The funny thing about how the owner picked the name Roland was that in whatever town they were having their meeting, they opened the phone book and just picked a name out.

This is straight from the mouth of my old Roland rep.

Why does Roland have such a western name?
Founder and President of Roland, Ikutaro Kakehashi, was also the founder of Ace Electronics, but eventually left after a business disagreement with his partner. When he decided to start a new firm, he chose the name Roland because Acetone [the organ they manufactured] got pronounced differently in different places, while Roland was pronounced the same everywhere. Ironically, Roland isn't that easy to pronounce if you're Japanese, since Japanese doesn't have an L sound.
Ian

I owned one of the FR1 Rhythm Aces in the early 70's and played it along with a Lowry Organ first and then a B 3. That was my first OMB. I was in college and playing in a band. We went to a job for the local single's club only to find out we had been replaced by a OMB. He played a Cordovox with a Rhythm Ace. While the other guys in the band got mad and left, I stayed and watched what he did. I said to myself, I can do that, and I've been doing it ever since.

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Songman55
Joe Ayala

aint roland va-76 manufactured in italy ?

Roland's move into home keyboards came about after their aquisition of the Italian company,SIEL in the late 1980's and subsequent production of the E-series "intelligent" keyboards was moved to Italy.

Ian

Ian, I was a Roland and Siel dealer back then,,,I do not recall Roland taking over Siel...Are you saying they just purchased the facility?
I am pretty sure they never took on the Siel line..

Hi Fran,
My information comes from Julian Colbeck of Keyfax.
According to him,Roland aquired the company in the late 80's.
Ian

I can confirm that SIEL was bought by Roland in 1987 (as written in http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan05/articles/roland.htm ). The staff remained almost the same, but Roland provided its technology to the Italian team that started producing a lot of successful arrangers like E-series and G-series.

[This message has been edited by o3bor (edited 02-27-2006).]

[This message has been edited by o3bor (edited 02-27-2006).]

Yes, they are. You can read "Made in Italy" on your VA-76 serial number plate.