The Roland RS-202 was a

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

string synthesizer A string synthesizer or string machine is a specialized synthesizer designed specifically to make sounds similar to that of a string orchestra. Dedicated string synthesizers occupied a specific musical instrument niche between electronic organs ...

, introduced by

Roland Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

in 1976. It was the successor to the Roland RS-101, released in 1975. The synthesizer operated using

sawtooth wave The sawtooth wave (or saw wave) is a kind of non-sinusoidal waveform. It is so named based on its resemblance to the teeth of a plain-toothed saw with a zero rake angle. A single sawtooth, or an intermittently triggered sawtooth, is called a ...

oscillators, which used a frequency divider in a similar manner to an

electronic organ An electric organ, also known as electronic organ, is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally designed to imitate their sound, or orchestral sounds, it has since develop ...

to provide full

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture (music), texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompan ...

across a five-octave keyboard. The signal was then fed through a single envelope shaper, making the instrument paraphonic. The front panel had two separate controls for the top and bottom of the keyboard, which could have independent sounds. Each note could be assigned a separate envelope articulation, which was necessary to avoid re-triggering the attack if an extra note was added to an existing chord being played. To achieve a more realistic sound of an ensemble of string players, the output was fed through a

chorus effect Chorus (or chorusing, choruser or chorused effect) is an audio effect that occurs when individual sounds with approximately the same time, and very similar pitches, converge. While similar sounds coming from multiple sources can occur naturally, ...

using a number of delay lines triggered by low frequency oscillators. An American company called Multivox manufactured a clone of the RS-202, called the MX-202. It used similar internal components, though the sound was weaker. Notable users of the RS-202 include

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book o ...

' Tony Banks,

Camel A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. ...

's Peter Bardens,

Los Bukis Los Bukis (The Bukis, ''buki'' translates as ''Little Kid'' in the Yaqui language) are a Mexican Grupera band from Ario de Rosales, Michoacan. In 1973, the band was founded by cousins Marco Antonio Solís and Joel Solís. Their first song was ...

and

Tomita is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aijiro Tomita (1885–1954), Japanese politician *Hiroyuki Tomita (born 1980), Japanese gymnast *Isao Tomita (1932–2016), Japanese electronic music composer *Kazuo Tomita (born 19 ...

References

Citations Sources * {{Roland Roland synthesizers String synthesizers Analog synthesizers Musical instruments invented in the 1970s

See also

References