Uploaded January 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The Roland System 700 was a cutting edge and overly engineered masterpiece from 1976 that is both rare and curious.
As so few of these Systems were made, there's only a couple of dozen videos on YouTube showing them and several of those are just quick phone recordings.
So for posterity, I've made two videos featuring a System that I borrowed for a month in early 2020.
Here's the previous performance video: youtube.com/watch?v=DeCAIUkQK2A
Here's the breakdown of this "Closer Look" video:
0:00 - Intro
0:51 - Sound 1 "Mud Flap Bass" Demonstration
1:36 - Sound 1 Explanation
3:04 - Sound 2 "Halley's Drumet" Demonstration
3:53 - Sound 2 Explanation
5:22 - Sound 3 "Rubbery Sequence" Demonstration
6:21 - Sound 3 Explanation
7:09 - Sound 4 "Threedemed" Demonstration
8:07 - Sound 4 Explanation
9:17 - Sound 5 "Womp-Womp" Demonstration
9:43 - Sound 5 Explanation
10:10 - Sound 6 "Follow My Lead" Demonstration
10:47 - Sound 6 Explanation
11:20 - Outro
All recordings are of the System 700 only and there are no external FX or tricks used at all. There's a bit of compression on the output of my DAW to level the audio for this video but it's otherwise the totally pure sound of the 700.
Huge thanks to the owner of this System and thank you for watching!
Social:
Instagram.com/alexballmusic
Facebook.com/alexballmusic
The Roland System 700 was a cutting edge and overly engineered masterpiece from 1976 that is both rare and curious.
As so few of these Systems were made, there's only a couple of dozen videos on YouTube showing them and several of those are just quick phone recordings.
So for posterity, I've made two videos featuring a System that I borrowed for a month in early 2020.
Here's the previous performance video: youtube.com/watch?v=DeCAIUkQK2A
Here's the breakdown of this "Closer Look" video:
0:00 - Intro
0:51 - Sound 1 "Mud Flap Bass" Demonstration
1:36 - Sound 1 Explanation
3:04 - Sound 2 "Halley's Drumet" Demonstration
3:53 - Sound 2 Explanation
5:22 - Sound 3 "Rubbery Sequence" Demonstration
6:21 - Sound 3 Explanation
7:09 - Sound 4 "Threedemed" Demonstration
8:07 - Sound 4 Explanation
9:17 - Sound 5 "Womp-Womp" Demonstration
9:43 - Sound 5 Explanation
10:10 - Sound 6 "Follow My Lead" Demonstration
10:47 - Sound 6 Explanation
11:20 - Outro
All recordings are of the System 700 only and there are no external FX or tricks used at all. There's a bit of compression on the output of my DAW to level the audio for this video but it's otherwise the totally pure sound of the 700.
Huge thanks to the owner of this System and thank you for watching!
Social:
Instagram.com/alexballmusic
Facebook.com/alexballmusic
