Earlier this year, Roland shocked the synth world by going modular with the System-1m and accompanying effects modules (along with sketchy news on the forthcoming System-500 modular system, based on the legendary System-700). They also continued this trend with the recently released System-100 PLUG-OUT software synth and now have created even more of a stir with a teaser video, entitled “Roland Boutique”.
Referring to past classics such as the Jupiter-8, JX-3P, and Juno-106 synth keyboards from the early 80’s, it certainly looks as though we are in for a real treat! For the moment, we can only guess as to what they are about to release, as there’s just three backlit boxes visible in the video, with illuminated LED’s on them (one of which seems to quite closely resemble the layout of the SH-101). There doesn’t seem to be any direct link to the AIRA range, as there’s no green LED’s or panel binding on them from what we can see, which isn’t much.
One thing I certainly hope is that they won’t be a limited edition – as I’m hoping Roland’s use of the word “Boutique” refers more to “classy” than it does to “expensive limited edition”! The eagle-eyed amongst you may also have noticed that they appear to have mini keys (like the recently released Yamaha Reface keyboards), rather than full sized keys.
One thing you can be sure of is that Gearjunkies will bring you more news as soon as we have it!