Roland founder, Grammy winner Ikutaro Kakehashi dies at 87

RIP.

I think mainstream 80s pop is more Yamaha, DX7 etc., but never mind.

What Roland did do is create the holy trinity, the 808 and 909 drum machines used in hip hop (former) and house/techno (latter), and the 303 bass keyboard which, when tweaked to squelch, is the sound of acid house. Those three machines defined the sound of the 80s/90s underground.

Purists hate it, but Roland were also leaders in emulation, getting cheap digital equipment to sound like very very expensive vintage analog gear. So you can buy a cheap little guitar amp that puts out lots of different sounds that will put a smile on your face, so long as you're not endlessly comparing it with a genuine Blackface or AC-30 or whatever. Though not an emulator, Roland's solid state amp, the Jazz Chorus, is itself also an absolute classic used by loads and loads of great guitarists.

I own a Roland Acoutic Chorus 100, which is very similar to the jazz chorus, and even though I bought it used almost 20 years ago, I has never given me any problems, and has a natural sounding reverb. I also owned a Roland Jupiter 8, which was a tremendous analog keyboard. Had great arpeggio functions, and a huge fat sound. Quality. and guess what, the manual was about 16 pages. And that was enough. You could create the music to The Day The Earth Stood Still, or bacon frying, and save the presets. Thank you Roland, for your class products.

Rest In Peace Mr. Kakehashi. Your 808s, 909s and 303s changed music forever and gave pleasure to millions.

Thank you!

Roland are now making some excellent video switchers, such as the V1200/800/40HD series, fast becoming a staple of the pro-event industry. Have fond memories of synching my TB-303 and 606 units in the 1980s; just wished I'd kept them, as they are valuable now.

I had the Roland 707 drum machine, bought it used, and one day found myself with all the presets back. They were good enough and stimulating enough to write themes for local tv shows and a satellite broadcast show theme for Sunn computing. Somehow I think there was a 727 and not the 707.... Been a long time...

Used TR-808 was selling for $ 5000 and it original price was $ 1200. The musicians are still using TR-808 drum machine for producing their music. It was amazing. They are still using this old TR-808 for producing music even though there are many newer models are on the market today. Ikutaro Kakehashi will be proud of his achievement from heaven and he will be remembering as pioneer of Electronic Musical instrument in professional and amateur Musicians. R.I.P Ikutaro Kakehashi.