ROLI has announced the release of BLOCKS, a powerful modular music platform, and updated JUCE to v4.3.
BLOCKS is a modular music studio that aims to open up the world of music creation to everyone. The hardware Blocks connect together to create customizable kits that suit any budget, skill level, and musical style. Choose your Blocks and build your studio:
- Lightpad Block: A powerful and versatile musical surface - on its pressure-responsive surface you shape music in powerfully expressive ways using simple gestures.
- Live Block: Made for performance - the Loop Block makes it easier to record a song. The buttons helps you set your tempo, record loops, and quantize your loops so they run in time with the beat.
- Loop Block: Made for production - the Live Block makes it easier to perform. The buttons let you switch scales and octaves, play chords and arpeggios, and sustain notes in real time.
BLOCKS is powered by NOISE, a free music-making app for iOS that doubles as the software synthesizer and sound engine for the BLOCKS system. Everything works wirelessly, so anyone with an iPhone or iPad chooses their sound on NOISE and plays it on a Lightpad Block. This means that all of your software is on a portable device — as if it's another Block in the system.
Pricing starts at $79.95.
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The JUCE team has developed an SDK that allows JUCE developers to easily build applications for BLOCKS and has launched a new website, developer.roli.com, where you can find more about BLOCKS and how to get started developing with it.
Developer kits
ROLI will shortly be releasing a limited edition of developer kits, that include a Lightpad Block and a Control Block. You can register your interest to be the first to order one when they become available.
JUCE 4.3
In addition to the BLOCKS SDK, JUCE 4.3 features various bug fixes and performance improvements:
- Added API and examples for ROLI Blocks.
- Multiple Projucer live-build UI and diagnostics improvements.
- JUCE now supports hosting multi-bus plug-ins.
- BufferingAudioSource now supports pre-buffering (useful for offline processing).
- Added microphone permissions switch to Projucer for iOS targets.
- Standalone wrappers now correctly save and restore MIDI settings.
- Performance improvements to BigInteger.
- Fixed a bug in DirectoryIterator where the result would be inconsistent between Mac/Window when using a default constructed File object.
- Fixed various FlexBox bugs.
- Added a workaround for the broken "Open Recent..." menu on macOS.
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