Roland at Rose Morris

For well over thirty years the name 'Roland' has been synonymous with the production of ground breaking and market leading electronic musical instruments.

The Roland Corporation was founded in 1972 by Ikataro Kakehashi. Right from his early years he had a vision and a passion for music and electronics. This vision was not to copy other companies ideas, but to discover and define new market sectors with creative products that give musicians wonderful avenues of expression.

This vision is as true today as it was in 1972. Since that time Roland has been responsible for a number of world firsts in the development of electronic musical instruments.

The very first synthesizer to be built in Japan was made by Roland, with the iconic Jupiter 8 being a classic amongst synths and still prized by professional musicians the world over.

In the 1970's it was Roland who produced the very first electronic piano designed for the home market. Today, our digital pianos are renowned for their quality and realism both in key touch, sound and expressiveness. Indeed, many leading professional musical establishments use Roland digital pianos to aid the development of their students.

However, probably the most far reaching development was in 1982, with the birth of MIDI, which allowed instruments of different manufacturers to communicate with each other. This was a joint development between Roland and Sequential Circuits.

Now, well over thirty years on, Roland is continuing to uphold the vision of Mr Kakehashi by continually pushing the boundaries in electronic musical instrument development.