Roland built maybe a few dozen System 700 modular synthesizers before quietly discontinuing it in the late 1970s. Nearly fifty years later, finding one on the open market means competing with studios and collectors willing to pay six figures, and even then the circuits inside a surviving unit are decades old and often degraded. Analogue Solutions, the UK manufacturer run by Tom Carpenter, just gave that market an alternative: the Series 700, unveiled at SynthFest UK on October 24, 2026.

What makes this different from a tribute module?

Most modern takes on classic synths borrow a sound or a panel layout and call it a day. Analogue Solutions went further: the Series 700 reproduces the original Roland System 700's circuit designs using the period schematics as a reference, not a reverse-engineered approximation. The company has been upfront that some component substitutions and mechanical changes were necessary, since several of the original parts simply aren't manufactured anymore, but it maintains those swaps don't touch the sound.

The spec sheet reads like the original system because it largely is the original system: three VCOs, dual VCAs, multimode and low-pass filters, dual envelope generators, dual LFOs, a ring modulator, noise generator and sample-and-hold section, a 3-channel by 12-step analog CV sequencer, plus a two-channel phase shifter and delay in the effects block. Knobs, sliders, switches and potentiometers were custom-manufactured to match the 1976 parts, down to the physical dimensions of the original cabinet.

"The Series 700 reproduces the original Roland System 700's circuit designs using original schematics as a reference."

Who is actually buying a £33,000 modular system?

The original System 700 attracted exactly the kind of owner who doesn't blink at a six-figure price: Vince Clarke and Hans Zimmer are both known to have used one. That's the market Analogue Solutions is building for again. At £33,000 before delivery, crate and taxes, with a £7,000 deposit required just to hold a spot in the build queue, the Series 700 is priced well below what a working original fetches today, but it's still a studio-grade purchase, not a hobbyist one.

Where the new system breaks from strict replication is in the connectivity nobody in 1976 needed: a MIDI-to-CV interface is built in for sequencer sync and integration with a contemporary studio, and the company has a working prototype of a Roland 701-style CV keyboard with four polyphonic CV channels, MIDI in and out, and velocity output, though its release depends on demand. Units are in production now, with shipping expected in late 2026.

Why it matters

Vintage modular synthesis has effectively become inaccessible outside a handful of private studios and collectors willing to pay auction-house prices for aging hardware. A circuit-accurate recreation, built and warrantied by a manufacturer rather than sourced on the grey market, reopens a door that's been shut for most producers for decades.

What we think

This is the right way to do a reissue: Analogue Solutions isn't slapping a retro badge on a cheap clone, it's rebuilding the actual circuit from the actual schematics and pricing it like the serious studio instrument it is. £33,000 will still put it out of reach for almost everyone reading this, but it's the kind of gear story that matters because it proves the demand for real vintage modular sound is still there, and someone finally built a legitimate way to meet it instead of letting the secondhand market keep gatekeeping at €150,000 a unit.