Natsumi Hirota Previous works mail : 1994.hrt@gmail.com

Check out the incredible music of Natsumi Hirota on Soundcloud- very cool!

soundcloud.com/natsumi-hiro...

This is simply fantastic. Give yourself 5 minutes of stillness and take this jn. The layers the Restyler is able to introduce on top are amazing, but I also love the “clay pot” warm it brings to the innards of the groove itself.

I love this so much! Thank you for tagging me, and I am reposting. While the layers introduced on top are super cool, I also love the warmth and life that lives and moves in the groove.

“Human heartbeats can become kick drums, birdsong and whale calls can become melodies”: Exploring the new industry of AI-integrated hardware effects pedals AI is making the jump from software to hardware with a plethora of smart effects pedals. Is it just another gimmick or will AI-based hardware finally legitimise the controversial technology?

A very interesting piece focused on the introduction of AI to effects pedals, with thanks to Adam Douglas and Musicradar for featuring Project LYDIA from Roland Future Design Lab.

www.musicradar.com/music-tech/h...

These Musical Instruments of the Future Sound Weird, Wacky—and Are Easy for Anyone to Play A bicycle wheel with guitar strings, a touch-operated synth, and the “Demon Box” were just a few of the new instruments on show at Georgia Tech’s Guthman Musical Instrument Competition this weekend.

Would love to have been there to experience this year's edition of the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition!

www.wired.com/story/georgi...

Saddened this evening to learn of the passing of Jim Cooper, the founder of JL Cooper Electronics.

Here is a photo of my near mint condition Fadermaster. True of everything I’ve ever seen from JL Cooper, this was built to last for decades, and it has.

My condolences to his family and friends.

2025: My Year of Music A full year of music discovery saved as an Apple Music playlist.

Here's a look back at the music that drew me in last year, shared as an Apple Music playlist.

open.substack.com/pub/twentysi...

Why AI Won’t Make Everyone a Musician Creativity is still a choice, not an accident

This is an absolutely fantastic take on the relationship between emerging creative AI tech and music making. Well worth the read and subscribe!

open.substack.com/pub/discmans...

Making music with MIDI just got a real boost in Windows 11 MIDI 2.0 (and enhanced MIDI 1.0!) comes to Windows 11 Non-musicians sometimes associate MIDI only with .mid music files, or with the late 80’s General MIDI sound sets. But it is so much more than that...

MIDI 2.0 (and many other great MIDI enhancements) has arrived on Windows!

blogs.windows.com/windowsexper...

The Future Starts Here: Visiting Roland’s Radical New Headquarters Roland unveiled its new global headquarters and we were there to see it.

Very pleased to introduce our new headquarters in Japan, aptly named Roland Inspiration Hub. Thank you to Attack Magazine for the great story, including mentions of Project LYDIA and the Soundscapes Project from Roland Future Design Lab!

www.attackmagazine.com/features/lon...

Been Undone (Dark-Side Mix) - Single by Peter Gabriel on Apple Music Album · 2026 · 1 Song

Who is Peter Gabriel to me? He’s a genius and musically sophisticated sonic artisan whose voice and lyrics knock on the door to my soul and wait patiently to deliver truths I may or may not be ready for, but almost always need to hear.

music.apple.com/ca/album/bee...

‘I’m delighted to say that we will be beginning another year of full moon releases under the name o\i.
The songs are a mix of thoughts and feelings. I hope you like them.’ - pg

A Look Inside Roland Future Design Lab Roland Future Design Lab lead Paul McCabe, Senior Vice President of Research and Innovation, discusses the group's mission and future.

My dear friend @pkirn.bsky.social has written a very nice introduction to my Roland Future Design Lab team.

articles.roland.com/a-look-insid...

AI4Music The Principles for Music Creation with AI establish a guideline for the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence in music. By adopting these principles, companies and organizations commit to protect...

You are welcome. To understand what our principles are with regards ti AI, please have a look at aiformusic.info . We are ONLY interested in AI applications that responsibly enhance/augment human creativity. And you can hold us to this.

I will seek confirmation from our partners at Neutone about the initial one-time model training process, but as this is done with only 1-4 hours of audio source material, and the resulting models average about 30Mb, it is not going to be a resource-intensive process.

This is a fair question. Roland is committed to pursuing sustainable inferences of AI, and in this case, everything is run on-device, so using Project LYDIA requires no pervasive connectivity to a data center.

Roland Future Design Lab - Project Lydia - Neural Sampler - ADC 25 YouTube video by sonicstate

If you are interested in the announcement last week from Roland Future Design Lab and Neutone about our Project LYDIA PoC, you may find the conversation in the comments for the Sonicstate video quite interesting. We are doing our best to respond quickly.

youtu.be/D1hwf0Ih55s?...

As AI-Artist Xania Monet Climbs the Charts, Victoria Monét’s Caught in the Uncanny Valley The Grammy winner can’t prove the virtual singer was trained on her music or image—but “It’s not ideal,” says Monét.

My sincere thanks are offered to Brea Cubit and Vanity Fair magazine for taking an interest in the impact of AI-generated music on artists and the industry, and for inviting me to contribute Roland's views.

www.vanityfair.com/culture/stor...

AI Music Fools Most People, and They're Not Happy About It A survey from Deezer and Ipsos reveals strong feelings about AI-generated tunes.

Thankful to CNET for giving Roland the chance to contribute our views on purely AI-generated music in response to a recent Deezer public opinion survey:

www.cnet.com/tech/service...

Introducing Project LYDIA Discover the exciting audio effects Technology Preview from Roland Future Design Lab and Neutone.

Super excited to share the latest technology preview from Roland Future Design Lab and our partners at Neutone. Please say hello to Project LYDIA:

articles.roland.com/introducing-...

I understand the point, but I do still wonder. I am peppered with visuals I don't really care about all day long, but when I see what I believe is an AI-generated human, it stands out and I respond negatively. We will see.

Yes, I wonder, too. And short of that, if it just becomes easier to recognize, through some form of labeling, where the line between human and AI creativity might be in a given piece of music (if it exists at all- my focus was more on music created entirely with AI), I wonder how we might respond?

Can AI generate music with emotion? (part 2) Part 2 of 2 (or more)

That's a really interesting take, thank you. I wrote a while back about the difference between emotional response (arguably to content) and emotional connection (to art, in your example). I may need to think about a follow up. Here's the first piece: twentysixtyone.substack.com/p/can-ai-cre...

Breaking the illusion. Can we feel as strongly about AI music as we do for AI visuals?

My latest opinion piece on purely AI-generated media...

Like and subscribe, as they say! I'd appreciate it!

twentysixtyone.substack.com/p/breaking-t...

Why do I love giving books? When I’ve read a book that has really resonated with me, I quickly start to think about who I can share it with.

A few brief thoughts about giving books away...

twentysixtyone.substack.com/p/why-do-i-l...

The Florian Schneider Collection The Florian Schneider Collection All property to be shipped or picked up from Gardena, CA, excluding lot 441, which will ship from Germany. Auc...

Okay, my electronic musician and producer friends, how's your self control today? What an amazing collection of electronic and acoustic instruments from the collection of a late true legend...

www.juliensauctions.com/en/auctions/...

Drop The Boom: The Story Of The Roland TR-1000 What do you get when you combine 808 and 909 analog drum synthesis, SP-404MKII-style sampling, and input from Detroit legends like Underground Resistance? The TR-1000, a modern drum machine that is mo...

It's uniquely energizing when you experience a "hit". We are humbled by the response to the Roland TR-1000, and I am privileged to have the members of the development and marketing teams as my friends. This is a great BTS look published by Attack Magazine:

www.attackmagazine.com/features/lon...

I will be speaking at the Music Tectonics conference in Santa Monica (in all my 8-bit glory) on November 5th- hope to see you there!

musictectonics.com/conference

Know the past to Design The Future (part 1) "Beyond reality" with the Roland RD-1000

My latest substack story talks about the importance of knowing the past in order to understand the present and predict the future. If you enjoy it, please subscribe!

twentysixtyone.substack.com/p/know-the-p...

It’s a good point. I think what we may yet see is blockchain and NFT become enabling infrastructure in one or more future provenance/attribution systems.