Roland (company)
| Roland Corporation
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|---|---|
 |
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| legal form |
Kabushiki-gaisha (joint stock company) |
| ISIN | JP3983400007 |
| founding | April 18, 1972 |
| Seat | Hamamatsu , Shizuoka , Japan |
| management | Junichi Miki (President) |
| Number of employees | 2,945 (2014) |
| sales | 85.607 billion yen (2014) |
| Branch | Musical instruments |
| Website | www.rolandmusik.de |
Roland ( Japanese ロ ー ラ ン ド 株式会社 , Rōrando Kabushiki-gaisha , English Roland Corporation) is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments , studio technology and software . Plotters and cutting plotters are also produced. The Musical Instrument Division is responsible for 58.6% of total revenues. The listed company was founded by Ikutarō Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972 with 33 million yen . Today Roland operates factories in Japan , the United States , Italy and Taiwan . As of March 31, 2009, Roland employed 2,708 people worldwide and had total sales of over $ 1 billion. The German branch has been in Nauheim since September 2012 . The Swiss branch is located in Itingen BL.
Company history
The name Roland was chosen because the company was looking for a name that should sound phonetically the same in as many countries as possible and be easy to remember.
The first products that Roland brought to market were the TR33, TR55 and TR77 rhythm machines. The devices were developed together with the organ manufacturer Hammond. In 1974, the RE-201 Space Echo was released, an analog echo effect that is still used today by bands like Can and Radiohead . With the devices TR-808 (1981), TB-303 (1982) and TR-909 (1983), Roland has had a massive influence on the techno / electro scene. The TB-303 in particular was a failure at the time of its release. The spartan bass synthesizer sounded clearly synthetic and could not fulfill its actual purpose of simulating a real bass. It wasn't until the late 1980s to early 1990s that the techno scene sprouted that the TB-303 became a cult device. In the Acid -music have even been used almost exclusively these devices. While the 303 hype flattened somewhat in the late 1990s, the sounds of the TR-808 and TR-909 are still present in electronic music today.
In the mid-1970s, Roland created the Jazz Chorus JC-120, a legendary guitar amplifier for undistorted sounds that could be provided with a high-quality built-in chorus effect . In 1987 the digital synthesizer D-50 appeared , which quickly achieved cult status. Due to its continued popularity, it was reissued by Roland for the 30th anniversary of its appearance as a keyboard-free version D-05 and as a VST plug-in. 1996 Roland established by the MC 303 , the device class of the groove boxes (a mixture of sequencer and synthesizer ). The Fantom G shares the market for high-end keyboard music workstations with the Yamaha Motif XF and the Korg Kronos . The synthesizers from the Jupiter and Juno series, the SH-101 and other devices are classics in their fields. With the JV synthesizers, Roland temporarily set the standards in the field of sample ROM synthesizers in the 1990s. The V-Synth, released in 2003, combines high-quality samples, granular synthesis and flexible filters and modulators in one device. In 2004 the first fully electronic accordion was introduced with the V-Accordion .
Roland is still a major manufacturer of music equipment, especially in the electronic sector. These include synthesizers , digital pianos , electronic accordions , electronic drums , guitar synthesizers, and guitar amplifiers .
Other brands under which Roland operates are:
- Boss (cheaper product variations, guitar effects pedals, effects devices, rhythm computers)
- Edirol by Roland ( audio recorder and video recorder )
- Rodgers (digital church and concert organs as well as digital / pipe combination organs)
- Roland Digital Group (Roland DG, plotter and foil cutter)
- RSS by Roland (Commercial Audio Equipment)
- RSG (Roland Systems Group)
See also
Web links
- Roland Corporation Roland Corporation
- Roland Axial - Synthesizer Sound Libraries
- Vintage Synth Explorer: Roland - List of Older Roland Instruments
- Roland Museum - Lists of almost all Roland and Boss devices
- Roland Zone - extensive list of links to resources for Roland and Boss instruments