Startup Guide

Reference Manual / Parameter Guide

Details on operations and menu lists are provided in
“Reference Manual” and “Parameter Guide”.

1. Enter the following URL in your computer.

https://roland.cm/boss_om

2. Choose “GCS-8” as the product name.

Before using this unit, carefully read “USING THE UNIT SAFELY” and “IMPORTANT NOTES” (the leaflet “USING THE UNIT SAFELY” and the Startup Guide
(p. 10)). After reading, keep the document(s) where it will be available for immediate reference.

© 2023 Roland Corporation

 Panel Descriptions
Top Panel
5 CHANNEL
[ ]–[ ] (Channel edit) buttons
1
When these are on (lit up), the unit switches to the settings
3 4
screen for the selected channel.
2
Channel faders
These adjust the volume for each input channel.
9 9
[ ] (Mute) buttons
Turns the mute feature on (lit) or off (unlit) for each input
channel.
5 6
[ ] (Monitor) buttons
Turn this on (lit up) for a channel to output its sound to the
headphones jack.
This lets you hear the sound using your headphones.

8 6 OUTPUT
7 [ ] (OUTPUT edit) button
Turn this on (lit up) to switch to the output (MAIN OUT,
headphones, etc.) settings screen.
OUTPUT fader
1
Adjusts the volume for the output (MAIN OUT, USB MAIN).
[ Ā ] button
[ ] (Mute) button
Turns the power on/off.
Turns the output (MAIN OUT or USB MAIN) on (lit) or off (unlit).
Long-press the button to turn the power off.
[ ] (Talkback) button
2 When this is on (lit up), the audio input from the built-in mic or
[ ] (mark) button headset mic is output only to the PHONES jacks (talkback).
Use this to communicate only with the people who are
When you press this button during recording, a mark is added recording with you.
at that position.
Use the mark feature as a guide when editing on your 7
computer.
Pads 1–8
** The mark feature is enabled for multitrack recording. You can’t add
a mark when recording normally (two-channel mix). The functions of the sound pads/effect pads change
depending on whether the [EFFECTS] button is ON or OFF.
[ ] button [EFFECTS ] button Function
Starts/pauses the recording. Sound pads
Off (Unlit)
** The data that you record is saved to the microSD card. Plays the audio assigned to each pad.
Effect pads
3 On (Lit) Lets you use the settings for the effects
assigned to each pad.
Display (Touch panel)
Access the various settings by touching the screen.
8
You can view a variety of information by operating the display.
[EFFECTS] button
4
When this is on (lit), pads 1–8 work as effect pads.
[1]–[4] (Headphones 1–4) knobs
9
Adjusts the volume for headphones 1–4.
Built-in mic
Use this for recording acoustic instruments or when using
talkback.

2
 Panel Descriptions

Front Panel / Rear Panel

* To prevent malfunction and equipment failure, always turn down the volume, and turn off all the units before making any connections.

Front panel Rear panel

10 11 12

14
13 15
16
17
18
19
20

10
(Headphones 1) jack
Connect your headset or headphones here. Headsets can only
be used with headphones jack 1.
NOTE
Use a headset with a 3.5 mm CTIA-type mini plug (4-pole).
** Pin arrangement for mini cable (4-pole) L 13
R
GND
DC IN jack
MIC Connect the included AC adaptor to this jack.
** Route the cord of the AC adaptor through the
11 grooves on the bottom of the unit as shown in
the illustration, to keep it in place.
(Mobile) jack
** When turning the unit over, be careful so as to
Use this for inputting audio from a mobile device that’s protect the buttons and knobs from damage.
connected, such as a smartphone. Also, handle the unit carefully; do not drop it.

12 14
(Guitar) jack ă (USB) port

Connect your guitar here. Connect your computer or other device here to use this unit as
The guitar audio is input to channel 1. a USB audio interface, or for saving backups of your recorded
data or device settings.
** Do not use a USB cable that is designed only for charging a device.
Charge-only cables cannot transmit data.
MEMO
This unit can be powered via the USB port.
A commercially available USB AC adaptor (5 V /3 A or greater)
is required to power this unit.

15
Micro SD card slot
Insert a microSD card here.

16
– (Headphones 2–4) jacks
Connect your headphones here.

3
Panel Descriptions

17 Turning the Power On/Off

(Channel) 1–4 jacks
Before turning the unit on/off, always be sure to turn the volume
Use these jacks for audio input. Connect a mic, keyboard or down. Even with the volume turned down, you might hear some
analog audio equipment here. sound when switching the unit on/off. However, this is normal and
** About phantom power does not indicate a malfunction.
You can supply phantom power (+48 V) from the Channel
1–4 jacks (XLR). Turn on phantom power when you’re using a Turning the Power On
condenser microphone that requires phantom power.
Turn +48 V “ON” in the channel 1–4 settings screen.
1. Press the [Ā] button on this unit.
** Pin arrangement for the 1–4 connectors (XLR/TRS)
The power turns on, and the home screen
TIP:TIP: HOT
HOT appears on the display.
2: HOT
2: HOT 1: GND
1: GND 1: GND
1: GND 2: HOT
2: HOT
RING:
RING:COLD
COLD
3: COLD
3: COLD SLEEVE:
SLEEVE:
GND
GND 3: COLD 2.
3: COLD Turn on the power of your
equipment in this order: connected
18 devices Ó amp.
FOOT SW jack
Turning the Power Off
You can control various functions with a footswitch (FS-5U/
FS-6/FS-7), an expression pedal (FV-500H/FV-500L/EV-30 or
Roland EV-5) or a foot controller (GA-FC) that’s connected to 1. Turn off the equipment in this order: amp Ó
this unit. connected devices.
** Use only the specified expression pedal. By connecting any other
expression pedals, you risk causing malfunction and/or damage 2. Long-press the [Ā] button on this unit (for two
to the unit. seconds).
A confirmation message appears.
19
3. Touch <YES>.
(MAIN OUT) L, R jacks
Connect these jacks to your amp, monitor speakers or mixer.

20 Setting the Date and Time

Ground terminal The date and time settings screen appears the first time you turn
on this unit after purchase.
Connect this to an external earth or ground if necessary.

Inserting a microSD Card

1. Insert the microSD card into
the Micro SD card slot until
you hear it click into place.
NOTE
When inserting an microSD card, 1. Touch the <–> <+> for YEAR/MONTH/DAY to set the
take care that it is oriented correctly, date.
and push it all the way in. Do not use
excessive force.
2. Touch the <–> <+> for HOUR/MIN to set the time.
Removing a microSD card
3. Touch <APPLY> to finish making the settings.
2. Press the microSD card inward. The date and time that you set is now applied, and the home
screen appears.
3. Grasp the microSD card and pull it toward yourself.
MEMO
From the menu screen, you can access <SETUP> Ó <GENERAL>
and select “DATE & TIME” to change these settings.

4
 Panel Descriptions

Screen (Touch Panel) Operations

Home screen
The screen that appears after you turn on the power is called the “home screen”. On the home screen, you check the input/output levels
and recording status.
You can also touch the buttons shown on the screen to switch between input/output channels and settings screens for each function.

Date/time Recording display SD CARD button

display Shows the elapsed time Shows the SD CARD screen.
when recording. Use this to play back your recorded
data or to back up data to a
TUNER button computer.
Shows the TUNER screen.
Use this feature to tune your MENU button
instrument. Accesses the MENU screen.

Level meter
Shows the levels for each channel.
These are the pre-mix levels before
the signal passes through the
Phantom power: ON input gain, EQ and effects.
Channels for which phantom
power is being used are marked The OUTPUT level meters show the
with a “Á”. post-mix output levels.

MENU screen
Various settings on the MENU screen are shown here as a menu. To switch between screens, touch the menu item until the desired
settings screen appears.
Menu Explanation Menu Explanation
Configures the respective input Specifies the function of the
CHANNEL
channels. FOOT SW footswitch or expression pedal
Configures the output-related connected to the FOOT SW jack.
settings, such as adjusting the Configures the overall system
OUTPUT SETUP
output audio from the MAIN OUT settings for the GCS-8.
jack and headphones jack.
Configures the sound pads/effect
PAD
pads.

Main operations for each screen

(Return) button (Home) button

Returns to the previous Returns to the home
screen. screen.

Touch to select

Touch to turn on/off

Scroll bar

Touch to switch between pages

Drag left/right to adjust

Tap the value to the right of a slider Drag up/down to scroll

to switch between –/+ display.

5
 Basic Operation
Configuring the Channels
This shows you how to configure each channel, according to which devices you’ve connected.
The example below shows how to make the settings for the input gain, EQ and effects, assuming that you’ve connected a guitar to
channel 1.
MEMO
You can use the same operations to configure the other input channels as well. For details, refer to the “Reference Manual” (Roland website).

What to do
1. Connect your guitar to the (guitar) jack on the Setting the EQ
front panel.
6. Touch <EQ>.
2. Press the [ ] button on the top panel.
7. With the EQ button enabled, adjust the tonal
The CHANNEL 1 screen appears.
character of each frequency band.
EQ: ON

Setting the effects

8. Touch <EFFECTS>.
9. With the EFFECTS button enabled, use the PATCH
control to select the effect you want to use.
This unit comes with preset effect settings to match each input
source.
EFFECTS: ON

Selecting an input source

3. Touch <INPUT>.
4. For the INPUT, touch <GTR>.
This sets the guitar as the input source for channel 1.

10. Adjusts the effect parameters.

Setting the input gain

5. Use the GAIN control to adjust the input gain.

For details on the parameters for each input channel, refer to the
“Parameter Guide” (Roland website).

6
 Basic Operation

Operating the Sound Pads/Effect Pads

You can use pads 1–8 as either sound pads or effect pads.

Sound pads Effect pads

In this mode, the pads play the audio assigned to each pad. In this mode, you can use the settings for the effects assigned to each pad.
This lets you play background music, jingles, sound effects and so
on at the optimum timing.
1. Press the [EFFECTS] button to make it light up.
This switches the pads to effect pad mode.
1. Press the [EFFECTS] button to make it go dark.
This switches the pads to sound pad mode.

2. Press effect pads 1–8 to turn the effects on.

2. Press sound pads 1–8 to play back their respective ¹¹ You can assign up to 64 effect settings (8 banks × 8) to the effect pads
overall.
sounds.
¹¹ Bank 1 is selected when you turn on this unit.
¹¹ You can assign up to 64 sounds (8 banks × 8) to the sound pads overall.
¹¹ Bank 1 is selected when you turn on this unit. 1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

5 6 7 8

Switching between banks

Switching between banks 3. Long-press the [EFFECTS] button.

The effect pads 1–8 now switch between banks.
3. Long-press the [EFFECTS] button.
The sound pads 1–8 now switch between banks.

4. Press effect pads 1–8 to switch the bank.

4. Press sound pads 1–8 to switch the bank. 1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

5 6 7 8

¹¹ You can set how the sounds play back, either as one-shot or as ¹¹ You can assign four effect settings to each effect pad, for
looped sounds. simultaneous control of four effect settings when you press the
pads.
¹¹ You can use the footswitch to switch between banks.
¹¹ You can use the footswitch to switch between banks.
¹¹ Configure the sound assignments and pad functions from the
MENU screen. ¹¹ Configure the effect assignments and pad functions from the
On the MENU screen (p. 5) touch <PAD> Ó <SOUND>. MENU screen.
On the MENU screen (p. 5), touch <PAD>Ó<EFFECTS>.
For details, refer to the “Reference Manual” and “Parameter Guide”
(Roland website). For details, refer to the “Reference Manual” and “Parameter Guide”
(Roland website).

7
Basic Operation

Recording
Now, let’s record your guitar performance or conversations.
NOTE
¹¹ A microSD card (commercially available) is required for recording.
¹¹ Depending on the manufacturer or type of microSD card, some cards might not work correctly for recording or playback on the GCS-8.
¹¹ Never turn off the power or remove the microSD card during recording or playback.

Formatting a microSD Card Recording

Before using a microSD card on the GCS-8, you must format the 1. Press the [ ] button.
microSD card.
The button lights up red, and recording begins.
* When you insert an unformatted microSD card, the message
The elapsed recording time is shown on the home screen.
“UNFORMATTED CARD” appears. Follow the onscreen instructions
to format the media.

1. On the home screen, touch < > (SD card button).

The SD CARD screen is shown.

¹¹ When you press the [ ] button while recording, the recording is

paused.
¹¹ When paused, press the [ ] button to resume recording (the button
lights up red).

2. To finish recording, long-press the [ ] button.

The button’s LED lights up dimly, and recording ends.

¹¹ When recording, you can either record the same two-channel

mix (stereo) that’s output from the (MAIN OUT) jack, or record
each channel’s audio before the two-channel mix (multitrack).
¹¹ You can add a “mark” to the recorded data by pressing the [ ]
button while recording. You can use marks when editing the
recorded data on your DAW or other software.

2. Touch <FORMAT>.
A confirmation message appears.

For details, refer to the “Reference Manual” and “Parameter Guide”

(Roland website).

3. Touch <YES>.
When formatting is complete, the message “Completed!” appears.

NOTE
¹¹ Formatting the microSD card erases all data on the media.
¹¹ Never remove the microSD card while it is being formatted.

8
 Basic Operation

Checking the recorded audio

1. On the home screen, touch < > (SD card button). ¹¹ To listen to what you’ve previously recorded, touch file name and
The SD CARD screen is shown. then select the recorded data (audio file).

For details, refer to the “Reference Manual” and “Parameter Guide”

(Roland website).

2. Touch <PLAYBACK>.
The PLAYBACK screen appears.

3. Touch < PLAY>.

The recorded audio is played back.
You can check the two-channel mix of the recorded audio from the
PLAYBACK screen.

9
 USING THE UNIT SAFELY
WARNING CAUTION CAUTION
Use only the supplied AC adaptor and the correct Handle the ground terminal carefully Precautions concerning use of phantom power
voltage If you remove the screw from the ground supply
Be sure to use only the AC adaptor supplied terminal, be sure to replace it; don’t leave it Always turn the phantom power off when
with the unit. Also, make sure the line voltage lying around where it could accidentally be connecting any device other than condenser
at the installation matches the input voltage swallowed by small children. When refastening microphones that require phantom power.
specified on the AC adaptor’s body. Other AC the screw, make that it is firmly fastened, so it won’t You risk causing damage if you mistakenly supply
adaptors may use a different polarity, or be designed come loose. phantom power to dynamic microphones, audio
for a different voltage, so their use could result in playback devices, or other devices that don’t require
damage, malfunction, or electric shock. such power. Be sure to check the specifications of
any microphone you intend to use by referring to the
manual that came with it.
(This instrument’s phantom power: 48 V DC, 10 mA Max)

IMPORTANT NOTES
Placement Intellectual Property Right
¹¹ Depending on the material and temperature of the ¹¹ It is forbidden by law to make an audio recording, ¹¹ Roland and BOSS are either registered trademarks
surface on which you place the unit, its rubber feet video recording, copy or revision of a third party’s or trademarks of Roland Corporation in the United
may discolor or mar the surface. copyrighted work (musical work, video work, States and/or other countries.
broadcast, live performance, or other work), whether ¹¹ Company names and product names appearing
Repairs and Data in whole or in part, and distribute, sell, lease, in this document are registered trademarks or
perform or broadcast it without the permission of trademarks of their respective owners.
¹¹ Before sending the unit away for repairs, be sure to the copyright owner.
make a backup of the data stored within it; or you ¹¹ Do not use this product for purposes that could
may prefer to write down the needed information. infringe on a copyright held by a third party. We
Although we will do our utmost to preserve the assume no responsibility whatsoever with regard to
data stored in your unit when we carry out repairs, any infringements of third-party copyrights arising
in some cases, such as when the memory section through your use of this product.
is physically damaged, restoration of the stored
content may be impossible. Roland assumes no ¹¹ The copyright of content in this product (the sound
liability concerning the restoration of any stored waveform data, style data, accompaniment patterns,
phrase data, audio loops and image data) is reserved
content that has been lost.
by Roland Corporation.
¹¹ Purchasers of this product are permitted to utilize
Additional Precautions said content (except song data such as Demo
Songs) for the creating, performing, recording and
¹¹ Any data stored within the unit can be lost as the distributing original musical works.
result of equipment failure, incorrect operation,
etc. To protect yourself against the irretrievable ¹¹ Purchasers of this product are NOT permitted to
extract said content in original or modified form, for
loss of data, be sure to make a backup of the data
the purpose of distributing recorded medium of said
stored within it; or you may prefer to write down the
content or making them available on a computer
needed information. network.
¹¹ Roland assumes no liability concerning the
restoration of any stored content that has been lost. ¹¹ The SD logo , SDHC logo and SDXC logo
¹¹ Never strike or apply strong pressure to the display. are trademarks of SD-3C, LLC.
¹¹ Do not use connection cables that contain a built-in ¹¹ ASIO is a trademark and software of Steinberg Media
resistor. Technologies GmbH.
¹¹ This product contains eParts integrated software
Using External Memories platform of eSOL Co.,Ltd. eParts is a trademark of
eSOL Co., Ltd. in Japan.
¹¹ Please observe the following precautions when
handling external memory devices. Also, make sure ¹¹ The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered
to carefully observe all the precautions that were trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use
supplied with the external memory device. of such marks by Roland is under license.
–– Do not remove the device while reading/writing ¹¹ This product includes third party open source
is in progress. software.
–– To prevent damage from static electricity, Copyright © 2009-2021 ARM Limited. All rights
discharge all static electricity from your person reserved.
before handling the device. Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
“License”);
Caution Regarding Radio Frequency Emissions You may obtain a copy of the License at
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
¹¹ The following actions may subject you to penalty Copyright © 2016 Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.
of law. Copyright © 2016-2021 NXP. All rights reserved.
–– Disassembling or modifying this device. Licensed under the BSD-3-Clause;
–– Removing the certification label affixed to the You may obtain a copy of the License at
back of this device. https://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause
–– Using this device in a country other than where it Copyright © 2020 Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.
was purchased All Rights Reserved.
Licensed under the MIT license
https://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php
This product’s software is based in part on the work
of the Independent JPEG Group.

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