Roli Seaboard RISE

[BassMasterK]

I just picked up a ROLI Seaboard Rise 49 and really ran it through the paces. There is definitely no issue between B and middle C having less resolution when gliding between them with my unit. Also don't notice any different sensitivity within the keys, everything seems very consistent although I have only put maybe 5 hours on the controller so I can't say for sure that this is the case with every key but so far I haven't had any weirdness.

This thing is completely amazing. It definitely is a game changer with what I am able to do with my music. The bundled synths are solid.

So after a while of playing with the Seaboard, I think I have enough to share some thoughts

First of all, after contacting ROLI, and sending a video of my aforementioned "issues", they said these all are normal and expected behavior!! The considerably higher sensitivity of pressure and velocity in some spots of every keywave *is* normal. Even they said the misbehaving spot between the middle C and the B key before is the joint of two RISE 25s that are internally linked to form a RISE 49!!
Quite a disappointment for me, but also a relief that my unit is not faulty.

However, being someone who just started music with a non-traditional keyboard, I had mixed feelings.
I tend to get a bit "classically trained", but free to try out different things. So I started some piano lessons with playing some of my favorite piano pieces with both hands; Some of them were playable on a 49 keyboard (the range of bass and treble clefs), some need just one more octave. But I liked the keywaves. They do not feel like real keys on a keyboard, instead, they feel better IMO. Only more precision and care is required in order not to hit the wrong keys.

String patches, horn patches, synth stabs, basses, ... both in equator and other synths feel extremely natural on the Seaboard.

Overal I'm very happy with my purchase even though I'm not using it at its full potential most of the time. (it is designed for that right?! options for adjusting sensitivities is one sign )

(and an irrelevant note, I use Linux, Bitwig 8-Track and Tracktion Waveform with Equator and ROLI Dashboard running fine via WINE emulator (although they insist it's not an emulator ) )

I would love to hear from you guys some advice on how to learn a fair amount of music theory while developing playing skills, as I don't think my current approach of piano playing would be logical.

[Jace-BeOS]

I just picked up a ROLI Seaboard Rise 49 and really ran it through the paces. There is definitely no issue between B and middle C having less resolution when gliding between them with my unit. Also don't notice any different sensitivity within the keys, everything seems very consistent although I have only put maybe 5 hours on the controller so I can't say for sure that this is the case with every key but so far I haven't had any weirdness.

Good. Hopefully they're getting better with their manufacturing.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

I just picked up a ROLI Seaboard Rise 49 and really ran it through the paces. There is definitely no issue between B and middle C having less resolution when gliding between them with my unit. Also don't notice any different sensitivity within the keys, everything seems very consistent although I have only put maybe 5 hours on the controller so I can't say for sure that this is the case with every key but so far I haven't had any weirdness.

This thing is completely amazing. It definitely is a game changer with what I am able to do with my music. The bundled synths are solid.

I'm not sure I understand the issues people were having. Do they mean that there is a velocity bump when doing pitch glides?

I don't seem to be suffering any issues with consistency. Totally love this thing. Even if it had no other forms of expression, save for aftertouch, it would still be worth the price to me (The feel, and velocity responsiveness, are that good)

[ChamomileShark]

I finally got my cashback after having my claim accepted 13th December.

I did their survey and requested;

they add user set up presets / profiles to the dashboard so I can simply click "Kontakt MPE" or "Modular" without having try and remember how to do the set up each time and then wondering why it's not doing what it should...

I also suggested an ability to set min & max level for the CC outputs - for example slide is default set at 64 rather than zero. I understand why but for some things I'd like it to be zero.

some of the text is made bigger on the dashboard (and Equator)

I added it would be good to have basic .wav import into Equator

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

I finally got my cashback after having my claim accepted 13th December.

I did their survey and requested;

they add user set up presets / profiles to the dashboard so I can simply click "Kontakt MPE" or "Modular" without having try and remember how to do the set up each time and then wondering why it's not doing what it should...

I also suggested an ability to set min & max level for the CC outputs - for example slide is default set at 64 rather than zero. I understand why but for some things I'd like it to be zero.

some of the text is made bigger on the dashboard (and Equator)

I added it would be good to have basic .wav import into Equator

Is the survey only open to those who took part in the cash-back offer?

[ChamomileShark]

I don't think so because there was no mention of that in the survey. maybe if you don't have one it's triggered after a number of months of you registering?

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

I don't think so because there was no mention of that in the survey. maybe if you don't have one it's triggered after a number of months of you registering?

Thanks! Maybe I'll look on the website. Maybe I'll just mail my feature requests to 'Support'

[ChamomileShark]

would you like to share what your requests are here too?

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

would you like to share what your requests are here too?

I have two, currently:

I would like for them to give us the option to assign one (any) of the sliders to mimic pitch-bend behaviour, and for that behaviour to be able to function as mono-expression independent of the multi-voice expression of the keywaves. As cool as the current multi-bending behaviour is, there are times when I want to be able to use a standard pitch-bend. Examples of this would be for guitar patches, though it can apply to any type of instrument. Standard pitch-bends allow for a complete chord, or octaves to be dive-bombed while maintaining correct relative pitch/intonation between the notes (Doing this with current implementation makes that difficult. Even if you do set the whole patch to be mono, you then lose access to all forms of expression within the same patch). Another trick that I like to do is give slight flicks/nudges/brushes to the pitch-bend wheel to alter the pitch by small amounts, momentarily, in a similar way to how guitarists use the whammy bar to gargle. This only works with the self-centreing behaviour of a sprung pitch-bend wheel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Lhq7uGRU0E

This 'lack' was something I hadn't considered before buying the Roli. However, I've recently really missed having this functionality, and can't factor in my old 61-key Nektar (Now retired to it's box), just to use it's pitch-bend.

The second request is not as important to me, but i think it would add some great functionality.

The idea would be to allow certain of the keywaves to work as expression only, similar to the three slides and x/y pad that we already have. In this case we might use 'Dashboard' to split an area of the keyboard e.g top or bottom octave where we could exchange note on/off behaviour, and the standard 5D expression for extra cc message sending.

A usage example might be to have the bottom octave of a lead-sound sending cc's to control various aspects of the delay, reverb etc. i.e anything that you might use a bank of 8 knobs for. If functionality worked with the Seaboard Block, also, then it would be cool to have one of those as an added controller board.

Of course, the biggest hurdle (The thing that might just make it impossible) is how to get over cc value jumping because there is no way to see where the current position equates to. I guess it would have to be programmed similarly to endless rotaries

[Jace-BeOS]

Sounds like you want a guitar-to-MIDI device

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Sounds like you want a guitar-to-MIDI device

Actually, No! I want pitch-bend functionality on my Rise

Many moons ago, I was actually a semi-decent lead-guitarist. However, not only have I not owned an electric guitar in years (Just own a semi-acoustic nylon-strung), but i am now a much better keyboard soloist than guitarist.

One day I might get back to playing an electric guitar, but that doesn't change my feelings on how useful standard pitch-bending isn and could be again as an adjunct to the already-great expression afforded by the Roli gear

[ChamomileShark]

interesting ideas - and it seems we both have neglected Nektar Panorama 6s?

[himalaya]

would you like to share what your requests are here too?

I have two, currently:

I would like for them to give us the option to assign one (any) of the sliders to mimic pitch-bend behaviour, and for that behaviour to be able to function as mono-expression independent of the multi-voice expression of the keywaves.

You can do it already, at least with Equator.

Simply assign the XY pad to pitch of all oscillators in this way:

Y - pitch up
X - pitch down

and this will give you monophonic pitch bend.

Then, for extra pitch control, you can eliminate the poly-pitch bend with one swipe of the GLIDE expression fader (the left fader on the Seaboard). Set it to 'zero', all the way down. This will prevent any unintentional poly-pitch fluctuations as you play and use mono-pitch bend techniques with the XY pad.


Here's an example preset I made for you, which has 5 semitones assigned to all oscillators.

http://www.electric-himalaya.com/stuff/ ... chbend.zip

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

interesting ideas - and it seems we both have neglected Nektar Panorama 6s?

Actually, in my case it was an LX-61. It's boxed, and at the back of the keyboard. It'll stay there until I'm 100% sure that I don't miss a standard keybed (It might happen, I s'pose ), at which point I'll flog it!

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

would you like to share what your requests are here too?

I have two, currently:

I would like for them to give us the option to assign one (any) of the sliders to mimic pitch-bend behaviour, and for that behaviour to be able to function as mono-expression independent of the multi-voice expression of the keywaves.

You can do it already, at least with Equator.

Simply assign the XY pad to pitch of all oscillators in this way:

Y - pitch up
X - pitch down

and this will give you monophonic pitch bend.

Then, for extra pitch control, you can eliminate the poly-pitch bend with one swipe of the GLIDE expression fader (the left fader on the Seaboard). Set it to 'zero', all the way down. This will prevent any unintentional poly-pitch fluctuations as you play and use mono-pitch bend techniques with the XY pad.


Here's an example preset I made for you, which has 5 semitones assigned to all oscillators.

http://www.electric-himalaya.com/stuff/ ... chbend.zip

Hey man! Thanks for having a go at this. It's been a long day, so it'll be better if I try the patch with a fresh head, tomorrow. From your description, however, I do have some reservations. I'll wait until I've tried it before I comment any more. Thanks, again