Roland Boutique Desktop Synthesiser range

Following the release of the AIRA range of instruments, in 2015 Roland announced the release of the initial three Roland Boutique Desktop synthesisers.  So far Roland have released 14 Roland Boutique Desktop modules.

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A few may shout, that not all these modules are synthesisers.  Three of the original instruments that were models were classified as drum machines and one a bass line generator.  But all are synthesisers as the tone used by the instrument is generated through synthesis, it just sounds line percussion or a bass.

 

These Roland Boutique Desktop synthesisers used the same Analogue Circuit Behaviour (ACB) technology developed for the AIRA platform.  However, they differ in that each instrument that is released is visibly styled after the instrument that they are designed to imitate or clone. 

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So far Roland have released the following Roland Boutique instruments, listed with the instrument that they were based on and the month / year Roland announced them to the market.  (Typically Roland would ship the units within 1-3 months of this date):

• Roland JP-08 - Styled on the Roland Jupiter-8 (10/2015)

• Roland JX-03 - Styled on the Roland JX-3P (10/2015)

• Roland JU-06 - Styled on the Roland Juno 6 (10/2015)

• Roland TR-09 - Styled on the Roland TR-909 (09/2016)

• Roland TB-03 - Styled on the Roland TB-303 (09/2016)

• Roland VP-03 - Styled on the Roland VP-330 (09/2016)

• Roland TR-08 - Styled on the Roland TR-808 (08/2017)

• Roland SH-01A - Styled on the Roland SH-101 (08/2017)

• Roland D-05 - Styled on the Roland D-50 (09/2017)

• Roland JU-06A - Styled on the Roland 60/106 (09/2019)

• Roland TR-06 - Styled on the Roland TR-606 (10/2020)

• Roland JX-08 - Styled on the Roland JX-8P (11/2021)

• Roland JD-08 - Styled on the Roland JD-8000 (11/2021)

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Although the Roland SE-02 (06/2017) and Roland A-01 (01/2016) have the Roland Boutique styling in terms of instrument size, styling and the fact it is a module like the other boutiques, they are actually new analogue synth engines that are not directly not modelled on a previous Roland legacy instrument. 

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To support the Roland Boutique modules the company issued two additional peripherals:

• K-25M - a 25-key keyboard that turns the boutique module into a mini keyed synthesiser.

• DK-01 - A tilt stand and case for the boutique modules.  This also protects the module while being transported.  I have invested in one of these for all the Boutiques that I have acquired.

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The Roland Boutique Desktops use ACB technology, is a digital representation of the circuitry of the original instrument. This technology models the sounds and more importantly the characteristics of the original instrument so they can clone the source synthesiser into the Roland Boutique range.  

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The concept is really simple in that the original analogue circuitry had imperfections that added to the unique sound of the original instrument.  Original features like noise, distortion and subtle tonal variations would not be rendered by a straight digital reproduction.  Sampling the original instrument would also provide an approximation of the original instrument but this would also be flawed.  ACB is designed to build these imperfections into the way the tone is generated and therefore closer to the original instrument.

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So what do these units sound like.  Well I have been luck enough to either own or have borrowed the synthesisers that they are modelled on.  And to my ear the tonal quality of the Roland Boutique's is very close to the original synthesiser.  I would say that the only difference is that the Roland Boutique sounds a little brighter in my unscientific tests.  Now I could put this brightness down to the fact that the original synths (being 30-40 years old now) that I were testing against have been used and repaired several times and that could have dulled the tonal quality from new? 

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I am also deliberately not going down the habit hole of Analogue vs Digital Emulation as, to be honest, most of the users of these Boutique instruments won't care as long as they get the sound of the instrument of the unit that they are using is emulating.

 

In addition to the tonal emulation of the original instrument the new Roland Boutique's provided the operator with a:

• Modern MIDI implementation with the Boutique unit capable of receiving MIDI through either a 5-pin DIN connection or via USB

• Ability to synchronise the instrument to the clock running the rest of the musicians instruments. 

• Firmware driven sound generation meaning that while Roland was supporting the instrument any bug in the tonal generation or operation or the unit in general could be fixed by applying a software patch that the end user could apply a standard computer.  (No screw drivers and soldering iron required.)

• Step sequencers being a simple way to record patterns and sequence these together in the same way that musicians got use to with drum machines.  These could be stored in the instruments non-volatile memory.  No batteries required to maintain the memory while the instrument is switched off.  Using the common clock to control tempo.

• Simple arpeggiation functions.  Mainly limited to chases up, down and across 1 or 2 octaves.  The common clock controlled the speed of the arpeggiator to maintain time with other instrument being played.

 

Now we come onto some of the interesting design decisions for the Roland Boutique Desktop instruments.  These support the rumour that Roland saw these instruments as more novelty than a serious instrument when the first three were launched.  Once Roland saw how popular these units were and how they were being used, I think this view changed, however the pour design choices had already been backed in.

• Power was supplied to the Roland Boutique using the USB cable or 4 AA battery cells placed in a battery holder on the rear of the instrument.  My view is that the view was these were to be used by musicians 'on the go'.  Most of the people I know with these units, like me use them in a static studio environment.  So a 9v adapter like those supplied with BOSS effect units would have been nice.  Powering them on USB requires splitters and ancillary power sources as most USB busses cannot supplier enough power to run multiple units at once.  (See  Powergernomics a video I recorded about this several years back.)

• Each unit included a speaker.  This was great if you were using the instrument in a low noise environment but hopeless if there was background or ambient noise around the operator.​  Plus running the unit on batteries using the speaker meant the batteries were toast in a few hours.

• Mini jack audio output.  The Boutiques used a combined left and right mini jack (3.5mm) to provide audio out of the unit assuming that you were not using the internal speakers!.  The implementation of this mini jack, in my opinion is not robust and constantly plugging cables in and out of the unit will lead to a trip to the maintenance technician before too long.  Even standard 6.5mm jack will require maintenance at some point, however, the jack socket tends to be larger and provides better mounting to the circuit board and instrument chassis.

• Gain on the USB audio implementation.  My experience of using the USB audio interface is that the gains of the Roland Boutique Desktop instruments is relatively low and a lot of gain needs to be applied to the input signal or recorded part.  This is not present with the mini jack output where the output gain of the unit appear to be set to a more reasonable level.  I have yet to fine a way in the digital settings to boast the gain on the pure digital path.

 

It was obvious that when these Roland Boutique instruments were launched Roland wanted to sell the dream of owning the legacy synthesiser for a fraction of the current second hand cost of the instrument the Boutique was imitating. As such the costs of the Roland Boutique's ranged from between £200 and £300.  Some of these units are now selling second hand for more than the price when new.  

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Here are the pages that relate to the specific Roland Boutique synthesisers.​​​​​​