Roli: Equator 2 is here !

[FotoxBr]

I think Roli filed for bankruptcy

[Examigan]

You're right, I just found an article about it here:
https://www.musictech.net/news/industry ... boot-lumi/

[jancivil]

I signed up to be notified of Seaboard Block availability (lost mine to theft) in July 2020. Never happened.

this is hardly a shock

[BONES]

Block and rise. Feel is different- significantly different. It’s like comparing keybed of an AKAI MPK to a full size semiweighted controller.

Which do you prefer? I think the Seaboard Block is much better than my Rise was. The extra scalloping of the black keys makes it a lot easier to play, I find. The first time I got to try one out in a shop, I realised I had made a mistake with the Rise. Still, I didn't have any trouble selling the Rise for good money, so it wasn't a total disaster. I think I paid $850 for it and sold it for over $700.

Also lightpads new are 200€

Where? I got my last two for less than $100 each, brand new, from somewhere in the US. Postage is a bit of a killer for me but it still comes out at about $150, delivered.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/313541017993

According to the listing, he's got 9 left.

I own both brands of controllers, and use Linnstrument and several Rise's and a Block.
They are in completely different universes, beyond apples and oranges.

The LIghtpad Block seems a lot closer to Linnstrument. It has more of that guitar layout vibe, which I have taken to much more easily that I had expected. (I've never even tried to play a guitar in my life.) I think a LInnstrument would have been too daunting but the Lightpad's 25 "buttons" was much easier for me to get my head around.

[Tj Shredder]

Roli stuff is indestructible.
….
So it will just work with MIDI 2.0?
….
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Linnstrument laid out like a guitar? Shouldn't it be as accessible to a guitar player as a Seaboard is to a keyboard player?
….
In a week or so, when I have 3 Lightpads, I'll be able to do incredible things you could never dream of doing with your horrendously expensive, over-sized and unattractive Linnstrument.

My Seaboard block brocke without being used a lot… Reality is different…
Any Midi 1.0 will work with Midi 2.0 as you should know and even if Roger would stop supporting it, a Midi 2.0 mod of the firmware is still possible…
A LinnStrument is neither a keyboard nor a guitar. People seem to forget that. I tuned my LinnStrument in tritones instead of 4th… If you can do that on the block try it, you would get also more range…
Compared to my LinnStrument my block is unplayable, needs too much pressure - I guess the Lightpad is better but I don’t care too much.
Your lack of experience is obvious…
On the other hand I am sure you will be able to do incredible things as the block seem to be inspiring for you. Thats what counts - inspiration - and we get inspired by different things…
Waiting for the ordered Erae Touch…

[Hanz Meyzer]

I found Roli really an impressive company at the beginning. My Seaboard is an awesome device, lot of fun, too. But then they started to make a lot of nonsense apps / plugins, like the updater monster, those limited drum sample things, those preset apps... Then they bought a lot of companies... fxpansion, juce? I wonder what this means for the juce framework.

[gaggle of hermits]

they already sold juce to the ilok people

[BONES]

Any Midi 1.0 will work with Midi 2.0 as you should know and even if Roger would stop supporting it, a Midi 2.0 mod of the firmware is still possible…

AFAIK, with MIDI 2.0 you won't need the hideous kludge of using all 16 MIDI channels, so you'd definitely be keen for a firmware update to support that, wouldn't you?

A LinnStrument is neither a keyboard nor a guitar. People seem to forget that. I tuned my LinnStrument in tritones instead of 4th… If you can do that on the block try it, you would get also more range…

I don't even know what that means but the LIghtpad does support different scales, so it might be possible. It would probably just confuse me, though, I am barely hanging on as it is.

Compared to my LinnStrument my block is unplayable, needs too much pressure - I guess the Lightpad is better but I don’t care too much.

It's all adjustable. On stage I will play them all with velocity turned off or in Piano Mode (each is a single button on the Touch Block and piano mode allows me to drag my fingers across the notes and trigger them, instead of doing Glide/Slide). When I'm playing around at home I keep it all on.

Your lack of experience is obvious…

I think you mean my lack of giving a f**k about wankery is obvious. But yes, It's pretty much only when rehearsing for live work that I even turn on a keyboard or controller. Playing an instrument for its own sake doesn't interest me in the slightest. If I was that bored, I'd be more likely to put on someone else's music and listen to that. I am more of a fan than a participant.

Waiting for the ordered Erae Touch…

Yeah, I'm quite interested to see how that goes for people, although it looks a bit big for my needs.

I found Roli really an impressive company at the beginning. My Seaboard is an awesome device, lot of fun, too. But then they started to make a lot of nonsense apps / plugins, like the updater monster

What's so monstrous about it? I appreciate those kinds of admin apps and Roli Connect is currently only using 0.5% of my CPU and 4.4MB of RAM. I imagine that if I didn't have Dashboard running and 4 Blocks connected and on that it wouldn't be using any resources at all.

[Dombaeb]

Pity…I wanted Roli keyboards from the beginning. They will stop hardware manufacturing, so, even if indestructible, we can’t find any repair parts in the future. Also, this means no drivers for future esoteric macOS, no scripts for DAWs, and no support.

Do Roli keyboards need drivers on macOS? I mean, can I use it with current DAW scripts for years?

[Ploki]

Block and rise. Feel is different- significantly different. It’s like comparing keybed of an AKAI MPK to a full size semiweighted controller.

Which do you prefer? I think the Seaboard Block is much better than my Rise was. The extra scalloping of the black keys makes it a lot easier to play, I find. The first time I got to try one out in a shop, I realised I had made a mistake with the Rise. Still, I didn't have any trouble selling the Rise for good money, so it wasn't a total disaster. I think I paid $850 for it and sold it for over $700.

Also lightpads new are 200€

Where? I got my last two for less than $100 each, brand new, from somewhere in the US. Postage is a bit of a killer for me but it still comes out at about $150, delivered.

Rise - but it's not really a fair comparison because I kept using Rise live and i had it since 2015.


price:
europe
they were ~100€ few times on Thomann, paid 150€ for my M block directly from roly cause they gave me 25% discount

[BONES]

Pity…I wanted Roli keyboards from the beginning. They will stop hardware manufacturing, so, even if indestructible, we can’t find any repair parts in the future. Also, this means no drivers for future esoteric macOS, no scripts for DAWs, and no support.

From what I've read, they plan to continue with ALL their products. There is nothing to suggest they won't keep making Blocks or Rise keyboards.

[Ploki]

From what I've read, they plan to continue with ALL their products. There is nothing to suggest they won't keep making Blocks or Rise keyboards.

judging by their current track record i wouldn't hold my breath

[Examigan]

Hopefully their software (especially Equator2) continues to be developed.

[Amberience]

I'm highly dubious about ROLI's future. I don't think that ROLI can afford to keep making blocks or Seaboard. They still owe a ton of cash to their creditors and suppliers. They burned through money chasing a x10 valuation pipedream; it was never going to happen. You actually need to have customers for that to happen.

Let's say you spend 5+ years treating your suppliers like creditors. Even if you had the money... would you expect your suppliers to care about having your business? I wouldn't.

So they're left with a product that does not make sense in the market that put the company where it is.

- Pro's aren't going to buy a light up keyboard based on design alone (esp. when the design looks cheap and tacky) and as a controller it doesn't have the feature set or build quality to entice them.
- Amateurs aren't going to hang around for year-on-year to subscribe to their learning platform. They'll do a year at most, then give up, like most people who attempt to become musicians do.
- You can't learn to play piano on a 2 octave keyboard. But the upsell story to buying two or more LUMI's is not strong enough.

They can throw as many Youtubers at it as they want, I'm not holding my breath.

[epiphaneia]

I'm highly dubious about ROLI's future.

Would you happen to have any (informal semi-) inside knowledge on what the future may hold for Geist 2, and could at least share a "don´t worry" or "if I was you and had 100 Logic projects with Geist 2, I´d consider not adding that plugin to project 101"?