Roland E-20

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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.

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.