For a player, Roland's footprint shows up in three places: vintage rack and tape units that modern pedals still copy, amplifier designs that defined the clean chorus sound, and the guitar synth technology that BOSS continues to develop today.
The story of Roland
Roland's guitar synth journey started in 1977 with the GR-500, an analog guitar synth2. In 1984, the Roland GR-700 became the company's first guitar synth equipped with MIDI, which allowed players to control an external MIDI synth of any brand4. BOSS describes Roland and itself as having been "the worldwide leaders in guitar synthesizer innovation for nearly five decades"5.
The company's early effects work ran alongside this. The Roland AP-7 Jet Phaser, a six-mode phase and fuzz pedal, was made famous in the 1970s6, and 1976's Roland CE-1 Chorus Ensemble is described by BOSS as the world's first chorus pedal7.
| Year | Roland product | What it was |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | CE-1 Chorus Ensemble | Described by BOSS as the world's first chorus pedal7 |
| 1977 | GR-500 | Roland's first analog guitar synth2 |
| 1970s | AP-7 Jet Phaser | Six-mode phase and fuzz pedal68 |
| 1983 | SDE-3000 | Rackmount delay, later reissued by BOSS as pedals9 |
| 1984 | GR-700 | Roland's first guitar synth equipped with MIDI4 |
Known for: Space Echo, Jazz Chorus and the SDE-3000
Three Roland designs keep coming back in modern gear.
| Design | What it is | Where it shows up today |
|---|---|---|
| Space Echo | Tape echo unit | Still in use in professional studios10 |
| JC-120 Jazz Chorus | Stereo amp with Dimensional Space Chorus | Referenced by other makers, including Behringer11 |
| SDE-3000 | 1983 rackmount delay | Reissued by BOSS as the SDE-3000D and SDE-3000EVH pedals121314 |
- Space Echo. The RE-201 tape echo remains in use in professional studios. Charlie Jones, bassist with The Cult, told BOSS's interview series: "I also have a Roland [RE-201] Space Echo in my studio, which I use on virtually everything."10
- Jazz Chorus. The JC-120 amplifier is renowned, in BOSS's own description, for its lush, room-filling sound, produced with a stereo circuit and the Dimensional Space Chorus effect11. Behringer calls it "the highly popular Jazz Chorus amplifier" in its own product copy, a measure of how widely the design is referenced.
- SDE-3000. The 1983 rackmount delay has been reissued by BOSS as a line of delay pedals, including the SDE-3000D and SDE-3000EVH. Product development of the original SDE-3000 was Yoshi Ikegami's first big assignment with Roland9.
Roland and Boss
BOSS's product pages describe Roland as BOSS's parent company1, and the two brands share technology and accessories. Roland's EV-5 expression pedal is recommended across the BOSS line, for example to control the bending effect on the BOSS PS-6 Harmonist in real time, and it appears on other makers' compatibility lists too, including Red Panda's Raster manual. Roland/BOSS also offers two types of sturdy metal footswitches, the FS-5L and FS-5U, for different applications, and a Boss or Roland product generally needs a normally closed footswitch when you add an external switch.
Support and the end of Windows 10 compatibility
As of October 14, 2025, Roland no longer provides support for the use of Roland products with Windows 10 or earlier operating systems. This covers driver provision and updates, operational guarantees, and assistance with product usage or troubleshooting. Roland will continue to provide downloadable files for Windows 10 for the time being, but without support for download issues, installation procedures, or operational guarantees.3
The reason Roland gives is Microsoft's own schedule: Microsoft announced that support for Windows 10 would end on October 14, 2025, after which Microsoft no longer provides software updates, security fixes, or technical assistance to Windows 10 PCs3. Players running editor software or drivers for BOSS multi-effects and recorders on an older Windows machine should plan around this.
The range (23)
News
Questions
Does Roland own Boss?
Yes. BOSS's own product pages describe Roland as BOSS's parent company, and the two brands are presented together, for example as joint leaders in guitar synthesizer innovation for nearly five decades. BOSS handles the stompbox side of the business while Roland carries the amps, rack units and synthesizers.
Did Roland invent MIDI?
Roland was one of MIDI's founders, not its sole inventor. The Musical Instrument Digital Interface was based on Roland's Digital Control Bus and developed with Dave Smith and Chet Wood of Sequential Circuits, with modifications by Roland, Sequential Circuits, Korg, Kawai, Yamaha and others. Roland's 1984 GR-700 was its first guitar synth equipped with MIDI.
Sources (14)
- BOSS - GM-800 | Guitar Synthesizer, BOSS (www.boss.info)
- The Complete Guide to Guitar Synthesizers, BOSS (articles.boss.info), 2023-11-21
- BOSS - Support - Support News - End of Support for Using Roland/BOSS Products with Windows 10, BOSS (boss.info), 2025-10-14
- Strings and Synths: A History of Roland and BOSS Guitar Synthesizers, articles.boss.info (BOSS Articles), 2021-04-08
- BOSS - GM-800 | Guitar Synthesizer, BOSS (boss.info)
- Warm Audio Roland Vintage Jet Phaser Clone Guitar, Bass, And Keyboards Effects Pedal, Warm Audio
- The PX-1 Plugout FX: Timeless BOSS Pedals Reborn, BOSS (articles.boss.info), 2025-06-06
- Fuzzrocious Electric Ocean Fuzz+Phaser, Delicious Audio, 2021-11-10
- BOSS - The Roland SDE-3000, BOSS (boss.info)
- Reverberations: Bassist Charlie Jones (Part 2)-The Cult and Siouxsie Sioux, BOSS (articles.boss.info), 2026-04-14
- BOSS - CH-1 | SUPER Chorus, BOSS (boss.info)
- BOSS SDE-3 Dual Digital Delay, Pedal of the Day, 2025-02-09
- Echoes in Time: The History of BOSS Delay Pedals, BOSS (articles.boss.info), 2024-01-10
- BOSS SDE-3 Digital Delay, Delicious Audio, 2025-06-04