Tag Archives: roland

This classy Roland wooden piano has equal dose of modern tech

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The good old piano has not seen much evolution in design all these centuries but Casio and Donner have already shown us they’re willing to break the ice. Now for their 50th-anniversary celebration, Japanese music gear pro, Roland has also decided to bring something fresh to the equation. That uniqueness comes in the form of this concept piano designed to commemorate five decades of the Osaka-based brand.

As a part of the concept study in collaboration with Japanese furniture maker Karimoku, the design has the apparent influence of the “future filled with past creativity and future possibilities”.

Designer: Roland

The 50th Anniversary Concept Model Piano is centered on the PureAcoustic Modeling engine announced by the brand back in 2018. This makes the musical instrument not only look anything like other contemporary options but also ahead in intuitiveness. Case in point, the instrument modeling combined with the multi-channel loudspeakers for a dash of sonic realism. The patent-pending keyboard recognition design brings to the fore a very natural response along with the realistic mapping and reproduction of the pedal noise.

The 88-key piano keyboard instrument is honed by the unibody cabinet that’s purely a result of the Karimoku association in this creation. That eye-grabbing presence of layered Japanese Nara oak pieces arranged in flowing lines and sublime contours. This is perfectly matched to the piano stool having rounded padding on top. Once you lift the lid, there’s a color display panel to toggle all the player settings or the adjustable metronome. The app integration lets one make all the subtle adjustments on the fly.

Roland’s Concept Model Piano is powered by a button on the left and the gold-colored volume control lets you take control of the piano tones on the speakers. Other than that; it goes without saying, the piano looks absolutely stunning in a contoured wooden finish and is all set to embellish a modern living room. For now, there’s no word when this cool piano will be available to burn some cash on, but when it arrives, it’ll surely be on the collectors’ list.

The post This classy Roland wooden piano has equal dose of modern tech first appeared on Yanko Design.

Love Hultén’s latest modular synthesizer folds up and fits inside a slim wooden suitcase

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Known for his quirky gadgets and oddly pleasing visual style, independent tinkerer and creator Love Hultén is back with his latest creation – a custom modular synth that fits entirely inside a wooden suitcase… legs, cables, and all.

Titled the EC1, the synth was commissioned by songwriter and producer Eren Cannata, and is a rather aesthetic mashup of a Roland JU-06A synth, the Cyclone Analogic TT-78 Beat Bot drum machine, the T-Rex Replicator tape delay, and the Boss Waza Dimension-C chorus pedal. Combined together like a sort of funky Frankenstein’s monster, the modules fit perfectly into the wooden housing designed by Hultén. With a two-part design, the EC1 opens apart into the keys at the bottom and the modules on top. It even comes with the steel legs tucked away inside the synth that let you set it up so you’re ready to jam in mere minutes. If you want to watch the EC1 in action, Hultén even takes it out for a spin in the video above!

Love Hultén EC1 Modular Synth

Love Hultén EC1 Modular Synth

Another one of Hultén’s oddly pleasing creations, the EC1 comes with an earthy color palette of an olive green panel and keys along with wooden knobs encased in a wooden cabinet that has the ability to fold down into a flat-pack case. The flat-pack synth is about as easy to assemble as a moderately challenging IKEA piece and comes with everything you’d need from legs to supports, and even the bolts you need to hold everything in place.

Love Hultén EC1 Modular Synth

Love Hultén EC1 Modular Synth

Love Hultén EC1 Modular Synth

Once assembled, the EC1 comes to life after you’ve plugged the decidedly retro coiled cables into the modules. The synth has its own set of stereo speakers built-in, and what looks like a strange glowing gemstone encased behind a glass window that definitely gives the synth a wonderfully steampunk aesthetic! Click here to check out more of Hultén’s work!

Designer: Love Hultén

The post Love Hultén’s latest modular synthesizer folds up and fits inside a slim wooden suitcase first appeared on Yanko Design.

Roland’s new mobile mixer aims at turning your smartphone into a full-fledged recording and production studio

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The smartphone is already a capable content-creating beast… Roland just makes it better by allowing it to interface with the rest of your pro-recording and production gear.

You can’t plug your electric guitar or studio mic into your smartphone. Believe me, I’ve tried. I fancy myself a bit of a musician and I’ve always wanted to be able to record directly into my smartphone without relying on my phone’s third-grade microphone, but that isn’t possible for multiple reasons – one of them being the fact that tech companies hate putting ports on phones. That’s sort of where Roland comes in with its GO:MIXER PRO-X, a hardware interface that lets you hook multiple recording and musical instruments to your phone, turning it into the ultimate studio. Perfect for mobile-based content creation and impromptu live-streams (something that’s absolutely sparked amidst the pandemic thanks how easy TikTok has made it to be an overnight star), the Roland GO:MIXER PRO-X is a handy, pocket-sized portable mixer that lets you connect your phone to practically every music/performance instrument around you.

Roland GO:MIXER PRO-X Portable Smartphone Recording Studio

Designed to be compatible with iOS as well as Android smartphones, the GO:MIXER PRO-X is a nifty piece of hardware for musicians, performers, presenters, and even podcasters. Just plug it to your smartphone and you suddenly have an entire variety of ports and knobs for all your recording gear. The GO:MIXER PRO-X connects to your smartphone via its USB-C or Lightning-connector interface and supplies power to it too, keeping your phone juiced during your recording/performance. It has dedicated inputs for microphones, guitars, synths, bass, and even drums, while knobs on the top let you control their gain, balancing the audio to your liking.

Roland GO:MIXER PRO-X Portable Smartphone Recording Studio

If you cringe at the idea of having to host a proper professional livestream with AirPods in your ears, the GO:MIXER PRO-X brings back the familiar 3.5mm headphone line-in, allowing you to connect monitoring headphones in to listen to the audio feed going into your phone. You can use it solo, controlling and balancing your sound, or you could switch on your phone’s camera and position yourself in front of it, giving the mixing duties to a fellow colleague or sound-engineer. Instead of needing to have expensive audio/video recording, monitoring, and studio equipment, all you need are your instruments, your smartphone, and the GO:MIXER PRO-X. It’s perfect for musicians, podcasters, radio hosts, DJs, interviewers, and even teachers who conduct online classes. After all, your smartphone’s more-than-capable hardware/software shouldn’t get kneecapped by its inability to connect to pro-grade recording equipment, right?

Designer: Roland

Roland GO:MIXER PRO-X Portable Smartphone Recording Studio

Roland GO:MIXER PRO-X Portable Smartphone Recording Studio

Roland GO:MIXER PRO-X Portable Smartphone Recording Studio

Roland’s Verselab is a groovebox built for vocalists

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Keeping track of Roland’s various drum machines and grooveboxes is getting tough. But its latest, the Verselab MV-1 is unique for a number of reasons. For one, it’s the company’s only instrument that combines the classic TR-style 16-step sequence wit...

Arturia’s JUN-6 is a free chorus plugin based on the iconic Juno synth

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One of the most cherished chorus effects ever isn’t some piece of expensive studio rack gear or a guitar pedal with piles of knobs. Instead its the almost painfully simple chorus unit built into Roland’s ‘80s era Juno synths. Arturia’s new V Collecti...

Roland TR-6S review: An impressively small and powerful drum machine

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In 2018 Roland introduced the TR-8S drum machine and instantly won the heart of my colleague Roberto Baldwin. Then, last year it resurrected its MC line of grooveboxes, and launched the portable, battery powered MC-101. My fellow editor James Trew wa...

Roland brings its classic TR-808 and TB-303 synths to your browser

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Roland’s vintage TR-808 drum machine or TB-303 bass synthesizers helped define electronica in the ‘80s, but nowadays they’re nearly impossible to find. Luckily, you can create beats with both instruments for free online, thanks to a new site called 8...

Roland’s portable TR-6S replicates classic ’80s drum machines on a budget

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Roland has unveiled a pair of drum machines that recreate sounds from classic models like the TR-606 and TR-909, updated with modern features like real-time recording. The first model is the $400 TR-6S Rhythm Performer (above), essentially a smaller...