[anigbrowl]

This is a fine example of why Roland isn't really relevant in the electronic music gear market any more. They have a great legacy and great marketing department, but I can't remember the last time they released a product that really excited people.

[valdiorn]

They're releasing plenty of products that excited people, it's just that the Roland products that are exciting all came out 20-40 years ago, and they just keep re-issuing them in various formats.

Personally I'd buy the crap out of a Jp8080 Boutique :)

They haven't invented anything new AND exciting for a good decade, though.

[pdntspa]

I've always thought of them as a maker of reliable workhorse stuff. The MIDI keyboard I have from them has been rock solid and it's outlasted at least two others.

[anigbrowl]

My point isn't a dig at their quality (which is excellent) but at their lack of technological innovation for the last ~20 years. Their products are very good, they're just extremely risk averse and resting on a reputation they earned in the 1980s.

[pdntspa]

Ok, but why do they need to be exciting and innovative? I would almost rather they didn't, lest the company pivot into something of the sort and eventually abandon their existing product line.

Besides, a lot of "innovation" in the music space seems to be about how many different ways we can bolt on cloud functionality

[anigbrowl]

Roland says that they're exciting and innovate in their marketing materials, but most of their potential buyers don't find them to be so in recent years.

This PR exercise is not about how Roland is sticking to its proud tradition of timeless, handmade craftsmanship, but about how they are so cool and pushing the technological envelope. The market reaction might be summed up as 'amused skepticism' eg https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2023/01/06/roland-creates...