Boss Massively Raises the Bar with its Superbly Executed Brand New Improved Format SY-200 Synthesizer
Back on July 16th as part of my Boss Month coverage I did a speculative projection of a possible SY-200 variant - based on the current 200-Series pedals. My good friend Matt Knight emailed me back almost immediately with a visual of the actual SY-200 prototype to show that I was very much sort of ’on-the-nose’ in my speculation.
The new reality though is far more impressive than even I could have imagined as Boss has taken onboard my earlier critique of ’too little info’ displayed on the existing 200-Series LED screens. The new screen is a larger LCD variant that covers a lot more detail - which makes it about 200% more useful.
The topology for the SY-200 is entirely unique - with smart controls for 3 Dynamic Parameters. Many of us totally love the SY-1 - but felt that we really needed Presets, and more dynamic footswitch control - and possibly a few more sounds and variations.
And Boss has hit all those markers with flying colours - conceptually this is the perfect Synth pedal for me in the perfect format - with so many smart innovations onboard. I can’t see how anyone could be disappointed with one of these. Right now they are in very short supply - with the bulk of the stock due to land next month. I had hoped to get an early unit from Boss - but very few of those have arrived from Japan - and they are all out with Boss’s usual YouTube demoers. Matt has promised to do his best for me - but it’s unclear right now when my copy will land - of course you readers will be first to know!
The SY-200 has 10 really smart controls alongside dual-footswitches - Memory/Select, Smart Param 1, Smart Param 2, Smart Param 3, Menu, Exit / Write / Hold to lock Panel controls, Dry Level, Effect Level, Variation, Mode : Lead / Pad / String / Bell / Organ / Bass / Dual / Sweep / Noise / SFX / Seq / Arpeggio, On/Off Footswitch, CTL 1 / Memory / Tap Tempo / Pitch Bend / Sound Hold Footswitch.
The Predecessor SY-1 had 11 Modes x 11 Variations - for a total of 121 Algorithms - but where Lead, SFX and Sequencer had two banks each - so only 8 distinct Types really therefore. While the SY-200 expands to 12 single-bank Types - with the addition of Dual, Sweep, Noise and Arpeggio Modes :
- LEAD : Suitable for playing solos or leads
- PAD : Soft sounds used as sonic fill-ins
- STRING : Synth strings sounds
- BELL : Sounds with metallic resonance
- ORGAN : Organ sounds
- BASS : Bass synth sounds
- DUAL : Fat sounds
- SWEEP : Sounds with a characteristic vibration
- NOISE : Noise sounds
- SFX : Sound effects and distinctive sounds
- SEQ : Sounds whose pitch or character changes rhythmically
- ARPEGGIO : Arpeggio phrases that play
And the number of variations has been upped from 121 to 171 - which means 50 new ones - or circa 14 Variations per Mode / Type, while individual ones have more or less. And of course you now have 128 Preset Slots to store your favourite takes of most of those.
Key Features
- Sampling Frequency at 44.1 kHz
- 24 Bit AD/DA Conversion
- 32-bit Floating Point Processing
- 12 Modes
- 171 Variations
- 128 Memory Slots / Presets
- Nominal Input Level : Input, Return : -10 dBu
- Maximum Input Level : Input, Return : +7 dBu
- Input Impedance : Input, Return : 2 M ohms
- Nominal Output Level : Output, Send : -10 dBu
- Maximum Output Level : Output, Send : +7 dBu
- Output Impedance : Output, Send : 1 k ohm
- Recommended Load Impedance : Output, Send : 10 k ohms or greater
- Bypass : Buffered Bypass
- 10 Smart Controls, Dual-Footswitches
- Display : Graphic LCD (132 x 32 dots, backlit LCD)
- Connectors : Input Jack, Output Jack, Send Jack, Return Jack : 1/4-inch phone type ; CTL 2, 3/EXP jack: 1/4-inch TRS phone type / MIDI (In, Out) jacks : Stereo miniature phone type ;DC In jack
- USB port : USB micro B-type (program update only)
- Power Supply : Alkaline battery (AA, LR6) x 3, AC adaptor (sold separately)
- Current Draw : 230 mA
- Expected Battery Life Under Continuous Use - Alkaline: Approx. 5 Hours
- Dimensions : 101 (W) x 138 (D) x 63 (H) mm / 4 (W) or 101 (W) x 138 (D) x 65 (H) mm (including rubber foot)
- Weight : 630 g / 1 lb 7 oz, 700 g / 1 lb 9 oz (including batteries)
- MAP / RRP Price : $349 / €349 / £299
Demos
Final Thoughts
Boss now has 4 Formidable Synth Pedals at different sizes of enclosure - ranging in complexity / feature size and ease of use - over SY-1, SY-200, SY-300 and SY-1000 varieties.
The Top two are complex traditional Oscillator and Synthesizer engines - where you need to build up your core synth sounds from key tone components, oscillators, filters, modulations and effects.
Conversely the SY-1 and SY-200 require no knowledge of 'Synthesis' and are really just extensive selections of different Synth Flavours - where you pick one and simply tweak to your preferences versus building it up with different synthesis 'block' elements.
The advantage of most of these devices is that tracking is at such a high level of fidelity now that you no longer need any specialist pickups or onboard guitar gear - all the smart processing happens within each of those units.
Of course the ultimate Boss Synth is the SY-1000 - which also comes with a very formidable pedalboard footprint - in fact far too large for most bar proper Synth specialists - so I see that slightly more as a studio tool. The SY-300 is pretty roadworthy - while the SY-200 is the perfect middle ground really - with the simplicity of easy of use - and with super rapidly tweakable voicings that can be equally easily set and recalled.
I've not been this excited about a new pedal in a long while. Boss has really pulled out all the stops here. Of course I need to get my hands on one to verify that it all works as expected - on paper this is absolute genius for sure! I know lots of my readers are eagerly awaiting an SY-200 - and I feel all will be delighted to see just quite how impressive the new unit is - it really does match up to and exceed all my expectations!
