Boss Effects Pedals Plugin: The legendary stompboxes in your DAW!
Boss Effects Pedals Plugin: SD-1 and more
3,5 / 5,0 | 
It was only a matter of time, but Roland took its time with the virtual implementation of its legendary pedal effects. Now the Boss Effects Pedals Plugin is here! Popular pedals like the SD-1, DS-1, and SG-1 are now available as VSTs for every popular DAW. One big downside: unfortunately, it is only available via subscription!
Boss Effects Pedals Plugin
It’s about time! While guitar plugin staples like Amplitube 5 and Guitar Rig 7 have offered subtle nods to classic Boss effects in the past (always a bit hush-hush due to licensing), Roland has finally unleashed the official VST versions with the Boss Effects Pedals plugin. Forget the thinly veiled imitations – the real deal is here!
To kick things off, they’ve handpicked eight iconic pedals from their massive catalog of roughly 140: the creamy SD-1 Overdrive, the swirling PH-1 Phaser, the unique SP-1 Spectrum, the ethereal SG-1 Slow Gear, the smooth CS-1 Compression Sustainer, the funky TW-1 T-Wah, the legendary OD-1 Overdrive, and the ubiquitous DS-1 Distortion.
Virtual Stompboxes
This is a smart move from Roland, especially with the growing popularity of fully digital setups and profiling powerhouses like the Quad Cortex.
They’re clearly keeping their finger on the pulse. And let’s be honest, the thought of having endless instances of the best-selling SD-1 or the ever-present DS-1 at your fingertips in your DAW – whether you’re sketching out demos or crafting final mixes – is enough to make any guitarist’s heart sing!
The Catch
Now, here’s the catch… The arrival of the Boss Pedal Effects plugin means Roland is steering us down the familiar path of their Roland Cloud. Many of their revered synthesizer legends, like the iconic TR-808 and the D-50, already reside there, ready for download. When it comes to these classics, you can buy them outright or dive into a subscription.
However, if you tune into the synth community chatter and browse the forums, a recurring theme emerges: the Roland Cloud Manager (the software hub for plugin wrangling) and even the plugins themselves aren’t exactly winning any awards for technical brilliance. It seems the legendary sounds are often enough to make users begrudgingly overlook these shortcomings.
Here’s the kicker that raises an eyebrow: the Boss Pedal Effects plugin, at least for now, is exclusively available through Roland’s subscription service – no option for a one-time purchase. This strikes me as either a bold display of confidence or perhaps a touch out of touch, considering the often vocal pushback against subscription-only models in the plugin universe.
However, the silver lining is that Roland’s iconic synth emulations can be bought outright, which sparks a glimmer of hope. Initially, though, these virtual Boss pedals are exclusively bundled within their top-tier subscription, Roland Cloud Ultimate.
This comes with a three-month entry point of $ 49.99 or a rolling monthly commitment of $19.99, or an annual subscription at $199.
If you create a Roland account and download the Roland Cloud Manager, you’ll get a limited 30-day demo version of the virtual pedals for free download.
System Requirements
On the system front, the Boss Effects Pedals Plugin plays nicely with most DAWs, offering VST 3, AU, and AAX formats. If you’re on Windows, you’ll need at least Windows 10, 2GB of RAM, and, surprisingly, just an Intel Core i5 CPU.
Mac users will require macOS 12 or later, along with 2GB of RAM and either an Intel Core i5 or an Apple Silicon chip. So, the entry requirements are fairly gentle on both platforms.
Verdict
I’d have liked an option to buy outright, as subscriptions are annoying, and I would have also liked some Waza Craft versions. Possibly, we could see both of these things added in the future.
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11 responses to “Boss Effects Pedals Plugin: The legendary stompboxes in your DAW!”
That is the bundle i would love to own. Not borrow. Instant skip because of subscription. Glad there are still other options 🤘🏻
No to subscriptions!!
Not another subscription, they can do one. I hate renting software trend, I refuse to do it.
agree with you – go for Safari or Chaos, even Strymon, anything better than a sub
What’s next? Subscribe to have access to a bed? Maybe subscribe to dishwashing liquid? Subscriptions are a bad idea dreamt up by greedy humans who do not care about quality or trust.
My wife’s HP printer stopped working because she ended her ink subscription- they were sending too much ink, it was a waste. Minutes after cancelling she got a “refuse to print” message on the printer and it’s never worked since. That’s the official HP policy. I’ll never buy another HP product.
I’ll never rent any Roland software, either. I would buy many Roland soft synths and virtual Boss pedals if they weren’t subscription. I don’t want or need anything badly enough to subscribe to it.
A little bit too late.
Missed opportunity Boss, sell them for $25 and you would make millions and rescue your reputation. Nobody does subscriptions? Groundhog day!
Roland doesn’t care about their user base. These will be torrented as people are just over- subscription models which totally devalue their plugins just like UAD and their Spark disaster. Now you see 90% off plugins that people paid THOUSANDS for, just so they can recoup. In essence, torrenting is about to come back in a BIG way because there is no more “warm feeling” when thinking you’re actually supporting devs who release software that’s either flawed or moves to sub-model.
My number one rule is « no subscriptions »
I think it’s a nice idea but the prices should be lower, unless you can integrate it with a multi-effect pedalboard, if they are just plug-ins I’d rather save money and buy the real pedals.
It could be nice 10$ per virtual pedal, or maybe offers like 5 pedals for 45$ and so on. Think about it!
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