Seaboard Rise 49 Use With Daws Reviews November 2017

ROLI'south new musical instrument farther develops the technology of their revolutionary Seaboard Grand — at a much more affordable price.

The Seaboard Rise is the latest hardware product from ROLI, a London–based startup who have been causing a fleck of a stir, in keyboard circles at least, with their Seaboard G (reviewed in SOS September 2015 upshot. In case you lot're not upwards to speed with ROLI'south products, it essentially goes like this. The Seaboards are keyboard–similar instruments with flexible silicone rubber 'keywaves' instead of moving keys. This unique playing surface promises musical inflection and parameter control of a distinctly dissimilar nature from conventional controllers or synths. At the aforementioned time, though, the standard layout of naturals and sharps/flats mean keyboard players should feel at dwelling right away.

When reviewing the Seaboard Grand I institute it to be a beguiling and inspiring instrument, with its finger–driven vibrato and bends, and wonderful polyphonic aftertouch. It wasn't without its quirks and drawbacks, though. Foremost among these was the eccentric behaviour when side by side semitones were played: it couldn't sound them simultaneously. And its keywaves' impact response, though impressive in its own mode, was limited to Strike (velocity), Glide (X-centrality pitch bends) and Printing (Z-axis aftertouch) only. There was no sensitivity to Y-axis front/back finger position, and other than some assignable pedal inputs, no additional existent–time controls — not a unmarried knob, slider or bike. And then there's the potent £2399 $2999 asking price, which put it beyond many players' budgets. On its own terms the Grand can be an exciting prospect, but in a typical DAW ecosystem, combined with third-party virtual instruments, information technology fell some way short of being the multi–purpose, wallet–loosening controller–to–dominion–all–controllers I'd hoped it might be.

ROLI's new Seaboard Ascension, on the other hand, might merely be a different proposition. The £599 $799 price tag solitary ways it should be within striking distance of many more musicians. And while there are many conceptual and concrete similarities, the Rise offers a combination of features and strengths all of its ain.

Ship Shape

The Rise is the smallest Seaboard to engagement, with only two octaves of keywaves. The soft playing surface is also 40mm shorter forepart to dorsum than on the Grand, and it feels different. The rubber is a bit firmer, the surface a bit smoother and less fibrous, and information technology feels like there's less compressible depth. What we'd phone call the black keys on a conventional keyboard (and which here are picked out with thin, remarkably durable white stripes) have subtly sculpted edges. This keywave surface is probably much cheaper to mass–produce than the Thou'south handmade moulded silicone, but I didn't perceive it to exist in any way inferior. It as well looks fantastic.

The rest of the unit maintains ROLI's reputation for Apple–like standards of finish and construction. The black aluminium casework is stunning, and wonderfully rigid — I can't think of a better synthetic controller or synth. There's a MacBook Air–like rear–to–front taper, and broad not–slip rubber pads on the base. The 'Ascension 25' label on the rear hints that nosotros might run into some larger variants in the future.

On the left border there are sockets for a pedal, USB A and B connectors, and an optional power adaptor. The USB B port is of course standard for computer connection, only the A port is mysterious, and undocumented. It might presumably have a telephone or tablet–related part in the future. The pedal socket can accept either switch–type or expression pedals (with their exact type and office being configured in software), but an inserted jack doesn't get all the style in — several millimetres of sleeve remain exposed. Information technology's supposed to exist like this, and is perfectly secure, but is vaguely disconcerting none the less.

Potentially much more interesting is what tin can be found on the main forepart panel of the Rising, to the left of the keywaves. Hither are several more than small-scale safety panels that take a similar texture to the keywaves, though they are much firmer to the bear on and hardly compressible at all.

At the bottom left is a ability switch, with a key multi–colour LCD that denotes unlike modes of performance and operating states. Next to it a left–right rocker switch for transposing by octave. Move up and nosotros come to an X–Y pad with a tiny bump, only discernible to the touch, that represents the centre position. Above that are three assignable touch strips, identical in depth, width and experience. Finally, at the top, at that place's another left/right rocker, hardwired for stepping through patches and presets.

All the white marks on these black surfaces light up white when the Ascension is powered. For the rockers and X–Y pad the backlight is constant, in the auto–dashboard courtesy vein. The impact strip faders, though, accept a more flexible 14–segment backlit strip to betoken a range of values, level–meter style.

Haul Ballast

Getting started with the Rise involves first some quick registration work on ROLI'south web site, plus downloading and installing a software suite, currently available for OS X (10.8 or afterwards) and Windows (7 or later on). You stop up with a helper/configuration utility called ROLI Dashboard for Rising, also equally the in–house synth Equator for Rise. I'll call these Dashboard and Equator from here on, for the sake of brevity.

With the Rise USBed to your computer and the Dashboard/Equator duo launched, you're upwardly and running, set to explore those tactile keywaves. And what immediately emerges is that the Rise can exercise everything the big–money Yard does, and a whole lot more likewise.

The Rise's multi-touch capabilities are referred to as '5D touch'. So in that location'south the same Strike, Glide and Press response as on the Grand. Just ROLI have also added front end/rear 'Slide' sensitivity, and release–velocity 'Lift' is there also.

In Equator, a synth built from the footing up to back up this 5D affect, many patches have Strike controlling initial level, Glide modulating pitch, Slide allied to some attribute of timbre (such every bit filter cutoff, to give a simple case), and Press controlling sustain level and another attribute of timbre. Elevator, when it's utilised, is ideally suited to controlling envelope release time for shaping note ends. That Y–centrality slide response is actually something, generating MIDI CC74 messages, and calculation a level of expressive control that tin accept some time to fully cover, but which before long proves to be fun and easy to control.

Simply thinking of the Rise as sort of futuristic, souped–up moving key controller gets you a long way. Simply radically new playing styles beckon when y'all twig that the ridges on the keywave surface are goose egg more a tactile guide to pitch position. For case, after triggering a note on a raised part of a keywave, you tin pull left or correct beyond adjacent troughs and ridges for Theremin–like bends or fall–offs. Alternatively, pull frontward or back into the troughs, to smoothly explore front end–to-back Slide effects. Then there's the apartment sections in front of and behind the ridges. These are responsive right to the edge, so tin can exist treated like a violin or fretless bass fingerboard, allowing for really smooth glisses and full–width pitch bends. All the while, every signal of affect remains independent of others, so yous tin be adding a finger–waggle vibrato with ane finger while performing a Press swell with your other hand, and a gliss with your olfactory organ, and everything stays carve up. Actually I didn't test olfactory organ response, but y'all get the pic.

As with the Yard, the Rise is particularly impressive driving patches that allow a touch–controlled crescendo from absolute silence. You'd need a jiff controller with a conventional MIDI keyboard to become remotely almost to this level of nuance, and fifty-fifty then you wouldn't be able to do it polyphonically. Information technology's at times like these, with the Rise, that you lot first to forget you're playing a finger–driven instrument — the experience is much more than similar bowing, blowing or tonguing. And information technology's addictive.

If Rise trounces Grand in multi–bear on response, so it does in some other general ways. Showtime, it does away with the weird semitone handling I mentioned in a higher place, where directly adjacent notes couldn't be sounded simultaneously, but were interpreted as ane being aptitude in pitch into the other. Now you tin can sound neighbouring semitones, but bend one into another when you need to, which is better in every respect. The Rising also tracks multiple individual touches more accurately and fully. Let'due south say you hold a static notation with one hand, whilst glissing the unabridged width of the keywave surface with the other. The gliss passes 'through' the held notation, as it were, the two touches tracked as entirely split gestures. On the G the aforementioned thing wasn't possible. First, the maximum bend range was shorter, and second, glisses got 'absorbed' into held notes they attempted to pass. All this points to the fact that the Rise impact-sensing technology must be of a completely different type. In its ii-octave form it's already strong. If it can be scaled upward to bigger compasses it could be more impressive even so.

Modes & Mappings

Harking back still once again to the Thou, information technology could be difficult of keep certain kinds of playing fully in tune. Imagine playing vigorous, chordal electric piano stabs for case. This instrument doesn't really benefit from any kind of bear on response apart from Strike, and all the same the K would all too readily generate pitch–bend data for any niggling slip in finger position, potentially resulting in serious wonky–sounding chops — unless you were able to strip out pitch–bend at the patch level.

To better this and other aspects of affect response, the Rise implements variable sensitivity for its 5D Bear upon in a directly accessible class. Glide, Slide and Press sensitivity tin be adjusted on the fly, any time, using the 3 front-panel faders. In the case of that wobbly electric piano, you'd only set Glide sensitivity to off, by dragging or touching the fader labelled '< >' to its lowest setting. So, not only would you do away with potential out–of–tuneness, simply glisses on the keywaves are interpreted equally they would be on piano or organ, with new note triggers for every pitch you laissez passer. This is a cracking and significant development. Information technology's not all about gross on/off changes either: subtly sculpting touch sensitivity with the left mitt oftentimes proves musically fruitful between (and even within) phrases played with the correct.

Bear upon tweaks aren't all the faders do, either. A cursory printing of the Ascent power push (whose LED changes from cyan to white) and they generate MIDI Continuous Controller values instead: CCs 107, 109 and 111 by default, only the numbers are fully configurable in the Dashboard utility. Add in the excellent, sensitive and accurate Ten–Y pad (which defaults to CCs 113 and 114) and suddenly that'southward a lot of real–time control, which complements the multi–impact aspects beautifully for many sounds.

Looking at the Dashboard program in more detail, information technology allows all aspects of affect to exist tweaked with the mouse through its five central graphs, with a proper bi–directional real-time relationship between software and controller. All additional MIDI and controller mappings are carried out in the lower one-half of the Dashboard window, with very clear assignment of MIDI CC messages (helpfully labelled in the pop–upwards menus) for the Ten–Y pad, faders and pedal.

More mystifying, however, is Dashboard's MIDI settings panel. Channel Mode is off-white plenty, and suffice it to say you'll want to select Multi here, to drive compatible multi-aqueduct synths and DAWs, and become full satisfaction from the Seaboard experience. 'MPE' relates to the new 'Multidimensional Polyphonic Expression' MIDI standard, of which ROLI are leading exponents, and also seems self–explanatory: it enables specific MIDI channel behaviour. Still, it has an unexpected and apparently undocumented side consequence of changing the fashion front–rear Slide response generates its default CC74 values. Without going into boring detail, it's all virtually whether bear on position generates values absolutely or relatively, and the issue I discovered is that dissimilar Equator patches seemed to work better with one or the other for certain playing styles. It seems odd to have what might be a useful musical/expressive feature all tied up with a configuration setting. The Tracking settings beneath are even harder to grasp, implying some sort of limitation of Glide, Slide and Press tracking when none is credible to the player. After reading ROLI's documentation of these settings I was none the wiser, but luckily they don't seem to exist central to the playing experience — at least any that I encountered.

Effectually The World

As ROLI's house synth, Equator offers deep Seaboard compatibility out of the virtual box. Information technology has an extensive and sophisticated architecture accessed from a articulate, modern, tabbed interface: two preset sample–replay oscillators with on–board filters, iii VA–blazon oscillators that can get operators in an FM scheme, a noise generator, two multi-way filters, two LFOs, five envelope generators, really flexible keytracking, congenital–in EQ and furnishings, and a mixer that allows for sophisticated filter routing and effects sends. 5D touch graphs are presented front and centre, and effectively become additional modulation sources. The faders and Ten–Y pad are represented in the user interface likewise.

In sound character Equator is notably contemporary and slick, and a good proportion of presets are presented with generous helpings of delay and reverb. All make impressive employ of keywave control in some fashion, and while y'all don't have to be Bob Moog to realise this is fundamentally a deep and flexible synth, I wonder if lovers of nighttime and spooky electronica might observe it a flake too clean and superficially attractive. I think there's certainly scope to equip Equator with additional preset banks exploring alternative characters and musical genres. That'southward particularly relevant now every bit FXpansion's Synth Squad, bundled with the Seaboard Grand, isn't part of the packet included with the Ascension.

A downwardly side of Equator is CPU load. I'd noticed this before when testing the version that ships with the Grand, and apparently no meaning optimisations take occurred in the interim period. On my two.2GHz quad-cadre i7 MacBook Pro I found a few notes of an average patch could easily swallow upward lxx percent of a processing cadre. To become some more perspective, I besides tested on a brand-new 1.6GHz dual-cadre i5 MacBook Air. On that automobile, typical four- or five-annotation chordal playing could encounter well over half the entire processing power used upwardly. Add to that Dashboard'southward smaller merely withal significant CPU overhead and the ROLI philharmonic is a draining presence on the resource of all simply the most potent Macs and PCs. Equator is by far the nigh CPU-hungry synth I've ever used, and although stand up-alone use to back up existent–time Rise playing shouldn't cause issues for modern Macs and PCs, sequencing several instances hands could. Equator is a potent virtual instrument, only every bit the little screen take hold of of OS Ten's Activity Monitor shows, in combination with the Dashboard utility it isn't shy most devouring your CPU.

Leaving Harbour

Seaboards, like LinnStruments, Soundplanes and pretty much any overtly expressive touch-activated controller, transmit note information on multiple MIDI channels simultaneously: information technology's how the different information streams of pitch–bend and polyphonic aftertouch (for case) stay carve up from one some other. Synths similar Equator, of course, are purpose–built to work with this approach, and others do too, like U–he Diva, FXpansion'due south Strobe ii and Sonic Accuse's Synplant. Multitimbral instruments such as Kontakt, MachFive and Omnisphere can besides be set up to play the aforementioned sound triggered by multiple MIDI channels, which works out the same.

The trouble is that until the new Multidimensional Polyphonic Expression MIDI standard is universally adopted (which could exist years abroad, and possibly never), nearly all other virtual instruments, including industry standards past Native Instruments, Arturia and the like, aren't uniform. Or rather, they're playable in a basic style, but will be unable to back up the expressive features y'all bought your Rise for in the start place. The PolyThru app that was bundled with the Grand, and which restored much expressive functionality to incompatible synths, offers some promise in this direction, and though it'south not available for the Rising at the fourth dimension of writing, ROLI assure us that it will be past the time you read this. They besides tell us that information technology will exist compatible with both Windows and Mac OS.

This leads us on to the question of DAW compatibility itself. Good multi-aqueduct Seaboard compatibility is offered by Logic Pro X, GarageBand, Cubase seven, Reaper, Bitwig Studio and Tracktion. Most other DAWs including Pro Tools, Digital Performer, Studio One and Live can be fabricated to work, just tortuously and so, requiring an equal number of MIDI or Instrument tracks for each note of polyphony you lot require, for any multi-channel synth you intend to play or record from the Seaboard. Fifty-fifty if yous persevere with this cumbersome arroyo, you might find editing Seaboard parts challenging, as the constituent notes and information of your operation will exist littered across those multiple tracks.

To ROLI'due south credit, expert back up cloth for integrating the Seaboard with many different DAWs is provided on their web site, including detailed communication about configuration and synth hosting, and downloadable project and song templates. Generally though, my tip would be to think of the Ascension equally a full general-purpose, day–in/twenty-four hours–out controller only for those uniform DAWs. The others you'd exist improve of regarding more as single–instance musical instrument hosts, for supporting real–time Rise playing with compatible synths, and much less so for sequencing them.

Plain Sailing

Most keyboard players would take to be made of wood, I think, not to be excited, or at least intrigued, by what ROLI'south Seaboards offer. I certainly am, but in the instance of the £2399 $2999 Seaboard Grand I likewise knew that the odds of my splashing out and owning one for myself were, short of a lottery win, nil. It was cute and inspiring, only information technology also had a few too many eccentricities for that price tag to brand sense, to me.

The Rise is a whole different proposition. OK, there are no onboard sounds, merely all the Thousand's expressive capabilities are there, and more too. In that location's no bizarre semitone gotcha, and the boosted real–time controller features suddenly hateful the Ascension can practice duty as a general controller for a whole range of uniform (and even non–and so–compatible) synths. Being able to tweak aspects of bear upon sensitivity ways that it's suddenly much improve at driving sounds that aren't overtly expressive in graphic symbol, non least pianos, pads, mallets and old–school synths. The ii-octave range and overall form–gene is well chosen, not least because it lets the Rise exist alongside (and beautifully complement) a conventional controller in a typical small–studio setup. For solo–style, monophonic ultra–expressive noodling — which just oozes out of the Seaboard — the pitch compass is just fine.

Meanwhile, at that hugely more attainable £599 $799 price tag, it seems that zero has been lost in the build quality department. USB powering is neat to see, while the battery–supported Bluetooth MIDI is a real luxury. You even go a nice expanded-polypropylene instance, and an iPad–manner flip cover is now available as an optional extra for particularly nomadic users.

Are there any down sides? Well, yes, a few. Lift sensitivity, the equivalent of release velocity, seems a blunt tool: it more often than not generates values very near maximum or minimum, and fifty-fifty and then somewhat uncontrollably. Thankfully it's by far the least important of the affect response types for the vast majority of patches. The CPU consumption of the ROLI software remains concerning, and third–party compatibility with the MPE standard is notwithstanding very express at this signal.

Taken as a whole, though, and approached with an open up mind, ROLI's Rising is surely one of the near exciting, progressive and potent MIDI controllers e'er made. It manages to exist fun, inspirational and esoteric all at the aforementioned fourth dimension, and seems to aggrandize (or even explode) musical horizons in a way that few other electronic instruments exercise. Despite the 3rd–party compatibility concerns there'due south still a huge amount offer — and this time the toll is right. If it appeals, I'd encourage yous to bound right in — the water is fine.

Alternatives

The closest competitors to the Rise are Keith McMillen'due south cheaper Yard–Board and QuNexus controllers, and Roger Linn'due south costlier LinnStrument. These products are fundamentally different in conception and aspects of pattern, though; with its continuous keyboard–shape layout and tightly integrated software packet the Rise stands (or should that exist floats?) alone.

Remote Ascension

These days nosotros all wait MIDI controllers to be USB–powered, and luckily the Ascension doesn't disappoint in that respect. But it goes a large step further as well, supporting wireless MIDI over Bluetooth on contempo Macs (with a Bluetooth LE flake) running OS 10.10 or subsequently. Recent Macs running OS 10.10 or later on tin can utilize the Seaboard Ascension'due south MIDI-over-Bluetooth characteristic. Configuration in the Audio MIDI Setup utility is expressionless easy and the connection plainly rock solid.

To support this, the Rising has a built-in battery that charges via USB, or from an external ability supply. Charging from USB while the unit is turned on takes seven hours, a petty less when turned off, and a full charge then supports "xi–12 hours of continuous play", which seemed a fair assessment. The power switch has a carmine LED sequence to evidence varying levels of battery depletion.

Bluetooth setup is then really straightforward, initiated with a front-panel button-printing combo. Then, after making Bone X'due south Audio MIDI Setup scan for devices, connection is merely a click away. Although I detected very picayune discernible latency for typical expressive Equator patches, ROLI say it amounts to 30ms, measured 'touch to sound', including the audio buffer — 6ms more than via a USB connectedness. I too constitute the connection entirely reliable, unfussily reestablishing itself following power cycling of Rise or Mac, or concrete separation.

If you're wondering why ROLI didn't add strap bosses to permit wireless keytar–style playing, I'd suggest information technology's because Seaboards aren't ideally suited to vertical use: you really need them horizontal, firmly supported and nevertheless, and then you lot tin can use sufficient strength to fully explore the soft keywave texture. Even and so, I'm sure it's simply a matter of time before some early adopters start modding...

Pros

New Y–axis bear on sensitivity significantly increases expressive scope.
Finger–actuated pitch–bend and polyphonic aftertouch still amazing.
Adjustable bear on–sensitivity makes the Rise a meliorate all–round MIDI controller.
MIDI CC faders and 10–Y pad.
Superb build quality.
USB/battery powering and Bluetooth MIDI.

Cons

Requires careful matching with DAWs and third–party virtual synths.
Bundled ROLI synth and utility software is staggeringly CPU–intensive.
'Elevator' bear upon response is a damp squib.

Summary

More expressive and applied than its K precursor, but costing a fraction of the price, the Seaboard Rising is a MIDI controller that could actually brand some waves.

information

Test Spec

ROLI Dashboard for Rising iii.i.2.
Equator for Ascent ane.three.0.
Seaboard Ascent firmware one.0.7.
MacBook Pro 2.2GHz i7 and MacBook Air one.6GHz i5 running Bone 10.ten.5.

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Source: https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/roli-seaboard-rise