I personally think that any company making electronic devices that is not, at very least, willing to replace a battery, never mind offer simple repairs, should be subject to a lawsuit. Seriously…
Ahem!
But I digress.
Cheers!
I hear ya… My uneducated guess is that either they’ve made it knowingly too hard to repair or perhaps they just don’t care about anything than sales.
But I really do digress.
So I eventually couldn’t resist and bought one 2nd handed. I gotta say, this thing is amazing. Its 4yrs old and battery still charges to 100%. No problem there. The built quality is pretty much as good as it can get. The sockets are firm. Everything clicks in tightly. No wiggling. License transfer was easy and was done in seconds.
I have the Rise 25.
Equator is pretty good and it loads SFZ files. Plenty of modulation options and great sounding filter.
The Seaboard is also excellent as a drumpad controller as the keys are lifted and super sensitive.
It is a very addictive instrument.
I would recommend it.
If I encounter (battery) problems, I will notify potential new buyers here.
Also, I think this is important; registration of Equator and Strobe was super easy. Insert e-mail and pw: done. There’s a ton of free presets available too. I think in total it has thousands of presets. I’m not a preset junkie/user, but with an instrument like this, it is a very welcome addition. But of course, it’s main strength is when using it for sound design. (For me at least)
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A tease but the reveal is soon.
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Will be interesting to see how this has developed (and been priced). World has moved on a bit with Osmose and things.
Did enjoy the Seaboard when I had it though. Was just a pain in the arse with pre MPE Live.
The reimagined, re-engineered part is exciting. Hard to tell anything from the image in the video, but it could be quite different from the original.
I much prefer to have some real competition for Osmose.
Worst company with zero support.
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Yep
Their forum is heavily regulated. They never answer e-mails. If your Seaboard needs repair outside of warranty period, you can throw it away, as no one on earth has the knowledge or tools to repair it. Same for when the internal battery starts bulging overnight, which it will eventually. I would run away fast from anything Roli.
Yes, this is my experience with them. The USB port stopped working and I emailed them many times without getting anything back. So I had to sell my Seaboard Rise 25 really cheap.
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Yeah, I had nothing but awful experiences with their products and support. Not to mention the advertising and the “spirit” of the company.
Patiently waiting for Osmose.
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New Rise out for preorder though not much seems different from the old version to me.
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… which would be a good thing for those who have gained expertise playing the first version.
The improvements could be in things harder to see in a video. ( ROLI has three videos up on their channel on YouTube. )
If the improvements are in improved feel and expressiveness that would be a very good thing.
If the improvements are to manufacturability, reliability, and repairabilty, those also would be very good things too.
For those looking for this interface, it is good to see a little light for the future.
It’s got to be a hard sell to get people to preorder. It says November. Hope does spring eternal though.
This is the year for expressive keyboards.
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Some dfferences :
There is a slightly raised line on the top of the keys that is called a “fret” that is to improve the feel and precision for finger placement.
ROLI is calling the playing surface “Keywave 2”.
They have also improved the chassis to make it more rugged, made from aluminum, and with an anodized blue color.
There will be only a 49 key version, at least for now.
I both (a) want this to work, and (b) would STRONGLY CAUTION anyone against pre-ordering. Roli has been issuing tons of shares lately, which tells me they need cash to stay afloat.
I’ll need to be convinced otherwise that Seaboard 2 pre-orders are not just a variation of the same.
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I didn’t check, is it cash up front, or just a pre-order ?
If these also go into the retail channel, in the USA, pre-orders aren’t usually pre-paid, and you can change your mind. I would be comfortable pre-ordering without pre-payment.
1.2. By clicking the “Complete order” button on the order page, you confirm that you would like to purchase the Products in your cart (an “Order Request”). A binding agreement that ROLI will deliver the Products will not be formed between you and ROLI until you have paid the full amount due as set out in the Order Request and ROLI sends you an Order Confirmation with a Customer Order Number. Order Confirmations are subject to compliance with these Terms of Sale and ROLI’s sole discretion. No Order Request shall be deemed accepted unless and until confirmed by an Order Confirmation from ROLI.
[…]
1.5. If ROLI is unable to fulfil your order for any reason, we will notify you, and promptly return to you any payment received by us.
So they’re keeping your cash until November.
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People are pre-ordering !
I’ve checked back, a few times. They are now into orders for “Batch 6” of manufacture, and the delivery date has gone from October of this year to where it’s at now in December. Not sure the size of a batch, but they’re on a roll, less than half a day in, and it isn’t a trivial purchase at that price.
I do to ! It’s more than getting the design right, and selling keyboards, but this is a good start for them.
I wonder the mix of buyers – New users, or return customers ?
Curious to see if Roli manage to ship production hardware before the Osmose.
I really doubt it is return customers. Unless they have a psychological condition like masochisim disorder or maybe something similar to stockholm syndrome.
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I would seriously consider getting one of these if I could trust Roli. I had the Seaboard Block as a test for whether I would like playing on this, and I liked it very much. I think I might actually like the way I can play MPE with keeping the location of my fingers more or less stationary, as opposed to the Seaboard where using the y axis requires/allows you to move your fingers up and down on the key to use the y axis. There is something really wonderful about choosing a chord and then, with your fingers staying where they are on the keybed, you just move each finger a little forward, or back, or side to side, or swirl them around, each independently, to get an incredibly rich palette of sounds literally “at your fingertips.” Yum.
Unfortunately, when my Block started to experience problems (battery and bluetooth issues), the company was in some kind of financial dormancy (the cocoon of bankruptcy perhaps) and did not respond at all. I ended up tossing it since it was not functional anymore. I cannot see paying $1,400 for a product from a company that so recently seemed dead. I did upgrade to their MPE soft synth Equator2, though, as an additional tool for using my Linnstrument, and I will say that it is easily the most intuitive and user friendly and versatile MPE soft synth I own (comparing it to Pigments and Bitwig in general). It is so nice to be able to see in large display format what all of the various expression dimensions are doing in real time. Only Equator, so far, has this so cleanly laid out.
I will check back on this product, and on Roll, in a year or so, and consider picking one up, if they are getting good reviews for quality and reliability.
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