{"id":1201713,"date":"2023-11-10T10:00:28","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T15:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1201713"},"modified":"2023-11-10T10:00:28","modified_gmt":"2023-11-10T15:00:28","slug":"roli-seaboard-rise-2-review-i-wish-i-had-a-horror-movie-to-score","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1201713","title":{"rendered":"Roli Seaboard Rise 2 review: I wish I had a horror movie to score"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am, primarily, a guitarist. Dabbling in keys and synths has always felt a bit unnatural from a physical standpoint. A keyboard doesn\u2019t respond the way a fretted instrument does. This isn\u2019t surprising, nor is it a bad thing. It\u2019s just not what I\u2019m used to. The better part of a decade into my journey with synthesizers, I still find myself wiggling my fingers<\/a> as if it\u2019s going to create vibrato, or trying to \u201cbend\u201d one note while keeping the other rooted to create shifting harmonies.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve tried my share of MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression) controllers, which can capture some of that nuance. But the Roli Seaboard Rise 2<\/a> is the first I\u2019ve played that manages to deliver all of that expressiveness without also being an unmitigated headache in some way. It\u2019s probably my new favorite MIDI controller. But, I still have a hard time recommending it to most people.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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The immediately obvious issue is the price. $1,399<\/a> is a lot<\/em> of money for a MIDI controller. There are some MIDI controllers that come close, but they generally have more generous software bundles; more extensive controls (including faders, knobs and pads); transport controls for your DAW; built-in arpeggiators or sequencers; and screens for viewing parameters and browsing presets.<\/p>\n

Of course, what those controllers usually lack is MPE functionality. And it\u2019s not like the Seaboard Rise 2<\/a> isn\u2019t a premium device. It\u2019s constructed almost entirely from metal, save for the silicone keybed and the small selection of controls to its left. It feels extremely durable, and I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019d have to go out of my way to do any significant damage to it. Despite that, it\u2019s also surprisingly thin and light. At roughly 33 inches, it\u2019s slightly longer than your average 49-key controller, but it\u2019s less than an inch thick and only a hair over 12 pounds. And that\u2019s despite having a battery that can last eight hours when connected over Bluetooth. For comparison, Arturia\u2019s batteryless Keylab 49 MKII<\/a> is nearly 3 inches thick and tips the scales at 14 pounds.<\/p>\n

\"Roli
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Terrence O’Brien \/ Engadget<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

I\u2019d stop shy of calling it portable, but it\u2019s certainly luggable. I\u2019ve moved it around my home studio quite a bit and it seems easy enough to drag to a gig, especially if you pick up the $100 soft case.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re not buying the Seaboard Rise 2 for the portability, though. You\u2019re here for the continuous \u201cKeywave2\u201d surface. And let me tell you, once you get over how strange it feels it\u2019s pretty incredible.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to note that I\u2019ve never played the original Seaboard Rise. But I have used many other MPE controllers, including Roli\u2019s Blocks lineup. They\u2019ve all had some sort of significant shortcoming, and the Roli Blocks were borderline unusable. Almost everything I\u2019ve tried has felt either like a novelty<\/a> or a prototype<\/a>, rather than a consumer-ready product. (The two exceptions to this being the latest Ableton Push<\/a> and the Expressive E Osmose<\/a>, though they\u2019re very different devices with drawbacks of their own.) So, while I\u2019m fascinated with MPE and think there\u2019s a lot of potential in the technology, I came into this review with pretty low expectations.<\/p>\n

\"The
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Terrence O’Brien \/ Engadget<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

But, the Seaboard Rise 2 feels like the first time a company has gotten almost everything right in a standalone MPE MIDI controller. The subtle \u201cPrecision Frets\u201d make feeling your way around the keyboard much easier. I am not a skilled pianist or keyboard player who\u2019s doing lightning-quick scale runs based entirely on muscle memory. Still, I welcomed their addition. They made it a lot more obvious when I should stop a slide and helped me make sure my strikes were centered on the keys so I didn\u2019t end up sounding out of tune.<\/p>\n

The squishy silicone keybed also provides excellent feedback. Most other MPE devices I\u2019ve used have very little travel, if any at all. You might as well be trying to play on a coffee table. Not the Seaboard. The \u201ckeys\u201d (if you can really call them that) jut up, giving you a sense for where to put your fingers. The surface gently resists and bunches up under your finger when you\u2019re performing slides, delivering much needed tactile feedback. There\u2019s a lot of depth to the surface, too; this isn\u2019t just a thin silicone skin laid over the top of some sensors. It\u2019s not quite as satisfying as feeling a key bottom out beneath your fingers, but it\u2019s actually easier to coax nuance out of the velocity and aftertouch than on more traditional controllers.<\/p>\n

That ability to get subtle shifts in timbre, tone and pitch are what make MPE, and the Seaboard in particular, special. With the right combination of hardware or software, each note played can have its own unique expression. A basic example of this being controlling the filter cutoff of a synth patch with the slide parameter on the Seaboard. That means as you move your finger from the bottom of the control surface to the top, the filter opens up to create a brighter sound. But in this case you can raise the cutoff on the higher notes only to emphasize the melody, while keeping the lower register muted and droning.<\/p>\n

\"The
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Terrence O’Brien \/ Engadget<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Giving each note its own unique velocity, cutoff, et cetera can add incredible depth to even the most simplistic performance. In a more advanced example of how this might work, imagine a software instrument based on orchestral strings. On something like the Seaboard Rise 2, quickly tapping the keys and immediately pulling off could be used to play pizzicato for stabbing chords. But lightly pressing into the silicone surface would produce a slower attack, allowing you to play languid melodies over the top of sharp harmonies. Sliding your finger up to the top could add gentle vibrato to emphasize particular notes, and dragging it left or right would produce realistic glides that are normally only possible on an unfretted, stringed instrument, not a keyboard.<\/p>\n

I highlight that example because the Seaboard seems especially suited to scoring work. While it\u2019s fine for playing your typical lead and bass patches, it separates itself from the pack once you start exploring sounds that are slower and have more evolution. The slight dissonance I could introduce by moving one finger just slightly<\/em> off the center of a key created this spooky atmosphere that I kept getting lost in. Maybe it was just the season I was doing most of my testing during, but all I kept thinking about was how much I wanted to score a horror movie.<\/p>\n

\"The
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Terrence O’Brien \/ Engadget<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Clearly Roli knows this is a strength, because a lot of the presets in its Equator 2<\/a> softsynth seem geared toward soundtrack work. Normally, the plugin costs $249, but thankfully it\u2019s included for free with the Seaboard Rise 2. It easily does the best job of showcasing the controller\u2019s various powers. The unfortunate thing is, only a little over a third of the presets are MPE-compatible. And while it\u2019s certainly a powerful instrument, Equator 2 has a number of quirks that keep it from feeling fully polished.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the biggest of those issues is that, when you first install it, many of the factory presets are completely broken and nonfunctional. That\u2019s because there are two additional libraries you need to install. But these are in a drop-down list, and there is zero indication that anything else is needed until you actually open the app and it repeatedly tells you that files are missing. I uninstalled and reinstalled Equator and all its preset packs, hoping that would fix the issue. It was only after some Googling that I discovered there were more required downloads hiding right inside the Roli Connect app.<\/p>\n

The Roli Dashboard at least feels a little less slapdash, and it\u2019s arguably a more essential part of the experience. This is where you\u2019ll do all the necessary configuring, like choosing whether the Seaboard is in MPE mode or standard MIDI, selecting what MIDI CCs the XY pad controls and setting the sensitivity levels of things like glide and slide. You\u2019ll basically always want to have the Dashboard open because, the unfortunate truth is, MPE is still kind of messy. Non-MPE-compatible instruments and plugins might not work right if you don\u2019t switch the Rise to single channel mode. I\u2019ve found getting MPE-enabled plugins to work properly in Ableton Live 11 a little tricky.<\/p>\n

\"Roli<\/section>\n

Even when you do get an MPE-enabled instrument (hardware or software) paired up with a controller like the Seaboard Rise, you\u2019ll probably need to do some finetuning to get them completely in sync. For example, you\u2019ll have to make sure the pitch bend range in both the Dashboard and whatever you\u2019re controlling match up. If the Seaboard is set for a 48-note range, but, let\u2019s say, Pigments<\/a> is set for only two, slides will never land where you expect them and even narrowly missing the deadcenter of a key will result in chords that are painfully out of tune.<\/p>\n

When everything works, though, it\u2019s pretty special. The Seaboard Rise 2<\/a> is easier to play and more versatile than any other MPE MIDI controller I\u2019ve tried. It\u2019s probably the most successful showcase of what is possible with the technology.<\/p>\n

Sure, it\u2019s expensive, can be finicky to configure, and there are limited options for instruments that take advantage of its full expressive capabilities. But MPE-capable softsynths are likely only going to grow in popularity over the next few years. Most people should probably hold out and see what the consensus from reviewers is on the more affordable Seaboard Block M<\/a>. But if you just want the best MPE MIDI controller you can currently buy and don\u2019t mind shelling out for a premium device, the Roli Seaboard Rise 2 is it.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/roli-seaboard-rise-2-review-i-wish-i-had-a-horror-movie-to-score-150028305.html?src=rss
\n
\nSource: Engadget – Roli Seaboard Rise 2 review: I wish I had a horror movie to score<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am, primarily, a guitarist. Dabbling in keys and synths has always felt a bit unnatural from a physical standpoint. A keyboard doesn\u2019t respond the way a fretted instrument does. This isn\u2019t surprising, nor is it a bad thing. It\u2019s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,110],"tags":[98],"class_list":["post-1201713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-engadget","category-unfiltered-rss","tag-engadget"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1201713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1201713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1201713\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1201713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1201713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1201713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}