ROLI

ROLI is a London-based music technology company known for the Seaboard, BLOCKS, and other high tech musical instruments. It was founded by the American-born musician, designer and entrepreneur Roland Lamb^[1] in 2009. Its first instrument, the Seaboard,^[2][3] is based on the piano keyboard. The Seaboard has a continuous surface of pliable silicone rather than the hard, discrete keys of a piano. The instrument introduced ways for musicians to play "in between" the keys of a standard piano. A player can bend the pitch of a note by making vibrato-like sideways movements, deepens a sound by pressing into the surface, and in other ways manipulate sound through touch. The Seaboard's touch technology was adapted for BLOCKS,^[4] a consumer-oriented music device, in 2016. The company develops both hardware and software. In addition to its musical instruments and devices it created the NOISE app and the Equator software synthesizer. It also owns the C++ audio coding framework JUCE, the virtual instruments maker FXpansion, and the social music-sharing platform Blend.

ROLI instruments are used by musicians including Grimes,^[5] and Hans Zimmer.^[6]

Products

• Seaboard GRAND: a premium synthesizer with an embedded sound engine and a pliable, touch-sensitive "keywave surface."^[7] The Seaboard GRAND appeared in the Oscar-winning film "La La Land."^[8]
• Seaboard RISE: a MIDI controller with a pliable "keywave surface" similar to that of the Seaboard GRAND, though it is smaller and has additional functions^[9]
• ROLI BLOCKS: a modular music-making system composed of musical controllers that connect magnetically and via Bluetooth^[10]
• Lightpad Block: a musical touchpad with a pliable surface similar to the Seaboard. The main Block in the ROLI BLOCKS system
• Seaboard Block: 24 key MPE Midi controller with a pliable "keywave surface" similar to the Seaboard RISE for the BLOCKS ecosystem.
• NOISE: a music-making app for iOS devices. Also the software system for ROLI BLOCKS^[11]
• Equator: a software synthesizer and sound engine for the Seaboard GRAND and Seaboard RISE

History

Pianist, inventor, and entrepreneur Roland Lamb founded ROLI in 2009 while a graduate student at London's Royal College of Art. Lamb was a student of design, and his first prototype of the Seaboard was a response to the design limitations of the piano keyboard as a mechanical interface for making sound and music.^[12] As a jazz pianist, he wanted to create on a piano keyboard the effects of pitch, timbre that are often associated with string and brass instruments. His concept of the pliable, continuous "keywave surface" was the technological foundation of the Seaboard and other ROLI instruments. The company is based in Dalston, East London, and parts of the Seaboard GRAND are manufactured on site. ROLI's Series A fundraising in 2014 raised $12.8 million, followed by a $27 million Series B fundraising in 2016.^[13] In April 2017 ROLI raised debt funding from Kreos Capital, this was to cover costs incurred by building inventory, launching new products and establishing new retail channels according to a spokesperson at ROLI.^[14]

ROLI has offices in London, New York, and Los Angeles and sells its products in over 40 countries.

ROLI has acquired the following companies: JUCE, FXpansion, and Blend.

Awards

In 2014 the ROLI Seaboard GRAND was awarded with the 'Design of the Year' award from the Design Museum of London,^[15] and the Swarovski Emerging Talent Medal presented at the Celebration of Design Awards at the London Design Festival.^[16]

The ROLI Seaboard RISE 25 won a "Best of Innovation" award from the Consumer Technology Association^[17] and ‘2015 Product of the Year’ by FutureMusic.^[18]

References

External links

• Official Site