If you’re only interested in live performance, and not that fussed about having a computer around, the GT-100 is a much better choice because of the added expression pedal and more “floor-based” design. It also has an XLR mic input - with phantom power for condenser mics - so you can record vocals and acoustic guitar. At the moment I'm using a UR22mkII with reaper and amp sims, but this cool little Boss unit caught my eye recently.

The effects are shaping up really nice now and it’s so nice to have such a small, yet powerful effects unit on the Nord Lead. Much of his working life, though, has been spent behind the mixing desk, during which time he has built up a solid collection of the guitars, amps and pedals needed to cover just about any studio session. We get it: computers are great, rogue AI hasn’t yet Skynetted the world yet, and so we all stand to benefit. Advanced parameters include a channel divide function that lets you switch effects chains manually or according to frequency or playing dynamics, and adjustable left/right mixing for flexible audio capture in your DAW.It has absolutely everything you could possibly want, if you’re the type of person who wants to connect a guitar (or bass) to a computer and get recording, with a range and flexibility of FX that is superb. Not only great as a dedicated guitar multi-effects unit, the GT-001 also functions as a USB audio/MIDI interface. They mention that it sounds good, has plenty of useful musical effects, and is great value for the money.

BOSS, a division of Roland Corporation, has achieved legendary status among guitarists, bassists, and vocalists with a diverse, class-leading product line-up of creative tools with exceptional sound, intuitive control, and rugged durability. This makes it completely impossible to record or play back sound while even pressing one key on the keyboard.I can't find any instructions for dummies online so I have to trouble the good people of the fretboard. It (inexplicably, for me) just doesn’t do that, and it’s the main criticism I have for the GT-001 as a whole. If you’re a vocalist only, or you’re miking up something else like a flute or a clarinet, you might think twice. It comes with an FX send jack as well, so it’s easy enough to connect a pedal with expression control into the chain.

Chain everything together and the thing explodes into life, and the range and versatility of the sound is incredible. Edit - from a quick glance on YouTube I think it might well be the midi setup in Reaper that's the issue. But todays 64 bit Windows PCs are gaining clock speed, and better response to interrupts and Audio / MIDI hardware . The flexibility is nice-to-have here: you could connect a pedal that does nothing except control something elsewhere in the chain, like use a pedal for a wah control at one point and then switch it to control something else later, or, you could just link a regular old pedal that just controls itself. After downloading and extracting the compressed file, please refer to the “GT-001_System_Update_Procedure” pdf document included for the update procedure.

The GT-001 includes a monophonic guitar-to-MIDI function that allows you to play soft synths and other MIDI instruments in your computer from your normal axe, with no special pickup required. As well as this BOSS have developed a guitar to MIDI link that will function with Guitar Friend Jam and other software. For a while these were laughable: a range of 8-bit sounds and effects that sounded like someone got into a fist fight with a robot. If you want to just turn up and rock (or make pocket calculator based effects ala Kraftwerk) then something like the GT-100 is going to be more suitable.