ROLI Seaboard

The Seaboard is a <a href="/facts/Musical_keyboard/Mz0FGAe4">musical keyboard</a>-style <a href="/facts/MIDI/tblhmeFV">MIDI</a> <a href="/facts/MIDI_controller/UEc2I36l">controller</a> manufactured by the British music technology company <a href="/facts/ROLI/abu8lH6y">ROLI</a>. It has a continuous sensor-embedded flexible rubber surface for playing the keys instead of traditional lever-style "moving keys". Some models, like the RISE Seaboard Grand, have an onboard <a href="/facts/Sound_module/MbbRzeTp">sound engine</a>. It has what the manufacturer calls "5D technology" which consists of five types of responsiveness to player actions: "strike", "glide" and "press", front to rear movement "slide" sensitivity, and release–velocity "lift" (RISE keyboard only). These responsiveness tools can be used to play the Seaboard with microtonal pitch bend sounds (like a fretless bass guitar), by moving the finger from note to note, or trigger a <a href="/facts/Vibrato/IIdeSJ0m">vibrato</a> effect into a string patch just by wiggling the finger, which would not be possible on a traditional MIDI controller using only the keys. The Seaboard also features <a href="/facts/Polyphonic_synthesizer/55jLEj0X">polyphonic</a> <a href="/facts/Aftertouch/dqavcTWQ">aftertouch</a>, and a built-in <a href="/facts/USB/XcIKWLyg">USB</a>- charged battery. There are three Seaboard models: the small minikey BLOCK (24 keys), the RISE (25- or 49-key versions), and the GRAND, an 88-key keyboard with an onboard <a href="/facts/Sound_engine/MbbRzeTp">sound engine</a>.
ROLI calls the five responsiveness triggers "5D technology". The five ways that the ROLI senses the player's interactions are:

<ul><li>Strike – The way the player makes contact with the Seaboard (velocity)</li>
<li>Press – Pressure applied to the Seaboard key after first making contact with it (aftertouch)</li>
<li>Glide – Left and right movements from side to side on a Seaboard key, sending pitch bend information (pitch bend)</li>
<li>Slide – Vertical movements "up and down" (from the beginning of the key to the end) the Seaboard key (brightness)</li>
<li>Lift – The speed the player takes their fingers away from the Seaboard keys (release velocity)</li></ul>
The unit supports wireless MIDI over <a href="/facts/Bluetooth/sWAjpMrj">bluetooth</a>. ROLI reports that latency of the unit at 30ms using bluetooth and 24ms via USB cable. Sounds for the sound engine can be edited and created by using a ROLI software called Equator, which can be quite resource intensive. ROLI claims that it is the world's first purpose-built, multidimensional soft synth. Equator's synth sounds are designed to make changes in sound based on the Seabord's five types of resonsiveness. <a href="/facts/Effects_unit/XhTKhJQC">Effects units</a> in Equator include <a href="/facts/Ring_modulation/WSBycLUB">ring modulation</a>, <a href="/facts/Equalization_(audio)/hHGUDhRR">EQ</a>, <a href="/facts/Chorus_effect/uWXkJFMI">chorus</a>, <a href="/facts/Delay_(audio_effect)/t2UR7gHI">delay</a>, <a href="/facts/Reverberation/188vPg1A">reverb</a>, <a href="/facts/Bit_crusher/ptbURPd4">bit crusher</a>, and <a href="/facts/Distortion/z8RJcwNy">distortion</a>.
Seaboard is designed to work with non-Seaboard music software programs such as <a href="/facts/Ableton_Live/361XUeQo">Ableton Live</a>, <a href="/facts/GarageBand/HpjRQS2w">GarageBand</a>, and <a href="/facts/Native_Instruments/0hjHzrCo">Native Instruments</a>' <a href="/facts/Kontakt_(sampler)/0hjHzrCo">Kontakt</a>, among others.

ROLI Seaboard open-in-new

ROLI Seaboard