That’s an awesome portable set up you’re planning.
I’m treating it as an instrument and planning on recording it through an audio channel. I would’ve got the 49 key version if it fit in my suitcase but I guess a 25 key version is a good place to start
yesterday I did something completely idiotic… by accident I ordered a roli seaboard 25. honest to god I’m a Muppet. anyway… just got an email that it’s going to be delivered tomorrow (on Sunday !!!
) So I’ve been reading and watching tutorials about it. I think it might be a good thing to keep to have more expression in my music… so I need to decide whether to keep it or to send it back. I’m not using too many vst synths… tbh I use only omnisphere, massive, kontakt . There are very few videos of users playing roli’s with hardware synths. I read it’s quite difficult to set them up. I’ve got Prophet 12 and Analog Keys, Mopho X4 and believe none of them are MPE compatible. Is there anyone who uses seaboard with hardware? I went through this post and am kind of confused. If I could do all those amazing things roli does in Equator with my AK and P12 then I’d be one happy chappy.
The AK will work fine with the Seaboard. While strictly speaking not MPE compatible, you have four voices, each on its own midi channel. I use mine with my Eigenharp.
yeah I thought that might the case with AK… but it seems I’d be only able to use a single midi channel with my Prophet 12 which is a real shame.
Anyone else been jumping on this train of late? Im looking at the Seaboard Block, it looks mint. Might have to try it out in store at some point…
How did you get on with this?
Although not supporting MPE, the seaboard does output polyphonic aftertouch, right?
So you should be able to get a fair amount of expression on the A4/P12.
Seriously thinking about dipping my toe in the water with a Block, but need to make sure can make it work well with my hardware.
I have a seaboard block and I really like it. I wanted a small bluetooth keyboard to use with an ipad, so it was the roli or a korg. The bluetooth is fine for noodling but I’d never perform with it, seems to jump around.
The lack of faders and no high C note on the block version is a bit annoying but no big deal, its a nice keyboard to play and small to chuck in a bag which is what I was after. The rise versions have the additional controls.
The sounds are great but if you create a patch using the desktop tool (equator) theres no way to transfer it to the iOS plugin which is a bummer. Theres also a utility you can use to set up what cc’s it sends, velocity/response curves and things like that for mac/windows but not ios. If you do make changes it will be saved on the device so you can set it how you want and still use it with ios, you just have to do it on a pc/mac.
Only a few ios instruments support mpe (the animoog ones), but using it as a normal midi keyboard works fine with non-mpe stuff. You can either configure which midi channels to send/receive in the the daw or synth app, but I typically dont bother and it usually all works fine.
You can configure it to send poly aftertouch or channel pressure iirc.
with A4 (i have AK) the overbridge comes real handy; if you set it up as 4 mono synths with the same patch loaded in each channel you get quite a lot control with the roli. I set the P12 as mono/unison synth, some really interesting results too.
Has anyone tried out the combination of Roli (or other MPE instrument) + Overbridge + Bitwig Studio 2? The reason I ask is because it would appear that you could have Overbridge as a plugin within Bitwig, and Bitwig allows any of its modulators to be added to 3rd party plugins. So you could throw an Expressions modulator onto Overbridge, use it to hook up velocity, pressure, timbre, and release action of the Roli to any of the parameters in Overbridge, and then “play” your Elektron instrument with Roli along any of those dimensions of expression. It sounds complicated, but in practice it should just take a few seconds to set up.
Don’t go there if you use a DAW to sequence other gear. It messes with the MIDI clock timing.
I don’t have any MPE capable hardware (yet) but I just saw that audiothingies Micromonsta is now MPE integrated! So that’s cool. I just play equator and fxpansion’s strobe 2 on my computer and Animoog on my iPad.
Roli has published a list of compatible Synthesizers and DAW
https://support.roli.com/article/mpe-compatible-synthesisers/
cool, I’ll check it out, thanks… there’s more and more soft synths with added mpe…that’s really great.
I’m looking at the Seaboard Block…tried the Rise in the shop yesterday and was suitably impressed. Not sure about the longevity of this thing though…Wondering how folks who’ve had one since it came out are getting on with it? Is the rubber showing any signs of deterioration?
I don’t actually know what MPE is about but you can map all the Roli’s controls to MIDI CCs to play any synth through the computer, or a USB MIDI host box, right?
Reviving this thread… any impressions in 2018 and any firmware improvements and experiences worth mentioning?
8 months later… I would have the same question, plus how are the devices fairing in longer term use and any thoughts of the current Roli Songmaker / Beatmaker kits?
My question would be about durability …I had the feeling the rubber would easily wear off over time / change colour - how about that?
i had one of the early units. had some QA issues but roli was very responsive with support. I received one unit with a small puncture in the surface and another unit that had some sensor issues. First one was replaced in store, the sensor issue happened about 18 months of continuous use but roli head office replaced it in less than 2 weeks.
The surface doesn’t fade- it’s very durable. My cat also walks on mine all the time and no claw marks or anything. Obviously you don’t want to puncture it but it’s fairly resilient. If anything you just need to wipe it down with a damp cloth once in a while to keep it dirt free.
The only color change I’ve noticed over time is just finger grease… same as on Ableton Push 2 and my black Elektron mkI machines.
Everything is still working perfect, and I have had no issues with the Seaboard.
