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Thank You, Mr. Ikutaro Kakehashi...Rest in Peace


Anderton

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Roland founder Mr. Ikutaro Kakehashi has passed away at age 87. His contributions to the industry and musicians everywhere, including his pivotal and crucial role in the co-development of MIDI, changed the musical landscape forever and for the better. From iconic instruments like the TR-808 that remain relevant to this day, to his dedication to guitar synthesis, to synthesizer innovations like the D-50, and so much more, Mr. Kakehashi changed all of our lives in a positive direction that always brought with it a sense of discovery.

 

I was fortunate enough to know Mr. Kakehashi and can attest that he was the real deal. He voraciously consumed anything he could about music and technology. He was never satisfied with the status quo, and was always seeking new ways to bring artistic expressiveness to the intersection of music and technology.

 

It's common when someone passes away to give encomiums that may be a little over the top, but he was a true giant in our world. He will be missed, and while I'm saddened we won't find out what cool innovation he was going to launch next, I'm grateful for everything he did in his time here on earth. Thank you, Mr. Kakehasi. You made our world a better place.

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Back in, I think it was the Christmas of 1983, my grand mother asked me what I wanted. Since she spring some big bucks on my brother for an IBM computer with not one, but two 5-1/4 floppy drives, I said that it would be nice to have a recorder like the Tascam 246, and a drum machine.

 

She asked me how much it was and wrote a check for it. I also got me a analog spring reverb unit.

 

Since the 909 and 808 were both some ungodly hunk of cash, I got the TR 707, cause that's all I could afford. That along was probably 6-700 bucks.

 

 

 

I sold the TR 707 like 2 decades later to some guy in California that was doing club dance music think.

 

My next Tascam unit I did the MIDI thing with that drum machine and a sync line MIDI box. It's been down hill ever since.

 

 

It sure made sitting around my bedroom, taping out drum parts easier.

 

 

 

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I owned 3 different Roland Drum machines over the years, and while I've long since sold them all...They were all bulletproof. Owned 2 different Roland synths, and while the Junos were both great fun, the 106 was the only one I had repeated problems with. Given I'm not a keyboard player, I still had a lot of fun with them...And I've still got a little Roland practice amp that's a little wonder.

RIP Sir.....You did good, innovative, work and left a legacy of sound.

 

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