Roland JX-3P and PG-200 "Programmable/Preset/Polyphonic Synthesizer" brochure, 1983

 

Roland JX-3P synthesizer and PG-200 programmer "Programmable/Preset/Polyphonic Synthesizer" four page colour brochure from August 1983.

Well, well... another "We design the future" brochure. I got a million of them. Okay - maybe a few are duplicates. 

Can you blame me? Look at this beauty. All the signs of a Roland brochure from this era - like this JX-8P brochure I published back in 2020 - and the blog post that holds the record by far for hate mail regarding my position on the statement "Too much gear reduces your creativity". But that's another story. 

Where was I... oh yeah - the multitude of other We Design the Future brochures (and those that came after the tagline was dropped, but kept the same design format). At least 11 tagged on the blog to date, and as I find others - like that JX-8P brochure I've scanned, I add the tag to those posts too. 

The centrefolds in these things never disappoint. Flip the cover page open and you get that big gorgeous photo. I don't care if you love or hate the sound or the programming of this thing... it looks awesome. This is what an 80s synthesizer front panel should look like. Yeah yeah... knobs are great - but I equate those with 70s synths. A real 80's synth has one big data knob. Or at most, one or two sets of up/down button. Think Yamaha DX7. Or Oberheim Matrix 6.  :)

But the real history here is Roland's introduction of MIDI to their brochures. The tech was so new, companies were still fiddling about with their buzz words.

"MIDI BUS"

"... can be hooked up with..."

"MIDI BUS connector". 

All oddly awkward and satisfying at the same time.

Roland gives up a bit of real estate on the back page (not enough in my opinion) to discuss MIDI even more. 

"Today's modern digital technology has made it possible to automatically control and synchronize a remarkable variety of electronic instruments. A personal computer can even be incorporated in such systems which usual require no special knowledge or operational techniques. The only problem is that individual makers have in many cases employed mutually incompatible connections and this greatly reduces the performer's potential. A new universal BUS system called MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital interface) solves this problem. It accepts all connections from instruments and devices of a standard signal. Now any standard musical instrument or computer can be connected using DIN cords for both input and output. Thus, MIDI expands the potential of performers and brings unprecedented convenience to the realm of electronic music. The Roland's JX-3P and Jupiter-6 are equipped with the MIDI Bus terminal. "

Probably a few more months before the words "MIDI" and "cable" are finally strung together in a sentence. 

And I love it.

Roland TR-727 drum machine "The Rhythm Composer that keeps you in the groove..." brochure, 1985

 

Roland TR-727 drum machine "The Rhythm Composer that keeps you in the groove..." four page colour brochure from October 1985. 

Hey! Has it really been 20 days since 707 Day!?!?! Well golly-geeeee! 

Happy 727 day, peeps!

No better way of celebrating than by scanning this lovely beast from the archives. (Yes, I also flinched when I used the word "beast" to describe a vintage brochure of a vintage drum machine). But there ya go. What's done is done.

The 1984-1986 period was an awkward one for drum machines. It was like watching your teenager go through puberty. You wanted to look away, but had to keep one eye on 'em to ensure no one got anyone else pregnant, make sure they washed their face, and wait it out until they grew into a fully (semi) functioning adult. 

In the case of drum machines, it was watching them make that transition from analog to digital, while keeping one eye on the cost of memory as it slowly came down.

Okay, not the best analogy. Let's just say there was a lot going on and a lot of moving parts. 

As 1984 ticked by and 1985 reared its ugly teen-age head out of the bedroom after a three day binge of Fortnite and McD's, it was just a matter of time before the intersection between the cost of memory and the cost of manufacturing hit that sweet spot. Someone got the bright idea that they could just swap out the digital sounds in a drum machine they had already manufactured, give the casing a new paint job, and slap it on the back, out the door, onto music store shelves.

And to that end, we had Boss come out with their Super Drums (DM-110) and Super Percussion (DM-220), Yamaha with their RX21 and RX21L, and of course Roland with their TR-707 and TR-727. 

Each pair housed in VERY similarly manufactured boxes, with their sounds switched out for alternative percussion sounds. 

It was an interesting and short-lived (experiment) solution to keeping the price-point of your drum machine down until memory came down to the point you could start really backing one single machine with tons of sounds. If I recall, it was Boss/Roland that managed to get their percussion-based boxes out the door before Yamaha, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. 

Anyways, enough about those other two - I've got brochure scans ready to rock for a later date. Today is the day to let the 727 shine. 

Quickly - we've got the classic Roland "We design the future" layout. Cover with large font up top and sexy photo on the bottom. And what a sexy photo this is - pairing the 727 with the Octapad PAD-8, looking longingly at each other in the subdued lighting. I can here the TR-727 softly whispering "come hither". Put some lace on that PAD-8 and this could be a Harlequin Romance book cover. Just saying. 

Let's face it, Roland was expecting a large audience of the 727 to be trained percussionists, and as a friend of many percussionists, I can tell you that they love to hit things. The PAD-8 becomes the perfect companion for programming a TR-727. Although with the rigid timing of the 727, it possibly could have ended up to be more frustrating in the end. 

With their interest peaked, the reader slowly opens the cover to reveal the inside pages. And it doesn't disappoint. The Roland TR font makes me so happy, as do the large photo and diagrams included! What's interesting is the shear amount of text packed into those pages - especially on the right page. 

So much so, that they really had to compromise the negative space of the pages to fit it all in there. 

Compare it to the 707 brochure and you can see what I mean. Subtitles are crowded in the 727 brochure, and even the line spacing of the paragraphs seem claustrophobic. 

But now I'm just quibbling. It's still lovely. 9.5/10. 

Now flip to the back page and we have that PAD-8 again. Coming back for some more of that sweet sweet 727 lovin'. And it looks like it brought it's friend along for a good time. 

Bow-chicka-wow-wow. 

The perfect upsells. 

Have a safe and happy 727 day. 

Roland "We design the future" MC-202 Microcomposer brochure, 1983

Roland "We design the future" MC-202 Microcomposer 8-page colour brochure from 1983.

Happy 2/02 day! And I got a doozy for ya. Behold the magnificent MC-202 "We design the future" brochure.

Over the last couple of weeks, we've heard a lot of about hedging. In particular, GameStop's share price skyrocketing, messing with hedge funds that poured huge amounts of cheddar into shorting Gamestop's stock. And then those hedge funds having to hedge those shorts by buying stock at an ever increasing price, making the stock go even higher. Or, at least that's how I understood it. Don't @ me if I'm wrong.

Point is... Hedge. And I'm thinking this MC-202 brochure is kinda symbolic of Roland's hedge against MIDI. I'm not saying Roland was against MIDI - NOT AT ALL! They were definitely on the forefront of the technology. I just think, like any good company would and should, they were hedging their bets. 

More on that in a bit. But first, for some background info (and because its simply amazing!), we need to flip through the brochure.

Like most of the "We design the future" brochures, we get that classic front page - a large red title, large artistic image, that lovely logo top left. Flip to page 2 and 3, and we continue Roland's classic brochure format with a large image of the featured piece of gear and some great marketing info. Yum!

But then something weird happens. We turn the page to what should be the back of the brochure.

WHAT THE? 

More info? That's right - no back page here. Instead we get two more pages on how to use the MC-202 specifically. So awesome. Lot's of diagrams. Lot's of info. Read through that an you are pretty much an expert on programming the MC-202. 

*throws manual in garbage* Thank you very much. 

Okay...  NOW let's flip the page and take a look at what's on that back page...

SHUT THE FRONT DOOR! EVEN MORE INFO!

First a page titled "Play Bach" that puts those programming chops we just memorized on the previous two pages to work to actually churn out some Bach on the MC-202. No kidding.   And across the street we get a page devoted to the "Expandability of the MC-202" which includes a Who's Who list of kick-butt Roland products while describing what's going on on the back panel of the 202.  

Wicked. 

Then. FINALLY. We turn the page and get the classic brochure back page that Roland is known for. Info on Roland's TB-303, TR-606 and SH-101. 

Interestingly, all these devices on that page have one thing in common (besides being Roland gear):  

No MIDI. 

MIDI was just around the corner and by 1983 Roland, who was a big developer of MIDI technology, had already started on the design of Roland's first MIDI interface - the MPU-401. But what if MIDI didn't take off? What if it was a dud? 

I believe Roland spent significantly more resources, print ink and page real estate on this MC-202 brochure to hedge that MIDI bet. I realize, in the grand scheme of things, the cost of this brochure would pale in comparison to the cost of the development of that MPU-401 interface. It's really more of a symbolic hedge after spending significantly more money on developing Roland's next gen non-MIDI gear - the TB-303, TR-606 and SH-101. 

Yeah, sure, I have no data to back any of this up. It's just a hunch. 

But I did just hedge my comment by saying I have no data to back any of this up. :)

Aaaaah. Hedging.

Roland JX-8P / PG-800 "Simple to operate..." synthesizer colour brochure, 1985

Roland JX-8P synthesizer / PG-800 programmer  "Simple to operate" synthesizer colour brochure from January 1985

The JX-8P has played an interesting part in my life. I sell very few synths, but I've bought and sold a number of  JX-8Ps and its bigger brother, the Super JX. Usually it's come and gone during the peaks and valleys of my life and even my therapist brings it up as a way of highlighting certain behaviours in my life.

One of those deep valleys that involved the JX-8P was when my creativity had hit rock bottom. Life wasn't going well, there was a ton of stresses pushing down hard on me and all that gear was just sitting there not being used.

Many synth-head friends that I talked to, online and off, made the same remark:

"Too much gear reduces your creativity."

If you don't live under a rock, chances are you've seen (or even written) a similar type of post or comment in an online forum. It isn't new - I'm sure I first saw it on listservs and newsgroups back in the '90s. But more recently this phenomenon has become an almost-daily occurrence on forums like Reddit and in Facebook groups. Just two days ago, I came across FOUR of these types of posts in different Facebook groups.

In particular, more and more people seem to love blaming a pile of gear they have purchased for...

• their lack of creativity
• their inability to master one particular piece of gear
• wasting their time noodling when they could be making music

Like everyone else, I too came to the false conclusion that the solution was to remove the gear from the equation. Or most of it anyways. Little did I know at the time that I was just putting a band aid on the problem. And luckily I could never bring myself to selling much gear anyways except for that dang JX-8P - but that was another issue I had to work out with myself. And I eventually bought that JX-8P back.

In the end, it would take years of  trial and error and a wack of therapy to unravel all the issues surrounding my unhealthy relationships between people, money, gear and creativity to figure out what the real problems were. But it was worth it. And although my experience is unique, the solution is not. 

Before I could get to the solution, I needed to ask myself two questions:

The first question: Why did I feel the need to purchase all that gear?

For me - at first it was because I was genuinely interested in gear. But as decades of life wore me down, it became less about the functionality of the gear and more about the thrill of the purchase - that hit of dopamine every time I bought something new. For others, maybe its to be validated or accepted within a peer group. Or Maybe they think it will help them be more creative.  I'm sure there are other reasons too, but those other ones never were a part of my problem, and I eventually figured out what to do about the bad habits I had formed.

The second question: Now that I had all this gear and I'm not using it - is it really inhibiting my creativity, or is there something else going on here?

There can obviously be many reasons why you haven't been creative lately. But, this idea that inanimate objects are somehow responsible for a reduction in creativity doesn't fly. 

This isn't an "abundance of music technology" problem. This is a psychological problem.

The Internet didn't just affect my synth purchasing habits, it also changed how I consumed media. Many, including myself, have become conditioned to living distracted lives. Even my career in digital marketing and communications enabled me to be distracted by constantly jumping back and forth between different projects.

For me, these bad habits made it harder and harder to concentrate on any activity for any significant length of time. Making music in my little studio decreased and that had a negative effect on everything else in my life. That would make me crave my hit of dopamine so I'd purchase another synth. I wouldn't use that synth either, which then affected me even further.

A viscous circle.

As I finally figured out, the real solution was to learn to concentrate again. To gain the focus-based skills and self-awareness techniques required to be able to be fully present when in the studio. And the big benefit was that these skills have come in handy in ALL ASPECTS of my life.

There are lots of tools and techniques in books and online that can help. It's not easy, especially when there is so many things going on around us. But why not start while you are self-isolating anyways?  Professional therapy helps a lot too - because its rarely about inanimate objects. And it's rarely just about getting your studio mojo back.

Now when I see one of those "too much gear" posts, I have a standard reply that revolves around two main principles:

1. Inanimate objects aren't making you less creative. Whether than means having too many inanimate objects, or not being creative because you don't have a particular inanimate object. You can learn concentration skills to be fully present in the activity of creating music, even when you are in a room full of potential distractions, and those focus-based skills and self-awareness techniques will help in all aspects of life.
Self-check: Do you have to remove gear from your sight in order to be creative with other gear? Do you think that next particular synth is "all you need" to complete your studio?

2. Its okay to buy as little or as much gear for your personal enjoyment. As long as you can afford it and its not just a dopamine hit to fill a void in your life.
Self-check: Can you still feed your children if you buy it? Do you get an anxiety attack every time the credit card bill comes in?  Are you jealous of other peoples gear? Do you get anxious about not using the gear you do have?  How easy would it be to sell the gear you have if you absolutely had to?

I'm not saying this is the only answer. But I am telling you want the answer ultimately isn't. Unless the inanimate object is literally a brick wall between you and your music gear, then there is a good chance it's the wall in your head.

Either way, get rid of the wall.

Roland Alpha Juno 1/2 "An easy to operate synthesizer with excellent sound quality" brochure, 1986

Roland Alpha Juno 1 /2 "An easy to operate synthesizer with excellent sound quality" six-page colour brochure from January 1986.

Well, since I was discussing Junos in my last post, I figured I may as well keep the theme going by scanning this brochure featuring the next generation of Juno - the Alpha series.

Although not technically a "We design the future" brochure, it keeps all the design aspects of the series, except for the tag phrase itself, which had been phased out years before.  We get a cover page with the giant Roland logo, a large red title and a photo that incorporates some kind of cool background - in this case some kind of semi-transparent folding screen or paper. So I've tagged it with the "We design the future" label anyways.

And, as expected, opening the brochure up reveals a large photo of an Alpha Juno syn... wait a second! In this case, when you open the brochure, you first see a smaller barn door-type page that has the right side of the Alpha Juno 1 on it along with some gold nuggets. The cool thing is it fits perfectly with the left site of the Alpha Juno 2 on the pages within, giving the illusion of a full image of the Juno 1.

Confused? It's a bit hard to explain so I've included a short gif below of what you see when you open the cover page.

Now, when you open that inner page up, it reveals the inside pages that include a large three-page image of the Alpha Juno 2!  That's a great way to problem-solve the issue of trying to fit photos of both large synths on just the inside pages.

The Alpha Juno series of synths were an evolution of sorts for Roland synths. Their DCOs produced significantly more wave forms than previous synths like the MKS-80 and JX-8p, and they had a distinctive 8 parameter envelope. The brochure rightfully highlights both of these features, but only after highlighting the different between the two Alpha synths themselves. Those three differences being:

1. Keyboard size - the Juno 2 with its 61 keys, and the Juno 1 with 49.
2. The Juno 2 had velocity and pressure sensitivity - a no-go for the Juno 1.
3. The Juno 2 had the luxury of a M-64C cartridge for extra patch storage, while the Juno 1 had to suffer with cassette tape back up.

Both machines luckily had the alpha dial - a great (and fun!) way to edit data. I'm definitely Pro-dial. I love it just as much as I love the Alpha's filter.

Last, but not least, no Alpha Juno post would be complete without mentioning its most famous sound... the hoover!

If you've been living under a rock, then you can catch up quickly by reading this wikipedia entry on this unique sound.

There. I mentioned it. Happy?

Roland Juno-60 "We design the future" brochure, 1982

Roland Juno-60 "We design the future" four page colour brochure from September 1982.

I saw an interesting graph the other day. Not sure where I first saw it, but it spread quickly on social media. Luckily it didn't take me long to track it down.

The graph was part of a great Reverb.com article titled "Why Do Vintage Roland Junos Continue to Go Up in Price" by Dan Orkin and tracked the site's historical used prices for the Juno-106, Juno-6 and Juno-60 from 2014-2019. Not surprisingly, all three show a positive price trend. Also not surprisingly - while the Juno-106 and Juno-6 have been climbing at a similar pace, the Juno-60 has been slowly gaining even more ground in comparison.

Ignoring the obvious bad choice of capitalization in the title of the Reverb article, and not ignoring the obvious good choice in linking to my Juno-60 advertising scan, Dan does great job of summarizing why these three synths deserve all the recognition they get. Lots of great references and links all around the Web too.  Top notch - worth the read.

Without giving too much away, a big part of what the Juno's rawk are their great sound and an easy-to-use interface. Most importantly, as Dan writes, "many devotees claim that the -60 delivers the most aggressive or distinctive sound, which may contribute to it claiming the highest prices."

For me, that's exactly why.  :)

You can find these Juno devotees on lots of sites giving high praise to the Junos, including Vintage Synth Explorer.

While VSE gives the 106 five stars, users rate it 4.1 stars.

In comparison, the Juno-60 gets four stars from the site - but users rate it slightly higher than the 106 with 4.2 stars.

And for comparison, the Juno-6 only gets three stars (!) from the site but the user rating beats the Juno-106 by a hair at 4.11 stars.

The users have spoken!

Now, before I start getting off-topic and start ranting about those who rant about the ever-increasing prices of vintage synths and drum machines, the reason I brought up the graph was that it was a reminder to dig up this Juno-60 brochure for the blog. I knew I had it around somewhere.

The cover of the brochure follows Roland's standard "WE DESIGN THE FUTURE" format - Roland logo in top left with a big bold red title and lots of negative space in the top half, while south of the equator is usually a studio shot of the gear, maybe with a buddy or two included, and some kind of background or texture.

In this case that buddy is the MC-4 sequencer (a lovely choice) and the background texture is some kind of corrugated metal or plastic (another lovely choice).

Open up the brochure and BAM! A lovely centrefold screaming to be made into a poster. And specs. Lots of specs. Including the Arpeggio section. And one of my favourite modulator controls on any synth - the LFO trig button.

Back page is nothing to sneeze at either. A large photo of the rear panel including that pre-midi curiosity of a DCB connector. And further down... oh boy - small little promos for the lovely TB-303 and TR-606.

So far I've posted six other Roland brochures in the "We design the future" series including the SH-101, Jupiter 6, TR-808/606/303 Rhythm Machines, TR-909, MSQ-700 and MSQ-100.

And to make it easy for you, I've created a "We design the future" label. One stop shopping!

Gonna leave it at that for now. But don't think I've forgotten about that rant. I'm saving it for later.

Roland Jupiter-6 "We Design The Future" brochure, April 1983

Roland Jupiter-6 "We Design The Future" four page colour brochure from April, 1983.

Yeaaah... I got a bit of a buzz going for Roland at the moment. As much as I'm a diehard analog gearhead, I really am digging their new AIRA products. Normally I would knee-jerk to anything new that is supposed to resemble the old, but after my knee-jerk to the Korg MS-20mini, I decided to take a wait-and-see approach. And I'm glad I did.

I've even proclaimed on Twitter that I'm going to retire my TB-303 and TR-808. Not sell... just retire. I'll still pull them out every now and then to play with, but for recording and live shows I'm going to be using the TB-3 and TR-8 from now on. I've done a few simple YouTube tests (more on that a bit later in the blog post) and I figure if they can get the TR and TB done correctly, why stop there. I'd love to retire my lovely Jupiter-6 too  :)

And thus the reason for posting this Jupiter-6 brochure. I love that thing.

I've blogged about a number of Roland's other "We Design The Future" series of brochures including:

• the SH-101 brochure
• the MSQ 700 brochure
• the MSQ-100 brochure
• the TR-909 brochure
• and, of course, the classic "Rhythm Machines" TR-808/TR-606/TB-303/CR-8000/CR-5000

None of those brochures disappoint, and neither does this Jupiter-6 brochure. Except for the hole punches, but that's not Roland's (or my own!) fault. People have to stop hole punching these things.

Those inside pages are especially nice - a great big photo of the Jupiter 6 and a nice diagram of the back panel too. But really intrigues me is that purplish call out box on the left side that has the rectangles and cones sitting on something that resembles the slat wall that holds up all my keyboards in my studio. Why isn't THAT the image on the front cover? That would be more aligned with the other more creative front covers of the other brochures.

That back page is also great. The specs are always nice to see clearly laid out, but its the images of the other synths currently available from Roland that I find useful as a way of knowing exactly what gear Roland was still officially selling as of April 1983 when the brochure was printed. Helps with those reference timelines.

Anyways, enough about the brochure. It's awesome. We all know it.

And as you might have guessed, I find Roland's new AIRA gear just as awesome. I mentioned near the beginning of this blog post that the first thing I did when I got my Roland AIRA TB-3 and TR-8 was turn them on and set them up side-by-side with the originals for a little simple testing. Nothing as detailed as you'll find elsewhere online. Just something to give me an idea.

Now, if you recall from my last blog post on the Big Briar Touch Ribbon Controller, I had been side-tracked from creating my first Retro Synth Ads video. But I'd done all the leg work to figure out how exactly I was going to set up the camera, get audio from the mixer into the mic jack of the camera, etc... . So, I decided to finally get my first video up and running last Thursday evening with that test.

For my first YouTube video, I think it turned out okay!

Next up was a little test of the TB-303 against a few of the different clones I have - the XOXBOX, the TB-3 and the TT-303. I programmed the same pattern into all of them and turned on the video camera.

In my opinion, all of them do an okay impression. The TB-3 is a little more bassy, and the TT-303 tends to loose the growl during long slides. But both of those may be user-error. Remember, there were just simple tests after very little time with the machines. Overall, with effects added in, very few people would know the difference.

The thing I love about the TB-3 is that it goes above and beyond the classic "303" sound. So, I took out both of them (yes, I bought two - don't judge me) and decided to try and push them outside there normal 303 comfort zone.  I uploaded that final video on Friday night.

Accompanied by the TR-8 as well as my MC-202 for a bit of vintage flavour, I just created a few small riffs and started the recorder. Not too shabby for 10 minutes of work.

All in all - I'm digging the AIRA line and the technology behind them. And for the record, Roland isn't paying me to say that.

Roland TR-909 drum machine four page brochure, 1984

Roland TR-909 drum machine four page brochure from March1984.

Last post of August - end of the summer. Wanted to post something kinda special - at least to me any ways.

My TR-909 is special to me. And this TR-909 brochure isn't far behind. In my scale of all things "special", these two items fall somewhere between a good steak and my dog. Yup. That special.  :D

And I don't think I'm the only one that puts their 909 just behind their dog in specialness. I'm a firm believer that you can tell just how special something is by how good the Wikipedia page is. Not how long or detailed. Just how 'good'. And the TR-909 page is short, but pretty darn good.

Sure, Wikipedia tells me it still needs a few more citations, but that page is full of facts. And I love facts. Like first MIDI-equipped drum machine. And 10,000 units made.

Facts.

Love 'em.

The brochure itself is just as awesome.  It's part of Roland's "We Design the Future" set of brochure that started printing around 1982 or so, the most recent of which I posted was the MSQ-100 and MSQ-700 digital keyboard recorder brochures.

The link to the MSQ-700 blog post includes links to other brochures in the series including the SH-101, and Roland's "Rhythm machines" - TB-303, TR-606 and TR-909. 

The 909 brochure shares many of the themes with the others in the series. The front cover is split in half, sporting a lovely photo of the machine on the bottom. The theme colours used in the other brochures are also present - light pinks and greens. But we get a real treat when we open it up to reveal that page 2 and 3 share an awesome black background colour. It works so well with the light-coloured 909 that it looks simply dashing!

These inside pages contain all those great facts I love so much, lined up down the left hand side next to a really large photo of the front panel. And, as is tradition with these brochures, Roland provides a number of typical use scenarios showing how the machine can be wired up with other great Roland products. Since the 909 has both a reliable SYNC jack as well as newly-introduced and not-yet-proven MIDI jacks, Roland plays it safe by including syncing scenarios using both technologies - bringing along for the ride an MSQ-700, MC-202 (! - another one of the favourites in my studio), and a JX-3P/Jupiter 6.

Well played Roland... well played.

The only beef with these middle pages is the cropped image of the 909 in the top right corner, on top of an image of a 909. Not sure we really need that profile shot.  Just makes the page look a little messy.

The back page has to be the most disappointing of any Roland back pages I've come across recently. The specs are fine, but the fact that Roland only promotes two other instruments - one of them being the lowly HP-400 Electric Piano - is a little bit of a downer to end such a gorgeous piece of art.

But them the breaks.

Like I said - its the end of August. And best of all, its 7:30 in the evening and it's still +34 degrees C out.  Booya! Time to go enjoy.... an air conditioned movie theatre.

Finally seeing Batman. I know. About time.

Roland MSQ-100 MIDI Digital Keyboard Recorder brochure, 1984

Roland MSQ-100 MIDI Digital Keyboard Recorder 4-page colour brochure from 1984.

Do you think the Roland MSQ-100 had a bit of an inferiority complex? It's  bigger brother the MSQ-700 was probably getting a lot more attention at the time, with its larger foot print and sleek white design. And the MSQ-700 also had that DCB port - immediately putting it on the same level as Roland's slowly aging, but still awesomely spectacular top of the line Jupiter 8.

But as far as I can tell through Google searches, the diminutive MSQ-100 is still as sought after today as it's bigger brother for its MIDI -> DIN SYNC abilities, apparently allowing it to sync your TB303/606/808 with the rest of your MIDI gear. I couldn't tell you. I've never had one.

But I can tell you for sure that this brochure rocks my socks. That front cover is enough of a reason to dig this thing. I'm not sure who actually piles up their Jupiter 6, JX-3P and Juno-106 like that, but I guess Roland needed to fit them all into the photo. It's almost like that 106 is photo-bombing the rest of them.

The inside of the brochure has some great reference information as well, but oddly, Roland chose to use green text on a purple background for the promotional part of the blurb. I can understand if you missed it at first when you glanced at the scan, but its the in the middle of the two-pager. Luckily the rest of the text is black and a lot more readable.

This brochure shares a few other features also found on the MSQ-700 brochure. First, that back page is being used for the promotion of a few other pieces of Roland gear. In this case, the same synths that are doing the front cover pile-on. We get some good juicy photos with some decent specs. 

The other thing this brochure has in common with the MSQ-700 brochure is the fact it includes the print date on the back. In my blog post for the MSQ-700, I mentioned how this helped show that Roland was still using their awesome tag line "We design the future" all the way into March 1984. And now, with this brochure, we see it used as late as June 1984!

I know that three months doesn't sound like much, but when you are talking about anything remotely related to the fast pace of MIDI development, three months can seem like a life time.

For example, the April 1984 issue of Keyboard included an article on the January 1984 NAMM show, and as Dominic Milano states, you could almost hear the chant "MIDI MIDI MIDI". It was apparently a gong show. And, according to Dominic, "Roland was at the head of the pack by a fair distance with MIDI-equipped everythings".

The list of products Roland showed was extensive, and most included MIDI. These including the MKB-1000 MIDI keyboard-controller, JX-3P, JP-6, MKS-10 piano module, MKS-30 synth rack, MSQ-700 sequencer, JSQ-60 DCB interface, MD-8 MIDI-DCB converter, MM-4 MIDI through box, GR-707 MIDI guitar synth, TR-909 drum machine, MPU-401 MIDI processing unit, and last but not least, Juno-106.

But did you catch it? Yup. No mention of the MSQ-100. And yet the brochure print date was June 1984. That's only five months later, yet it wasn't shown at NAMM.  Even if just a prototype was available, you think they would have brought it out to the trade show. So that makes me think that Roland (along with MIDI in general) may have been on a really fast development pace with the MSQ-100.

Hope all that logic made sense.

Anyways, it doesn't look like the MSQ-100 got much attention in ads or promos either. That is, until it finally appeared in a Keyboard Report of its own IN JULY 1985!!! Yup. More than a year after its apparent launch. Luckily, Dominic wields the pen well in the full page review, which of course includes basic features and operating procedures, as well as my fav, its list price- $625.00. Yum.

That long delay before its Keyboard Report really only shows just how popular this little piece of hardware must have been. If it was over a year later that Keyboard decided to run a report on the 100, it must have still been on sale and in use.

Hmmm... Maybe I should pick one up.

Roland MSQ-700 MIDI DCB Multi-Track Digital Keyboard Recorder brochure, 1984

Roland MSQ-700 MIDI DCB Multi-Track Digital Keyboard Recorder 4-page brochure from 1984.

It's been too long, Roland. Too long. I haven't blogged about anything totally amaz-balls about Roland for over half a year. Eight months even. Time for a big Roland bear-hug.

For the longest time in the late 80s and I think even into the early 90s, there had been a MSQ-700 and a DrumFire drum trigger device sitting in a downtown pawn shop. I wanted them both for like forever. but never got around to buying them. I would go "pawning" every weekend with my bestie and they would be sitting there. Sad. And lonely.

And then one day after years and years, they were both just gone. GONE! And for some reason, my yearning turned to disgust and ever since I've had a serious illogical hate-on for the MSQ-700. Oh, I still wanted it, but just so I could sit there staring at it with squinting beady little eyes.

Over time, that hatred has died down a little bit. And it got a little better when this brochure landed in my sticky little hands. Doesn't that violet colour on the inside pages just sooth the soul? I think they paint prison cell walls that colour to keep the inmates passive.

Yeah, this brochure is ten kinds of awesome.

For one, it pulls Roland's "We design the future" tag line all the way into 1984. This tag line started life earlier in the 1980s as "We want you to understand the future", and could be found on such famous ads as this 2-pager for the Jupiter 8,  and the 1-pagers for the TR-808 and TB-303/606.

But I guess Roland found that tag line a little awkward, so they trimmed it up nicely into "We design the future" and around 1982 started slapping it onto brochures for their Rhythm Machines (hello 808, 606, 303!) and SH-101.

 

The new tag line also appeared in some Roland ads such as this 1983 2-page ad for Roland's whole family of products.

 But this MSQ-700 brochure was printed in March 1984 - showing that although the tagline was slowly being discontinued as early as 1983 (it didn't appear in 83's ads for Roland's Juno 6 or Juno 60  ads) it was still actively being used as late as 1984.

Looking inside the brochure, the first line really does pop out at you:

"The first MIDI-compatible sequencer in the world."

Really?  I knew it was an early one. But "the first"? I just had to do some Googlin'.

I quickly came across a great April 1996 Sound On Sound article on the MSQ-700 written by Steve Howell. It pretty much explains every little detail - including the fact that "MSQ" stands for Midi SeQuencer. It also notes that it was Roland's first sequencer, as well as an "underrated little sequencer from the early days of MIDI". But it doesn't mention that it was THE FIRST.

Another search result that temporarily distracted me from further blogging was Vintage Synth Explorer's Sequencer page. It has info on a wack of sequencers including a small section on the 700, but again, no mention of it being "the first" MIDI compatible sequencer in the world. That page also led me to Roland's manual archive page. Wowza. Bookmarked.

The "Music Sequencer" Wikipedia page also lists it as "one of the earliest multitrack MIDI sequencers (8tr)", referencing the Emulator Archives as its source. But when I clicked to go over to the Emulator Archives Web page, IT WAS GONE! This was definitely going to distract me from blogging.

A quick WhoIs check-up later, I found that  the domain expired on July 20, 2012 and is pending renewal or deletion. GAH!  I panic'd, jumped to Vintage Synth Explorer's forum page and wrote a small post asking if anyone knew what was going on.

Then, when I got my wits back, I did a bit more Googling and found out that the site was created waaaaay back when by Rob Keeble - the man behind AMSynth modules. I've since sent him an email to see wussup.

In the end, after all the searching, I didn't actually get my answer on whether this was actually the first MIDI compatible sequencer. But I had a fun time looking.  So, I'll have to take Roland's word for it. 

The rest of the brochure is classic Roland awesomeness. Big photos. Great diagrams. In a word, dreamy.

And, of course, a little bit of extra promotion on the back page. This time for their "newest" drum machine - the TR909, and also their Jupiter 6. Both include small descriptions and specifications.

Nice way to end a brochure. And a nice way to end a blog post. Time to enjoy today's great weather.

Roland SH-101 brochure, 1982

Roland SH-101 brochure from 1982.

I know that the first thing I think about when it comes to making music with an SH-101 is hard liquor.

Wait. What?

Most of the Roland 'We Design the Future' brochures that I've come across from around this time period feature a front image that includes a stylish photo of the instrument(s) along with some mood lighting and an accent piece - something like plexi-glass cylinders, gray tiling, or even glass marbles such as can be seen on the cover of the Roland Rhythm Machines brochure (303, 606, 808...) I just blogged about.

But the photographer Roland hired for this photo shoot decided that nothing screams monophonic mini-keytar synth like wood flooring with what looks to be a bottle of J.D. in the background.

I'm not complaining - I'm a big fan of Jack. It's just an interesting choice.

According to the print info on the back page, the brochure came out only a month after the Roland Rhythm Machines brochure (see link above) . And like that brochure, this one also pulls in other Roland gear so the reader can get an idea of all the compatibility options available in Roland's gear-world - in this case some nice clean diagrams (with photos!) of the pre-midi sync options available with the TB-303 and TR-606, as well as cv/gate control options with the CSQ-600/100 and MC-4.

As for the synthesizer itself, it's tough to say whether or not Roland really knew what they were trying to achieve with the SH-101. On the one hand they wanted to shrink the hell of out it. But on the other hand, unlike the 303 and 606 that took shrinkage to a whole new level, Roland also wanted the SH-101 to be a performance machine - one that you could pull over your shoulder, slap on the optional MSG-1 controller, and give your guitarist a run for his money at the front of the stage.

And, in the end, it looks like Roland really pulled off that balancing act well. Julian Colbeck sums in up best in his Keyfax series of books:

"...the SH-101 clearly demonstrates Roland's change of attitude to what it thinks we need in this type of instrument. It's goodbye to all the 50 million routing permutations and modulation applications that were offered on the early SH models and hello simplicity, hello end-product controllers. By end-product controllers, I mean all those things you can do with a basic sound once set up. Not only does the SH-101 have a vastly expanded performance panel, but there's a multi-mode arpeggiator and even a small sequencer."

You just have to look at the excellent reference information included in this brochure to get an idea of what Julian is talking about. Those inside two pages are packed with great info, along with a really really large front panel shot of the SH-101 itself.

Roland was definitely changing things up from it's earlier synthesizers. We're talking a full monophonic synth (plus sub osc), arpeggiator, sequencer, two-and-a-half octave keyboard, great performance control, and a modulation grip/keytar option.

Now, pack all that into nine-pounds of multi-coloured goodness and give it a list price of just under $500 - that's quite the deal.

Compare it to the competition of the time to get a good idea of just what a great job Roland did.

The Moog Liberation (Wikipedia), has a full-size 3.5 octave after-touch keyboard with an internal monophonic synthesizer (and poly organ). But had a list price of $1395 at the time, and has been described by more than a few as bulky and heavy.

Sequential Circuit's Remote Prophet (Vintage Synth Explorer) brought the price point down to just under $900, had a four octave keyboard and was relatively light weight, but only worked with the Prophet.

The Yamaha CS-01 put Roland to shame in the shrinkage department (Vintage Synth Explorer). $295 got you a monophonic synthesizer with breathe-control and a very small, thin, and light weight package. But it's 32 mini-keys probably made it too small for professional multi-octave solo-riffs.

I think if you take the best of each of these machines, you pretty end up with an SH-101.

And I like it.

Roland Rhythm Machines TR-808, TR-606, TB-303, CR-8000, and CR-5000 brochure, 1982

Roland Rhythm Machines brochure featuring the TR-808, TR-606, TB-303, CR-8000 and CR-5000, as well as a few special guests including the Jupiter-8, Jun0-60, Juno-6 and SH-101.

Whoa!

This is one of my favorite brochures of all time! I've wanted to share it for a while - but was waiting for a larger scanner. And this piece of art deserved the wait.

But, while this brochure is definitely awesome in all its awesome geariness (I just made up that word), it is also kinda awkward. It's like watching a re-run of Meerkat Manor, knowing that the cute little happy, cuddly, family is about to be taken down by a big predator.

And by that, I mean MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface).

All the information provided in this brochure pre-dates the launch of MIDI technology by less than a year. According to Wikipedia's MIDI page, by the time this brochure came out, talks between the manufacturers were well underway, and the protocol must have been pretty much hammered down. Additionally, Wikipedia's MIDI 1.0 specs page tells us that when the specs launched in August 1983, they included MIDI clock as part of the protocol.

And MIDI clock = the future of sync

But it's like Roland didn't want to let the clueless 303, 606 and 808 know that they were about to be drop-kicked into closets for the next half-decade or so, so the brochure cheerfully and colourfully pushes Roland's own soon-to-be-outdated DIN-sync technology for syncing not only the 606 with the 303, but also with Roland's older cv/gate sequencers such as the MC-4 Microcomposer (launched around 1978) and CSQ-600 Digital Sequencer (launched around 1980).

And it's in Roland's best interest to keep up this promotion - they already had a lot of DIN-sync technology out in the wild, and had to keep pushing it right to the bitter end.

Of course, the change-over to MIDI didn't happen *that* quickly. And, as we all know, in the end the 303, 606, 808, and a multitude of other pre-MIDI gear got the last laugh. Most are now prized by musicians, DJs, and producers around the world, commanding ever-increasing prices, and spawning imitations by many other companies, including Roland.

So, it ain't all bad for this little family.

This brochure was just one of many in Roland's "We Design the Future" set of brochures that ran during the first half of the 80's. Luckily for us, Roland dated all their brochures during this time period and so we know *exactly* when these came off the printing press to see the light of day. You just need to check out the back page - bottom right corner - to know that this one was printed in Japan in November 1982.

The brochure, in a word, is simply gorgeous (okay, two words), and includes everything I've always wished for in a brochure:

• Full-colour
• Great photography highlighting the front panels
• Line drawings of the back panels showing all the in's and out's of each machine
• Technical/reference information for each piece of featured equipment
• Funky ad-copy

As mentioned above, the TB-303 kinda took on a life of it's own later in life (see it's Wikipedia page if you live under a rock), but it's great to be able to look back and see just how Roland was trying to originally position the 303 in the marketplace:

"Roland introduces the world's first computerized bass machine, the great new Bass Line TB-303. This remarkable little unit covers three full octaves. Instead of strings, you use keys to program bass patterns. Up to 64 patterns can be created for use anytime. And, like a bass synthesizer, you have full control over resonance, envelope modulation and other important factors influencing sound quality. When used with Roland's TR-606, you can play bass and drum patterns at the same time. Completely portable, the TB-303 runs on either battery or AC line voltage and comes completely equipped with its own carrying case. A headphones jack is also provided as standard."

"Instead of strings"!!! I love that!

It really gives you a good idea of where the industry, and Japan especially, was trying to go at the time. Smaller. More portable.

Interestingly, Roland's advertisements in Keyboard magazine didn't really match up with their "We Design the Future" brochures from around this time period. Roland was just winding down their "Understanding Technology" campaign that had been running in Keyboard for quite a while - like this two-page Jupiter-8 advertisement. They were also running this "Special Product Report" advertisement. And during the first six months of 1983, Roland switched over to an ad featuring their Juno-60.

Anyways, I'll touch a bit more on Roland's transition to MIDI in future blog posts. I doubt anyone is still reading anyways - not with such a yummy brochure to drool over...