Kakehashi, Ikutaro

Ikutaro Kakehashi (梯 郁太郎, Kakehashi Ikutarō, 7 February 1930 – 1 April 2017), also known by the nickname Taro, was a Japanese engineer, inventor and entrepreneur. A pioneer in electronic musical instruments and a Technical Grammy Award winner, he was founder of Japanese companies Ace Tone, Roland Corporation, Boss Corporation and ATV Corporation. He was involved in developing, for example, Roland drum machines such as the TR-808 and TR-909, the MIDI standard, TB-303 bass synth, Ace Tone Rhythm Ace electronic drums and drum machines, Roland synthesizers such as the Jupiter and Juno series, Microcomposer sequencers and grooveboxes, guitar amplifiers such as the Jazz Chorus, and Boss effects pedals such as the DS-1 Distortion and HM-2 Heavy Metal. His electronic equipment were influential, revolutionizing popular music and shaping numerous music genres, including electronic, dance, hip hop, R&B, rock and pop music.

He founded Ace Tone in 1960, as an electronic organ company that later became known for producing early electronic drum machines in the 1960s. It evolved into Hammond Organ Japan, which he eventually left, and then founded Roland in 1972. At Roland, he was involved in developing a number of electronic instruments that became widely adopted by the music industry. He also founded Boss Corporation, a Roland subsidiary, in 1973. Kakehashi died in April 2017, at the age of 87.

Early life and career (1930–1959)

He was born on February 7 1930 in Osaka, Japan. Both of his parents died to tuberculosis during his early childhood, leaving him to be raised by his grandparents. Much of his childhood was spent studying electrical engineering and working in the Hitachi shipyards of Osaka. During World War II, his home was destroyed by American bombings. Following the war, he failed to get into university on health grounds in 1946, and then moved to the southern island of Kyushu.

In 1947, at 16 years of age, he founded the Kakehashi Clock Store, a wristwatch repair shop on Kyushu Island. He soon began repairing radios as well. He later returned to Osaka to attend university. During a mass food shortage, he contracted tuberculosis and spent several years in a sanitarium, where he became a clinical trial test patient for an experimental medicine antibiotic drug, Streptomycin, which improved his condition. In 1954, Ikutaro Kakehashi started Kakehashi Radio electrical appliance store, while concurrently repairing electronic organs and created new prototype organs throughout the 1950s. At 28, he decided to devote himself to music and pursuit of the ideal electronic musical instrument.

Ikutaro Kakehashi never received any formal musical training. He wanted musical instruments to be accessible for professionals as well as amateurs like himself. He also wanted them to be inexpensive, intuitive, small, and simple. He constructed his first 49-key monophonic organ in 1959, specifically designed to be playable by anyone, with no musical skill necessary. The focus on miniaturization, affordability and simplicity would later become fundamental to product development at Roland.

Ace Tone (1960–1972)

In 1960, Kakehashi founded Ace Electronic Industries, later known as Ace Tone. There, he developed the first fully transistorized electronic drum instrument, the R1 Rhythm Ace, which was exhibited at Summer NAMM 1964. It was a push-button device that was manually hand-operated in a manner similar to modern electronic drum pads. It not commercialized in North America, however, due to its lack of automated preset rhythms. This led to him beginning work on a fully transistorized electronic rhythm machine. In 1967, Kakehashi patented the "Automatic Rhythm Performance Device" drum machine, a preset rhythm-pattern generator using diode matrix circuit, where a "plurality of inverting circuits and/or clipper circuits are connected to a counting circuit to synthesize the output signal of the counting circuit" and the "synthesized output signal becomes a desired rhythm."

Ace Tone commercialized his preset rhythm machine, the FR-1 Rhythm Ace, in 1967. It offered 16 preset patterns, and four buttons to manually play each instrument sound (cymbal, claves, cowbell and bass drum). The rhythm patterns could also be cascaded together by pushing multiple rhythm buttons simultaneously, and the possible combination of rhythm patterns were more than a hundred (on the later models of Rhythm Ace, the individual volumes of each instrument could be adjusted with the small knobs or faders). In 1968 a joint venture was established with Hammond USA, the FR-1 was adopted by the Hammond Organ Company for incorporation within their latest organ models. In the US, the units were also marketed under the Multivox brand by Peter Sorkin Music Company, and in the UK, marketed under the Bentley Rhythm Ace brand. The unique artificial sounds characteristics of the FR-1 were similar to the later Roland rhythm machines, and featured on electropop music from the late 1970s onwards. Ace Tone popularized the use of drum machines, with the FR-1 Rhythm Ace finding its way into popular music starting in the late 1960s.

Kakehashi also developed the Hammond Piper Autochord, which was a success in 1971. It produced harmonic bass chords from single notes played on the organ keyboard, and was instrumental in the production and domestication of electric organs.

Roland (1972–2013)

In 1972, he founded Roland Corporation and became president. The company would go on to have a big impact on popular music, and do more to shape electronic music than any other company. At Roland, he continued his work on the development of drum machines. Roland's first drum machine was the Roland TR-77, released in 1972. The Roland CR-78 in 1978 was the first microprocessor-driven programmable drum machine. These 1970s Roland drum machines were used in disco, R&B, rock and pop songs from the early 1970s to the early 1980s. The most influential drum machine was the TR-808, released in 1980, which was widely adopted in hip hop, electronic and pop music, and is still widely used through to the present day, having been used on more hit records than any other drum machine. The machine was known for its unique artificial percussion sounds, particularly its powerful bass, which has been widely incorporated into hip hop and electronic dance music. The 808 is one of the most influential inventions in popular music. It was then followed by the TR-909, released in 1983, which is widely used in electronic dance music, such as techno and house music.

He also worked on other electronic musical instruments at Roland. In 1974, Roland released the EP-30 electronic piano. The RS-101 polyphonic string synthesizer was released in 1975, followed by the RS-202 in 1976. The System 100 semi-modular synthesizer was released in 1975, followed by the System 700 in 1976. The MC-8 Microcomposer in 1977 was an early polyphonic music sequencer, and the first stand-alone microprocessor-driven CV/Gate sequencer, with eight-channel polyphony allowing the creation of polyrhythmic sequences; it had a significant impact on electronic music, with the MC-8 and its descendants (such as the MC-4 Microcomposer) impacting electronic music production in the 1970s and 1980s more than any other family of sequencers. Roland synthesizers such as the SH-1000, Jupiter, SH-101, JX-8P, Juno-60 and D-50 were widely adopted in popular 1980s music. The TB-303 bass synthesizer, released in 1981, was instrumental to acid house music and the rave scene. The MC-202, released in 1983, was the first groovebox, a term that was coined in reference to its successor, the MC-303. The JP-8000 was widely adopted in 1990s trance music.

Roland introduced the the Digital Control Bus (DCB) protocol in 1980, with the DIN sync interface to synchronize different electronic instruments. The interface debuted with the TR-808 drum machine in 1980. In June 1981, Kakehashi proposed the idea of standardization to Oberheim Electronics founder Tom Oberheim, who then talked it over with Sequential Circuits president Dave Smith. In October 1981, Kakehashi, Oberheim and Smith discussed the idea with representatives from Yamaha, Korg and Kawai. In 1983, the MIDI standard was unveiled by Kakehashi and Smith, who both later received Technical Grammy Awards in 2013 for their key roles in the development of MIDI. MIDI allowed communication between different instruments and general-purpose computers to play a role in music production. Since its introduction, MIDI has remained the musical instrument industry standard interface through to the present day.

In 1988, Roland purchased Rodgers Organ Company renamed Rodgers Instruments fulfilling Kakehashi's lifelong dream to build large classical organs

In 1994, Kakehashi founded the Roland Foundation and became Chairman, in 1995 he was appointed chairman of Roland Corporation. In 2001 he resigned from the chairman's position and was appointed as Special Executive Adviser of Roland Corporation. Kakehashi retired from Roland in 2013.

Boss

In 1973, Kakehashi founded Boss Corporation, a subsidiary of Roland that produces amplifiers and effects units for electric guitar and bass guitar players. Boss effects units became the de facto standard of guitar effects for decades, with many guitarists relying on them for sonic experimentation. Boss amplifiers and effects units have had a significant impact on the development of rock music since the 1970s.

Roland initially also released guitar amplifiers and effects units in the 1970s. The Roland RE-201 Space Echo effects unit, released in 1974, gained popularity among guitarists. The Roland Jazz Chorus 120, a solid-state electronic amplifier released in 1975. With its clean tone and versatile vibrato and chorus effects, the Jazz Chorus series became increasingly popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s new wave and post-punk scenes, because of its clean yet powerful sound, durability and relatively low cost. It also found favour amongst funk players in America. Roland also released effects pedals, the AD–50 Double Beat and Jet Phaser, in the early 1970s.

The Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble was released in 1976. The chorus circuit from the amp was put it into a stomp box, making the CE-1 the first chorus pedal. It was an effects pedal known for its high quality effects, becoming widely adopted. The Boss DS-1 Distortion, a distortion pedal released in 1978, became a classic effect, used by many notable guitar players. The Heavy Metal (HM-2) distortion pedal, released in 1983, was an integral part of the guitar sound of many styles of heavy metal music ever since, including death metal, extreme metal and hardcore punk rock.

ATV (2014–2017)

In 2014, Kakehashi founded the ATV Corporation. Together with Paulo Caius, former CEO of Roland Iberia, Founder and CEO of Roland Systems Group EMEA, Makoto Muroi, a prestigious research engineer for music and audiovisuals, also former President of the Roland Systems Group Japan, Mark Tsuruta, former CEO of Roland Audio Development USA and Glenn Dodson, previous CEO of Roland Australia.

Legacy

File:Kakehashi Ikutaro hand.jpg

Ikutaro Kakehashi's handprints at Guitar CenterHollywood's RockWalk, Hollywood, California

In 1991, based upon his contribution to the development and popularization of electronic instruments, Kakehashi was awarded an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music, U.S.A. The Bentley-branded Rhythm Ace inspired the 1997 Birmingham band Bentley Rhythm Ace when a model was found at a car boot sale.

In 2000, he left his handprints at Hollywood's RockWalk in Hollywood. In 2002, Kakehashi published his autobiography, titled I Believe In Music, and was also featured as a biography in the book The Art of Digital Music. As of 2002, Kakehashi was awarded about 50 patents, since the 1960s. In 2005, Kakehashi was awarded the title of professor emeritus of the Central Music College of China and the University of Glamorgan.

In 2013, he received a Technical Grammy Award, shared with Dave Smith of Sequential Circuits, for the invention of MIDI. The 2015 documentary film 808 documented the impact that his Roland TR-808 drum machine had on popular music and popular culture, describing it as the "rock guitar of hip hop". In 2017, Electronic Musician magazine listed thirty of his instruments and innovations that have impacted popular music over the course of fifty years.

Bibliography

• "I Believe in Music" Publisher: Hal Leonard : 9780634037832
• "An Age Without Samples" Publisher: Hal Leonard : 9781495069277

External links

• Ikutaro Kakehashi's Picture
• "Berklee College of Music, Honorary Degree Recipients" http://www.berklee.edu/about/honorary.html
• "Guitar Center's Hollywood Rockwalk"
• Ikutaro and the Rise of the Rhythm Composer
• ATV Corporation
• Ikutaro Kakehashi NAMM Oral History Interview (2001)