I just spend 20 minutes making this image for an Engadget story which I then decided not to write. I don't need to tell you what it means, but I thought you'd enjoy it. The skull & crossbones is explained here. Obviously Roland did make a 404 later on, but not until their 'old rope' period.
They used to be superstitious because the number 4 (shi) in japanese means death as well.
ReplyDeleteI assumed it was a riff on "404: Page Not Found"
ReplyDelete...it's everywhere. Add up the numbers mc202. Or add up the tr909 and minus the tr707. Aaargh. I'm scared now.
ReplyDelete....nice idea. Don't mention the Jupiter 4 tho.
ReplyDeletebetter stick with 'yon' then. Pity the Roland corp aren't more superstitious about dumping tired old hacks of their own classic inventions upon the world.
ReplyDeleteGreat how everyone obviously read the links and other comments before explaining the significance of the number 4 to everyone.
ReplyDeleteMr fluffy...it's fair to say that anyone with more than a passing knowledge of Japanese language or culture knows about '4' it's not the DaVinci code you know...although it probably boasts more basis in fact.
ReplyDeleteIt's the same with Korean culture too. Elevators in Japan and Korea don't have 4 buttons. But they do have F buttons. BTW it's "sa" in Korean. You don't ask anyone for death do you? You should also no write your name in red.
ReplyDeletethere was also the mc-404 as you can find on the great musicmachines gear site:
ReplyDeletehttp://machines.hyperreal.org/manufacturers/Roland/images/mc-404.jpg
True story from just two weeks ago:
ReplyDeleteI live here in Tokyo, and the other day my girlfriend got a call that her teacher had died. When she closed her phone the time on it was exactly 4:04. I didn't tell her.