Roland GR-300

The Roland GR-300 was a polyphonic guitar synthesizer, released by Roland Incorporation. It had 6 voices, with octave shifters.

Andy Summers owned a few GR-300 guitar synths, and controlled them with a G-303 controller. His first use of one was the swelling synth sounds during the bridge section of the song "Don't Stand So Close To Me". During live performances, he'd play the G-303 as a normal guitar for the majority of the song, then he'd turn on the GR-300 (to control with the guitar) during the bridge. He continued to use the swelling sound on Ghost In The Machine (e.g. "Secret Journey") and Synchronicity (e.g. "O My God") with The Police, and to great effect on I Advance Masked (1982) with Robert Fripp. The only time Andy ever used the GR-300 for a guitar solo was on "Omegaman".

The distinctive swelling sound was produced by Andy on the GR-300 in conjunction with a Roland FV-2 volume pedal: while the synth is tuned in fifths, he'd use the volume pedal to slowly open the VCF (Voltage-Controlled Filter) on the synth. The tone was enhanced through his custom-built pedalboard, with compression and flanging effects.