The Roli Seaboard has been on my radar for quite some time now. Its ability to create an extremely detailed expressive sound from a keyboard-like instrument is unlike anything in its category. As much as I was intrigued from a distance by this device, It far surpassed my expectations and imagination seeing it in action.
What Is The Roli Seaboard?
Roli’s website defines it as
The Seaboard is a renowned reinvention of the piano keyboard. Smooth, touch-responsive, and super-sensitive, its surface lets you bend, deepen, and modulate sounds in ways that make a standard keyboard feel two-dimensional. More musical expression is right at your fingertips — only on the Seaboard.
Roli Website
A traditional midi keyboard responds only to Pitch, Velocity, and Aftertouch. Modwheels sometimes provide additional modulation abilities, but at the cost of one of your hands.
The Seaboard responds to five parameters defined on their website as
- Strike – Much like velocity
- Glide – Think pitch bend, but without a modwhell
- Slide – Moving up and down on the keys, a map-able parameter
- Press – Much like after-touch
- Lift – Sort of like Note-off, but it controls sound rather than just stopping it.
These controls really shine because they are sent out on a key to key basis. This means that you can use “slide” to change the filter frequency of just one note in a chord.
This results in every finger being its own instrument.
In my opinion, computer based controllers haven’t reached their fullest potential yet, but this instrument is definitely getting close.
Not A Keyboard Replacement
While the seaboard is a great instrument, it is not a keyboard in your traditional sense.
- The Keys aren’t spaced the same way
- It feels very different to the touch
- It is maybe best served for instruments that require more control than a traditional piano sound
While it won’t replace your keyboard, it is absolutely a great addition to your current set up.
Included Software
As you might have guessed, a keyboard with such advanced parameters can use some software to help bring all those capabilities out. Roli includes it’s synth “equator” with the Seaboard to help you get the most out of the expression that the instrument has to offer.
The included synth includes all of the desired mappings right in the user-interface. This makes getting the most out of any sound much more plug and play than it would be with a different type of synth
If you are new to sound design, make sure you check out the quick synth map. That will have you off to the races with sound design so you can start creating the sounds that you imagined, right away.