Roland System 100

The Model 101 can be used standalone...

We look back at the trend‑bucking Roland modular synthesizer that will still flap your trousers today.

In the 1960s and early ’70s giant modular synthesizers designed by pioneers such as Moog, Buchla, ARP and EMS began to make the transition from the weird fringes of music‑making into the mainstream via the bands and film composers that employed them. As these companies sought to produce smaller, simpler, portable and more affordable versions of their technology to throw out a wider net into the ocean of musicians, a new company in the East was doing the opposite.

...but with the addition of the Model 102 expander...

Osaka 101

Formed in 1972, the Roland Corporation really has roots that go back much further. Ikutaro Kakehashi (or ‘Mr K’) had been in the music game for many years with his company Ace Tone creating organs, amplifiers, effects and rhythm machines, most notably the Rhythm Ace units. Disgruntled by a change in the shareholding situation, Kakehashi left Ace Tone and founded Roland. The two companies coexisted for a number of years, but Mr K had left the Ace Tone building and it was his new project that ultimately won out.

Roland started where Kakehashi had left off at Ace Tone and their first product was basically the same as one of the final products he was involved with at his former company. If you don’t believe me, take a Roland TR‑77 (aka Rhythm 77) and sit it next to an Acetone FR‑8L. Snap!

However, Mr K’s ambition was not to just rehash his Ace Tone work, and Roland quickly began producing new instruments including some of the earliest mass‑produced synthesizers seen in Japan. The first models (SH‑1000, SH‑2000) were simple and portable and influenced by products such as the ARP Soloist and Pro Soloist, which were designed to sit on top of organs with preset tabs below the keyboard for the player to switch on the fly.

Whilst Roland continued to make more modest instruments throughout the next decade, they arguably defied logic by simultaneously moving towards large, expensive and complex modular synthesizers as the ’70s unfolded. This was broadly the opposite direction that Western companies were going. For example, whilst Moog still sold modular systems later into the 1970s and the early ’80s, they were no longer designing new ones and were, instead, focusing on portable synths such as the Minimoog, Sonic Six, Satellite, Micromoog, Multimoog, Prodigy, Rogue and Source, along with polyphonic instruments such as the Polymoog and Opus 3. Likewise, ARP were on a shrinking trajectory ever since their 1970 2500 as they moved through the 2600 to the 2800 (better known as the Odyssey) and 2300 (better known as the Axxe). In fact, their biggest success was reportedly the Omni, which was largely down to it being polyphonic, portable and very easy to use.

...and a couple of sidecar units like the Model 104 Sequencer...

System 101

Against this backdrop came the development of Roland’s analogue modular synthesizer systems that were in production from 1975 all the way to 1984! In this article we’ll take a look at the system that started it all, the System 100.

The 100 is as vintage as vintage gets; a shade of green that somehow left the light spectrum after about 1981, the use of the quintessential sci‑fi ‘Data 70’ font, chunky silver knobs, oval switches, dice‑sized buttons, illuminated volume meters, a smattering of patch points and more tolex and trim on display than a furniture shop.

The System 100 is a semi‑modular analogue synthesizer with two monophonic voices (Model 101 with keyboard and Model 102 expander without keyboard), a four‑channel stereo mixer with a built‑in spring reverb (Model 103), a dual‑channel sequencer (Model 104) and a pair of speakers...