Roli was an early poster little one for the emergence of MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression). The corporate has had its share of struggles over the past 10 years, nevertheless it's nonetheless on the market making an attempt to unfold the gospel of MPE. Its first product after filling for administration within the UK (form of like chapter) and rebranding as Luminary Roli was a redesigned model of its Seaboard Rise. It's a flagship, pro-level MIDI controller, with a worth to match ($1,399). The brand new Seaboard Block M takes the corporate's signature squishy, steady keyboard and places it in a way more reasonably priced and transportable bundle.
The $349.95 Seaboard Block M options the identical 5D Contact know-how of it's greater sibling. Which means, when paired with the fitting instrument (and correctly configured), you possibly can play extremely expressive melodies and chords by sliding your fingers round, urgent firmly into the froth like floor or rapidly tapping it for sustained plucks.
The place because the Seaboard Rise 2 is a 49-key controller, with a number of macro controls and its steel body screams premium, the Block M has simply 24-keys and pared again set of controls. Although, you possibly can join two Seaboard Blocks collectively to make one modular 48-key keyboard.
Whereas Roli doesn't explicitly say what it's comprised of apart from "premium supplies… constructed to face up to the pains of touring", it appears secure to imagine the Block M is primarily plastic. It additionally seems to lack the "precision frets" of the Rise 2, which made it rather a lot simpler to seek out your means across the keyboard just by really feel.
It has inherited the devoted MIDI-out jack from the Rise 2, at the very least. Which means you should use it to regulate a DAW-less setup and skip the pc altogether. That is changing into much more frequent on MIDI controllers at any worth level, nevertheless it's nonetheless a welcome improvement.
After all, the variety of devices on the market — {hardware} or software program — that may take full benefit of the MPE controls listed here are nonetheless considerably restricted. The Block M does come bundled with ROLI Studio, does provide you with a number of choices for expressive taking part in. It's not fairly as highly effective as Equator 2, the corporate's flagship comfortable synth, although.
Lastly, Roli says you possibly can count on about 10 hours of battery life with Bluetooth on. Although, you possibly can all the time join on to gadget with USB-C for zero latency and no worries about battery life. The Seaboard Block M is out there to preorder now for $349.95, nevertheless it's not anticipated to ship till March of 2024.
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