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Jun 23, 2017 · From the iconic TR rhythm machines to MIDI technology, the following is a celebration of Roland and Kakehashi’s topmost contributions to the world of music production. From a revolution of rhythm to the popularisation of synths, sequencers and guitars pedals, we take a look at the astounding legacy of Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi.
- Drum Machines
- Solid State Amps
- Effects
- Midi
- Synths
It’s fitting that the man who started his career in electronics repairing watches would first make a splash in the music industry with a machines that keep time. Kakehashi’s earliest drum machines were rhythm boxes that played preset rhythm patterns at varying tempos, first with his Ace Tone brand, and then with Roland. He broke the mold in 1978 wi...
Roland was not the first company to produce a solid state amplifier or an amplifier with onboard effects. But Roland did produce one of the most popular solid state amps of all time: the Roland Jazz Chorus 120. Solid state amplifiers rarely get the time of day amidst the current tube amp craze, but per usual, Roland’s design hit that elusive mark o...
Roland’s first successes did not come with its drum machines, but with its effects. The RE–201 Space Echo tape echo, released in 1974, gives the Maestro Echoplex EP–3a run for its money as the most legendary echo unit. But that CE–1 Chorus was the real game changer. Granted, when it debuted as Boss's first pedal in 1976, it was not the first effect...
Arguably Kakehashi’s most profound effort was also one of his most mundane. At NAMM in 1982, Dave Smith of Sequential Circuits was trying to rally every synth builder in the industry behind a universal protocol for controlling synthesizers and other electronic instruments. American companies were by and large uninterested, as Smith recounts, in the...
Roland was early to the synthesizer game, with Kakehashi harboring a lifelong obsession with the electric organ. What resulted was an onslaught of synth designs, and an impressive number of home runs. Perhaps Roland’s most notable early synthesizer was the SH–3A, released in 1974. It was an audacious monosynth that offered both subtractive and addi...
Apr 2, 2017 · Ikutaro Kakehashi, founder of Roland Corporation and driving personality behind many of the instruments, technical developments and devices that helped shape the modern electronic music ecosystem ...
Jul 28, 2015 · His first creation didn’t sound quite right, but undeterred, Kakehashi moved on to creating a keyboard instrument. Hearing and seeing the Ondes Martenot in action, he used bits from reed organs, telephones and other transistor sound generators to create his own version.
Mar 14, 2017 · Ikutaro Kakehashi is a dreamer, who has been making products for musicians for 57 years. He founded Roland Corporation in 1972. The number of products and technological innovations from Roland during his watch is absolutely mind boggling. He has touched just about every category of music product, from keyboards, to guitar synthesizers, to drums ...
Apr 22, 2017 · He was surrounded by synthesisers and drum machines, pushing buttons, setting levels and cueing rhythms. He pushed ‘play’ to a song that was made entirely using a drum machine.
Jun 26, 2017 · Running Roland from its foundation in 1972 until 2001, Kakehashi either invented or oversaw the invention of many iconic devices of early electronic music: the TR-808 drum machine, the VP-30 vocoder, the System 700 analogue modular synthesizer, the JC-120 Jazz Chorus guitar amp, and a long line of classic keyboard synthesizers.
