Roland

The Roland Corporation, usually just referred to as Roland, was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972. Kakehashi had previously founded Ace Electronics Industries, which manufactured combo organs, guitar amplifiers, and effects pedals. He was also contracted by the Hammond Organ company to manufacture rhythm machines for their home organs. In 1973, Kakehashi cut his ties with both companies to concentrate solely on Roland. Since the 1970s, Roland has developed and produced some of the most iconic synthesizers and music instruments, such as the Roland Jazz Chorus amplifier, the TR-808 rhythm composer, the TB-303 bass line, and the Roland Jupiter 8 polyphonic synthesizer. Kakehashi was instrumental in the development of the MIDI standard along with Sequential Circuits’ Dave Smith.