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http://www.accordions.com/news.aspx?d=07-Apr-2017&lang=en&s=12926
http://www.accordions.com/news.aspx?d=07-Apr-2017&lang=en&s=12926
07-Apr-2017
Ikutaro Kakehashi (1930-2017), Osaka – Japanby Rob Howard |
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 Ikutaro Kakehashi, an outstanding electronics engineer, inventor and innovator, was the founder of the Roland Corporation in 1972. He had previously founded Ace Tone, an electronic organ company later taken over by the Hammond Organ company.Kakehashi dedicated his life to designing and producing electronic and digital instruments, such as keyboards, drum machines, and the Roland Virtual Accordion. In 2013 he won a Grammy for developing the MIDI, an acronym for Musical Instrumental Digital Interface, one of the most widely used digital musical facilities, introduced in 1983. He received many awards from universities and other institutions for his lifetime’s work including the CIA Merit Award in 2011. In 1988 Roland purchased Rodgers Organ Company, fulfilling Kakehashi's lifelong dream to build large classical organs. For the accordion world, Kakehashi’s major contribution was to introduce the Roland Virtual Accordion - the world’s first fully digital accordion - in 2004, following many years of intensive research in collaboration with Italian accordion technicians. This ground-breaking project resulted in Roland’s brand new ‘Physical Behaviour Modelling’ technology, which brought with it the control and range of tonal dynamics normally only found on an acoustic instrument. Combining the playability of a quality acoustic accordion with all of the practicalities of an electronic instrument, the Roland V accordion was quickly embraced by accordionists worldwide, and led to an international Roland V Accordion competition - Reports from 2007 at 2013 Rome Festival Ikutaro Kakehashi passed away on April 1st at the age of 87 years. |