Roland keytars

The Roland Corporation has manufactured several keytars.

Herbie Hancock performing with a Roland AX-7 at the XM Sonic Stage at The Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival

List of Roland keytars

AX-1

The Roland AX-1 was produced between 1992 and 1994.[1] It does not produce sounds, but controls other devices (such as keyboards, sound modules and samplers) via MIDI. The industrial design of the Roland AX-1 was done in a basement studio in London, U.K. by two designers, David Sherriff and Andrew Leggo, who ran a small design studio called Space Logic. The electronic design and engineering was done by Roland Europe, Italy.

AX-7
An AX-7

The Roland AX-7 was manufactured from 2001 to 2007. This modern instrument contains many more advanced features than early keytars such as its predecessor, the Roland AX-1, and the Yamaha SHS-10. It runs on 6 AA batteries or an external power source. It has a 45 velocity sensitive keys (without aftertouch), and a 3-character LED display. Several features aimed towards stage performance are present, such as a pitch bend ribbon, touchpad-like expression bar, sustain switch, and volume control knob, all on the upper neck of the instrument. There is also a proprietary "D-Beam" interface, made up of infrared sensors that detect nearby motion.

In 2007 the Roland AX-7 was discontinued and is succeeded by the Roland AX-Synth since 2009.

MIDI functionality

This instrument functions as a MIDI controller; it produces MIDI messages that are sent to an external synthesizer or sound module. (Thus it produces no sound on its own.) It is fully compatible with General MIDI, General MIDI Level 2, and Roland's own GS MIDI implementation. It has both MIDI in and out ports, and can store up to 128 patches.

AX-Synth

The Roland AX-Synth was released in late August 2009. This modernized instrument builds on the features of its predecessor, the Roland AX-7. The most notable change is the addition of an internal synthesizer. A UV Black-colored "premium" model called "Black Sparkle" was released in September 2010. The AX-Synth has now been discontinued.

AX-9

The Roland Lucina AX-09[2] was released sometime in the 2010s.[3]

AX-Edge

The latest Roland keytar. As of May 2019 is the Roland AX-Edge released in September 2018. The model introduces customizable edge blades.[4] [5]

References
  1. "The History of Roland: Part 4". Sound-on-Sound. February 2005. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
  2. Corporation, Roland. "Roland - Lucina AX-09 | Synthesizer". Roland.
  3. "Roland Lucina AX-09 Keytar Synthesizer | Reverb". reverb.com.
  4. Magazine, Keyboard. "Roland Unveils AX-Edge Keytar". KeyboardMag. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
  5. Corporation, Roland. "Roland - AX-Edge | Keytar". Roland.

Further reading
  • "Roland AX-1". Music Technology. April 1993. p. 22. ISSN 0957-6606. OCLC 24835173.
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