Roland is closing down roland Europe :(

[Asena]

JUST REMEMBER SOME OF THE LEGENDS, Well, IN A GALAX FAR FAR AWAY

i had funn whit my stuff, BUT after some series mistakes from ROLAND i went to KORG more,

VST,s is the future all say, NO not for me, In studio YES, In live i wanna play Real things

[MoonMusic]

Actually, I can understand closing down certain branches of your business if your losing a lot of money...That just makes sense....What I don't understand is not putting resources into bringing out new exciting products....That's going to be the final nail in the coffin if they can't bring something to the table that excites people enough to want to part with their cash....They should have been doing that a couple years ago....Now you can argue that korg did the same thing by rehashing old technology with the Kronos but I disagree....They was able to take old technology that was only available to the "elite" few add even more features, made it more affordable and introduced it to the MASSES.....That was exciting to me and I was very happy to reward them by buying one....The integra7 however doesn't offer anything I didn't already have at one time or another besides some srx cards sounds....That's not exciting to me....I really hope they have something cool to show at namm in a few more months....I agree though it would be hard not to list the V-synth under exciting....That would be the exception to me....moon

[MoonMusic]

I'm not a live player (all studio work) so this is where my opinion on the V-drums comes from - I don't understand their top of the line V-drums line either (From a studio point of view)....I have a small kit with mesh heads that works just great and triggering samples in protools is easy and sounds awesome....I have the cheapest module you can get (td-4) and I still get snare/rim, 3 way ride, chokable cymbals and a pretty good usable hi-hat....Their top of the line set is over $7500 and from the demos I've seen, they aren't a whole lot better than my $1500 kit as far as the triggering goes....They have a video of top industry drummers playing them and saying how they sound and feel like real drums but what I'm hearing through my speakers still sound electronic to me...I may have wanted these in 2003 but in 2013 with what is available, it doesn't make sense to me....For $7500+ I bought a REAL kit with mics and plugins... I get more articulations and "sensor zones" than Roland will ever dream of....Now I know your thinking, I've heard home recording drums and they suck! Yep, mine did too at first but I'm getting better at tuning and replacing the drum heads to Evans helped tremendously with the sound and tuning....Secondly is the signature plugins from waves for drums...Once I put these on my drum tracks, I couldn't believe how much it opened up the sound and brought in more low end thump than I ever thought possible....These sound so good that I'm no longer thinking of replacing mics for higher end ones.....Finally adding in Slate's trigger plugin to trigger in samples on top of my drums adds the final touch....I'm not counting the cost of my DAW but with all drum related costs, I'm well below Roland's $7500 and I've got the real thing!......moon

[Jon-W]

What will this mean in practice?

Sadly, a sign of the times.

I'm not sure how the law works on an international level though, but I would imagine shutting down their EU division and liquidating assets is only helpful if the assets are greater than the debts.

Normally this is never the case, so.... who pays the balance.

Just looking at the OP there's positive NET assets - which is total assets less debt. So there's no balance to pay - parent company would have been covering its losses on an ongoing basis.

[Grey]

It is clearly evident that the main reason for Roland's situation at this time is a very tall pile of rigidity and stubbornness of it's people on top, amassed over a very long period of time. It's about their resistance to being flexible with giving their loyal customers what they truly want and only having it their (old and outlived) way.
It includes them being clearly stingy on features and functionality of their main products, definitely underpowering them by 2013 standards all as clear evidence of scarcity "business doing bad" kind of a state of affairs, which could only lead to more of the same, which it did.

The good news is that it's not the main Japan office that is being closed and I have no doubts that everything that's going on with them right now is a sign of a major restructuring, which will only bring more innovations and the kind of products we all expect, love and have been waiting for from Roland. And pretty soon! (They better!)

I often find myself using the phrase: "They don't make them as they used to" when it comes to Roland products. This would have to change if they want to once again become one of the leaders on the scene and reclaim their name.

Roland has all the technology they need to do just that.
Only willingness is required!.. And giving up the old ways!

So there's much to look forward to.. for their own sake!

[Ojustaboo]

And in Europe everyone gets robbed twice as much as people in the US.

On paper yes and living in the EU it certainly feels like it at times when I do dollar conversions for my products.

Apart from US products usually being advertised without their local sales tax, I wonder whether its more to to with the EU consumer laws that companies have no choice but abide to.

Hence if a shop in the UK has to abide by the sales of goods act, which says such things as

You are responsible for the goods you sell and if a customer
returns an item they purchased from you that is faulty (it does
not conform to contract) because it

• does not match the description

• is not of satisfactory quality

• is not fit for purpose,

you (not the manufacturer or supplier) are legally obliged
to resolve the matter with the customer at any time for up to
six years from the date of purchase, or in Scotland for up to
five years from the discovery of the problem.

Any refund, repair or replacement you arrange with your
customer relating to faulty goods must not cause them too
much inconvenience and you will have to pay for other costs,
for example, collection or delivery.

If you disagree with a customer’s claim, you can ask if they
are willing for you to send the item to a third party or the
manufacturer for inspection. If the customer agrees you can
do this, it is important to remember that the goods must not
be damaged during this process.

Yes its great we get that cover, but nothing is for free.

Maybe there's a much higher RRP in the EU to take all this into account?

[Rockitman]

I used Roland gear in the 80s a lot. D-550, S-550 sampler, JX-8P, JX-10. Great keyboards. I still have them. I have the AX-1 keytars also. I now play Korg (Triton Extreme) and Yamaha Motif XS in my Live band, and Korg PA-800 in my solo act. I just found that Rolands keyboards were just a little too expensive for what I was getting. When it came down to buying that next new keyboard, the Korg's and the Yamaha's were just a better deal. I hope they bounce back, and make products that are more marketable and a little less expensive.

[brambos]

Maybe there's a much higher RRP in the EU to take all this into account?

Or maybe they make up in Europe for all those nice low RRPs and discounts they're giving in the US?

[MoonMusic]

Maybe there's a much higher RRP in the EU to take all this into account?

Or maybe they make up in Europe for all those nice low RRPs and discounts they're giving in the US?

I'm not sure what kind of volume your stores are moving but I know here in the U.S.....If I'm buying a high dollar item, I always go to a major city retailer versus a small local store....The small local store will tell you straight out they can't match the low prices of the big outlets because they by small quantities and don't get the discounts the big outlets get by buying large volumes.....Like the Kronos, if a local store stocks 2 or 3 max versus a major retailer that stocks 50.......moon

[SanderXpander]

The likes of Korg, Dave Smith, Waldorf etc. have gone back to analog and have re-issued some of their vintage synths.

The company with the greatest ability to add to this, perhaps more than many other, is Roland. They have an enormous back-catalogue of analogue, and the pedigree to go with them.

Imagine if they updated and re-issued even just the 303.

I feel Roland fail to keep up with fashion and demand sometimes. They make innovative products, and then they try and decide how to sell them, like they don't know what to do with them, or how to evolve them further, and then they drop them. Instead they should start with the customer and then work backwards to the product(s).

I wouldn't mind a big, kick-arse set of V-Drums though.

I agree in principle, but the 303 specifically would be useless, as there are not only many very good clones on the market but also many great DIY versions (based originally on Adafruit's work). I just finished building one, it even uses original Roland old stock transistors and ICs to make it sound identical, and it has updates features like midi and USB. Cost me about 300 bucks.

[Joe Gerardi]

All y'all realize that this is just the R&D department shutting down, right? They do the development and manufacture of DPs, keyboards and accordians. They're moving that to Malaysia.

I'm pretty sure Roland ain't going anywhere.

..Joe

[Asena]

JOE, theis economical situation infects all the BRAND , not only keyboards or Drums or whatsoever.
ROLAND JAPAN is not the best condition now, they sell Electro pianos that sounds badly for 2900 euros, when KAWAI sells Better sounded for only 999 euros.Whit nice look and more fx better display .

Same is CASIO.
Same is gear for piano, Kawai, and so many no name companies.

price=Buyer

High price = Not much buyer.

[NuSkoolTone]

It is clearly evident that the main reason for Roland's situation at this time is a very tall pile of rigidity and stubbornness of it's people on top, amassed over a very long period of time. It's about their resistance to being flexible with giving their loyal customers what they truly want and only having it their (old and outlived) way.
It includes them being clearly stingy on features and functionality of their main products, definitely underpowering them by 2013 standards all as clear evidence of scarcity "business doing bad" kind of a state of affairs, which could only lead to more of the same, which it did.

The good news is that it's not the main Japan office that is being closed and I have no doubts that everything that's going on with them right now is a sign of a major restructuring, which will only bring more innovations and the kind of products we all expect, love and have been waiting for from Roland. And pretty soon! (They better!)

I often find myself using the phrase: "They don't make them as they used to" when it comes to Roland products. This would have to change if they want to once again become one of the leaders on the scene and reclaim their name.

Roland has all the technology they need to do just that.
Only willingness is required!.. And giving up the old ways!

So there's much to look forward to.. for their own sake!

BIG +1. I haven't paid much Attention to Roland since the mid 90s. They've had a couple gems (V-Synth, JP-8080) here and there, but generally ever since they've just fell flat. They over dilute their product line with the same crap and HORDE the cool stuff into "Niche" products.

The V-Drums were stuck in the same gear for YEARS. After all that waiting the upgrade was incremental at BEST and the whole line is PHENOMENALLY overpriced. You can get boutique custom REAL drums complete with hardware and cymbals for what they're asking. I would have bought a top V-drum kit for $2k for my studio just to have. But $4-5k? You've gotta be effing KIDDING me!

They do lots of things that don't make ANY sense. After milking the JV series (Which were never as cool as the JD), they went to the compressed sounding Fantom series (The X in particular). When they released the Fantom G, it looked GREAT on PAPER. Until you read the DETAILS. You could only have two ARX expansions, and the most INTERESTING one (Strings and horns was it?) wasn't even an option! What did they bundle that with? Oh the vocal designer thingy! They had the technology to make they're own version of a Kronos and they CHOSE NOT TO. The had V-Piano, the ARX drums, EP, Strings and Horns, VR organ, V-Synth, and vocal designer. ALL these great technologies they could have put into ONE keyboard and it would of sold like GANGBUSTERS! Did they? NO. They sprinkled a little here and sprinkled a little there with utmost frugality into COMPLETELY UNRELATED products! So if you wanted that "Roland Technology" you had to buy like 5-10 products to get it. Besides the money, who's got room for all that crap???? So many people after that just walked away from Roland and never looked back (including me). The Jupiter was a step in the right direction, but too little too late as is the VR-09. All this tech is now long in the tooth now, and a solid generation (or two!) behind and nobody cares. I hope Roland pulls out of this and gets their act together. Competition is good for ALL of us. Though given what they've been doing the last decade color me not surprised.

[nitecrawler]

The only roland gear I retained is an old D110 and my 88 key A90. The A90ex has been a great piano thru the years and still works well as a midi controller with four midi outs that are controlled thru the device. Unfortunately, nothing they have produced in the last 10 to 15 years really clicked with me. I think they lost their innovative direction. Here's hoping they resolve their financial issues. Competition is good for the industry.

[Kontrol49]

Roland have a great legacy of instruments both analog and digital,no matter what they do,there's always gonna be a stigma attached to the newer generation of instruments,because the problem isn't the products,it's their damn lack of customer support to the product and the customers needs,without that your never gonna give the user exactly what they want or need,but the competition will!!.