Roland E-20

The Roland E-20 is a keyboard instrument introduced by Roland in 1988.

Described by Roland as an "Intelligent Synthesizer", the instrument was the first product of Roland Europe SpA, which had been set up after a takeover of the SIEL company of Italy the previous year. The new venture was a strategic move by Roland to enter the lucrative home keyboard market which had hitherto been dominated by both Yamaha and Casio.

Featuring auto accompaniment, and built in speakers the E-20 used the advanced LA Synthesis system as used on the legendary Roland D-50 its core sound engine. The E-20 set a new standard for the amateur keyboardist, with high-quality sounds, innovative drum patterns and backings which were widely recognised as being a jump ahead of Yamaha's competing PSR line.

As well as the E-20 itself, the cheaper E-5 and E-10 were subsequently launched as "cut down" versions, while the enhanced E-30 debuted in 1990. There was also a modular version (the RA-50 Realtime Arranger), and the Pro-E Intelligent Arranger, which was basically half an E-20 minus speakers with only the arranger and drum unit.

In 1989 the German company Quasimidi produced a popular retrofit upgrade kit that greatly expanded the capabilities of the keyboard. It doubled the number of sounds available from 64 to 128 by unlocking hidden patches previously only available via MIDI. It also doubled the number of user programs that could be stored and enabled the layering of two sounds in the right hand section. Another feature was the removal of the system exclusive control on the automatic accompaniment, allowing this to be controlled by other non-Roland keyboards.

Roland would go on to dominate the home keyboard market in the 1990s with subsequent generations of the E-series line, and would later introduce the closely related professional G-series line (the G-800, G-1000 and later, the G-70) as auto accompaniment began to gain acceptance and recognition within the high-end user community. However, all of these products retain the same basic architecture of the E-20. The current top-of-the-line E-Series keyboard is the E-80.

Generations of Roland Home Keyboards

*First Generation (Produced 1988-1991):E-5, E-10, E-20, E-30, RA-50, Pro-E Arranger
*Second Generation (Produced 1991-1993):E-15, E-35, E-70, RA-90
*Third Generation (Produced 1993-1996):E-16, E-36, E-56, E-86, RA-95
*Fourth Generation (Produced 1995/6 - 1998):E-28, E-68, E-96, G-800, RA-30, RA-800
*Fifth Generation (Produced 1998 - 2001):EM-2000, EM-50, EM-30, E-500, G-1000
*Sixth Generation (Produced 2001 - 2005):VA-3, VA-5, VA-7, VA-76, EXR-3, EXR-3s, EXR-5, EXR-5s, EXR-7
*Seventh Generation (Produced 2005 - today):G-70, E-50, E-60, E-80