circuit makes use of another proprietary Roland part: the "fundamental generator" chip. Like the polyensemble, the bass output passes through an ADS Envelope Generator. Bass can be output on all six strings, just 4, 5 and 6, or only on 5 and 6. Solo Melody: this section is very close to a traditional analog monophonic synthesizer. Using the same proprietary Roland "fundamental generator" chip, the possible waveforms include 16' pulse, 8' pulse, and sawtooth waveform. The -24 dB per octave voltage-controlled filter is self-oscillating, with string-pitch tracking. In addition to the same ADS Envelope Generator found in the Polyensemble and Bass, there is a triangle wave LFO to modulate pulse width or the filter cutoff. The filter can also be used to process the output of the polyensemble section, and an external input. External Synth: This section was designed for control over external synthesizers. There are two versions of the GR-500. Later versions added an extra oscillator so that the Solo Melody section could be detuned from the rest of the synthesizer, resulting in a richer, "fatter" sound. The most effective use of the GR-500 may be found in the Polyensemble section, which, when combined with the infinite sustain system, made for a rich, symphonic sound. Also, the Polyensemble section, being basically a complex distortion circuit, did not require any pitch-to-voltage tracking, and so was not plagued by the pitch tracking errors common with early guitar synths. The Bass and Solo Melody sections work reasonably well. Roland also produced the very rare FC-50 Foot Controller for the GR500 which allowed three presets to be saved and recalled by the user as well as a selector for manual control. Notable users Tangerine Dream Hisashi Imai (Buck-Tick) Genesis Jimmy Page Andy Summers References Further reading Electric guitars Guitar synthesizers GR-500 Music hardware Effects units Musical instruments invented in the 1970s