I've talked about this numerous times. So again, it's all down to your playing technique (read about it below). There is nothing wrong with the silicone on the RISE. I can reveal that during the development there were many, many test units with different surface materials. It would be a mistake to think that this current silicone is the only example ROLI had arrived at. This silicone surface is the result of many years of testing. Starting from the Seaboard GRAND with many versions of silicone made just for the GRAND...machinesworking wrote: ↑Sat Feb 15, 2020 6:36 pm I haven't read this whole thread, but has anybody talked about the Rise as an instrument in terms of the rubber and slide?
I bought a Seaboard Block and while I like it, and recently bought a Seaboard Rise, the one almost for me anyway natural thing to want to do is to push down for aftertouch then slide to get whatever filter or modulator you've assigned to slide. This result often in the rubber of the Block and Rise bunches up and your fingers response is to lock, or go straight. As a guitar player this is the absolute last habit you want to develop. I really don't think it's a great idea for keyboard players either to have a "natural" response to be locking your knuckle straight like that.
I'm keeping the Block, but the Rise is already sold waiting for pick up by USPS. Besides pitch, the natural thing is to want to do is to use strike and aftertouch with slide, which IMO is a huge failure on the part of Roli. If they had made the surface of the Roli out of a more slick surface like teflon etc. then this wouldn't be an issue.
On to the Linnstrument. -->
The challenge with the RISE is that we can SLIDE along the keywaves, and bend the pitch, and at the same time we want to stay in tune on the first note-on. If you make the silicone more smooth or "slick" as you say, you'd have very tough time triggering a note in tune. The reason is, your finger would slip, either a little bit, or by a huge margin on the very first contact with the keywave. It would make playing in tune impossible. Trust me. I'm a doctor. I've played such "slick" RISE surfaces, some made with extremely smooth and extremely 'slidable' plastic coatings....they were perfect for sliding and gliding and totally wrong for playing fast leads lines or chords. So this current silicone surface is a compromise:
1. it's firm enough as to allow steady SLIDE gestures without affecting the pitch (which would be the case with the silicone from the Seaboard GRAND, as an example).
2. it's smooth enough as to allow the finger SLIDE easily along the keywave (if done withe the correct playing technique)
3. it's not too smooth, which would cause the finger to slip from the top keywaves, and affect the pitch as a result.
Basically, the silicone on the RISE is fighting with the 'opposites': it needs to be smooth and it needs to be firm and 'grabby'.
The correct playing technique.
This is for people who approach the Seaboard with a 'piano' technique where you hit the key with the top of your finger at an angle of about 90 degree:
In order to successfully SLIDE up along the keywave - after the first note-on - we need to pivot the finger and bring the hand towards the RISE surface. We need to move from a more or less 90 degrees angle to about 160 degrees angle. Then, SLIDE up keeping the finger straight and with the top, soft part of the finger touching the surface. It's important not to make contact on the silicone with the finger nail. This whole manoeuvre takes microseconds to perform and is the key to a successful SLIDE gesture.
Now, you can do that when interacting with pressure too. The same rules apply. Actually, it's very easy to add pressure while you slide up - keeping the finger-top flat on the keywave and press in, to add PRESS modulation.
I do it all the time, and my silicone never creases, I never 'dig' into it, were it would bunch up and stop my finger from smoothly sliding along....
A more experienced Seaboard player can approach the RISE with the fingers in a more flat position (lower angle) for a lot of the music played. Sliding and gliding is never a problem here.
Lastly, you have to remember that the RISE is a real instrument and it has its own set of rules and playing techniques. It's no good coming to it with pre-conceived ideas of what the finger should or shouldn't be doing. It would be no good to complain that a violin player can not get a nice bowing sound when playing a trumpet with a bow! Likewise, any guitar finger positioning, or piano hand and finger positions need to be adopted to what the RISE demands.