Analogue Solutions announced the Series 700 at SynthFest UK 2026 on 24 October 2026: a modular system built to replicate Roland’s System 700, the 1976 instrument that was Roland’s answer to the Moog Modular and the ARP 2500.
The price, from the company’s own order page: £33,000 excluding delivery, packing crate and import or other taxes, with a £7,000 deposit to hold a place in the build queue. An original System 700 “fetch[es] over £150,000 on the second hand market, and that’s even if you can find a full system”.
That is the news. The more interesting thing is what the company has said about doing this before.
The reversal
Analogue Solutions, Tom Carpenter’s UK operation, already makes a large-format modular whose shape will be familiar to anyone who has seen an EMS Synthi 100: the L-shaped console called Colossus. Here is how the company describes it, on its own product page, in its own words:
Design inspiration is of course from the 1970’s EMS Synthi 100, however, no circuit from the Synthi has been cloned or copied. We prefer to make our own designs. We have chosen some of our favourite circuits from our own large back catalogue synths such as Polymath, Telemark and Vostok. Colossus is not a Synthi 100 clone — all circuits are non-EMS, Analogue Solutions’ design.
That is unambiguous and, to the company’s credit, volunteered. Colossus is a Synthi-shaped instrument containing Analogue Solutions circuitry, and they say so twice in one paragraph.
Now the Series 700 introduction, from the same website:
The Analogue Solutions Series 700 is as close to the Roland System 700 as you can get. We aimed to replicate the design as closely as possible, keeping the look and layout the same. We had knobs and slider caps custom made, and also custom ordered switches and potentiometers. … Almost every circuit has been reproduced from original schematics. We kept changes to a minimum, only changing where necessary.
“We prefer to make our own designs” and “almost every circuit has been reproduced from original schematics” are two different companies’ philosophies, published on two pages of the same site. Something changed, and the Series 700 is the first product where it shows.
Why it changed is not stated anywhere we could find, and we are not going to guess. But it is the single most significant thing about this announcement, and it is the thing the coverage has not mentioned.
What the vendor claims, versus what was reported
Three places where the reporting ran slightly ahead of the company:
“Every circuit” versus “almost every circuit.” Secondary coverage describes the company as having “reproduced every circuit from the original schematics with minimal changes”. The company’s own page says almost every circuit. One word, and it is the company being the more careful party.
The MIDI feature. Reported as a new feature “to work better with it in modern setups like sequencer sync and more”. The company describes it as “a basic single channel MIDI to CV converter”, adding that it is “primarily for syncing the sequencer to MIDI”. That is a much smaller claim.
Whether you can buy part of it. Reported as complete systems or blocks only. The vendor is looser: “we don’t plan to sell loose single modules … We supply complete systems. However, one could buy the system in parts, starting, say, with just the Main block, adding the other blocks as money allows. Or single blocks could be bought to fill gaps in an incomplete system.” The modules are the same size as the originals, though a space may be needed and the power connector would need adapting.
That last one matters practically. If you own a partial System 700 — which, per the company, is the usual way they survive — you can apparently buy the blocks you are missing.
The system
The modules carry the original Roland numbers. Block 1 is a complete voice: 702 three VCOs, 708A ring modulator and noise, 703A multimode filter, 703E low-pass filter, 704A/B two VCAs, 705A dual envelope, 706A/B two LFOs, 707A amplifier, envelope follower and integrator, 709A sample and hold, 710A multiple, 711A mixer with reverb, phasor, tuner and VU meters, 712A MIDI, monitor and voltage processor, and 716A three-channel mixer.
Beyond that: Block 3 is a 3×12-step analogue CV sequencer and pulse shaper. Block 4 is a VCO bank of six (702D/702E) with mixer, multiple, LFO, sample and hold, and dual envelope. Block 5 is the filter and VCA bank. Block 6 is the interface and mixer with four multimode filters. Block 7 holds a switched multiple, analogue switch and two-channel phase shifters.
Physical size is identical to the original. There are internal mechanical changes, which the company says do not affect the sound, and component substitutions “only … where it is impossible to find parts” because the original uses many discontinued components. They note explicitly that with modern hindsight there are better ways to build this and different circuit choices one would make now, and that they “stayed with the original spec” and “resisted the urge to change the spec or feature set”.
On vapourware, unprompted
The buy page contains a passage we have not seen phrased this way by a boutique synth maker:
This product is already in production. It is not a prototype or crowd funded vapourware. We do not take your money to fund our idea and development. Your deposit is to secure a real product already in production.
Shipping is stated as late 2026, with customer modules already being tested and built. For a £7,000 deposit, that distinction between a deposit and a development loan is the one that should decide whether you send it.
Sources
- Series 700 — Introduction, Analogue Solutions
- Series 700 — Buy, Analogue Solutions
- Colossus — Analogue Solutions
- Analogue Solutions Series 700: the Roland 700 modular Synthesizer is reborn — Synth Anatomy