Tag: Ikutaro Kakehashi

An elderly man with gray hair, wearing a dark suit and a blue shirt, looks at the camera with a neutral expression. The background is blurred.

Seven Years After The Passing of Ikutaro Kakehashi

Written by Athan Billias on April 1, 2024. Posted in Lifetime Achievement Award Winners, MIDI Association Event List, MIDI History, MIDI Innovation Awards, MIDI News, MIDI Stories.

Ikutaro Kakehashi, Founder of Roland

Ikutaro Kakehashi’s impact on music production is undeniable. He founded Roland and oversaw some of the most seminal MIDI products in history. When he passed away on April 1, 2017, we created an article about his life and times.

You can find that article HERE.

Today marks the seventh anniversary of his passing.

Just a week ago, Athan Billias, MIDI Association Exec Board member was in Tokyo after meetings in Hamamatsu with the AMEI Piano Profile working group. He was able to catch up and meet with Kakehashi’s son, Ikuo.

Ikuo Kakehashi, Athan Billias, Takanori Kojima — Ikuo Kakehashi (son of Roland Founder Ikutaro Kakehashi, Athan BIllias (MIDI Association) and Takanori Kojima (Tokyo Gakki Expo)

Ikuo updated The MIDI Association on what is going on with Kakehashi Foundation.

The Kakehashi Foundation is a non-profit organization that contributes to the promotion and spread of art that applies electronic technology.

Message from the Chair

The Kakehashi Arts and Culture Foundation is a public interest incorporated foundation based on the surname “Kakehashi” of the foundation’s founder, Ikutaro Kakehashi (founder of Roland Co., Ltd.), and the foundation of the arts and culture that give dreams and hopes to people in Japan and around the world. I was reborn with the desire to become a “kakehashi”
Unfortunately, the promotion of art and culture in Japan is lagging behind developed countries due to economic priority and results-based culture. I would like to create a society where culture leads the economy.
From now on, our foundation will continue to spread joy and excitement to as many people as possible through electronic technology and electronic musical instruments, in accordance with our basic philosophy of promoting and disseminating artistic culture that applies electronic technology.
Specifically, we hold performances and lectures using electronic technology, conduct appropriate and effective support activities in the field of art and culture, and conduct educational development projects such as the Japanese representative office for the Royal Musical Examinations. We would like to contribute to the spread of this technology.
We will continue to carry out even more fulfilling business activities in the hope of realizing a rich and creative society.
　We look forward to your continued support and cooperation.
Akiko Santo, Chairman of the Kakehashi Arts and Culture Foundation

Artware Hub in Shinjuku

A dark, modern audio control room with two large computer screens and a mixing console. The back wall features illuminated text: Artware hub KAKEHASHI MEMORIAL in white and purple lighting.

MIDI Association member AVID has partnered with the Kakehashi Foundation and created a very unique space for electronic music performances.

Shinjuku has a long history as one of Tokyo’s most vibrant areas, and Waseda is arguably the district’s cultural and creative nexus. The area is home to the renowned Waseda University, as well as numerous museums, theaters, night clubs, and performance spaces.

Waseda’s newest venue, the Artware hub, opened its doors in late 2019. Commissioned by the Kakehashi Foundation (Arts and Cultural Foundation), the space is the realization of a lifelong dream of Roland Corporation founder and visionary Ikutaro Kakehashi.

What appears at first glance to be a fairly typical live performance venue is, in fact, much more. Designed as an experimental acoustic space, the facility incorporates an unparalleled 36.8 multi-channel immersive audio system based around an Avid VENUE | S6L live sound system and FLUX::Immersive’s Spat Revolution software engine.

AVID

You can read more about the ArtHub setup in this article on the AVID website.

What’s next for Ikuo?

It was great to catch up again with Ikuo and see how he is continuing his father’s legacy. In fact, he let us in on a little secret.

Ikuo is a professional percussionist and had helped design the ATV AFrame drum. Here is a video of Ikuo at the 2018 NAMM show demoing the AFrame.

Ikuo is working on a secret project and is planning to enter this new MIDI product into the MIDI Innovation Awards in 2024.

It will be great to see the son of one of the founders of MIDI involved in the MIDI Innovation Awards.

An elderly Asian man with gray hair, wearing a dark suit and blue collared shirt, looking directly at the camera with a neutral expression. The background is blurred.

Ikutaro Kakehashi: The Driving Force Behind MIDI

Written by Athan Billias on April 2, 2017. Posted in Lifetime Achievement Award Winners, MIDI History.

Ikutaro Kakehashi was one of the most influential figures in electronic music in the 20th century. He overcame many challenges in his early life to become the head of one of the most innovative electronic musical instrument companies in the world—Roland Corporation.

Early Life and Challenges

Born in 1930 in Osaka, Japan, Kakehashi lost both of his parents to tuberculosis by the age of two. Raised by relatives, he began working at the Hitachi shipyards in Osaka at 14, where he developed an interest in mechanical engineering.

After being rejected from Osaka University due to health issues, he moved to Kyushu at 16 and worked as a geographical survey assistant. Noticing a lack of resources for clock and watch repair in post-war Japan, he taught himself watch repair and opened the Kakehashi Watch Shop.

A man stands outside a wooden building, shirtless and wearing dark pants and sandals. He has one hand on his hip. A vertical sign with Japanese writing hangs near the entrance. The photo appears old and black-and-white. — Young Ikutaro Kakehashi in front of his watch shop in Kyushu, circa 1946

At 20, he planned to close his business and pursue university education, but contracted tuberculosis and was hospitalized for three years. As a test patient for the experimental drug Streptomycin, his health improved, allowing him to leave the hospital and begin his life’s work in electronic music.

Founding Ace Tone and Early Innovations

In 1955, Kakehashi began experimenting with monophonic electronic musical instruments and founded Ace Electronic Industries. Initially attempting to build his own Theremin, he found it difficult to play and shifted focus.

In 1960, Ace Electronic Industries became Ace Tone, producing several successful products. Kakehashi collaborated with Matsushita (now Panasonic) to design the National SX-601 organ. His main collaborator at National was Kenji Matsumoto, with whom he maintained a lifelong friendship.

A vintage brown and beige electric organ with a raised lid, partially showing internal components, and white and black keys. It stands on four legs on a carpeted floor in a showroom with other instruments. — Kakehashi with the Technics SX-601 organ

International Exposure and the Birth of Roland

In 1964, Kakehashi attended his first NAMM show with the Ace Electronics R1 Rhythm Ace. Although he didn’t secure orders, he made valuable connections and learned about the latest electronic designs.

A vintage Ace Tone Rhythm Ace drum machine with white switches, knobs, and a display sign on top, placed on a wooden table in a retro-styled room. — Many electronic music pioneers were influenced by home organs

In 1971, he helped Hammond develop the Piper Organ, the world’s first single-manual organ with a rhythm accompaniment unit.

A man in a lab coat and sandals sits on a stool beside an open electronic organ in a sparsely furnished room, looking at the camera and smiling. — Kakehashi with the Hammond Piper Organ

As Ace Tone grew, more investors joined, eventually leading to Kakehashi becoming a minority shareholder. Disagreeing with the new direction, he left and, in 1972, founded Roland Corporation with $100,000 in capital. Roland would go on to become a leader in electronic musical instruments.

Contribution to MIDI

Kakehashi’s vision extended beyond instruments. He recognized the need for a standard protocol to allow electronic instruments from different manufacturers to communicate. Collaborating with Dave Smith of Sequential Circuits, they introduced MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) in 1983, revolutionizing music production and performance.

Legacy

Ikutaro Kakehashi’s innovations, including the TR-808 drum machine and the development of MIDI, have left an indelible mark on music. He passed away in 2017, but his contributions continue to influence musicians and producers worldwide.

Ikutaro Kakehashi, the founder of Roland Corporation, created more than a successful business with a host of important innovations in electronic musical instruments; he has also paid tribute throughout his career to those who first inspired him. Mr. Kakehashi was born in Japan and formed Ace Electronics in 1964 with the goal of improving the electronic organ, following up on the work of his heroes, Mr. Hammond and Mr. Leslie. With the expansion of electronics in the late 1960s, he formed the Roland Corporation, which soon became one of the leaders in the industry.

https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/ikutaro-kakehashi

The life and times of Ikutaro Kakehashi, the Roland pioneer modern music owes everything to

It’s almost impossible to imagine what modern music would sound like had Ikutaro Kakehashi not been born in an Osaka hospital on February 7, 1930.

http://www.factmag.com/2017/04/02/ikutaro-kakehashi-life/