BRIDGE CAST is a dedicated audio mixer for gamers, marking Roland’s first foray into the gaming industry. It’s a desktop hub packed with powerful features like dual sound mixes, vocal transformer effects, personalization options, music playback, sound effects, and support for a broadcast-grade mic and headphones. It’s a unique product for Roland, and so is its story. Meet the team that brought BRIDGE CAST from concept to fruition.
A Youth Gamer Grows Up
The development of BRIDGE CAST was spearheaded by the efforts of Hirotaka Koga, a Roland employee from the Mechanism Development Department who grew up playing Super NES and PlayStation from Kindergarten onward. In adulthood, he drifted away from his childhood hobby, but five years ago, a colleague at Roland invited him into the world of PC gaming. While delighted by his new gaming experience, Koga discovered the glaring issue of poor audio.
Since sound is essential to Esports and competitive gaming, an opportunity was obvious. “Roland’s audio interface and professional audio mixer technology could make games sound better for users,” Koga explains. After some research, he learned that professional gamers utilized interface devices, headphones, and speakers.
A Daring Email
Inspired by what he saw as an opportunity, Koga created a business and product plan. However, he needed help identifying like-minded employees with decision-making power to help with the fledgling project.
Undeterred, Koga sent an email directly to Junichi Miki, former CEO at Roland, who confirmed that if he couldn’t get another person involved, he should pursue it himself outside of work hours. Even in a company that encourages innovation, proposing a product directly to the president was audacious for an employee who didn’t belong to the development department.
"Even in a company that encourages innovation, proposing a product directly to the president was audacious for an employee who didn't belong to the development department."
“When I think about it now, it was not a business plan I would give the president. But I received an immediate response,” Koga recalls. “I was given some research hints and made further revisions to my business plan. Then I met with the president and several executives.”
Masakazu Watanabe of the Live Production Development Department heard that Koga had planned an audio product for games and received positive feedback from the president and executives. As the development leader, he decided to realize Koga’s idea for the next product.
Internal Allies
In strategizing how to market BRIDGE CAST, gamers within the company became powerful allies. Watanabe and Koga approached gamers from various departments with the following query: “Roland is going to make game peripherals. Would you help us determine the product specifications?”
Young employees came out of the woodwork to help. Many were gamers recognized within the company for providing informal consultation to friends. Koga’s enthusiasm dispelled any anxiety they might have had in representing the collective voice of gamers everywhere. “We want to revolutionize the gaming space from within Roland,” he told them. “And we want you to help.”
"Young employees came out of the woodwork to help. Many were gamers recognized within the company for providing informal consultation
to friends."
Ultimately, Watanabe and Koga believe BRIDGE CAST was only possible because of the cooperation of these beta testers. “After the prototype was completed, everyone who cooperated decided they wanted to buy it when it was released,” says Watanabe of the internal feedback. High praise, indeed.
Maximizing Quality and Affordability
Streaming gaming is massively popular, encompassing many styles and personalities. Still, no matter what type of delivery, broadcast quality is critical, and superior sound is at the heart of a great stream. Engineers Masahiko Kuga and Fumio Matsumura worked with Watanabe to develop BRIDGE CAST.
“We decided to make it affordable but with high functionality,” Kuga says. Utilizing his development experience with Watanabe, Kuga and Matsumura achieved maximum quality within the cost constraints.
"After the prototype was completed, everyone who cooperated decided they wanted to buy it when it was released."
A significant challenge streaming gamers face is mixing some gameplay, voice chat, background music, and other sounds. With its dual audio busses, BRIDGE CAST allows users to create independent mixes for themselves and their online audience. Kuga and Matsumura utilized Roland’s advances in audio to bring unprecedented refinement to the gaming space.
Learning a New Culture
There is much benefit to gamers in the BRIDGE CAST design. Other features include a high-quality XLR microphone preamp with phantom power for broadcast-grade mics, EQ, compression, and vocal FX. Of note are the customizable faceplate and adjustable knob LED colors. These put the product in a league of its own in terms of gaming mixers. “We learned that gamers have a culture of customization, and we made every effort to respect that,” Watanabe shares.
"I wanted to contribute to the game industry. It's been a dream of mine since my teenage years to turn my ideas into products."
From philosophy to design to functionality, the BRIDGE CAST team is committed to gamers and gaming streamers. It was created by Roland gamers jumping over department walls and exchanging opinions as representatives of players worldwide. Koga is proud of the way his passion turned into a product. “I will definitely buy it myself,” he laughs.
In the end, the BRIDGE CAST idea became a reality. So, what inspired Koga to pursue the project with such diligence? “I wanted to contribute to the game industry,” he reveals. “It’s been a dream of mine since my teenage years to turn my ideas into products.”
