ROLI's writing on the wall happened

[aMUSEd]

Annoying though for those of us with several of their devices plus plugins - they had better give out permanent licenses

[masterhiggins]

I hope the cash-grab was worth it, Angus. Now all of your great software is going to be nothing more than smoldering ashes. Smdh.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Glad BFD made it out alive. Hoping what's left of Fxpansion's product line can find a good home.

Maybe the Bandlab guy can take it in, free geists!

Would not be surprised if we see InMusic step in again. Which will piss off the internet and likely result in draconian copy protection and slow, small updates.

That said, BFD is very alive and actively being developed. Some people aren't happy with the DRM at the moment and the check-ins, but BFD is better off today than it was under Roli, and has an actual future. So I wouldn't just pile on with the InMusic hate if that is where Fxpansion products ended up.

[elxsound]

Annoying though for those of us with several of their devices plus plugins - they had better give out permanent licenses

I hope so!! Or like someone already mentioned, make the dashboard stuff open source so we’re not all eventually f**ked.

And as others have said... I hope the fxpansion stuff lives one, but I’m not holding my breath.

Seems (not unexpectedly) the VC route just makes a mess.

[masterhiggins]

Annoying though for those of us with several of their devices plus plugins - they had better give out permanent licenses

I hope so!! Or like someone already mentioned, make the dashboard stuff open source so we’re not all eventually f**ked.

And as others have said... I hope the fxpansion stuff lives one, but I’m not holding my breath.

Seems (not unexpectedly) the VC route just makes a mess.

Such a weird thing to apply VC to. I wouldn’t ever assume there was incredible money in music production software or hardware. Their main customer base that they target don’t even have that much disposable income. If someone really wants to learn piano do they really think they’re going to want an idiotic 2 octave $300 toy? Maybe…but I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.

[machinesworking]

Sold my Rise 49 last year, still have the Seaboard Block, Equator 2 and Cypher 2.

IMO what sunk Roli is pretty simple, it's again hardware with little or no internal brain. The Linnstrument here has a hardware setting to play the note on pitch upon first strike, the difference in getting up and running playing between the Block and the Linnstrument is huge. Even in demos for the Roli, you hear trained professional musicians hired to make the Rise 49 shine initially hit notes slightly off pitch.

Hopefully they don't go under, and hopefully they wait a long time before depreciating the Seaboards, because when they do, they're going to be worthless for future versions of Windows and Mac OS. I'm trying to stick by a rule with hardware controllers these days, if they don't have any functionality at all outside drivers or software for an OS, I don't buy them.

What really strikes me is the CEO is an engineer, and these concerns didn't ring any bells?

[whyterabbyt]

Such a weird thing to apply VC to. I wouldn’t ever assume there was incredible money in music production software or hardware. Their main customer base that they target don’t even have that much disposable income. If someone really wants to learn piano do they really think they’re going to want an idiotic 2 octave $300 toy? Maybe…but I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.

Yeah, but these days, raising lots of VC isnt about running the business as a business, its about IPOs and inflated share prices and crap like that.

[Cepheus]

It seems that both support and sale of Roli products will continue.

"All existing ROLI products will continue to be supported as before.
Your LUMI products will also continue to be supported "

and they seem not to abandoned the Seaboard

"Luminary will not only focus on expanding LUMI to reach the growing community of home learners, but also plans to bring back the popular and award-winning Seaboard in 2022"

https://roli.com/stories/roli-reforms-a ... ed-to-know

[EvilDragon]

So I wouldn't just pile on with the InMusic hate if that is where Fxpansion products ended up.

Gee, if only they'd throw some funding at AIR Music Tech so that their plugins get some proper updates...

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

So I wouldn't just pile on with the InMusic hate if that is where Fxpansion products ended up.

Gee, if only they'd throw some funding at AIR Music Tech so that their plugins get some proper updates...

I'd honestly never even heard of AIR until just recently (after BFD got acquired by InMusic and people pointed to AIR as an example of how InMusic abandons brands). It does look like some AIR effects ended up in BFD. But I have no clue about InMusic's prior track record with brands other than people on forums saying it's pretty terrible.

[EvilDragon]

They're not that different from Gibson Brands, tbh.

[Ploki]

Too bad.
I smelled this coming so i weened off Roli, didn't buy Equator 2 and been using other controllers more.

When i needed a replacement rise back in 2016 they sent one before i even sent mine back. When i needed a replacement Block in 2020, it took them half a year after i sent mine.

[Effectsworks]

Too bad.
I smelled this coming so i weened off Roli, didn't buy Equator 2

Funny, I was going to by Equator 2 at some point in the near future. I'm so glad I didn't after seeing this.

I'm gutted about FXpansion though, but I think their writing has been on the cards ever since they were bought over. That and the total lack of news or updates (beyond maintenance). I dropped Geist 2 recently in favor of RP Punch 2. But I was reluctant to let it go tbh, as it's still a great piece of software. Shame...

[whyterabbyt]

I'm gutted about FXpansion though, but I think their writing has been on the cards ever since they were bought over.

yup.

[pdxindy]

Not at all surprising... but not a happy result to see. Still, Roli did a good job helping get MPE going. Hopefully, someone else does a Rise type controller now that the Rise is gone.