Bummer.
Worst scenario is I’ll use it with the available compatable VSTs and iPad apps particularly Equator, and use it as a standard midi controller for the rest.
Still worth it I think. If it doesn’t work I’ll sell it. No big deal
LoL, yeah. My set is such a mess already that I don’t mind a group of 16 midi channels feeding into the one channel hosting the equator vst, but I see your point. I believe in Ableton. It’s just a matter of time. …similar, I suppose in some ways, to waiting for full functionality of Heat.
I’m curious, too, about that falcon vst. It works with Mpe, and I’m also curious about that softube modular stuff. …poor credit card is gonna take a beating.
Are the other Seaboards standalone? Or are they controllers with software as well?
There is a standalone model called the Seaboard Grand but it costs an arm and a leg.
The one we are discussing here is the Seaboard Rise, which is much cheaper and is a midi controller, but does come with what looks like a pretty amazing plugin called Equator which is mapped to take full advantage of the 5d MPE technology
I’m fairly certain it can be used as a standalone controller away from the computer with the use of a usb/midi box but not 100% on that. It’s definiely capable in it’s bluetooth mode - I used to muck about with iPad synths and the Rise all the time. I’d imagine with a Mac life will be easier but on Windows I find bluetooth things a little flakier at times.
It’s funny reading this thread. Led me back to the Roli site and reminded me of their new Blocks system which is highly tempting! I wonder if they will marry Blocks/Rise at some point to make a really interesting combination. May already be possible for all I know!
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Falcon looks and sounds amazing. I came really close to buying it when on its introductory price but gave it a miss (I have Omnisphere 2). And now the $/£ rate is shocking so cant bring myself to jump on board just now!
I’m really hoping Native Instruments get on board the MPE train soon. I have Komplete and to think of that who library of synths/samples being playable via MPE would almost certainly get me back into the Roli. Something like Absynth with MPE would really make it come alive - does a good job of that without MPE already though!
Pretty sure @Ryan when he asked whether its standalone was referring to whether it has an inbuilt sound generating engine onboard as only the Seaboard Grand does.
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Ah ha, makes sense! I wrote that pretty much first thing in the morning for me so operating on bed brain!
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I didn’t know about Falcon having MPE support. I will have to take a closer look on that, then!
I case someone missed it, the new Roli Lightpad block is an MPE controller, too. Have anyone tried one? I’m considering getting one, but haven’t tried one yet.
I’m literally picking up a Seaboard Rise this weekend. Tried it out a few months ago and loved it. Equator is great and I’m pretty sure the Madrona Labs plugins are MPE friendly.
From what I understand It will work with hardware to some degree
Here’s a video using it with Expert Sleepers FH1
It’s a facebook link. Can’t find a youtube
https://www.facebook.com/expertsleepers/posts/974493149260678
Some patch notes on the FB post
“Seaboard RISE is in “Single Channel Mode” and is connected to the Expert Sleepers FH-1 via USB. The FH-1 is taking note on-off, channel pressure, and MIDI CC 74 from the RISE and, as a result, is generating a gate signal and three CVs to control the Pitch 1, Shape 1, and INT.FM of a Cylonix Shapeshifter. We did not use the velocity from the RISE for this particular patch”
Yes the Madrona plugs are really awesome. I’ve used the demos and I’ll defo be buying them as soon as my Seaboard arrives.
I had a Seaboard Rise 49 for about a week till the right half of the keybed would not respond at all, Roli sent me the original firmware and that did nothing and I returned it and bought a Matrixbrute instead.
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I tried the Roli Seabord Rise at a shop. I was very excited by this controller. But actually I did not like it at all. I really do not like the feel of these soft silicon keys. So now im saving for a linnstrument 
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Yeah still on the fence about it.
Nearly hit the buy button last night though
Nowhere to demo one where I am in Australia
i have a rise 49 and there definitely are some quality control issues with the units. I was worried how the keys would break in over prolonged use, and it seems that rubbery surface deforms and starts to become displaced from the gel underneath.
Sensitivity of light presses changes based on this, and kind of sucks. I don’t know if they will cover mine under warranty but i’ll probably return it at a loss if I have the option
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Thanks. That’s good to know.
For the most part user feedback has been fairly positive. Even Nick Batt was fairly positive about it. But mainly the feedback only seems to cover actual physical build and definitely doesn’t say anything about use over time. Wear and tear I suppose. How long did you have it before you noticed the deforming of the gel/rubber surface?
I played one (or two) in a music store recently. They had a Roli Grand set up as a demo unit. It was totally knackered. But I figured this was because anyone and everyone had been just hammering away at it. I was playing it and at the same time kind of trying to think beyond how the demo model felt to how a mint condition unit might feel.
I’m not looking for an instrument to hammer away. Also I’m not a skilled enough musician that I’m looking for it to more closely capture the feel of real acoustic instruments for a more virtuoso performance. Not surprisingly this seems like the primary focus of marketing of MPE controllers. The Linnstrument included.
Personally I’m more interested in this from a sound design kind of perspective. More degrees of freedom for each point of contact.
To this end I was hoping the Equator plugin had an easy way to just load user samples. But correct me if I’m wrong here, it seems to be a bit of a ball ache to load user samples ??
From the user manual: Appendix A. Using Your Own Samples in Equator (have a read)
I get that these are geared towards multi sampled instruments or whatever but I was hoping I could drag and drop load big long atmosphere recordings etc. into one of the sampler slots? Maybe I’m wrong about this. Are user samples easy to load?
If not this seems like a massive missed opportunity. For Equator at any rate. I suppose this could be implemented with any number of other soft synth/samplers. But Equator seems to have bang on, quick easy mapping of all the mpe parameters.
But I guess that might have been a bit much to ask of what is essentially a luxury, niche market instrument. At any rate if all other soft synths/samplers turn out to be a dissapointment, there’s always Max.
hey Cocker, i’ll try my best to answer your questions. I’ve owned mine for abut 8 months, used daily. It sits right on top of my desk.
I’ve only noticed the deformation in the last 2 months, it happens to be in the area I use the keys the most and it is still totally usable except for very light touches that require a little extra effort in the deformed area.
The surface can pick up dust etc fast, but I’ve always used a damp cloth to just wipe it down with no issues my unit looks absolutely mint. I do not hammer on it hard at all, i believe the deformation just might be a manufacturing issue with the first batch of units.
Customer service has been good so far, still waiting on a response on what they will do to remedy the deformed keys but my first unit had a small pock hole on one of the keys and they exchanged it immediately. I had some keys double triggering and apparently this was a manufacturing error and received a custom patch very quickly which solved the issue immediately.
I would recommend buying a unit from a trusted store locally in case you need to get an advanced exchange/return. Would hate to have to ship this thing to europe every time i had a problem.
edit: Just a little update. ROLI is exchanging my seaboard for a new one, covering shipping both ways 
Here’s hoping the next one has none of these issues.
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Hi thanks for that
I went ahead and got one anyways. I got the small one. I’ll see how I get on with it.
Unfortunately for me in Ireland there is no local place to buy stuff like this. Here’s hoping I don’t have to send it back for any reason
good stuff, hope ya get along with it well. i used to run the seaboard/equator through my interface in to the OT inputs to add FX. really fun