ITS QUALITY, DIVERSITY, EASE OF USE AND EXPANDABILITY, GAVE IT THE KIND OF MOMENTUM NOT EVEN ROLAND COULD HAVE FORESEEN In the 1990s, the world of the synth was (broadly) divided into smaller, newer companies trying to make the sounds of yesteryear for the kids of tomorrow, and the old guard trying to make every other sound. There were virtual analogues for dance music and great big digital workstations designed for everything else. The big Japanese companies, mostly kept their feet in this latter camp, producing keyboards and modules full to the brim with presets, polyphony, multitimbrality, effects… you name it. And Roland were the biggest proponents of the all-singing sound module.
In the middle of the decade, their JV-1080 was an unassuming release, just another of these power-packed modules,…