I recently spent two weeks at the Roland factories in Japan. The chief reason for the visit was to rehearse with the Frankfurt Fair demonstration band so I was free of the limitations of an organised party and was able to closely study their structure and methods.

Of course, I was impressed by the factories but, then again, I expected to be. What surprised me most was the attitude of the people, particularly those who work in Research and Development.

R&D accounts for 25% of all staff and they seem never to go home. They work on, perhaps until the early hours, to complete a task and they are sure to be at the communal physical jerks at 8.30 next morning. In fact, the huge new keyboard factory at Hamamatsu has an adjoining hostel so that the engineers can literally live and sleep 'on the job'.

Most of them are musicians and the few that are not quickly develop basic instrumental skills and an instinct for the needs of the musician. Even so, new products undergo stringent musical tests as part of a careful checking procedure before they see the 'light of retail shops.'

If he senses that you have an interest in his project an R&D engineer immediately becomes animated and seeks your opinions and observations. A remark may suddenly trigger telephone calls and impromptu meetings which result in you being told something like 'yes, it is possible, thank you very much', or 'that is a good idea but it would make the product too expensive for the market at which it is aimed.'

The keyboard engineers are working, independently, in at least three separate directions. They consider that no one technology can cover all the requirements of the modern musician.

It was a time of great excitement at the factories because new 'flagships' of all three types had just been prepared for the Trade Fair.

The Super JX synthesizer is, according to its designer, the perfect combination of a warm, fat and powerful analogue synthesizer but with the precise control afforded by digital electronics. This was likened to a digital watch with all the accuracy of a quartz crystal but with easy to read 'analogue' hands as opposed to a digital display.

The leader of the keyboard sampler development, on the other hand, was thrilled by the startlingly realistic orchestral and percussive sounds produced by his new S-50 sampler; and with much justification.

To recreate a grand piano with sampling techniques is just about possible. The tone variations over the different pitch ranges and with different dynamics would, however, need a massive memory and price. Structured Adaptive Synthesis is a type of digital re-synthesis developed specifically for keyboard sounds and it achieves these effects much more economically. Read Julian Colbeck's review of the digital piano to see if they have been successful.

Ikutaro Kakehashi, President of Roland, stated that he felt lucky to be surrounded with so many young people. "It is easy to buy talent, but spirit is something else which comes from within". That same spirit, which they like to call the spirit of the Roland Family, starts from the top and is integral to all Roland philosophy through the Company, world wide.