On Sun, 7 May 1995, Howard Cheng wrote:
quoted 1 line Does anyone know why Roland discontinued the 303, 808, 909, et.al?> Does anyone know why Roland discontinued the 303, 808, 909, et.al?
There was a gap of about 5 years between when they stopped selling these
things and when they started showing up cheaply in pawn shops, and became
the basis for so many of the records we listen to. This topic comes up
regularly on the Analogue Heaven mailing list, but in a nutshell...
1. Because these instruments use discrete circuits rather than the "synth
on a chip" found today in most mass-market electronic instruments, they
are considerably more expensive to manufacture.
2. In a business sense, its more lucrative for Roland to focus on the home
sample-playback and soundcard market than for them to devote resources to
what is, in today's market terms, a "fringe" element of the music-making
community -- people who want tweakable knobs and funny sounds from their
instruments, rather than a "super accurate piano sample."
on now: X-102
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dave walker, detroit art services
marmoset@conch.aa.msen.com me & my robots