The Roland W-30 is a sampling workstation keyboard, released in 1989. It features an on-board 12-bit sampler, sample-based synthesizer, 16-track sequencer and 61-note keyboard.

W-30
Roland W-30
ManufacturerRoland Corporation
Dates1989–1994
Price£1599 GBP[1]
Technical specifications
Polyphony16 voice
Timbrality8[2]
LFOYes (sine peak-hold (with offset))
Synthesis typeSamples
FilterTVF
AttenuatorADSR
Aftertouch expressionYes
Velocity expressionYes
Storage memory15k steps, 20 songs disk: 100k steps, 64 songs
EffectsNo
Input/output
Keyboard61 keys
Left-hand controlCombined Pitch bend and modulation switch
External controlMIDI In, out, thru

Overview

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The W-30's "Workstation" title stems from its incorporation of synthesis, sampling and MIDI sequencing capabilities. Although primitive by modern standards, the W-30's onboard sequencer was a practical way to arrange music as opposed to a DAW.

Unusually, while sounds are sampled with 12-bit resolution, they are played back through a 16-bit D-A converter[3] which, in theory at least, improves the sound quality. Nonetheless, the slightly "gritty" nature of the samples could be considered one of the instrument's charms.

The W-30 is compatible with the sound library of the Roland S-50, S330 & S550 dedicated samplers, which are now in the public domain.

Expansion

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The workstation's back panel features a blanking-plate labelled SCSI. This allowed the very rare "KW30 SCSI kit" upgrade to be fitted. The KW30 gave the W-30 the ability to behave as a SCSI Master device, and drive SCSI hard drives and CD-ROM players through a standard 25-pin SCSI cable. Copying samples to a SCSI hard drive (maximum usable capacity: 80Mb) dramatically reduces load time compared to the built-in 3.5" floppy disk drive.[4]

Notable users

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References

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  1. ^ Trask, Simon (July 1989). "Roland W30 (MT Jul 89)". Music Technology (Jul 1989): 48–52. Retrieved 2018-09-05.
  2. ^ SynthArk, Designed by www.1234.info / Modified. "W-30". www.synthark.org. Retrieved 2018-09-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ "Roland W30". dancetech. 3 September 2007.
  4. ^ "Roland W-30 Homepage".
  5. ^ Jussi Lahtinen. "Roland W-30 Sampler Workstation - The Prodigy equipment". The Prodigy .info.
  6. ^ "Disgraceful — Every Dubstar song". Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  7. ^ "La Ley". MusicaPopular.cl (in Spanish).
  8. ^ HotNewHipHop (23 October 2017). "DJ Paul on Lord Infamous' Triplet Flow, Sampling Techniques & More (HNHH Interview 2017)". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-20.
  9. ^ Diez, Juan Carlos (2013). Martropía (Conversaciones con Spinetta). Buenos Aires: Aguilar. pp. 145–147. ISBN 9789870432449.
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