Roland / About Roland

The brands of Roland

Roland - A full-line brand that leads the music world with innovative technology
For decades, Roland has led the world with groundbreaking technologies and innovative products. Used by music enthusiasts and professional musicians, Roland synthesizers, electronic drums, and guitar amplifiers are essential “must haves” on stages and in studios worldwide. In addition, Roland’s extensive line-up of digital pianos and electronic organs offers a variety of unique functions and sounds that delight enthusiasts in homes and music schools everywhere.

BOSS - The best-selling brand of guitar effects in the world
Since the release of its first compact-effects pedal in 1977, BOSS has revolutionized the guitar world with innovative, history-making products, many of which have become best sellers and “must haves” for guitarists around the world. With a line-up that also includes advanced multi-effects and digital recorders for creating professional-quality productions, BOSS realizes the dreams of all guitarists, from beginners to pros.

Cakewalk - A respected, full-line brand of hardware and software for computer music
Cakewalk by Roland develops comprehensive solutions that bring hardware and software together with a progressive vision of the future of computer music. From music-production professionals to hobbyists, the brand’s diverse line-up of products meets a broad range of needs. The brand is also known for its trusted service and support, its quick-response updates, and its progressive development of systems that optimally combine hardware and software.

Rodgers - Brand of classic organs developed through the convergence of digital technology and tradition
Rodgers organs combine the tradition of a distinguished American brand of classic organs with Roland’s advanced digital technology. This represents a marriage of sublime and rich tones with the exceptional expression, flexibility, and reliability that is only possible in the digital domain. The harmony created by these two partners has resulted in organs that are used in churches, synagogues, schools, hotels, and musical halls around the world, bringing joy to organists and audiences on every continentBetter life with music: Muziek als toegevoegde waarde voor je leven

Better Life With Music

Better life with music - Bringing more music into our lives
Roland’s proposal, “Better Life with Music,” is based on the idea of improving our quality of life by enjoying music, and through the playing of musical instruments with family and friends. One of the benefits of compact electronic musical instruments with volume control is that you can enjoy playing anywhere. We have taken this idea a step further with recent innovations such as V-Drums Lite HD-1, a compact and quiet electronic drum kit, the RG-1 mini-grand-type digital piano, and the C-30 digital harpsichord. These popular instruments give people the chance to enjoy a broad range of live music and entertainment in their homes. Bring your friends together and transform your living room into a studio or concert hall, and you can use the CD-2e SD/CD recorder to create an original CD on the spot. Additionally, the lightweight and battery-operated JUNO-Di synthesizer will expand your musical universe from any location. “Better Life with Music” is Roland’s vision, as we nurture a new musical culture and market with our broad range of hardware and software products, including musical instruments, lesson opportunities, learning material, and performance data.

The Roland technologies

A passion for “world’s-first” technologies and musical instruments.
Ever since our founding in 1972, Roland has pursued “sounds” that have opened the musical doors to the future. We have always conducted our R&D for musical instruments from a new perspective, and have developed numerous original, world’s-first technologies and innovative products based on our pride as a manufacturer of musical instruments. Our unwavering passion and commitment to perfection has been the driving force of our growth, and have maintained our solid position as a world leader.

“Japan’s-first” and “world’s-first” technologies
Two years after our founding, Roland brought Japan’s first synthesizer to the global market, the SH-1000. Since then, numerous Roland products and technologies have earned “Japan’s-first” and “world’sfirst” titles. Roland’s acclaimed “COSM” sound-modeling technology, for example, creates new sounds through a virtual reproduction of the structure and material used in an actual instrument. “SuperNATURAL” is another breakthrough technology that reproduces variations in tone that are intrinsic to real instruments, and are true to the players technique, nuance, and emotion. Additionally, our “VariPhrase” technology lets musicians manipulate sounds by providing control over the three main elements that make up a tone: pitch, time, and formant. This technology brought about a huge shift in the way people view synthesizers and samplers.
We have developed numerous other technologies such as “REAC” for digitally transmitting high-quality audio over Ethernet, and “V-LINK”, which allows users to control music and video simultaneously on a musical instrument. These world’s-first technologies form the basis of the many innovative products released by Roland.

Unique technologies and product development capabilities lead the electronic musical-instruments industry
Driven by our unique core-competence technologies, Roland has developed numerous history-making products. Our V-Drums introduced a bold new era in drumming with their incredibly authentic sound, natural expression, and flexible and intuitive editing controls. Our V-Synth broke new ground in synthesis, outclassing all others in terms of sound creation and performance control. It continues to be received enthusiastically by top musicians around the world. And most recently, the revolutionary V-Piano exponentially raised the bar for digital pianos with its proprietary DSP engine that meticulously reproduces the soundgenerating components of acoustic pianos. It is on the verge of changing the course of piano history. New music and new instruments go hand in hand, and Roland continues to design the future of music through its creative product development.

• COSM
  COSM (Composite Object Sound Modeling) technology digitally reproduces the structure of a musical instrument. This allows musicians to create performances that are extremely real in terms of tone and playing feel.
  
  
• SuperNATURAL
  REAC (Roland Ethernet Audio Communication) is a technology for transmitting high-quality digital audio over the Ethernet. It’s an easy-to-use and low-cost network solution.
  
  
• REAC
  REAC (Roland Ethernet Audio Communication) is een technologie voor de overdracht van professionele digitale audiosignalen via een Ethernet-verbinding. Deze netwerkaanpak is bovendien verrassend gebruiksvriendelijk en betaalbaar.
  
  
• V-LINK
  V-LINK syncs video with musical performances, such as switching video on the screen when a keyboard is played. This gives you the ability to execute realtime performances that have not been possible in the past.

Roland and the environment

We actively promote environmental conservation activities
In addition to being certified for ISO14001, an international standard for environmental management systems, the entire Roland group has taken up the environmental cause under the slogan, “Striving for harmony with the beautiful Earth.” Specifically, we are actively engaged in environmental measures for the components that go into our products and our production processes. We have switched to parts that do not contain substances restricted in the European Union’s RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) directive. This applies to all of our products regardless of market country. Our printed circuit boards are all assembled using leadfree solder, and we have installed a solarpower generating system at our corporate headquarters to reduce our CO2 emissions.

Tree-planting project in Indonesia
The wood used to make our digital-piano cabinets is imported from Indonesia. In 2008, Roland designated a 100-hectare area for tree planting, where the company has been planting trees for environmental purposes. The area contains a mixture of protected forest and trees designated for digital-piano-cabinet production. This forestation project is expected to offset approximately 10,000 tons of CO2 over a period of 20 years.

Environmental Declaration
Before human beings appeared, this world was filled with a great variety of sounds — the whisper of the wind, the roar of the sea, the beat of the land. There, humanity sang, and made beautiful music. Roland continues its ceaseless quest for a rich natural environment where people can enjoy music long into the future.

History

Designing the future of music
Over seventy years have passed since the first electronic musical instrument was created. Roland’s founder Ikutaro Kakehashi has been deeply involved in the development of electronic musical instruments, and has played a key role in its history. At age 28, Kakehashi decided that he would devote his life to working for music, and he has unwaveringly pursued the ideal electronic musical instrument ever since. From the onset, Kakehashi’s vision for product development and market cultivation has always been global, and free of borders. Throughout its history, Roland has created many award-winning instruments, and has pioneered new musical technologies and forged new markets. By concentrating these development efforts, Roland and its companion brands have become undisputed world powers in electronic music and technology. Kakehashi currently plays a support role for the company as Special Consultant based on his decades of experience and the vast network of people and resources he has built since the company’s founding. He also contributes to society as the Chairman of the Roland Foundation.