Founder of Roland and pioneer of electronica dies aged 87.
RIP

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-39471567
 
RIP.. a massive amount of tunes feature their products
 
and if it wasn't .. it was re-sampled and mucked about with e.g. the 808 bassline :)
 
I used to work next door to the roland building on the great west road , my colleagues used to work there back in the day

Everyone talks about the 808 to death, but his greatest contribution was the MIDI spec.  

http://www.factmag.com/20...kutaro-kakehashi-life/

Magic Russ
Everyone talks about the 808 to death, but his greatest contribution was the MIDI spec.  

someone would have come up with a "standard" at some point, yamaha went off with their own version with XG as did roland..  but the TR / JV  machines etc . inc. the 808 is important. it's talked about a LOT because of the impact it had... much as guitar stuff hasn't impacted me doing electronic music. try making a house tune without a 808+909, thats just one example.
 
in the 90's a juno 106 / jd800 / jv1080 was standard issue in the majority of studios I went. jupiter 8 was in a few places, but they were far from cheap to buy.
 
take roland stuff out of a 90's+ studio (or even the vst clones) then many a tune become a LOT lighter

I still think MIDI was way more important than the 808.  It saved the industry from a VHS/Betamax war which would have stunted the industry.
 
I only dabble in electronic music, but I wouldn't see lack of an 808 as an impediment, as there are so many options out there.  Meanwhile, I wouldn't get very far without MIDI.
 
 

His autobiography is surprisingly interesting and inspirational. He had released a new book this year, called "An Age Without Samples" that just moved to the top of my wishlist.