ARTURIA – Jup-8 V – USER MANUAL
7
In 1954 Mr Kakehashi opened an electrical goods and repair shop by the name of
“Kakehashi Musen”. - Later the name was to be changed to Ace Electrical
Company. His initial goal was to produce an electronic instrument capable of
generating simple monophonic melodies, and so he ended up building a
Theremin. Looking for a new challenge, he later built a four-octave organ using
parts from a reed organ, bits of telephones, and simple transistor oscillators. In 1959,
he designed and built a Hawaiian guitar amplifier, but he also went on with his
further organ developments.
On the 18th of April 1972, Mr. Kakehashi established the Roland Corporation.
The first synthesizer from Roland was also Japan's first synthesizer. The SH1000 came
to the market in 1973, just before the Korg 700 did. It was a remarkable instrument,
offering 10 preset tones selectable from colored tabs. You could add vibrato, growl
and portamento to modify the sound.
The System 100, launched in 1975, is another Roland monosynth that would
become sought-after long after production stopped. The System 100 consisted of
five semi-modular products. These were the 101 Synthesizer, the 102 Expander, the
103 Mixer (including a simple reverb), the 104 Sequencer, and the 109 Monitor
Speakers. These units fit together to produce a system that sounded really
interesting.
