Release date: Friday, July 18, 2003

Roland Corporation and Cakewalk® Announce Strategic Alliance

SUMMER NAMM, NASHVILLE, TN (July 18, 2003)—Roland Corporation and Cakewalk today announced a strategic alliance in which the companies will co-develop innovative desktop music products. Cakewalk products will be exclusively distributed by Roland and its subsidiary, Edirol, in select countries outside North America and Roland is making a minority investment in Cakewalk.

The alliance brings together recognized leaders in music hardware and software technologies to co-develop and deliver innovative desktop music products to suit the needs of a wide range of musicians.

“What is unique about this alliance is that our two companies have come together with a shared vision to create and deliver the best music products for musicians," commented Greg Hendershott, Founder and CEO of Cakewalk. “We look forward to a long and profitable relationship.”

Roland has been the sole distributor of Cakewalk products in Japan since 1995. Since then Roland and Cakewalk have worked together to co-develop and expand the new growing market of Desktop Music.

“We’re thrilled about the alliance and look forward to collaborating on joint software development projects,” says Katsuyoshi Dan, President of Roland Corporation.

“In order to strengthen our relationship with Cakewalk worldwide, Roland moved forward with this investment. It was a natural course of action for us as Cakewalk will provide us with the key software expertise necessary for us to move ahead with a new wave of innovative music products.”

While the alliance will significantly alter Cakewalk’s distribution outside of North America, the United States and Canada will maintain their own existing sales networks and will not be affected by the announcement.

Please visit the Roland-Cakewalk FAQ page to get answers to some common questions.

About Cakewalk, Inc.
Cakewalk, Inc. is the world's leading developer of powerful, yet easy to use products for music creation and recording:

• Award-winning Digital Audio Workstations and Sequencers
• Integrated Music Hardware and Software Solutions
• Powered Stereo Monitors
• High-quality Digital Audio and MIDI Interfaces
• MIDI Keyboard Controllers
• Innovative Virtual Instruments and Effects
• Entry-level Consumer Products

Millions of musicians around the world choose Cakewalk products to produce audio for the professional music, film, broadcast, and video game industries. These customers include Grammy® and Emmy®-winning producers, composers, sound designers and engineers. We invite you to learn more about our company and products by visiting www.cakewalk.com.

Cakewalk is a registered trademark and the Cakewalk logo and SONARare trademarks of Cakewalk, Inc. Other trademarks mentioned are held by their respective owners. All specifications and appearances are subject to change without notice.