New digital keyboard, new logo too


This is the first keyboard that played real sounds stored on computer chips. The 360 Systems Digital Keyboard was similar to a synthesizer, but rather than having electronically contrived 'synthesized' sounds, its sounds were sampled recordings of real instruments. Computer chip memory was then very expensive and this product carried a price tag of $3995. Precursers included the famous Mellotron which played sounds from internal recorded tapes. https://www.ericwrobbel.com/art/360keyboard.htm

As I understood it, the 360 Digital Keyboard was the first musical product sold commercially that played real sounds stored on computer chips. It was similar to a synthesizer in many respects, but rather than having electronically contrived “synthesized” sounds, the 360 Keyboard sounds were actual recordings of real instruments.

Computer chip memory was then very expensive and this product carried a price tag of $3995. Precursers included the famous Mellotron which played sounds from internal recorded tapes.

My work for Bob Easton, 360 Systems’ founder and owner, began at this time. You can still see his old logo on the keyboard, the giant “360!”

At the time this logo was designed in 1983, it was most unusual for the electronics industry, then dominated by graphics that were crude, loud, and full of hi-tech pretense. Sometimes you get more attention with a whisper than a shout. I said that--and I believe it--when I pitched this logo design to Bob Easton, founder and owner of 360 Systems. To my great surprise, he agreed with me. It is still in use today. See what it replaced: https://www.ericwrobbel.com/art/360keyboard.htm

This new logo was most unusual in the electronics industry, which was then dominated by the crude and loud. Sometimes you get more attention with a whisper than a shout. I said that—and I believe it—when I pitched this logo design to Bob Easton. To my great surprise, he agreed with me.



What: Copy assistance, design, art, corporate logo

For: “New digital keyboard from 360 Systems with real acoustic instrument sounds” full-page ad

Client: 360 Systems

When: 1983




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