Roland's Innovative 10 Denmark Street Store Officially Launched Now!

Right at the front of the store is a Performance Space which currently houses a V-Drums Kit - but where we will latterly see in-store performances and product demos. In-between those times different products will be promoted at the front of the store - depending on whatever the current marketing focus is.

The performance area is literally just inside the entrance door and before you get to the shiny Roland breakfast-bar-like counter - which is also the main checkout, refreshments area / coffee bar and where the various merchandising lives. On the right-hand wall of the entrance you will see a cool wall-chart covering Roland's key moments in history!

Apart from all the cool shiny black surfaces the first thing you will notice is those ingenious strip lights which snake through the retail space fading in and out of different colour combinations - reflecting different parts of the Roland Product Range.

There are plans to use more AI in the sequencing of this in the future - where the displays will alter throughout the day - depending on the different activities of store visitors and overall store ambience / mood. For a space largely devoid of windows - all the lights make for a really bright and welcoming experience  - which hopefully encourages visitors to the store to linger for longer. Much of the light sequencing currently is manual - but there will come a point in the not too distant further - where the lighting will ebb and flow in sync with what's happening in the store.

The second image shows you the line-of-sight past the counter through to further Synthesizers, V-Drums and various Cables and Accessories. The Boss Alcove as I like to call it - is visible through a window to the right of the main passage - and where you can see through to the backroom too - with all its Digital Pianos.

The above image demonstrates a very neutral lighting hue for the strip lights - while the image below is of one of the many blue variants - you can of course go darker blue too for a full-on Boss ambience!

This image covers a similar area to the previous - slightly more zoomed in on the main V-Drums setup - which is opposite the Roland and Boss cable selection. And of course the strip lights here have been switched to sky blue and white!

Lots going on in this photo - Cables and Accessories right and left, Synthesizers, on the left too, along with V-Drums and V-Moda Headphones on the right. Plenty to feast your eyes on!

You can spy the Boss area though the window behind the V-Drums - and Boss has its own dedicated area in the store - which I've taken to calling the 'Boss Alcove' which currently houses 5 vertical boards / workstations featuring around 10 pedals each - but with really clever routing and effects assignment via smartly configured wall-based tablet. You can get virtual Rabea to play a number of different genre riffs for you while you combine and tweak various pedals.

The space is very compact and bijoux, while I don't believe it's entirely practical in its current configuration -as you can barely get 3 guitar players in there at the same time - let along 5. So as the trend has been for more pedals per pedalboard - I'm recommending that Roland add one more vertical board - and then pair them up - for a 3 x 2 arrangement - so the tablet then controls and renders access to 20 pedals at a time - which is much more practical and logical for the average guitar player.

The whole concept of how those tablets and pedals work together is a work of pure genius - you no longer need to struggle to remember your 10 or so core riffs - as virtual Rabea can do all your playing for you - should you wish for that to happen of course. You can also pick up one of the 5 or 6 guitars in that area and play whatever you want - I just think it's easier to get to grips with a new pedal when you can just focus on tweaking and getting the maximum range out of it - versus worrying about where your fingers are landing on the guitar's fretboard.

As is, the Boss Alcove is already really clever - I just happen to believe it can be even more so!

So directly opposite the Boss Alcove on the other side of the mains aisle - is quite a busy little area with lots of Drum Machines up on the far wall, then some Production Tools and Further Synthesizers - along with the full range of  5 Aerophone Digital Wind Instruments - which garner quite a lot of attention in the shop currently!

On the other side of the Drum Machine Wall / Alcove - you will find yourself in the main Back Room - which houses all the Digital Pianos - including a Digital Grand in the corner - sitting under an open Gazebo!

The above photo gives you a full overview of the Back Room - where you can still glimpse the Grand in the bottom left-hand corner - the various Stage and Upright Pianos too. While over to the right you have a wall of Synths!

The final store photo zooms in on the right hand-wall where you will see a number of Roland's larger pro Synthesizers.

First Highlight of the night was the exceptional FAQ panel - compered by Jamie Franklin I believe - I was meeting a lot of these Roland people for the first time - so I apologise most sincerely if I got some of the names wrong!

In any case Jamie maintained the flow admirably while Rachel K Collier, Jack Garratt, Gerald 'Guy Called Gerald' Simpson, Guy Fletcher (Dire Straits), DJ Erol Alkan, Steve Levine (Culture Club Producer) and Faithless's Sister Bliss / Ayalah Bentovim - reminisced on what got them into Roland products and what kept them coming back for more.

In the main the answer was the sound and character of those classic synths - particularly how exceptional the bass voicings were - also how easy those devices were to use and play live. So a combination of sounds, textures and ease of use really.

I'm always nervous when approaching female musicians that I'm a fan of as I don't want to come off the slightest bit invasive - which enthusiasm can all too easily get misconstrued. This time around I greeted Rachel, but could not muster the courage to cast a greeting at Ayalah too. I did though have a wonderful conversation with Gerald and reminisced about hearing Voodoo Ray for the first time back at the Hacienda 'Nude' Friday Night specials - featuring the inimitable Graeme Park and Mike Pickering. Gerald is a bona fide legend for us house-heads - and I was delighted to have made his acquaintance at last.

I also wondered what had happened to Jack Garratt as he was my pick for Sound of 2016 and I eagerly followed his early career but then sort of lost touch - so it was nice to see he was still in the mix. Also nice to see DJ Erol Alkan - who had a spate of some of my favourite remixes for a period - from around 2004 to 2010, and also did superb work as alter ego - 'Beyond the Wizard Sleeve'. 

I had less knowledge of Guy Fletcher and Steve Levine - while their words were still inspirational. A lot of rich music-making experience packed into that little group - I love hearing anecdotal music industry narratives and all of these are extremely personable and charming individuals - it was lovely to spend time in their company - the whole thing was over way too soon really!

I felt there should have been some musical demos - as that's really what brings us all together - the quest for great music and inventive musical expression. I feel that 'Doctor Mix' himself - Claudio Passavanti was needed to liven up proceedings - he's done some superb riff examples for several celebrated Roland synths - he would have been perfect to pep up proceedings. I excepted to see both Claudio and Rachel in attendance  - and wondered what might have kept Claudio away - as this sort of things is usually right up his street - he does travel a lot - so possibly he's abroad for one of his many celebrated gigs.

Final surprise of the night was the unveiling of a special 50th Anniversary Gold Edition of the Jupiter-X - with glossy piano black finish, matt black keys, and gold accents galore - including knobs, sliders and side-panels. It outshone all the other synths in the store by a country mile. In fact it was sort of the embodiment of the store in synth format.

We were told that the Gold Edition was one of only 4 made and was never to go on sale. I think that Roland can make a chrome versions of the same - with Chrome / Silver highlights as some sort of limited edition production release. Coming from a pedal background - where enclosures / looks are varied in colour, graphics and format - while for me synths are largely anonymous similar-looking black boxes and you really need to seek out the brand mark / logo to identify from which company said synth is. 

Roland should at the very least bring some of their store lighting strip touches to their synth designs. I'm not sure we've seen many 50th Anniversary products yet - while the Jupiter-X in that new format is screaming out for some sort of general release / diffusion. For a pedal-head - I was actually really dazzled by the Jupiter-X Gold - it looks so much better than the standard model pictured below it in the above visual - the pictures don't really do it justice - that's how all of Roland's synths should look!

I was a touch nervous about going to this event - as my main contact Matt Knight wasn't going to be there - and apart from a brief introduction to Store Manager Chris Ould - I had not met most of the Roland gang before. I was really glad that I went though, and I had some most insightful and entertaining chats with the Store's Designer - Corin Birchall (Roland Global Retail Operations Manager).

I also spent a considerably time in conversation with John Sweeney I think it was - and touched base with Chris Ould of course - as well as meeting David Vazquez CEO of Roland Europe for the first time - alongside Marketing Director Helen Whitten and her colleagues.

Sincere apologies if I've left anyone out or got your name wrong - this is as much as I can remember.

A wonderful venue that's always worth dropping in on if you're in that part of town. The only thing missing from the store launch event / evening was some sort of live musical accompaniment / product demo - we could certainly have done with Claudio Passavati taking us through some key riffs on the Jupiter-X Gold. Drinks and Canapés were great - and we all got to take home wee goody bags of T-shirt of your choice, Bottle Opener and Pen!

Roland's Merch game is pretty solid - while they need to add a touch more to their stock onsite. Including that really cool new Roland stripy puffer / ski jacket! Image below!

The Roland Store website is fantastic too - it certainly gives you a good flavour for what's in store - the one thing it's missing is a walk through - which fortunately YouTuber Pianoman Justie has done for us - as below.

I would have liked to have captured a picture of David Vazquez making his speech - but my position in the room was somewhat ill-suited as he was facing away from me for the duration of his monologue!