Roland W-30

The Roland W-30 is a sampling workstation keyboard, released in 1989. It features an on-board 12-bit sampler, sample-based synthesizer, 16-track sequencer and 61-note keyboard.

W-30
Roland W-30
ManufacturerRoland Corporation
Dates1989–1994
Price£1599 GBP [1]
Technical specifications
Polyphony16 voice
Timbrality8[2]
LFOYes (sine peak-hold (with offset))
Synthesis typeSamples
FilterTVF
AttenuatorADSR
Aftertouch expressionYes
Velocity expressionYes
Storage memory15k steps, 20 songs disk: 100k steps, 64 songs
EffectsNo
Input/output
Keyboard61 keys
Left-hand controlCombined Pitch bend and modulation switch
External controlMIDI In, out, thru

Overview

The W-30's "Workstation" title stems from its incorporation of synthesis, sampling and MIDI sequencing capabilities. Although primitive by modern standards, the W-30's onboard sequencer was a practical way to arrange music as opposed to a DAW.

Unusually, while sounds are sampled with 12-bit resolution, they are played back through a 16-bit D-A converter [3] which, in theory at least, improves the sound quality. Nonetheless, the slightly "gritty" nature of the samples could be considered one of the instrument's charms.

The W-30 is compatible with the sound library of the Roland S-50, S330 & S550 dedicated samplers, which are now in the public domain.

Expansion

The workstation's back panel features a blanking-plate labelled SCSI. This allowed the very rare "KW30 SCSI kit" upgrade to be fitted. The KW30 gave the W-30 the ability to behave as a SCSI Master device, and drive SCSI hard drives and CD-ROM players through a standard 25-pin SCSI cable. Copying samples to a SCSI hard drive (maximum usable capacity: 80Mb) dramatically reduces load time compared to the built-in 3.5" floppy disk drive.[4]

Notable users

Eric Sermon (Epmd, Redman)

  • Liam Howlett of The Prodigy used the W-30 as his main songwriting device until 1997's The Fat of the Land and on-stage as a master keyboard up until 2008 [5]
  • Steve Hillier of Dubstar programmed the entirety of the band's first album Disgraceful on a Roland W-30. It was retired for the band's first European tour in 1996 [6]
  • Andrés Bobe of La Ley programmed the keyboards and sequences from 1990-1994, mostly for the album Doble Opuesto [7]
  • DJ Paul of Three 6 Mafia created the gritty, 90s proto-trap sound by re-sampling the groups' hooks to be used across many of their releases. DJ Paul still uses the W-30 to this day. [8]
  • Heroiuki Iwatsugi Used the w30 to write the music for the snes game Wild Guns.
  • Luis Alberto Spinetta's 1991 album Pelusón of Milk was produced mostly on his W-30 at home, while "waiting for Vera", his daughter, to be born[9]

References
  1. "Roland W30 (MT Jul 89)". www.muzines.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  2. SynthArk, Designed by www.1234.info / Modified. "W-30". www.synthark.org. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  3. http://www.dancetech.com/item.cfm?threadid=4155
  4. http://gamelay.usami.com/~netboy/w30/sites/w30.msoft.it/expansion.html
  5. http://theprodigy.info/equipment/w30.shtml
  6. http://www.dubstar.com%5B%5D
  7. http://www.musicapopular.cl/grupo/la-ley/
  8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDCyIKRBbz4
  9. Diez, Juan Carlos (2013). Martropía (Conversaciones con Spinetta). Buenos Aires: Aguilar. pp. 145–147. ISBN 9789870432449.
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