Hobnox Audiotool is Cool, But Where is Roland?

When electronic instrument manufacturer Roland created the TR-808 Rhythm Composer and TB-303 Bass Line in the early 80’s, they marketed the machines as practice and demoing tools for guitarists. Almost serendipitously, the machines ended up in the hands of the producers that would become pioneers of techno, electro, acid house, and trance. Today, vintage Roland models command prices surpassing their original price tags of the early 80’s.

Last February, Hobnox, a German web entertainment and publishing platform that describes itself as “created for artists by artists,” introduced Audiotool, a Flash-based attempt to recreate Roland’s legendary machines on the web. As you can see in the image, they certainly got the visual appearance down, including some strategically placed stickers over Roland logos and model numbers.

I have no idea whether the covering up of the logos was done preemptively to prevent a lawsuit from Roland, or if Hobnox contacted them regarding a partnership and got rejected. But in my eyes, this should have been a no-brainer cross promotion. The association with Roland and their highly sought-after machines could attract new users to Hobnox, and the virtual recreations of the Roland 808 and 303 could appeal to new generations of producers who use software instead of or in addition to hardware. Roland co-develops software suites with Cakewalk, so perhaps the Hobnox Audiotool could help promote those products. But until some kind of partnership happens, I see this as a missed opportunity, especially for Roland.