Roland SPV-355 P/V (Pitch-to-Voltage) Synthesizer - Demo with Guitar

WayneJoness

"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." - Roland GR-300 Manual

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."

https://www.joness.com/gr300/SPV-355.htm