The new BT-1 Bar Trigger Pad makes it simple to add electronic triggering to any acoustic drum set or additional triggers to a V-Drums® set. With a compact, curved shape, it mounts quickly and easily to nearly any drum or V-Pad with the included hardware. More
Roland Corporation U.S. is happy to announce 18 new products and several new multi-media tools that provide immediate access to the very latest product-launch news from Roland, BOSS and Cakewalk. Roland CONNECT, Roland’s online portal for new product releases, is live several days prior to the opening of the 2013 Winter NAMM show this year, giving Roland gear aficionados an exclusive preview of Roland’s new product lineup. Amongst the new gear debuting here is BOSS’ 100th compact pedal, the TE-2 Tera Echo, featuring BOSS’ new Multi-Dimensional Processing, the V-Combo VR- 09 Live Performance Keyboard, plus several new electronic percussion, recording, and digital piano instruments.
Roland’s new JUPITER-50 was unveiled at the Frankfurt Musikmesse last year, and though it sits at the cutting-edge of new technology, it’s a synth that sits firmly in line with Roland’s synth philosophy and history.
The JUPITER-50 is a streamlined version of the flagship JUPITER-80, and both instruments fit neatly into Roland’s 40-year story of pioneering synthesizer development. As the JUPITER name suggests, these new synths are related to one of the most iconic synth lines ever created – the genre-defining JUPITER-8.
Using the most innovative analog technologies of the time, the JUPITER-8 was released in 1981 and provided musicians with a rich palette of synth textures. Its reliability and ease of use on stage made it a go-to instrument for the electro crowd of the time. Its built-in arpeggiator and deep sonic potential satisfied the synth elite and awed countless Duran Duran fans. More
In our first edition of throw back Thursday, Roland’s Ed Diaz remembers his college years and the keyboard that put him through school, the XP-50. This synth workstation was capable of emulating any instrument, here’s Vintage Synth Exporer‘s take on the XP-50:
“The XP-50 is not just another synthesizer workstation, it’s basically a JV-1080 with a built-in keyboard and a 16-track sequencer! It is a digital synthesizer using sampled ROM waveforms. Superb sound quality capable of emulating most any instrument imaginable plus totally fat analog synth type sounds and loads of percussion! It has 64 voices of polyphony and is 16-part multitimbral. The XP-50 makes a great beginner’s pro-quality workstation.”
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TB-303 Documentary – Bassline Baseline (2005)
Published by: alexfox101
Designed by Tadao Kikumoto in 1982, the TB-303 is a bass synthesizer with a built-in sequencer originally designed for bands or guitarists practicing without a bass player. It features a single analog oscillator with two waveforms (saw or square) and has a simple VCF filter with resonance, cut-off, and envelope controls. There are also knobs to adjust tuning, envelope decay, tempo and accent amount. The TB-303 was also made to accompany the TR-606 drum machine pictured below. More
JUPITER Synth Legends Volume 1 is the first in a series of free vintage sound libraries for the JUPITER-80 and JUPITER-50. The sound libraries include tons of sounds from some of Roland’s most iconic instruments and use Roland’s powerful and flexible SuperNATURAL® synthesizer sound engine to capture the very essence of these historical synths. Volume 1 showcases all-new Tones, Live Sets, Registrations, and arpeggio patterns, including 123 newly created single Tones and 512 new Live Sets. Live Set architecture and multi-effects of the JUPITERs are fully maximized with the new collection, giving players a huge selection of “dream” synth combinations.
JUPITER Synth Legends Volume 1 honors these seven legendary Roland instruments from the 1980s:
Download the free sound libraries here: www.JUPITER-80.com.
In honor of this release, Roland is also hosting the Roland JUPITER #SynthLegends Giveaway. Synth fans in the U.S. can enter the contest for a chance to win a JUPITER-50 fully pre-loaded with JUPITER Synth Legends Volume 1. Feel free to join us @Roland_US on Twitter using the hashtag #synthlegends to share your all-time favorite synthesizers and synth sounds. We’d love to hear from you!
Behind the scenes with Ritchie Fliegler during a recent GA-Amp artist impression video shoot in Burbank, California. If anyone knows amps it’s Ritchie, he wrote several articles and two books on amplifiers, “Amps! The Other Half of Rock ‘N’ Roll” and “The Complete Guide to Guitar and Amp Maintenance: A Practical Manual for Every Guitar Player” both of which are considered expert reference works. More
In this video Michael “Nomad” Ripoll demonstrates the GA-112‘s channel switching capability. For Michael, the GA Amp is a welcoming extension to his guitar rig because it covers a wide range of frequencies which eliminate the need for separate amps. This enables him to travel lighter and with less bulk. Furthermore, the amp’s wide frequency range gives hime the freedom to incorporate guitar synthesizers which vary in sounds and tones. More
A few weeks ago we gave Michael “Nomad” Ripoll a VG-99 guitar synthesizer to test drive and report. After a brief follow up we were surprised to learn that he’d been using the unit for his movie trailer projects. Michael says that within an hour of unboxing the unit he was committing to tape. Off camera, Michael explained that the unit has sparked his creativity, sped up his workflow and eliminated the need of extra musicians for his current studio projects. In these videos, both Michael and Joel Stevenett express how the VG-99 has inspired them musically. More
Published on Aug 22, 2012 by superstarmediavideo
It turns out we do not know quite yet how 50 Roland pianos sound but we will after this weekend. On November 10, 2012 internationally renowned pianist Lang Lang and 100 young pianists ages 8-18 will join him on the Concert Hall stage of the Kennedy Center, paired two per piano. The goal is to entertain and educate both young audience members and experienced concert goers. This unique program is part master class, part concert, and includes performances of Franz Schubert’s Marche Militarie No. 1 and Johannes Brahms’s Hungarian Dance No. 5. More
