In the world of organs, few have contributed more than Roland. This is in no small part due to a lifetime's commitment to the instrument by Mr. Kakehashi, Roland's founder.
In his mid 20's, he was so impressed by the sight and sound of an early electronic church organ that he decided to develop his own instruments, embarking on what would become his life's work. Mr Kakehashi's passion for the organ is a tale that covers an entire lifetime...
As a young man, Mr. Kakehashi had one sole aim: "to bring organ music to as many people as possible." But pipe organs were - and still are - expensive and difficult to maintain. With this in mind, he set about developing his own electronic organ. The 1960s saw increasing sophistication of the components needed for electronic music production and a greater understanding of the techniques needed to create life-like organ sounds, allowing Mr. Kakehashi to progress steadily towards his goal.
In 1960, he founded Ace Electronic Industries whose initial products included a single manual spinet organ, the SX-601, which became the first Technics organ and the R-1, the world's first transistorised rhythm machine. A partnership with Hammond, the legendary US-based organ manufacturer, enabled Ace Electronic to supply rhythm units for the Hammond organ range and eventually to design and assemble their range of organs for sale all around the world.
1970 saw the introduction of the Hammond Piper, the world's first 'automatic chording' instrument. When a chord was played, the Piper added the appropriate bass parts to match the electronic accompaniment, for the first time making the home organ the perfect entertainment device for the novice. Another milestone for Mr Kakehashi's philosophy of bringing organ music to the masses.
Organ technology has come a long way since those early days, but the knowledge and expertise found in every Roland Atelier organ has been hard won through decades of experience.
Some people will always prefer the more costly pipe organs, but Mr Kakehashi's commitment to organ technology means that modern synthesized sound and acoustic treatment are now completely indistinguishable from the sound of the traditional pipe organ. Mr. Kakehashi's love of the pipe organ led to the purchase in 1988 of Rodgers, an American classical organ builder that has been manufacturing electronic and hybrid electronic / pipe organs since the 1960's.
Purists may doubt that the two distinct forms of sound reproduction - analogue pipes and synthesized sound - can produce identical results, but the case of the Bel Air Presbyterian Church in California may surprise you. In 1994, most of the organ's pipes were damaged in an earthquake. Opinion was split on whether to repair and re-install the pipes at great expense, or to opt for a modern synthesized sound. Eventually it was decided to keep the remaining intact pipes and 'fill in the gaps' with digital sound. Mr Kakehashi and the Rodgers engineers worked alongside the local Rodgers dealer Mr. Bob Tall to create a highly successful hybrid instrument that seamlessly integrates analogue pipe sound with digitally processed sound.
Despite decades at the forefront of organ technology - including working closely with Hammond and Lowrey and developing the first organs for Technics - it would be 1994 when Mr. Kakehashi first released a home organ under the Roland moniker, with the Roland Atelier AT-70 representing the first of what would become a highly successful range of home performance keyboards for Roland.
Those first Ateliers lifted organ technology to new heights, combining state of the art sounds and mechanisms with powerful on-board sequencers that allowed players to record and edit complex arrangements.
And to this day Roland Atelier organs are still pushing sonic and technological limits, thanks to the vision of one man.
Mr Kakehashi sees the organ as the most complete musical instrument - and a field of musical endeavour that has flourished with wave after wave of exciting new technology. "Historically, the organ has been an instrument ideally suited to incorporating new technologies. The process has been going on since well before the advent of electricity and electronics. Overall there have been remarkable advances in organ development."
It's a journey that has seen Mr Kakehashi develop and refine the technology with extensive first hand involvement, and the results speak for themselves. Choose a Roland Atelier organ and you choose the very pinnacle of organ technology.
