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 had owned a few GR-300's, and controlled them with a Roland G-303 controller. He first acquired one in 1980, and used it for the swelling synth sounds during the bridge section of "Don't Stand So Close To Me". During live performances, he'd play the G-303 as a regular guitar for the majority of the song, then he'd turn on the GR-300 (to control with the guitar) for the bridge. He continued to use the swelling effect more extensively on Ghost In The Machine (e.g. "Secret Journey") and Synchronicity (e.g. "O My God") with The Police, and on I Advance Masked with Robert Fripp. The only time Andy ever used the GR-300 for a guitar solo was on "Omegaman".

The distinctive swelling sound of the GR-300 was produced by Andy with a Roland FV-2 volume pedal - while the synth is in fifths setting, he'd use the volume pedal to slowly open the VCF (Voltage-Controlled Filter). This was further processed by Andy with the aid of compression and flanging from his Pete Cornish Custom FX board.