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Instruments and Equipment by Roland Corporation
Roland Corporation was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka, Japan on 18 April 1972.
Since then it has development numerous instruments and tools that have since gained legendary status. Synthesisers like the Jupiter-8, D-50, Juno 6,60 and 106. Samplers like the S-50, S-550, S-750 and S-770. Drum machines like the TR-808 and TR-909. Together with numerous utilities are known throughout the industry.
Roland has never stopped with the current Fantom keyboard range being extremely functional workstations with the current incarnation possibly occupying the 'King of the Workstations' title in the current market.
If I were to look at my keyboard and electronic instrument collection then it would be safe to say that this company features heavily. But then that really underlies the impact that the synthesisers, samplers and drum machines have had on the music industry over the years and on how I make my music.
But it did not necessarily start that way for me. I started playing Yamaha keyboards, pianos and synthesisers not these legendary instruments that now occupy a substantial part of my collection and feature on this website and the YouTube channel.
My first acquisition following my divorce was the D-550, the rack mount version of the infamous D-50. I was always taken by the factory sounds this instrument produced. These factory 'stock' sounds were basically used by the artist Enya used to write an entire album. If you have heard 'Orinoco Flow' then you have heard what this synthesiser could do. In fact if you listen to any album in the pop spectrum from the late 80's and early 90's you will more than likely hear this synthesiser.
The D-70 Super LA Synthesiser followed not long after. In addition to its rompler sounds this was used extensively by me as a 76-key MIDI controller. I then had another lucky find which was a non-working D-50. As with my Korg M1 story this was a road trip to Manchester on a Saturday, picking up the synthesiser late Saturday afternoon / evening. A night out in Manchester and then a slow drive back on Sunday afternoon. The D-50 that had lost its 'MOJO'. A new battery and a restore of the factory sounds and this synthesiser was quickly restored to working operations.
Other road trips followed to pick up a S-750 sampler from Southend-on-Sea plus a bonus spending the afternoon riding the fair ground rides that are situated on the seafront, the S-50 sampler from Hull where I got royally lost despite satellite navigation and the D-20 from the Midlands.
As the collection has grown along with many other AIRA and Boutique items as these were released. The TR-8, TB-3, MX-1, JX-03, TR-08, TR-09, D-05 and JU-06A have all been picked up to provide the sonic capabilities of the instruments that they have re-imagined.
Then there have been some more modern acquisitions as well. If you haven't played a Jupiter-80 then you really have missed a massive playing experience. This synthesiser has been described by many reviewers as the ultimate synth Roland always wanted to produce, but the technology was not far enough advanced until its release. Then there has been the System-8 which has a Juno-106, Jupiter-8 and JX-3P plug-out making this a very versatile addition to the studio. The most recent and last addition to the stable was the Roland Jupiter-X which looks like a Jupiter-8 but can mirror the sounds from the Juno-106, Jupiter-8, XV-5080 and more recently the Jupiter-4 plug-out.
What I would say is if you wanted the 'Pop' sound of the 80's then somewhere your rig you would be playing an instrument from Roland.
The A-880 MIDI Patcher MIDI Mixer is a 1U unit designed to help the musician manage the MIDI routing in their studio.
One of a series of MIDI management modules released in the late 1980's to help with the management of MIDI and control of instruments in the studio.
These units are becoming rare to find as the people that use them tend to hang onto them. But when you acquire one you wonder how you managed without it.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this controller.
Starting in 2015 Roland started to release a range of synthesisers under the title Boutique.
These synthesisers were desktop tone modules and used a technology that was referred to as ACB to clone classic synthesisers and drum machines that the company had released through the 1980's and 1990's.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on these desktop synthesisers.
Roland capitalised on the launch of the D-50 in 1987 with the release of a further 3 D-Series synthesisers in 1988. The D-10 Linear Arithmetic Synthesiser was one of these 3 synthesisers.
The D-10 was build on the LA architecture of the D-50. It has the same synthesis features and rhythm composer as the D-20 but without the sequencer and storage. The D-10 was the keyboard to buy for a gigging LA synthesiser that was not the D-50.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.
Roland capitalised on the launch of the D-50 in 1987 with the release of a further 3 D-Series synthesisers in 1988. The D-20 Linear Arithmetic Workstation was one of these 3 synthesisers.
I have always said that the D-50 was the better synthesiser, but the D-20 was the better workstation.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.
The D-50 Linear Synthesiser was launched in 1987 and was Roland's first fully digital synthesiser.
It took 4 years for the company to come up with an answer to the Yamaha DX7. And this synthesiser really took the market buy storm when it was released. Every pop band's keyboard player that you saw on television at this point had one of these synthesisers in their rig.
But not for long as another synthesiser would shortly be launched that really defined the keyboard's possition in music production.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.
The D-70 Super LA Synthesiser was launched in 1990 and billed as the next synthesiser in the D-Series range.
In reality when you looked under the hood you realised that this wasn't a D-series synthesiser at all. But the new synthesiser in the U-Series rompler range. The board is actually stamped U-50.
D-series or U-Series it still has one of the nicest key beds to play.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.
Roland released the D-Series Synthesisers in the late 1980's. These were the company's first range of fully digital synthesisers using a synthesis architecture known as Linear Arithmitic Synthesis abreviated to LA Synthesis in most of the litriture written about them.
In total 7 synthersisers were released within the D-Series range. Starting with the D-50 in 1987 and finishing with the D-70 in 1990.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.
The Roland JX-03 is the Boutiques cloned release of the JX-3P synth from the early 1980's.
Sporting the same colour scheme and delivered with the same factory presets as the original synthesiser it is (according to a number of EDM musicians) an important instrument to have in your musical kit bag.
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Launched in 1983. The JX-3P was a digitally driven analog synthesiser.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.
Release in 1984 as the last of the Roland Juno synthesisers. This synthesiser became one of the iconic electronic sounds of the late 1980's.
It married the generation of an analogue sound with the control of digital circuitry.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.
Launched in 1989. The R-8 was the next generation of drum machines manufactured by Roland.
Previous Roland drum machines used circuitry to generate the sound. Where as this instrument uses PCM samples to generate the core sound which is then shaped by the drum machine into the sound that you here on the outputs.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this drum machine.
Launched in 1986 the S-50 is a 12-bit 61-key sampler was only manufacturered for a year.
The sampler used a 3.5" floppy disk drive to load and save the samples created on the instrument.
The instrument is now classified by musicians as a lo-fi sampler but at the time it was as hi-fi as you could get.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this sampler.
Launched in 2016. The System-8 is a digital synth that uses Analogue Circuit Behaviour (ACB) modelling to deliver the sounds of the Roland's legendary synthesisers.
The synthesiser was delivered to the musician with plug-outs for the Jupiter-8, Juno-106 and shortly after launch the JX-3P modeled synthesisers loaded into slots 1, 2 and 3 respectively.
The System-8 also has a fourth synthesiser that many overlook and that is the 2 ossocilator System-8 synthesiser.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the videos created about this synthesiser.
Release in August 2017, the TR-08 Rhythm Composer drum machine is a hardware emulation of the famous TR-808 Rhythm Composer that has now become a coverted sound in the world of electronic dance music.
The original TR-808 drum machine was considered a flop and discontinued in the early 1980's before the electronic music producers acquired them cheaply in the 'thrift' stores and used them to create the iconic anthems that all would recognise.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this drum machine.
Release in September 2016, the TR-09 Rhythm Composer drum machine is a hardware emulation of the famous TR-909 Rhythm Composer that has now become a covered sound in the world of electronic dance music.
Like the TR-808 the TR-909 was also considered a flop based on sales and quickly discontinued to be resurected by the dance producers in the late 1980's and early 1990's.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this drum machine.
Launched in 2014. The TR-8 was the answer to the constant request from the musical community to re-issue the classic drum machines, specifically the TR-808 and TR-909 Rhythm Performers.
Other drum machines kits were added to the instrument post release. The most notable upgrade was the 7x7 upgrade that provided 707, 727 and 606 kits to the instruments.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this drum machine.
Roland U-110 PCM Sound Module was released in 1988. This 19" rack mount module is a 31-voice synthesiser that can be used by the modern musician to add sound re-enforcement to their ability to create.
The U-110 used the same PCM technology present on the D-series synthesisers but without the ability to manipulate the sound generation. In essence the sound on the synthesiser was the sound you heard. On the plus side the strings and pads were really useable.
Click anywhere in the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.