Talk about a pioneer of the consumer electronics age. As someone who went to grad school to search for my future in music technology, this hits home. I chose that path inspired by exactly the sort of tech that Kakahashi built with Roland. In particular, it was their BOSS ME-33 multieffect unit [1], which was the first piece of music tech hardware I ever bought. It unlocked an entire universe of sounds for an 18-year-old me, searching for my creative identity. My identity, period, for that matter.<p>To take this in a wildly different direction, since about 2010, I've felt this ever-increasing impression that the world is being handed over from the post-WWII generation to mine. Every living legend that passes crystallizes that feeling. It's on us to take the reigns of this world and steer it, whether it's starting the Roland of this century, or simply effecting the changes to make our existence on this planet sustainable.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.boss.info/us/products/me-33/" rel="nofollow">https://www.boss.info/us/products/me-33/</a>
Roland made it possible for me to learn to play button accordion. My landlord runs a psychology practice upstairs, and my wife is not fond of loud noises, so I would have very little practice time with an acoustic accordion. So I bought a Roland V-Accordion instead, which has allowed me to practice regularly even at 1 AM (as I just did) without disturbing anyone.<p>The V-Accordion was a personal idea of Mr. Kakehashi's [1], one I'm very glad he was able to usher into this world. I'm musically richer for it.<p>[1] <a href="http://www.accordions.com/index/squ/archives/0811/roland/history.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.accordions.com/index/squ/archives/0811/roland/his...</a>
I first learned about Roland because of their partnership with Sierra On-Line and the MT-32.<p>I remember Scott Murphy (Space Quest co-creator) told a story about the first time Roland came to hear how Sierra was using the MT-32. They were blown away by the full musical scores they sequenced (Space Quest 3). He thinks they were expecting Space Invaders like sound effects.
The TR-808 is basically singularly responsible for the most popular genre of music in the United States today (hiphop), as well as in conjunction with its younger sibling the TR-909 all of modern dance music via house and techno. It's sort of an amazing swath of modern music. A true pioneer.
In some respects I feel like the Teenage Engineering OP-1 and pocket operators are taking over the spirit of the Roland 808. Easy to use but surprisingly deep hardware gear:<p><a href="https://www.teenageengineering.com/products/op-1" rel="nofollow">https://www.teenageengineering.com/products/op-1</a>
A short documentary on the TB-303: <a href="https://youtu.be/omHUR3R0Qqw" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/omHUR3R0Qqw</a>
I guess this is as good a thread as any - does anyone know where the TR-909 cymbals came from?<p>The kicks are obviously synthesized, but the open and closed hihats sound suspiciously much like audio waves that are simply played at a higher and lower frequency as you twist the "decay" knob.<p>If they're samples, where do they come from? They're totally unlike any other hihat I've heard, definitely totally different from an <i>actual</i> hihat on a physical drum kit. I guess 90% of dance/techno music in the last 3 decades uses the TR-909 open hihat or a mildly tweaked version of it. Yet it must've been a rather strange, unnatural sound when the 909 was released. What were the motivations of the people who designed or recorded this sound? How was it made? Was it sampled or synthesized and then recorded?<p>Was Kakehashi involved?
My first exposure to Roland was watching Adamski playing live with a 909 drum machine back in 1990. Really mind blowing to see that one person could be the whole band. My first drum machine was a roland 707, by the early 90s their analog gear was hard to find but their digital gear still had the same beautiful approach to user interface design. I learned midi sequencing with a roland jv-80.
808s & Heartbreak. Kanye used a Roland TR-808 heavily for all beats on that album.<p><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Kanye_West_in_the_Studio.jpg/1920px-Kanye_West_in_the_Studio.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Ka...</a>