The Roland W-30 is a sampling workstation keyboard, released in 1989. It features an on-board 12-bit sampler, sample-based synthesizer, 16-track sequencer and 61-note keyboard.
Overview
The W-30's "Workstation" title stems from its incorporation of synthesis, sampling and MIDI sequencing capabilities. Although primitive by modern standards, the W-30's onboard sequencer was a practical way to arrange music as opposed to a DAW.
Unusually, while sounds are sampled with 12-bit resolution, they are played back through a 16-bit D-A converter[3] which, in theory at least, improves the sound quality. Nonetheless, the slightly "gritty" nature of the samples could be considered one of the instrument's charms.
The W-30 is compatible with the sound library of the Roland S-50, S330 & S550 dedicated samplers, which are now in the public domain.
Expansion
The workstation's back panel features a blanking-plate labelled SCSI. This allowed the very rare "KW30 SCSI kit" upgrade to be fitted.
The KW30 gave the W-30 the ability to behave as a SCSI Master device, and drive SCSI hard drives and CD-ROM players through a standard 25-pin SCSI cable.
Copying samples to a SCSI hard drive (maximum usable capacity: 80Mb) dramatically reduces load time compared to the built-in 3.5" floppy disk drive.[4]
Steve Hillier of Dubstar programmed the entirety of the band's first album Disgraceful on a W-30. It was retired for the band's first European tour in 1996[6]
Andrés Bobe of La Ley programmed the keyboards and sequences from 1990 to 1994, mostly for the album Doble Opuesto[7]
DJ Paul of Three 6 Mafia created the gritty, 90s proto-trap sound by re-sampling the groups' hooks to be used across many of their releases. DJ Paul still uses the W-30 to this day.[8]
