Roland

Roland's affordable new guitar synth incorporates improved pitch-tracking, and comes bundled with the latest GK-series pickup as standard.

Roland made their name with analogue synths and effects, but by the mid-1980s, they needed to go digital to remain competitive. It was a leap into the unknown for the company, but it ushered in a golden era...

The recession of the early '90s was difficult for many companies — but not Roland. Diversifying still further from their roots as a maker of synthesizers and organs, they emerged stronger, encompassing almost every area of hi-tech musical instrument manufacture.

A collection of imperative tips for harnessing the power of Roland's monster multitracker.

As Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi celebrates his 75th birthday, we conclude our history of this innovative company by coming right up to the end of 2004...

The latest in Roland's SP series of phrase samplers can also double as a computer and audio interface, and PC users can take advantage of a bundled Cakewalk sequencer/mixer. Is this the best SP yet? We find out...

I want to replace our band's two Roland MC50 sequencers with the MC80. Although the MC80 only holds one song at a time in memory, it can play back multiple songs directly from the disk drive, but I was wondering if there was a significant pause time between songs when playing directly from disk?

Isn't it time for the guitar to become the prime means of control for synthesizers instead of the keyboard?

At £1099, the Xa is the most affordable keyboard in the Fantom range. But, inevitably, features have been removed to make it such a bargain. Have Roland thrown out the works from the workstation?