ROLI ships new Blocks interface

ROLI and UK distributor Sound Technology have shipped the Seaboard Block, touch-responsive keyboard interface.

Priced at £279.95, it is the newest version of the Seaboard design-lead bendy-keyboard instrument. ROLI’s first two models, Seaboard Grand and Seaboard Rise are played by artists including Stevie Wonder, Meghan Trainor, Steve Aoki, and Hans Zimmer. The line-up ranges in price from £699.95 to £8499.95.

Seaboard Block is now the most affordable model in the range and fits easily in a backpack and connects to ROLI’s free mobile app Noise.

It is also the newest Block in ROLI’s modular Blocks system, which launched worldwide in November 2016. Individual Blocks, each of which provide unique functions, can be connected together to build an expandable, customisable instrument.

Roland Lamb, founder and CEO of ROLI and inventor of the Seaboard, said: “Music making will only begin to thrive in the digital age when electronic instruments are truly intuitive and can be played as expressively as any acoustic instrument. Seaboard Block is the culmination and convergence of our work at ROLI to create new instruments that are deeply emotive and easy to play. It is one of the most simultaneously accessible and expressive digital instruments ever made, and I can’t wait to hear what people create with it.”

A wireless MIDI controller, Seaboard Block comes with a suite of music software and a collection of interactive, expressive sounds. Equator Player is a new sound player for Blocks designed for anyone making music with a desktop computer. Noise, the free app that pairs wirelessly with Blocks, is a mobile sound engine for making music on the go. 

Noise and Equator Player both include over 100 sounds from synths to strings. Alongside the launch of Seaboard Block, ROLI has also released six new soundpacks ranging from Vintage Electronic to Cinematica. Free with every Seaboard Block, the soundpacks add more sounds for Seaboard Block creators. Blocks Dashboard extends the workflow possibilities further by allowing creators to customise their setup with popular digital audio workstations and plugins like Ableton Live, Logic Pro, and Omnisphere.

The ROLI Seaboard Block and Touch Block are both available now priced at £279.95 and £69.95 RRP inc VAT respectively.