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.…