Roland just launched their new 50th anniversary website:

https://www.roland.com/global/roland-50th-anniversary/

Looks like some new products are on the way. Let the speculations begin!

Nice website!

The press release specifically mentions this:

" Commemorative Roland anniversary products are scheduled for release throughout 2022 as well,
with one 50th model slated for debut this year on April 18, the date Roland was founded in 1972. "

What "50th model"? What has Roland made 49 models of?


Also, I didn't know they had made an harpsichord during their flirt with Church phase.

new jacket or shoes

Going to release an ACB version of the Harpsichord

They should create some kind of bass synth, that's designed to take the place of a bass player, but sounds nothing like it. Maybe something with a sequencer and in a silver box.

The 50th Anniversary instrument will be a D50 reissue that runs Zencore

The D50 is by far their most iconic instrument

Commemorative? I thought they didn't chase ghosts.

Hardly

The D50 by far is their most iconic instrument, they sold more of them than anything else, and it changed the face of popular music when released

The D50 was released in April 1987, the special 50th anniversary instrument will also be released in April. On the D50's 35th Anniversary and 50th anniversary of Roland

Nice presentation.

A couple of odd things I noticed:

*It's weird to see the CR-78 pictured more prominently than the TR-808 (on the main page). Usually it's the other way around.

*On the 90s page why does the JP-8000 look like it's sitting on a bed of meth rocks?



Or in a snowbank?

SH1000 50 year anniversary edition? (technically would be next year)

Interesting omission in the 80s lineup of the presentation is the Jupiter 6.

Nice presentation otherwise ,though interest is lost for me at about the 2005 mark.

Cool website. Popcorn in the microwave.

Looking forward to their futuristic visions of their past legacy greats.

Maybe the most sold, but not iconic.

Most iconic has to be the 808. There is even documentaries about it.

Next I would put Jupiter/Juno.

Then the D50.

No shame in that, it's still among legends.

Roland saw all the hate threads the past couple weeks and got the interns to throw something nice together to show us all, lol.

But this is cool to see. Can’t wait for more Roland gear. We’re due for a new synth from them anyway

Hate threads?

The 808 is a Drum Machine, and many people think the 909 overshadows it

In any case I look for Roland to make "Anniversary Edition" versions of the Jupiter 8, Juno, 808, 303, D50 etc with ACB and DVD or Zencore engines inside

Also a replica of the JD-800 with the expanded JD990 engine and Rom inside along with the vintage synth card from and patches

And maybe a Super JV with all of the SR-JV expansion cards and patches built in

Essentially the boutiques they habe already done but with keys

Wonderful website, I'm a fanboy and even I learned a bit from it.

The only problem is once you get past the 90s it's a bit of a wasteland until Aira was launched!

Given Roland's history of questionable product tie ins/swag (808 shoes anyone?) and the early SH synths having 'Popcorn' presets I wouldn't be at all shocked to see a 50th commemorative microwave, LOL.



BTW, Frogman is seriously pissed that Funny Cat gets all the attention these days. You can sure as hell bet that Behringer has been offering him his own washroom key and a chance to be on the BH-1000 clone design team.

Yeah it's a Drum Machine, so?

Aren't we talking about iconic Roland products? And iconic is not necessarily the best or best quality.

The 808 is for sure the most iconic one.

I forget about the space echo as well. Must be right there alongside with the D50.

For me the first image that comes to me when I think about Roland is the Jupiter 8.
Even if that is not my favorite poly synth, even if they did not produce many of them, for me it is the most striking symbol of Roland.

I just realized I don't have any Roland products besides a BOSS EH-2 and a keyboard amp.
The law of probabilities would state I should have some!

Because a special 50th anniversary instrument/product that Roland is going to release in April is probably not going to be a drum machine that they have already released multiple versions of, that has been cloned to death, and that exists as samples in pretty much every Rompler and sample based drum machine ever made

And that has been samples and sold as part of hundreds of sample packs

They could release an updated version of an old modular, shrinked in size and using ACB instead of analog circuits, patching through fiber optic cables using adat standard at 96K, polyphony expanded to 4 voices (which is coherent with ACB and adat at 96k).



I’m joking of course! I like these stupid jokes!

Hopefully they’ll release something nice/useful, hopefully something really standing out because it’s their 50th anniversary.

I'm not debating what product they are going to release. I'm debating which product in their history is the most iconic one.

Microwave was not so far off:
https://www.roland.com/global/produc...del_expansion/
Wavetable, a first for Roland

Don't be ridiculous.






They'll use Zen Core.

Ok I gotcha

And yes while the 808 certainly is iconic in some genres music, in others such as classical, New Age, Metal, Rock, Blues, classical, country, and many more it is ignored entirely

The D50 on the other hand was used in pretty much every genre of music, and was so iconic and transcended so many genres many if presets were included in the general midi spec

Your right, I stand corrected