Building upon the success of the Seaboard Grand, ROLI has released two new MIDI controllers for the budget-conscious musician and producer. The RISE 25 and the RISE 49 utilize breakthrough technology by incorporating a revolutionary, touch-sensitive interface and a powerful, custom-built synthesizer that integrates seamlessly for an unprecedented amount of expression and control for a MIDI controller.
The silicone keywave surface is custom engineered to give your fingers a firm grip while also letting them slide easily. The interface offers a unique tactile response with five dimensions of touch. “Strike” provides the velocity and force of a finger making contact with the keywave, while “Press” offers the continuous pressure applied to the keywave after the initial strike. “Glide” is the horizontal movement from side to side on a keywave and along the ribbons, while “Slide” is the movement up and down on the keywave. “Lift” is the speed of liftoff from a keywave, also known as release velocity.
Additionally, the RISE offers three Touch Faders and an XY Touchpad, which further expands the universe of almost limitless controller possibilities. What’s more, the RISE can operate in two modes: Expression and MIDI. Expression enables full multidimensional sound control in real-time through the use of the three touch faders and XY touchpad, while the MIDI mode retains the features of Expression mode and also allows the Touch Faders and XY Touchpad to be assigned to any MIDI CCs for an additional customization of sound.
RISE can be connected to a variety of devices via its two USB (Type A and Type B). A ¼" pedal jack is included for connecting any sustain pedal. The keyboard also features a rechargeable battery with up to 8 hours of continuous use. The controller can be used wireless and supports MIDI over Bluetooth and the professional-standard low-latency mode with virtually no loss in latency on Bluetooth versus USB connections.
The RISE 25 and RISE 49 ship with Equator, ROLI’s software synthesizer and sound engine, which is custom-built to take advantage of the touch interface. Equator fine-tunes the five dimensions of touch by offering multidimensional sound manipulation. The software utilizes wavetable oscillators, frequency modulation, sample playback, and multimode filter to provide an unprecedented hybrid synthesis engine. Dedicated buttons on the RISE interface provide hands-on control over preset selection. The software ships with more than 100 presets spanning acoustic, electronic, and hybrid sounds, all designed for multidimensional polyphonic expression.
RISE also includes the ROLI Dashboard, a simple application that lets you conveniently modify and customize the settings that are most important to your music. The Visualizer offers a real-time graphical representation of the keywave surface and provides useful feedback of the five dimensions of touch. The Expression Settings Panel allows you to adjust the dynamic response of Strike, Glide, Slide, Press, and Lift, while MIDI Settings allows you to assign MIDI CCs to the three Touch Faders (Glide, Slide, and Press) and the XY Touchpad.
Equator works as an AU and VST plug-in, making it compatible with most popular DAWs including Logic X, Cubase, Ableton, Bitwig, Studio One, Sonar, and Digital Performer. Software instrument compatibility includes Kontakt, Omnisphere 2, Trillian, Halion, Logic’s Sculpture, EFM1, ES2, and ESX24 synths and more. Rise ships with a free version of Bitwig 8-Track.
An optional Flip Case is available for the Seaboard Rise 25, which functions very much like the flip case for iPads. The controller rests in a tray which protects the bottom and sides, while the flippable cover shields the silicone keywave surface from dust, spills, and damage. The cover folds up to provide a stand for smart phones and tablets, or can be placed underneath for angling the RISE for better ergonomics while performing. The Flip Case is available in several colors.
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