Ikutaro Kakehashi, founder of Roland, has died at 87 years old. Kakehashi may not be a household name to the modern electronic music generation, but his engineering has impacted decades of our music and will continue to be an integral part of the electronic music culture for years to come. He founded Roland in 1972 in Osaka, Japan. The company found success in the creation of the TR-909 drum machine, TB-303 bassline synthesiser, and probably most famously for the TR-808, more commonly referred to as just the “808 bass”.
Almost fifty years after it’s start, Roland employs more then 3,000 people. Below is a list of products that the company released in 2016:
- Roland System-8 Plug Out Synthesizer
- Roland TB-03 Bassline Synthesizer
- Roland TR-09 Drum Machine
- Roland VP-03 Vocoder
- BOSS Katana 100/212, Katana 100, Katana 50 and Katana-Head Guitar Amplifiers
- Roland V-1SDI HD Video Switcher
- Roland DJ-808 DJ Controller, DJ-99 DJ Mixer and TT-99 Turntable
- Roland TD-50K, TD-50KV and TD-1KPX V-Drum Kits
- Roland TD-50 Drum Sound Module, KD-A22 Kick Drum Converter, PD-140DS V-Pad
- Snare, CY-18DR V-Cymbal, MDS-50K Drum Stand, MDS-50KV Drum Stand
- Roland EC-10M Ej Cajon Mic Processor
- BOSS GT-1 Guitar Effects Processor
- Roland AE-10 Aerophone Wind Instrument
- Roland GP-607, FP-90, DP-603 and RP-501R Digital Pianos
- Roland FR-4X and FR-4XB V-Accordions
