SY-1 Synthesizer

The SY-1 Synthesizer packs 121 polyphonic synthesizer sounds into a compact Boss pedal, tracking your guitar signal without any special pickup or MIDI connection. Released in 2019, it brought polyphonic synth tracking to the pedalboard mainstream.

Eleven categories of synth sounds: Lead, Pad, Strings, Organ, Bass, Brass/Wind, Bell, Guitar, SFX, Sequence, and Drums. Each category contains 11 variations. The tracking engine follows polyphonic playing, meaning full chords trigger synth sounds accurately.

Type, Variation, Tone, and Depth controls. Depth blends the synth sound with your dry signal. At 85mA it's moderate for the DSP involved. Expression pedal input for real-time parameter control.

The SY-1 eliminates the barrier to guitar synth: no 13-pin pickup, no MIDI, no latency. Just plug in and play. The tracking isn't perfect on fast passages, but for pads, leads, and atmospheric textures, it opens up an entirely new sound palette from a standard guitar.