channel.
The SPV-355 is a nice addition for the guitar synth collector. It works very well as a stand-alone analog synthesizer module, and has tracking typical of the late seventies guitar synthesizers, but not up to GR-300 standards.
