BOSS SY-1000

The BOSS SY-1000 is a floorboard guitar and bass synthesizer released in 2020, the most advanced guitar/bass synth BOSS had made at that point. BOSS's own description is direct:

It converts your playing into synthesizer voices, modeled instruments and effects, using a custom DSP that BOSS says delivers six times the processing power of the earlier Boss SY-300 Guitar Synth¹. A standard patch runs three simultaneous instruments, layered and mixed together, and the unit works for both guitar and bass, with 200 preset banks available for each mode²³.

Unlike most synth pedals, the SY-1000 is fed by a 13-pin Roland GK divided pickup input as well as a normal quarter-inch input, so the synth engines receive per-string tracking data rather than a single mixed signal¹³.

What the SY-1000 does: guitar and bass synthesis

The SY-1000 is a polyphonic guitar synth in an eight-footswitch floor unit that, as Delicious Audio put it, "looks almost like a multi-effect"⁹. Its signal processing and user interface are derived from BOSS's flagship GT-1000 multi-effects unit, and BOSS/Roland says it uses modernized versions of in-house modeling and synth technologies from the OSC Synth, GR-300, E.Guitar, E.Bass, Acoustic, VIO Guitar and PolyFX lines¹³.

A patch holds three simultaneous instruments, each chosen from a number of distinctive types, which can be combined and layered¹⁰. Beyond the synth voices, it also features refreshed instrument modeling derived from historic BOSS and Roland GK gear: a large selection of electric, acoustic and bass guitar types, each with independent tuning, EQ, virtual amp settings and more²⁴. There is also a Manual mode for fast on/off access to the three instruments and the normal input¹.

The Main and Sub outputs are normally used for mixed stereo signals, but they can also be configured as four discrete outputs with dedicated EQ on each, which lets you send each instrument to its own destination¹.

The synth instruments: Dynamic Synth, OSC Synth, GR-300 and VIO Guitar

The instrument list covers several families of sounds:

• Dynamic Synth: a synth engine offering ten oscillator waveforms: sine, triangle, PWM, three saw types including Roland's famous supersaw, and more⁴.
• OSC Synth: an oscillator-based synth voice carried over in modernized form from earlier BOSS/Roland designs³.
• GR-300: a sonic recreation of the Roland GR-300, the analog guitar synth BOSS calls the legendary 1980s original, used by some of the world's most influential guitarists¹².
• VIO Guitar: a highly expressive instrument that alters the input signal's envelope and harmonic characteristics to create tones reminiscent of bowed instruments⁴.
• E.Guitar, E.Bass and Acoustic: modeled instrument types with independent tuning, EQ and virtual amp settings²⁴.
• PolyFX: modernized effects processing from the same BOSS/Roland lineage³.

Fed by the 13-pin GK input, every instrument offers an extensive set of parameters for tone shaping, mixing and tuning¹.

Footswitches, display and controls

By default, the SY-1000's eight footswitches select patches, banks and two control assignments, but they can be reassigned to nearly any function¹⁹. Operation centers on a large LCD display, and BOSS says the large LCD and knobs enable free-flowing sound creation¹¹¹².

External control is generous for a floor unit:

• Up to four external footswitches or two expression pedals are supported, through the EXP 1 and EXP 2 jacks on the rear panel⁴³.
• MIDI In and Thru/Out are provided, along with USB¹³.

Compared with the GT-1000 it borrows its interface from, the SY-1000 has two footswitches fewer (eight versus ten), no integrated expression pedal, and a few extra buttons; Gearnews noted the general look and construction of the SY-1000 reminds the writer a lot of the GT-1000 multi-effects unit from 2018³.

History: from the GT-1000 and SY-300

The SY-1000 arrived in 2020, a year BOSS's own history of Roland and BOSS guitar synthesizers describes as the moment "the guitar-synth pendulum swing back to a GK 13-pin pickup for the BOSS SY-1000 Guitar Synthesizer," after earlier units had explored other input methods⁵. It was announced in December 2019 and became available in January 2020 for $999.99⁶¹¹.

Its engineering lineage runs through two earlier BOSS products. The signal processing and user interface are derived from the GT-1000, BOSS's flagship multi-effects unit¹. Its synth engine builds on the SY-300, with the custom DSP delivering six times that unit's processing power¹. The enclosure also follows the GT-1000, with a similar look and construction plus a few extra buttons, two fewer footswitches and no expression pedal³.

Firmware and updates

The latest SY-1000 system program is Version 1.20 or later, as of April 2025¹¹. Updating requires the SY-1000 itself, a USB cable, and a Windows or Mac computer with a USB 2.0 compliant USB port¹¹.

1. Hold down the WRITE button and turn on the power.
2. Copy the file "SY-1000_UPA_up.bin" to the root of the "SY-1000" drive that appears.
3. Press WRITE to execute the update.

To check your version, hold down the EXIT button while turning the power on, keep holding until the SY-1000 logo appears, and the version information is shown on the display¹¹.

What reviewers said

Press coverage at launch was extensive, with Guitar World calling it BOSS's most powerful guitar synth ever¹². Later, Gearnews's writers offered a more measured view of living with it:

That matches the unit's scale: three simultaneous instruments, deep parameter sets per instrument, and reassignable footswitches add up to a lot to learn, even with the GT-1000-derived interface keeping editing familiar to BOSS multi-effects users¹.

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