The Roland AX-7 is a

keytar The keytar is a lightweight synthesizer that is supported by a strap around the neck and shoulders, similar to the way a guitar is supported by a strap. Keytars allow players a greater range of movement onstage, compared to conventional keyboard ...

that was manufactured by

Roland Corporation is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment, and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on 18 April 1972. In 2005, its headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. It has fact ...

from 2001 to 2007. This modern instrument contains many more advanced features than early keytars such as its predecessor, the

Roland AX-1 The Roland Corporation has manufactured several Keytar, keytars. List of Roland keytars AXIS Roland's first keytar was the AXIS (keytar), AXIS (officially the AXIS-1, leading to its frequently being confused with the AX-1). It was produced bet ...

, and the

Yamaha SHS-10 The Yamaha SHS-10, known in Yamaha's native country, Japan, as the Yamaha Sholky, Sholky being derived from "Shoulder Keyboard", is a keytar (a musical keyboard that can be held like a guitar) manufactured by Yamaha and released in 1987. It h ...

. It runs on 6

AA batteries AA, Aa, Double A, or Double-A may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''America's Army'', a 2002 computer game published by the U.S. Army * '' Ancient Anguish'', a computer game in existence since 1992 * Aa!, a J-Pop musical group * Dou ...

or an external power source. It has a 45

velocity sensitive Keyboard expression is the ability of a keyboard musical instrument to change tone or other qualities of the sound in response to velocity, pressure or other variations in how the performer depresses the keys of the musical keyboard. Expression t ...

keys (without aftertouch), and a 3-character

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...

display. Several features aimed towards stage performance are present, such as a

pitch bend In electronic music, a pitch wheel, pitch bend or bender is a control on a synthesizer to vary the pitch in a continuously variable manner (portamento). The first synthesizer with a pitch wheel was the Minimoog, in 1970. Alternatively, pitch ben ...

ribbon,

touchpad A touchpad or trackpad is a pointing device featuring a tactile sensor, a specialized surface that can translate the motion and position of a user's fingers to a relative position on the operating system that is made output to the screen. Touchp ...

-like expression bar,

sustain In sound and music, an envelope describes how a sound changes over time. It may relate to elements such as amplitude (volume), frequencies (with the use of filters) or pitch. For example, a piano key, when struck and held, creates a near-immedi ...

switch, and volume control knob, all on the upper neck of the instrument. There is also a proprietary "D-Beam" interface, made up of

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

sensors that detect nearby motion. In 2007 the Roland AX-7 was discontinued and is succeeded by the

Roland AX-Synth The Roland AX-Synth is a keytar that is manufactured by Roland Corporation, and was released in late August 2009. This modernized instrument builds on the features of its predecessor, the Roland AX-7. The most notable change is the addition of an ...

since 2009.

MIDI functionality

This instrument functions as a

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...

controller; it produces MIDI messages that are sent to an external

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

sound module A sound module is an electronic musical instrument without a human-playable interface such as a piano-style musical keyboard. Sound modules have to be operated using an externally connected device, which is often a MIDI controller, of which the ...

. (Thus it produces no sound on its own.) It is fully compatible with

General MIDI General MIDI (also known as GM or GM 1) is a standardized specification for electronic musical instruments that respond to MIDI messages. GM was developed by the American MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA) and the Japan MIDI Standards Committ ...

General MIDI Level 2 General MIDI Level 2 or GM2 is a specification for synthesizers which defines several requirements beyond the more abstract MIDI standard and is based on General MIDI and GS extensions. It was adopted in 1999 by the MIDI Manufacturers Association ( ...

, and Roland's own GS MIDI implementation. It has both MIDI in and out ports, and can store up to 128 patches.

Popular opinion

The overall opinion of the Roland AX-7 is consistent. Several reviewers have said that the AX-7 excels in features, like the D-beam and volume knob. It also has good scores in reliability and sounds, even though it has no voices of its own programmed onto the keytar. However, some said that it lacks in ease of use and customer support. Some said that the user’s manual is too confusing for more lighthearted synth users, and the customer support knows almost nothing about the product. Nearly every review on one site agrees with that, but the overall review, out of 10, is a 9.2. On another site the users all agree that it is a valuable keytar; they all gave it 4-5 out of 5 stars and thought that the AX-7 was an excellent keytar.

Notable players

Tim Blake Timothy Blake (born 6 February 1952, in Shepherd's Bush, London) is a keyboardist, synthesist, vocalist, and composer working with Gong, Hawkwind and his Synthesizer and Light performances as Crystal Machine, with the French Light Artist Patr ...

of the space rock band Hawkwind *

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he help ...

Vadim Pruzhanov DragonForce are a British power metal band from London, England. The band was formed in 1999 by guitarists Herman Li and Sam Totman, and are known for their long and fast guitar solos, fantasy-themed lyrics and retro video game-influenced s ...

of the

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

band

DragonForce DragonForce are a British power metal band from London, England. The band was formed in 1999 by guitarists Herman Li and Sam Totman, and are known for their long and fast guitar solos, fantasy-themed lyrics and retro video game-influenced ...

. *

Henrik Klingenberg Henrik "Henkka" Klingenberg (born 21 October 1978) is a Finnish keyboardist, keytarist and singer. He joined the Finnish power metal band Sonata Arctica in late 2002 and currently resides in Kemi, Finland, when not on tour. Keyboardists he has ...

of the power metal band

Sonata Arctica Sonata Arctica is a Finnish power metal band from the town of Kemi, Finland. Created as a hard rock band named Tricky Beans, they later changed to Tricky Means and finally to Sonata Arctica, when they shifted to power metal. The current lineup ...

. (Also

and AX-Synth) *

Victoria Asher Cobra Starship was an American dance-pop band founded in 2005 by Gabe Saporta (ex- Midtown), and headquartered in New York City. He recorded the first album as a solo project, ''While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets''. Saporta later enlist ...

of the band

Cobra Starship Cobra Starship was an American dance-pop band founded in 2005 by Gabe Saporta (ex- Midtown), and headquartered in New York City. He recorded the first album as a solo project, ''While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets''. Saporta later enliste ...

. * Christopher Bowes of the

Pirate Metal Pirate metal is a style of heavy metal music characterized by its incorporation of pirate mythology within the music and sometimes in stage performances. Lyrics often use piratical jargon and various musical genres, such as thrash metal, speed ...

band Alestorm. *

Robert Lamm Robert William Lamm (born October 13, 1944) is an American keyboardist, guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He wrote many of the band's biggest hits, including " Questions 67 & 68", " Does ...

of the rock band

Chicago (band) Chicago is an American rock music, rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1967. The group began calling themselves the Chicago Transit Authority in 1968, then shortened the name in 1969. Self-described as a "rock and roll band with Horn (ins ...

. *

Donald Fagen Donald Jay Fagen (born January 10, 1948) is an American musician best known as the co-founder, lead singer, co-songwriter, and keyboardist of the band Steely Dan, formed in the early 1970s with musical partner Walter Becker. In addition to his w ...

of the rock band

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. He also won a

Grammy award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

. *

Adam Wakeman Adam Wakeman (born 11 March 1974) is an English musician and the current keyboardist and rhythm guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne's band; he also played keyboards and guitar off-stage for Black Sabbath. Wakeman has also worked with Annie Lennox, T ...

, a keytarist for

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...

* Beresford Romeo, from

Soul II Soul Soul II Soul are a British musical collective formed in London in 1988. They are best known for their two major hits; 1989's UK number five and US number eleven " Keep On Movin'", and its follow-up, the UK number one and US number four " Back to ...

Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz composer, pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain", " 500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba", and ...

* Chris Marion, from

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Daisuke Asakura is a Japanese musician, songwriter and producer who is known for his compositional work and skill at the keyboards. Early life and career Asakura's childhood consisted of piano and electronic organ lessons, though he was expected to follow the ...

, a Japanese pop artist *

Andy Qunta Anderson Amos Temba "Andy" Qunta (born 9 January 1951) is an English singer, songwriter, composer and musician. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Qunta is best known as the keyboardist of the Australian rock band Icehouse from between 19 ...

, from Icehouse *David A. Stewart, a

BRIT award The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

winning

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

David Britton David Britton (18 February 1945 – 29 December 2020) was a British author, artist, and publisher. In the 1970s he founded ''Weird Fantasy'' and ''Crucified Toad'', a series of small press magazines of the speculative fiction and horror genres. ...

, founder of

Weird Fantasy ''Weird Fantasy'' is an American dark fantasy and science fiction anthology comic that was part of the EC Comics line in the early 1950s. The companion comic for ''Weird Fantasy'' was '' Weird Science''. Over a four-year span, ''Weird Fantasy'' ra ...

* Pablo Lescano, founder, keytarist and singer of

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Didier Marouani Didier "Ecama" Marouani (born 14 July 1953, in Monaco) is a French composer and musician. Biography Didier started his career as a pop singer and made his first single, "Je suis ton chevalier" with Etienne Roda-Gil as a lyricist in 1975. He ...

, a French

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

En Esch Nicklaus Schandelmaier, (born 23 March 1968) is a German musician, better known by his stage name En Esch, and has been a member of the bands KMFDM, Pigface, Slick Idiot, and . And more recently with NUKES, a 16 member band that includes Chris C ...

, from

KMFDM KMFDM (originally Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, loosely translated by the band as "no pity for the majority") is a multinational industrial band from Hamburg led by Sascha Konietzko, who founded the band in 1984 as a performance art project. ...

and

Slick Idiot Slick Idiot is a German electronic and industrial band. History Slick Idiot was formed by former KMFDM members Günter Schulz and En Esch, following the 1999 breakup of KMFDM. Before taking on the name Slick Idiot, Esch and Schulz contrib ...

Simon Kvamm Simon Kvamm (born 18 February 1975 in Silkeborg) is a Danish- Faroese actor and singer. He is best known as one of the founding members of the Danish rock band Nephew, where he is the lead vocalist and keyboard player. He is also well known fo ...

, from the Danish band

Nephew In the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a niece or nephew is a child of the subject's sibling or sibling-in-law. The converse relationship, the relationship from the niece or nephew's perspective, is that of an ...

* A.R. Rahman, Indian composer and Academy Award winner for Slumdog Millionaire *Joe Felix, from The Mix. plays it connected to a Kenton MidiStream Wireless Midi System * Steve Etherington, producer, composer, session multi-instrumentalist, and

Rubettes The Rubettes are an English pop/glam rock band put together in 1974 after the release of " Sugar Baby Love", a recording assembled of studio session musicians in 1973 by the songwriting team of Wayne Bickerton, the then head of A&R at Polydor ...

member

References

External links

*
Official Roland AX-7 website
{{Roland Keytars Roland Keytars MIDI controllers Digital synthesizers

MIDI functionality

Popular opinion

Notable players

See also

References

External links