Roland has one more announcement — a 1.5 update for its flagship TR-1000 drum machine. That includes note sequencing, a must-requested keyboard mode for playing bass and melodic parts on the gear, the ability to swap patterns and kits with effects on without a hitch, and a lot of tweaks and UI improvements.
Yeah, an official firmware update for gear in October 2026 — what a concept!
At a glance:
- Notes per step is a new sequencing mode — finally, GENs have per-step note sequencing.
- Keyboard mode. Yep, now you can also use the x0x triggers as a keyboard.
- New MFX: Roll, Roll 2, Rev Pan Delay, and SBF-325, plus new parameters.
- Swap kits and patterns seamlessly. It’s dubbed “keep EFX and EXT in,” but the utility here is pretty significant. The machine now maintains any active effects or external inputs when switching kits during live performance, for smoother sets — no dropouts. Yes.
- More complete UI. Too much of the TR-1000 lacked visual feedback on the display; Roland has clearly listened to feedback from users and/or worked through their to-do list, and now you get fleshed-out visuals in places like the Tempo Screen GUI, plus other tweaks.
- Analog effects and output routing. More options here; see below.
- New FM instruments (from the TR-8S). 50 FM instruments round out the selection from the TR-8S (which I’ll say again as always remains a terrific bargain, even if its OS hasn’t seen an update since 2023).
- and more…
TR-1000 is still going to be too big, heavy, and spendy for a lot of folks, but these firmware updates also make me hopeful about what they might mean if Roland decides to do a budget follow-up and successor to the TR-8S. (That’s a no-brainer, obviously; the only real question is the name. TR-9S? TR-100? I’m going with TR-10. Check in to see if I was right.)
The official video:
And Unit:E has done some nice hands-on videos to make this clearer, as well (a bit quicker than Roland’s official vid, even):
He’s broken down the two features that I think a lot of people we care about most.
Keyboard Mode:
And the one that I’m happiest with: switching kits without the dropout:
Full release notes:
TR-1000 System Program ( Ver.1.50 )
Roland TR-1000 downloads
Nadia Struiwigh (like Roland) is at Amsterdam Dance Event this week, but check out her terrific video on making ambient music wiht the 1000!
And don’t miss her album IKIGAI, by the way!
Expect we have a few 1000 owners out there, so let us know how you’re liking it, how this update treats you, and what music you’re making!
Roland TR-1000 is in stock at resellers as I write this.
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Thomann
Sweetwater
Perfect Circuit