I’m a big fan of the Roli devices, they completely changed the way I was intending the midi controllers. Being able to bend like a guitarist and having so much control over the sound without using knobs is something that I cannot be separated from now.
Equator is such a great synth, and even if initially I was trying to replace my MacBook with an iPad, using the mobile version whose name is Noise App, I shortly got the gap between the two engines, especially now that Equator2 is out and Noise App is not getting updates since years. That’s a shame for Roli as a company, and that’s not the only issue.
Roli declared bankruptcy a couple of years ago, in the middle of insane experiments, before coming to life again as Luminaria, a completely different brand that brought finally a new single version for the past bestseller product, the Seaboard 49, born again as Seaboard 2.
I was so in love with their products, my first device was a Rise25, then a Lumi, a Seaboard Block, and finally a Rise 2, which is of course my favorite.
Having 4 octaves is really necessary if you want to use the Rise as a sort of master keyboard, and I really use that for everything, not only bending synths and weird effects, if you have enough practice you can also play a piano sound with the Seaboard key wave and the right settings!
MPE is such a great universe, there are a lot of devices out there that I want to try. I had a Linnstrument (the large one) and, even if I appreciated the isomorphic approach, I didn’t like the keys (too hard, I was expecting something similar to the Seaboard ones), so I decided to resell it after one year. But I’m very curious about the Enbodme device: the customizable factor and the right surface can be game-changers! Let’s see.
For now, I’m so happy about my current gear:
- Seaboard Rise 2
- Lumi
- Macbook Pro with external audio USB device
- Korg Kontrol
And here’re my ratings for the MPE devices I’ve tried so far:
- Linnstrument: 5.5/10
- Lumi: 6.5/10
- Seaboard Block: 7/10
- Geoshred: 7.5/10
- Rise 25: 8.5/10
- Rise 2: 9.5/10
Here’s a photo of my full Roli gear.
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